Stiles of Art: SCREAM (BINGO)

When I had first received the notice about this show I was elated, but also mystified. How does one capture the essence of a slasher film series like ‘Scream’? Each film is essentially its own take on the slasher genre, all building upon one another (at least the original four which were the only ones released at the time I was developing this).

I began to sketch some ideas in Procreate, but none of them really resonated with me so I decided to hit the archives/notes and see if there was anything I could salvage for this piece. I highly encourage this, as it can be a lifesaver when trying to come with a new concept. It was then I came across an old idea for a BINGO game that I first toyed with when I was working on my ‘Mallrats’ piece. This concept excited me, because it’s challenging to find a functional purpose for my artwork other than hanging on a wall. The idea was simple, yet fun, as I was going to create a BINGO sheet for each installment of the film, using similar icons, but with enough physical differences that they could be distinguished from one another. I felt the idea would work well since the franchise taps into many of the tropes associated with films in this genre (in the most meta way possible).

Knowing I could take any color I used and alter it later using the Hue/Saturation options, I picked a strong red value to do all the imagery in. The most challenging aspect of the project was getting the icons I designed to read properly. The images can really be broken down into two categories: Cause of Death or Tropes. I had to do a lot of google searching for iconography in order to get my images to read right, some of which still might be questionable. I also had to watch the films several times to make sure I had a variety of options, as not all squares would be utilized in each installment. For instance, some of the ‘Cause of Death’ squares occur only in one of the installments, making it impossible to win with that icon unless you are watching that specific film while playing. In case anyone reading this wants clarification on some of the images, here you go. The ‘Cause of Death’ icons include the: gun, car, fire, knife, fall, hanging, and electrocution. The ‘Tropes’ include: sad/ominous music, killer (gives a) speech, celebrity cameo, phone rings, victim escapes, victim runs, victim hides, someone is knocked out, broken door/window/wall, a car won’t start, there’s a movie reference, phone dies/lost/stolen/broken, the killer asks the clichéd phrase, sex/nudity, drugs/alcohol, and there’s a reference made to a haunted past.

Upon completing the main icons for the grid I still had a few original images I needed to include. For one of the illustrations, I utilized ‘Gale Weathers’ (Courteney Cox), as my ‘Nosey Reporter’. She appears on three of the four cards, only being replaced by ‘Robbie Mercer’ (Erik Knudsen), who fills her role in the fourth. Centrally ‘Sidney Prescott’ (Neve Campbell), as well as ‘Ghost Face’ get their fifteen minutes here, with our killer appearing on the first card, and our heroine, the remaining three (appearance adjusted accordingly to match said film). These illustrations were fun, but hard because I had to keep them somewhat simple, for them to flow creatively with the rest of the design.

The next task I had was to organize the icons for each film installment so that their placement, when used, would not conflict with another player. I then had to watch each film, multiple times, and tick off the icons chronologically. Once I was satisfied with their placement, I solidified the layout for each of the four cards and set about finalizing some other details minor details.

I had my ‘frame’ for the cards well before I even started creating the iconography. I envisioned a blob of red blood working best (given the content), and quickly designed something that I could use for all four of the sheets. I then flipped it horizontally on two of the cards to create some variety. The next step was to add a title on the card. I quickly found a font that looked very similar to the original movie’s treatment (it wasn’t hard as the franchise is quite popular) and used that to create the card title. I also had to manipulate the font in Adobe Illustrator to create the numbers I substituted in place of some of the letters. Having finished the project rather quickly, I wanted to take the extra step of creating a folded header for packaging the sheets together to make it appear more professional. I wanted the ‘game’ to look more authentic, and I think it was a rather successful presentation.

With the design process finished I sent the files off to print (thank you SGX), and due to the simplistic style of this project, it didn’t require any adjustments for once.

I started this piece on August 30^th, 2021 and finished it September 26^th, 2021, spending just shy of thirty (30) hours in Procreate creating all the icons by hand. The header was made in Adobe Illustrator, with adjustments to both (card and header), done in Adobe Photoshop. It was due October 1^st, with the show opening on October 15^th, 2021 at Gallery1988, and running until October 30^th as part of their ‘25^th Anniversary of Scream’ tribute show. Each pack contains all four 8” x 10” sheets (printed on 14pt paper) and was limited to a set of ten. At this time, the packs are exclusively available via the gallery, so please check their website for all remaining works related to the show including mine.

For more information, or to see a catalog of my other work, please visit my online store here. You can also find me on various social media platforms below doing a multitude of other artistic things that include hand lettering, and the occasional sculpting, crafting, or painting.

UPDATE: (10/15/23)

Guess who made new BINGO sheets?!!

That's right!!! ME!

So for a project such a this you could probably expect an update of one, or maybe more, who knows to tell the truth. While I knew they were developing another, or 'fifith' installment, the release was after this show so if I was going to continue this series, it would have to be afterwards...which is now...sort of.

After finishing an unrelated project, I found I had some time on my hands to complete lingering things...like not one, but TWO missing BINGO sheets. This meant rewatching 'Scream' films (gasp! oh no!!), and working on a handful of original illustration/icons specific to the last two installments. In terms of layout design, well...I didn't technically have to move any of them which is actually quite eerie to be honest. In fact, all I did was reflect the tiles to the movie installment they were identically copying which a hardcore fan may or may not notice.