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Storyboard display assembled by famed director Ridley Scott and presented to advertising agency Chiat/Day as a guideline for Apple Computer’s iconic ‘1984’ television commercial, which famously introduced the Macintosh computer to a national audience during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. Presented on a black 24 x 28.5 posterboard, the display consists of four scanned and digitized images from the original hand-drawn ‘1984’ storyboard, with each image approximately measuring 10.25 x 7.25. The lower portion bears an affixed glossy sheet with white printed text: “On January 19th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’” The reverse of the posterboard is annotated in blue ballpoint, “Ridley Scott Board.” In very good to fine condition, with peeling and some scattered stains and tears to the images, an area of felt tip cover-up to the tagline sheet, and wear to posterboard edges.
In an excerpt from an Apple promotional video that features an interview with the commercial’s famed director, Ridley Scott offered his thoughts upon first viewing of the storyboard: ‘The board, I thought, was one of two things. I thought, my god, they’re mad because this is terrific from a filmic point of view, and I know exactly how to do a kind of pastiche on what 1984 may be in dramatic terms rather than factual terms, right? And I thought it was such a dramatic idea that it would be either totally successful or we’d all get put in state pen.’
As quoted from Rebecca Keegan’s 2022 interview with Scott in The Hollywood Reporter: ‘When the agency, Chiat/Day, pitched Ridley on directing a spot for Apple, he thought they were talking about The Beatles. ‘They said, ‘No, no, no. Apple is this guy called Steve Jobs.’ I went, ‘Who the fuck is Steve Jobs?’ They said, ‘It’s probably going to be something.'’ Scott read the script and thought, ‘My God. They’re not saying what it is, they’re not showing what it is. They’re not even saying what it does. It was advertising as an art form. It was devastatingly effective.’’
From the Clement Mok Collection.
