Thursday, October 16, 2008

Happy Halloween

Da Birds-

The theme for our Halloween windows this year is Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS! Oddly enough after watching it last night, my little Parrot has started to bite the crap out of my hands- when that little beak catches and punctures flesh- DAMN it hurts!

So imagine if you will, flocks of angry birds, attacking/pecking/screaming from every angle! This is what makes Hitchcock’s film so frightening! We do not think of common birds as a threat, but if they were aggressive and unpredictable?!!- Well just watch this scene where Ms Brenner finds her friend Dan dead in his bedroom-
Why do the birds attack? Tippi’s hairstyle? Revenge for all the birds we’ve killed as boys with BB guns? Your guess is as good as mine, and for me this is what makes the film so memorable.

For the window design I have a favorite Bird’s scene in mind- Where the main character Melanie is sitting outside the Bodega School House nervously smoking a cigarette while unannounced behind her, crows are silently collecting on the school yard jungle gym. Readying themselves for an ambush on humanity. So in the West window I am assembling a jungle gym prop out of some redwood lattice, and mounting a bunch of crows cut out of masonite atop it.






In the east window I have painted this canvas of mad erratic birds swarming around the schoolhouse. Then I added some simple head illustrations of Melanie and Dan atop our mannequins, and painted the logo of the man himself- the "Master of Suspense"- Alfred Hitchcock.

So HAPPY HALLOWEEN everybody, get out there and make some creative costumes.