The Who’s Tommy – A Photo Manipulation!

Ah, the story of Young Tommy, who witnesses his father’s brutal murder, goes blind, deaf and dumb, discovers pinball, creates a religious cult and then gets thrown out of it. All set to a great rock and roll score.

Actually, I never did much like the movie. However, from what I have seen of the musical being produced right now at the Footlight Club, this is going to be an awesome stage show!

Kristin MacDougall introduced me to the director, Kristi Wivagg and we hashed out the poster concept in an evening. Simple really. Photograph the reflection of young Tommy in a silver sphere.

Ah, but then it gets interesting. We don’t have access to the actor playing Tommy. We don’t have a silver sphere. And, when we do get one (it’s amazing what you can find on ebay, isn’t it?), it’s basically taking a picture of a round mirror. You see everything!

It took a little retouching, but we got it cleaned up and simplified.

Here’s the behind the scenes timelapse for a sneak peak at what happens here in the studio.