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In past posts, I've talked about the differences between contemporary book cover art and vintage book cover art, but mostly in terms of how the former is digitally produced and the latter freehand-produced. Filmmaker Zane Whitener talks about the differences in terms of the effectiveness the two communicate the genre, particularly the horror genre, in his documentary that I review below. Along with the subject of book cover art, I also have the latest progress on the art for the book cover to "The Trespassers", my short sci fi horror book that is scheduled to release in the next couple of weeks.
Mini Movie Review: 'Horror Books Have Lost Their Identity'
Most of the movies I review here at the Far Out Fantastic Site are speculative fiction films, including science fiction and horror. This, time however, I'm reviewing a movie about horror fiction. It's called "Horror Books Have Lost Their Identity", directed and narrated by Zane Whitener. Whitener packs a lot of intriguing and convincing information into this less-than-15-minute documentary about the illustrations of horror book covers as he compares the ones of today to the ones of the 1990s and back. In doing this, he shows how today's horror book covers have mostly lost the conveyance of the genre with their non-genre-specific style
Whitener does a really good job in showing numerous samples of horror book covers from across the decades and presents them clearly by moving the camera in and out to both show details and the overall image. He's honest about his argument for the vintage styles of book cover art by admitting that it is subjective and so based on his opinion. Yet, at the same time, he gives sound reasons why he holds that opinion. Along with this, he seamlessly ties his personal experience into the topic showing why the covers of older horror books impresses him and the ones of contemporary horror don’t.
The movie has few flaws, considering its short run-time. I could only remember two. One was the omission of a title opening, which I believe that this kind of opening is very important because it directly introduces the viewer to the film.
The other problem is a little bit more significant and has to do with the samples of book covers he shows. He supports his argument and opinion really good in the first set of samples of contemporary horror book covers. It’s clearly seen that they are not specific to the horror genre. However, the later sets are more questionable. They clearly show the horror subject matter through images of monsters and haunted houses, although they depend on bright colours too much instead of dark ones. This contradiction may have been avoided if Zane would have specified more why these did not convey horror. Otherwise, he gets his point across in this film really good with visual examples and clear, intriguing explanation.
Book Progress: Book Cover Art for 'The Trespassers'
I’m almost done with the concept sketch for the book cover illustration for “The Trespassers”. It’s been a little challenging though because I have to refresh myself on spatial perspective since I don’t do a lot of art work like I used to. I’m drawing this sketch in my sketch booklet, but may have to draw another version on a larger sheet in order to show detail more clearly. I’ll see how it looks in the sketch booklet first. I want to have a cover reveal by next Monday, but if I don’t then I’ll at least show a concept sketch.
The Pride In Horror Books
June has been the month that honors the LGBTQ+ community. However, even though the month is almost out (less than a week), it's not too late to read up on LGBTQ+ fiction, including horror! So, check out The Lineup article, "These 8 Queer Horror Books Are the Most Cutting-Edge in the Genre".
I'll have more about the progress of "The Trespassers" book next week! Do you feel that horror fiction has lost their identity in today's book covers? Are you reading any horror, science fiction or fantasy for Pride month?
Until next time . . .
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