The great state of West Virginia is know for colorful characters, and I was aware that UFOs made frequent visits to our cornfields, but I had no idea how deep in our history they went. In the 1950’s Gray Barker was reporting-some say inventing-strange events around the state, and crafting some of the most well-know mythology surrounding it. From Men-in-Black to the Mothman and his presence at the collapse of the Silver Bridge to the Philadelphia experiment. Gray was willing to go to great lengths, believe the eye-witnesses and co-op a good story for print in his magazine or others no matter how outrageous or incredulous it may sound.

This is a One-Sheet / Poster to quickly convey the concept of the documentary “Shades of Gray,” directed by Bob Wilkinson. Allegheny Image Factory brought me in to visually represent the doc. and create a sense of consistency between the movie titles, credits and the printed matter.

When considering the many ways you could stress the 1950’s UFO conspiracy theme, Bob Tinnell also wanted something a bit Saul Bass like in the titles. The evolution of these concepts lead us to the frantic mash of documents, photos, pamphlets and clipping that convey the energy of discovery and defy organization and labeling. There is no small amount of photocopied punk-rock poster in this layout, with a tip-o-the-hat to the collage art of the dadaists.

As much as I like working on the poster, I am going to enjoy the movie more.