Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

adammcdaniel and 1 others

2014
Digital
23″ x 43″

I first saw F.W. Murnau’s SUNRISE when I was in college. I knew about the film’s historical significance, but had no idea of its emotional impact. It marked one of those rare cases where I fell head over heels in love with a movie while actually watching it for the very first time.

Sunrise won the Academy Award for “Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production” at the very first Oscar ceremony in 1929 — a special, one-time recognition that many film scholars consider to be the equivalent of the “Best Picture, Production” honor, awarded to Wings. See the film, and you’ll understand why.

I wanted to give Murnau’s film the “epic” poster it never had. It was also an experiment in dealing with a new digital form of image manipulation, as I tried to give it a “silkscreen” / woodcut effect, using a palette of only nine colors for a nostalgic feel.

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Uploaded
4 years ago

Category
Movies

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4 years ago

I’ve heard a lot about this film, and this poster makes me want to see it. Again, I think your work is among the very best on this website.

Have you thought about doing other silent film posters in this style, too — like Nosferatu or Metropolis? The woodcut effect really gives this a classy look, and is a nice counterpart to stuff that guys like Laurent Durieux are doing for other older films.

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adammcdaniel 4 years ago

This was my first all digital piece, as I usually prefer doing something by hand on the drawing board. This involved a LOT of painstaking photo manipulation — the kissing couple alone involved over a dozen layers in Photoshop.

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- Jack Woodhams 4 years ago
  
  Well you wouldn’t know Adam, the image is flawless!
  
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