ABOUT

The centennial film for The New Yorker was a surreal honor for ROOF Studio. The magazine is not only a weekly publication but a cultural institution that has shaped history through its editorial voice and iconic covers. Each issue is a unique work of art, and the covers serve as time capsules, allowing viewers to watch history unfold through art. The film’s final script did not follow a strict narrative but instead evoked ideas and reflections on the world through a layered, human lens. It carried the magazine’s tone of intellectual curiosity, subtle irony, and cultural sharpness. Each line of the voice-over posed a visual question, prompting the team to find covers that could echo the tone and add emotional or symbolic depth rather than literal illustration.

The creative process was highly experimental and exploratory. With over 5,000 covers to work with, the team began without a fixed storyboard or structure, running numerous tests to discover how covers from different eras could relate visually and emotionally. This approach maximized creative freedom and allowed the team to explore animation possibilities freely. However, managing such a vast archive was challenging. To address this, ROOF Studio developed a software tool that indexed all covers with detailed metadata, including themes, color palettes, compositions, and historical context. This tool enabled natural language searches, allowing the team to quickly find relevant covers by typing keywords. It also supported organizing searches into folders and building timelines for animation previews and edits.

Initially, the film centered each cover in the frame, treating them like national icons dissolving into one another. However, as the script and voiceover were developed, the approach shifted to a more fluid and dynamic composition. Covers varied in size and position, creating a richer visual experience and allowing the animation to breathe. This shift raised the creative challenge, as every sentence in the script required a carefully chosen cover that matched its emotional tone and narrative rhythm. Collaboration with Le Truc and Marcos Kotlhar was essential throughout the process. Their partnership ensured the editorial voice and visual storytelling worked in harmony, with Kotlhar playing a key role in pushing ideas forward and selecting covers that supported the script.

The animation was subtle and respectful of the original artwork. Rather than altering the covers, the team used gentle parallax effects, smooth transitions, and variations in scale and angle to bring the images to life while preserving their integrity. Transitions between covers became moments of invention, stitching decades of history into a continuous flow that invites viewers to discover new details with each viewing.

The final film stands as a layered, heartfelt tribute to The New Yorker’s centennial legacy. It balances creative freedom with editorial rigor, capturing the magazine’s spirit of wit, honesty, and cultural insight. For Guto Terni and the ROOF Studio team, the project was deeply personal, a way to honor a publication and city that shaped their own experiences.