OK. Name that film.

1. 2. 3. 4.

Kyle Tezak’s Four Icon Challenge – Reducing a movie, story, or event into it’s basic elements, then taking those visuals and reducing them further to simple icons.

Guess which movie I’ve chosen? Scroll to the bottom of the post to reveal the answer.

Of course, it’s Die Hard!

This is my contribution to the ds106 Visual Assignment “Four Icon Challenge”:

Reduce a movie, story, or event into it’s basic elements, then take those visuals and reduce them further to simple icons.

As you might guess, it was hand-drawn and then scanned.

This semester, I took on the challenge of keeping up with, lurking, participating when I can with an online Digital Storytelling class offered by Jim Groom through the University of Mary Washington. The past few weeks have been a total bust per even the level of lurking, but this week I found a little time and became intrigued by one of the assignments called The Four Icon Challenge. The challenge is to find four icons that boil a movie down to its essence and then arrange them in order. Then, other people try and guess the movie title.

I find this assignment intriguing for two reasons. First, I am a visual-holic and in my secret life (is that second life?) aspire to become an artist (even though I only dream about it). So, the visual aspect of the icons has a strong pull for me. Second, I believe that to boil things down to their essence you have to study them and understand them at deep level. As Mark Twain said, “if I had more time, I would write a shorter letter”.

Without further ado, then, and too much writing…is my contribution to the assignment 4 Icon Challenge. Can you guess the movie title or even what it is about?

Here is my attempt at The Four Icon Challenge created by Kyle Tezak and submitted by Tim Owens.

I drew all of them in Microsoft Paint.

In case you cannot decipher them…/What should be running through your head if you’re like “WTF mate?”…
1. A pilgrim hat with the initials “SP” written in a heart.
2. Hot pink hair of a girl.
3. A “VS” or “versus” symbol.
4. The name and phone number of some person (a girl?) named “Ramona” with seven x’s underneath it. Kisses?

***Spoilers Below. ***

Analysis…
1. Scott Pilgrim-”Every Pilgrim reaches the end of its journey…some sooner than others.”-Roxy. I decided to go with a Pilgrim hat to reference that his last name is “Pilgrim” and that they often reference him as being a Mayflower pilgrim. The initials “SP” on the buckle with the heart are supposed to reference the Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt he wears when he goes to battle Gideon. I figured this was the most important depiction of him-the main character.
2. Ramona’s hairstyle and color of when we and Scott first meet her. Also references the drawing Scott holds up in the movie to ask Comeau, “Hey, Comeau, you know everybody…Have you seen a girl with hair like this?” I wanted to have Ramona as my second icon because the movie is basically about how he gets to be with her.
3. “VS” symbol seen at the beginnings of each battle between Scott and Ramona’s evil exes, usually in blue (although with Roxy’s fight it is pink). I thought this would reference the video game/fighting game aspect of the movie.
4. My attempt at a replication of the note Ramona gives Scott when he asks her for her phone number. With “seven DEADLY X’s,” not kisses like Scott originally thought. I originally just drew 7 deadly x’s, but then I thought it would be cooler to replicate the note he gives to Ramona because for awhile Scott doesn’t even realize why he has to fight.

I hope this amuses you, dear reader.

Final note: If you have not seen Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, please do so now. That is all.

Reduce a movie to 4 icons, is a great challenge.
The important is focus in the guide ideas of the movie, and I think I made this.
Let’s see the comments, to check if the people identify easily the movie

Well, I think I am good with copyright issues here as all images are pretty photoshopped to death. I preferred the other assignment I did, and made up, I think, where I used five still images from film. And While we are wondering what movie this is, it is important to note it was a screenplay first, and a book too. See Colin Higgins.

Like the DailyShoot, these short adventures into art are good for me. A little time to think and reflect about important parts of the world, some ideas, to wonder a bit on a Monday morning.