Video Game Box Art: The Stories Behind the Covers

Doug and Nichole own Retro City Games, a retro game shop in Las Vegas and like any shop, you never know when a unique treasure might walk through the doors. Flash to autumn, 2015. The treasure in question? Hundreds of pieces of original design artwork for a video game company that used to be based in Las Vegas. SETA published games for the NES, SNES, and Gameboy and now their design documents, art work, level layouts and print templates from Nintendo are in the hands of a game shop - but what is the value of this stuff? Who designed it? How does a store price it? Why would someone want to buy it? What's the story? And then it became so obvious: No one has told the story of the people who've created some of the most iconic images in video game history - but that's about to change. 'Box Art - A Gaming Documentary,' looks to probe all eras of gaming across PC and home consoles. We'll connect with the artists, discover their process, how box art has evolved, the role of said cover art, and even look into related pieces like game manuals, strategy guides, and gaming magazines. Form big questions like, when does something become art and/or collectible? to does art have to by tangible to be art? We hope to hit all corners of the cover with this film. While Doug and Nichole probe into the history of their unique items, filmmaker Rob McCallum will hit the road and uncover the stories behind gaming's box art and finally connect the faces to the images. Game On!

Direction

Robert McCallum

Screenplay

Robert McCallum