Man’s World in Motifs

Abstract Masculine Symbols in Russian GQ’s 2014 Man of the Year Awards Opening Film

A punching bag, a lumberjack’s arm clutching an axe, a crucified steak, all inarguably masculine images, and all packed, with style and minimalism, into the opening film for GQ Man of the Year’s opening ceremony film.

The film was made by Shavkero Bros, a Moscow based direction and design company. They have been making artistic, and conceptual intros for ceremonies for over 4 years now, and on this specific project, wanted to represent a man’s world through simple symbols, shapes and images.

We spoke to Alexander Gorin, head of design at Shavkero Bros, about the film:

The Plus: Was there a story behind any of the images?
Alexander Gorin: Our idea was to put common readable symbols into video and make viewer to interpret it.

TP: What were there any main difficulties in the technical process?
AG: The entire movie was made using Photoshop, Cinema 4D and After Effects. The main difficulty was to create good looking champagne liquid.

TP: What exciting projects are you working on now?
AG: We’re working on a few commercial projects now, which involve scripting, shooting, compositing; colour correcting and we’re doing our best to learn new things.