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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein inspired 153 movies. And every time someone adapts Frankenstein into a movie, it creates another Frankenstein.
Now, we love movies. And all Frankenstein varieties. But there’s something special about reading a book, especially a classic. Feeling like you’re part of the story, part of history—it’s a feeling that can’t be beat. That’s why, together with Project Gutenberg, we created “Classic Monsters,” a print campaign that shows how movie adaptations can turn great classics into something a little bit terrifying.
The list of movie adaptations based on classic books is overwhelming. And it’s a list that keeps growing year after year—Dracula inspired over 189 movies, Jekyll & Hyde inspired 87, and so on.
So, to celebrate the classics, we created three distinct print ads. The art direction approach was a mix of collage and illustration, where we meld together various movie adaptations. Each execution showed many characteristics from different interpretations of the characters, all mixed together: for example, the Frankenstein ad featured a collage of different Frankenstein arms, eyes, skin tones, head shapes, clothes and more, all inspired by different Frankenstein movies. We wanted to create ads that were visually striking and that would remind people of the value of reading the classics, especially since they’re free and accessible on any device. Once the designs were complete, we placed them in the newspaper with QR codes, inviting you to download the free eBook at Gutenberg.org.
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books and currently has over 60,000 free Books available. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF) is the non-profit corporation that oversees Project Gutenberg.
