{"id":97021,"date":"2019-11-15T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&p=97021"},"modified":"2023-01-18T10:03:43","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T15:03:43","slug":"student-sketches-inspired-zach-braff-film","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/articles\/2019\/student-sketches-inspired-zach-braff-film\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Student\u2019s Sketches Inspired Zach Braff\u2019s Latest Film"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Written by Geoffrey Line. Images courtesy of Sam West<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisual Arts<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow a Student\u2019s Sketches Inspired Zach Braff\u2019s Latest Film\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sam West’s design brought her from CFA to the red carpet of a movie it inspired.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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November 15, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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In April 2018, Sam West stood on a red carpet for the premiere of a movie she\u2019d inspired. Five months before, West (CFA\u201919) had stumbled across a contest on Instagram, in which Adobe had invited college students across the country to submit an original poster design for a movie that didn\u2019t yet exist. Adobe would partner with Hollywood to turn the poster into a real movie with real stars. On a whim, West adapted sketches from a CFA class into a poster for a movie titled\u00a0In the Time It Takes to Get There<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>and uploaded it to the social media platform. She won.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

West\u2019s poster\u2014for an imaginary film billed above its title as \u201csooo quirky\u201d\u2014traces its roots to an assignment for a nonrepresentational painting course. West had been challenged \u201cto spend $15 on anything we wanted at the Goodwill on Comm Ave, bring it back to the studio, and innovate. I was drawn to the innate narratives that surface when you group objects together,\u201d she says. She sketched her thrift store items\u2014scissors, a candle, a telephone\u2014in muted shades and added an apple, pencil, and notepad. She intended the poster to be open to interpretation, \u201cbecause I\u2019m interested in the stories that we project onto things that don\u2019t necessarily have innate narratives and what those stories, in turn, say about us,\u201d she told the Boston Globe<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sam West<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The contest was judged by actor, director, and screenwriter Zach Braff, best known for his Emmy-nominated turn on the NBC series Scrubs<\/em>. He selected West\u2019s poster out of more than 1,000 entries and wrote a film inspired by her design. \u201cIt was very unique, and it reminded me of an exercise we did in screenwriting class at Northwestern,\u201d Braff told Muse by CLIO<\/em>. \u201cWe were handed an old black-and-white photo and told to free-write for 15 minutes what was happening in the photograph. A story inspired by a photo. So I really liked the puzzle of trying to figure out how all of the objects in Sam\u2019s design were related.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adobe flew West to LA to participate in the two-day shoot for the film, which Braff also directed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZach was really genuine,\u201d West says. \u201cI think he\u2019s a really talented storyteller. My first day, he took out his phone to show me my poster was his lock screen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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West visiting the set of In the Time it Takes to Get There<\/em> with Zach Braff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 11-minute film stars Alicia Silverstone (Clueless<\/em>), Florence Pugh (Little Women<\/em>), and Leslie David Baker (The Office<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in the Victorian era, it\u2019s an inventive, biting send-up of social media influencers and the power of celebrity in the digital era. The film\u2019s director of photography was Mauro Fiore, the Academy Award\u2013winning cinematographer for Avatar<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West\u2019s behind-the-scenes glimpse into movie-making gave her a new appreciation for graphic design. \u201cI learned a lot about the processes that go into bringing a story like this to life,\u201d she says. \u201cI love storytelling; that\u2019s why I went into design. This project confirmed my belief that design is a part of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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