92°F
weather icon Clear

Film fest poster gets familiar touch

A local artist brought together several elements familiar to Boulder City for this year’s poster for the Dam Short Film Festival.

“Obviously, with it being the Dam Short Film Festival, you wanted the Hoover Dam in there,” James Adams said. “I also wanted it to be true to Boulder City.”

To help accomplish that goal, he highlighted bighorn sheep in the poster for the 14th annual film festival, which will be held Feb. 8-11.

“I’ve always like playing around like that,” he said of incorporating animals into his art. “I’ve always liked rams heads and wanted to figure out how can I get bighorn sheep in there.”

In addition to the sheep and Hoover Dam, Adams wanted to showcase the history of the town and found a vintage picture of a surveyor he used as inspiration, transforming the bighorn into a filmmaker.

“I was trying to think of all the ways to encompass Boulder City in a picture for a film festival. … I found the images I wanted to use and made an image of what I wanted to do,” he said. “Then I scanned it in and started drawing.”

To complete the finished poster, Adams created three images: one of Hoover Dam, one of the bighorn sheep and one of the water below the dam.

“The hardest part was the dam itself,” he said. “There are a lot of intricacies that people don’t see. … It’s important to be accurate even with style because then you just look goofy.”

He did each drawing with Prismacolor art markers.

“I feel that’s where my style comes out, using the markers in a way people don’t expect,” he said.

Once he had each element completed, he scanned them all and put the final product together in Adobe Photoshop.

Adams moved to Boulder City when he was 10 years old and since then has been part of many different community events, including the Dam Short Film Festival since 2006.

His poster design fits in with the film festival’s desire to showcase local talent.

“Each season we recruit a different local artist,” said John LaBonney, the festival director.

“I think it’s very good,” he said of Adams’ poster. “I like the bighorn sheep guy. … It’s a cool poster.”

Rather than telling artists specifically what and how to design, LaBonney said organizers leave it to each person to decide what to put on the poster but do ask that he or she preserves the vibe of the festival shown throughout years.

He said the bighorn sheep guy will also “pop up in other places” and be used for the festival’s ticket stubs and passes.

As someone who has been inspired by Boulder City and what it offers people, Adams said it means a lot to him to be at an age where he can participate in these types of events and contribute to the children who are growing up here now.

Professionally he has designed artwork for bands, including Same Sex Mary, a local band that he co-founded with Tsvetelina Stefanova. He also does portraits.

Tickets are now available for the film festival. For details, visit http://damshortfilm.org.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

Thursday, Feb. 8: Movie screenings from noon to 10 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 9: Movie screenings from noon to 6:15 p.m.; filmmaker meet-n-greet from 6:15-7:30 p.m.; movie screenings from 7:30-10:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 10: Movie screenings from noon to 6:15 p.m.; Dam Mixer from 6:15-7:30 p.m.; movie screenings from 7:45-10:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 11: Movie screenings from noon to 6 p.m.; Best of the Fest from 8-9:30 p.m.; awards party starting at 9:30 p.m.

MOST READ
LISTEN TO THE TOP FIVE HERE
THE LATEST
Council confusion: The leash law saga continues

Three statements — notably, none of them from members of the city council — best illustrated the difficulties residents (both dog-loving and not) have had for at least four years when it comes to the issue of off-leash dogs in public parks.

Breeding in BC? Probably not

Unlike the discussion later in the meeting Tuesday night in which the city council appeared determined to make sure no one was angry at them about the issue of off-leash dogs, they directed staff to take very strong action on the issue of pet breeding.

Lifejacket donations aim to save lives

Greg Bell’s memory lives on by way of a generous donation that may saves lives.

Huge crowd turns out to honor Patton

It was brought up during Saturday’s unveiling of the Shane Patton Memorial Monument as to why Shane’s statue stands 11 feet tall.

Disaster in China affects Damboree fireworks show

As the city prepares for Damboree, one of our biggest celebrations of the year, a tragedy in China is having an impact on the annual fireworks show.

City Celebrates First Responders

Photos courtesy City of Boulder City

Toll Brothers gets split decision

The development of the area near Boulder Creek Golf Course known as Tract 350 (the sale of which is slated to pay for the majority of the planned replacement for the aging municipal pool) may have hit a snag last week as the planning commission voted 5-1 to deny the developers’ request to build houses closer to the street than is allowed under current law.