Flannagain: In Far Amurikey Teaser

For the past few years, the International Flann O’Brien Society has held annual conferences around the world to discuss the work and impact of Flann O’Brien. Boston College was chosen to host the group’s 2022 conference, and decided to unveil their plans for an in-person event at last year’s virtual conference in July of 2021.

I was approached about designing an animated teaser that aimed to get the virtual 2021 attendees excited about a return to an in-person conference. Flann’s gentle sendup of the hard-boiled murder-mystery genre in works such as The Third Policeman opened up an exciting alleyway to explore — with a flashlight of course. The result is a playful teaser thriller, filled to the trilby brim-full with references, red herrings, and reveals. Several scenes and imagery from Flann’s works have been brought to life in CG, then styled in the grainy, emulsified fashions of the noir films of his time. In a nod to the event’s location and its literary focus, the titles are set in typeface weights based on American woodcut presets popular during both Flann’s time and his choice of media: novels and newspapers.