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December, 2013
This is a title sequence created for for the movie "The Fault in Our Stars" based on the novel by John Green. (This was made before the release of the movie and the concept/design is based solely on the novel). This piece is created with handwritten typography on acetate, hand manipulated and shot in a clear basin of water on a light box. The visual and sound editing was done in After Effects.
The story is narrated by a young cancer patient named Hazel, who is forced by her parents to attend a support group, where she then meets and falls in love with 17 year old amputee Augustus Waters. I found most of my inspiration from the novel’s epigraph which states: “As the tide washed in, the Dutch Tulip Man faced the ocean: ‘Conjoiner rejoinder poisoner concealer, revelator, Look at it, Rising up and rising down, taking everything with it.’ ‘What’s that?’ Anna asked. ‘Water,’ the Dutchman said. ‘Well, and time.’”
Water is such a prevalent metaphor throughout the story; it’s both a nourisher and a destroyer. Hazel must drink water to survive as a human being but it is also what is killing her as it fills up her lungs.This idea of water, eternal, bringing life and death was very compelling to me and I utilized it as a central component in my piece which I shot in water. Also, in the story Augstus has a fascination with the intertwining shadows of branches in Amsterdam which is symbolic of Hazel and his “darkness” or sickness intertwining. From this I play with shadows and lighting reflections in water to visualize the contrast between “nourishing/light” elements and “destroying/dark” elements. I also composed the piece in black and white.
The uncontrollable and drowning nature of the illegible/legible type in water mimic the characters grasp for control in their lives.