Above In-world copy was generated for the magazine, in addition to photography
and imagery that was exclusive to the site before the film’s releaseHow we built
1969 to an almost perfect degree and
inserting any kind of modern aesthetics
just felt wrong. We wanted the campaign
to feel like a time machine that dropped
audiences right back into the year that
changed pop culture forever.
In the film, the characters Rick Dalton
and Cliff Booth interact with all sorts of
real-life celebrities and historical figures
from the era. We began brainstorming
on what we could create to make these
characters feel like they have always
been a part of pop culture. Since they’re
obsessed with staying relevant and
keeping their careers afloat, we felt that
a tabloid celebrity magazine would be the
best way to expand on their stories and
introduce the historical backdrop of the
film without spoiling the plot for fans.
How did you go about conveying the
feel of print in a digital format?
MG: Magazines have changed so much in
the past 50 years, in the end all it took to
make it feel like a classic magazine was
to strip it down and focus on simplicity.
We wanted it to feel like people were
flipping through the magazine from
cover to cover, which is why we made
sure the entire site was accessible
through scrolling.
The oversized nature of the pages
required users to scroll to see an
entire article or image at once, so the
scrolling felt natural to the user. It also
made it feel more true-to-size of a real
magazine, especially on desktop.
The table of contents functioned as
a navigation tool but the best way to
explore the site was just by scrolling
from page to page, seeing what caught
your eye. When you read a magazine,
you usually flip through pages until
something is so interesting you stop to
read it. We also made sure that the colour
coding on each individual article made
it feel like you were accessing different
‘pages’ even though the whole site was
one long, flowing column.
How much influence did Sony exert?
MG: Overall, Sony gave us a huge amount
of freedom to play around in this world
from a visual and written standpoint.
Tarantino’s script was so rich with details