I haven’t watched Ghostbusters in over ten years, but this animation makes me grin and remember my favorite parts of that beloved film. It’s one of several ingenious works by “2D animator, illustrator, and neon obsessive” Mr Whaite, who has a whole Tumblr dedicated to recreating classic movies as neon displays. What I love is how he pulls out specific details, like the proton streams above or the glass of water from Jurassic Park, tapping into our childhood memories of these movies and the visuals that have stuck with us through the decades.
Of course, there are Redditors dumping on this party by pointing out that these more resemble .gifs than real-life neon designs, that Mr Whaite should’ve put more detail into his animations to make them more accurate. But does it really matter? They look fantastic. It was really difficult to not just copy over the entire list, but here were my favorites.
An excellent detail in this Psycho poster is how the Bates Motel sign switches to “No Vacancy” when the knife comes down. Took me several times to notice that!
For something lighter, note his all-blue Star Wars poster and great rendering of the famous Princess Leia hologram:
The Dark Knight scared you a little, didn’t it?
And this Back to the Future one is just so cool!
I also like how he experiments with different styles of neon signs themselves, like this one from Inception that brings to mind the tired marquee on a theater or hotel. (Which, interestingly enough, matches the movie’s settings.)
Photos: Mr Whaite
