Credit Annie Atkins

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.

Credit Twentieth Century Fox
Credit Twentieth Century Fox