
Handwritten Love Message
PROP
Note
FUNCTION
Thematic, Character
DESIGNER
Annie Atkins
MOVIE
The Grand Budapest Hotel
YEAR
2014
DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Adam Stockhausen
GRAPHIC ARTISTS
Annie Atkins, Liliana Lambriev
Zero writes a note for Agatha inside a poetry book. Even though this prop is not fully shown, the handwriting for the note was created to be displayed as a subtitle in post-production. Here is the comparison between two versions of the final result. The first one is visually compelling, even too perfect for the character of Zero to have written it; visibly obvious it was made in the art department. Thus, the second one was the actor’s handwritten text with the nib, later scanned and cleaned up. The result, while not visually perfect, is a piece that captured the underlying essence of the subject: “a teenage boy, in love, in a Wes Anderson movie,” as the designer pointed out.
