As I approached the fifteenth edition of my collaborative movie clip party, I wanted to give my guests a token of my gratitude, something more tangible than the mere memory of the event.
For the party I asked guests to do a fair amount homework each year: to acquire, digitize, and deliver their movie clips months in advance. I would recognize outstanding contributions, for example with The Baxter Award, for the best thematic collection of clips. But award winners had previously gone home with only a mention on the party’s website.
I had recently discovered the world of vintage milk bottle caps, with their bold one- and two-color typography and graphics. I set out to design a collection of graphics for each of the event’s awards, in the style of these milk caps, and in the form of refrigerator magnets
I looked for letterpress printers in Oakland and found Reb Peters Press (now in Portland). She helped me size my designs to fit four-up on the cards she already used for printing coasters.
I selected a vivid red and blue for my color palette, and used a different typeface for each design.
Awards included the Pepe, for best clip under 60 second in length, or the Malkovich Malkovich, awarded to two individuals who unknowingly contributed the same clip in a single year.
It was terrific fun revealing the magnets to guests when the arrived, and presenting them with handfuls of awards they had “won” more than a decade previously.
Guests who have never received an award or who are happy to just be audience members still go home with their own commemorative magnet. I’ve continued to award the magnets in subsequent years, even as the number of years between parties has increased.
