1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,960 Now, I have my concept, my attributes, sketches, 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:09,720 and I have a list of stories that I want to tell. 3 00:00:10,420 --> 00:00:12,440 My sketches have been fine so far, 4 00:00:12,940 --> 00:00:14,600 but now it's time to make it real, 5 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:15,840 to give the poster 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,240 resonance and a connection. 7 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,820 I chose pivotal moments from several stories. 8 00:00:21,728 --> 00:00:21,920 Great! 9 00:00:22,620 --> 00:00:24,600 Now, how do I actually portray them? 10 00:00:25,824 --> 00:00:26,000 First, 11 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,980 I tried photography as a medium with some sample images. 12 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:32,200 These wouldn't be the final images, 13 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:34,580 but help me see the visual tone 14 00:00:35,140 --> 00:00:35,700 of photography. 15 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,300 I liked the result visually. 16 00:00:38,620 --> 00:00:41,360 It was unexpected and a little odd. 17 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,480 But since this was for a film festival, 18 00:00:44,780 --> 00:00:46,400 the first question would be, what 19 00:00:46,912 --> 00:00:47,760 film is that? 20 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:50,040 Followed by, who is that? 21 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,500 That's distracting and would send the wrong message. 22 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:56,820 So, back to illustration. 23 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:57,380 Again, 24 00:00:58,080 --> 00:00:59,520 I liked some of these. 25 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:03,800 They were unique and understandable and felt kind of nostalgic. 26 00:01:04,384 --> 00:01:04,484 But 27 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,260 now I was simply illustrating the story. 28 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:08,660 There 29 00:01:09,340 --> 00:01:10,780 was no work for the viewer. 30 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:11,220 Uh, 31 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,680 yeah, that's Adam and Eve. 32 00:01:14,500 --> 00:01:19,720 And again, is that an animated film or is that an art festival? 33 00:01:20,060 --> 00:01:20,160 If 34 00:01:21,088 --> 00:01:23,680 the viewer didn't need to think about the meaning, 35 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:24,980 it had no 36 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:25,560 meaning power. 37 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:27,860 It would be quickly forgotten. 38 00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:33,120 I was becoming alarmed that I had gone down a path that led nowhere. 39 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:33,568 You 40 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,420 know, when you wake up in the middle of the night and think, 41 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:37,960 what have I done? 42 00:01:39,712 --> 00:01:39,900 Fortunately, 43 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,320 Samantha Fleming, who was the eyes of Sundance, 44 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,700 reminded me to slow down, 45 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:51,400 clear my mind, and stop trying to figure out what she and Robert Redford wanted. 46 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:51,860 What 47 00:01:53,088 --> 00:01:55,300 would you do if it were just for you? 48 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,320 And you had no client, she asked. 49 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:57,600 In 50 00:01:58,208 --> 00:02:02,752 other words, worry less about what I want and trust your gut. 51 00:02:04,260 --> 00:02:05,856 This was super smart advice. 52 00:02:06,540 --> 00:02:06,720 I 53 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:16,460 went back to my original sketches and remembered an old paperback book cover and the Saul Bass title sequence from Around the World in 80 Days. 54 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:16,928 I 55 00:02:17,824 --> 00:02:20,780 realized I was on the right track conceptually and I 56 00:02:21,472 --> 00:02:23,780 went back and did what I wanted to do. 57 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:29,440 Like a film, I would recast the stories with my own actors. 58 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:29,984 These 59 00:02:30,624 --> 00:02:35,220 would be Victorian etchings of people and I'd place them in a brand new set. 60 00:02:35,552 --> 00:02:35,680 The 61 00:02:36,352 --> 00:02:37,620 etchings were recognizable, 62 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,440 but not too specific. 63 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:40,800 It was just man, 64 00:02:41,340 --> 00:02:41,504 woman, 65 00:02:42,020 --> 00:02:42,816 or balloon. 66 00:02:43,420 --> 00:02:43,520 The 67 00:02:44,672 --> 00:02:48,180 next step was to build the asset like a kit of parts. 68 00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:48,608 I 69 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:51,480 pulled out every old book I had, 70 00:02:51,660 --> 00:02:53,960 found a collection of etchings in the library, 71 00:02:54,140 --> 00:02:57,540 and even curated my flat files for possible images. 72 00:02:57,980 --> 00:02:58,080 I 73 00:02:58,784 --> 00:03:00,740 needed an etching for each character, 74 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,340 forms for the sets, 75 00:03:02,500 --> 00:03:04,820 and items to create the background. 76 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:07,700 Once the collection was complete, 77 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:10,380 I started to design the poster, 78 00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:12,720 which was the most visible part of the campaign. 79 00:03:13,420 --> 00:03:18,280 These were rough, low res, and would certainly require fine tuning, 80 00:03:18,460 --> 00:03:21,780 but they helped me determine which stories would work. 81 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:25,120 Icarus, who made wax wings and flew 82 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:26,240 too close to the sun, 83 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,440 and David defeating the giant Goliath. 84 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:29,856 I 85 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,704 tried multiple stories, like Newton and the apple when he discovered gravity, or 86 00:03:37,568 --> 00:03:38,880 Moby Dick, and 87 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,520 I tried different etchings to represent the people in the myths. 88 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:43,008 It 89 00:03:43,540 --> 00:03:45,600 was clear that this was going to work, 90 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:47,520 or it was going to sink the idea. 91 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:48,060 This 92 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:55,180 led me to the myth of William Tell from medieval Switzerland for the main poster. 93 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:55,648 Now 94 00:03:56,260 --> 00:03:57,040 here's the short story. 95 00:03:57,700 --> 00:04:02,060 William Tell is sentenced to be executed by an evil local tyrant. 96 00:04:02,260 --> 00:04:04,180 As an added mean twist, 97 00:04:04,580 --> 00:04:12,480 the tyrant promises Tell that he would be saved if he could shoot an apple off the head of his son in a single attempt. 98 00:04:13,100 --> 00:04:13,200 Unknown 99 00:04:13,728 --> 00:04:16,760 to the tyrant, Tell was an expert marksman. 100 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:17,088 He 101 00:04:17,952 --> 00:04:22,920 aimed and split the apple in half with no harm to his son and escapes the village. 102 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:23,424 Clearly, 103 00:04:24,352 --> 00:04:26,460 life in the Middle Ages was not fun. 104 00:04:26,820 --> 00:04:26,944 As 105 00:04:28,180 --> 00:04:28,900 I mentioned earlier, 106 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:32,440 I didn't want to find an illustration of the story. 107 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,600 I wanted to make my version. 108 00:04:35,020 --> 00:04:35,120 I 109 00:04:36,128 --> 00:04:38,500 recast Tell's son with an etching. 110 00:04:38,620 --> 00:04:38,912 In 111 00:04:39,552 --> 00:04:41,860 reality, this is not William Tell's son. 112 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:42,680 It happens to be 113 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:43,740 Samuel Adams. 114 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:45,820 Yes, a distant relative of mine. 115 00:04:46,140 --> 00:04:46,240 I 116 00:04:47,424 --> 00:04:53,340 substituted the apple with a film reel to communicate the idea of hitting the mark as a filmmaker. 117 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:54,464 My 118 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,160 first pass told the story clearly. 119 00:04:57,420 --> 00:04:59,980 It was clear and perfectly fine, 120 00:05:00,180 --> 00:05:01,480 but rather dull. 121 00:05:01,740 --> 00:05:02,016 It 122 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,360 lacked any sense of drama and felt expected. 123 00:05:05,824 --> 00:05:10,860 I found a more graphic and high contrast image and moved in closer, 124 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:12,672 making the face dominant. 125 00:05:13,220 --> 00:05:13,376 Now 126 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:16,020 people will always look at faces first. 127 00:05:16,220 --> 00:05:17,568 It's in our DNA. 128 00:05:17,980 --> 00:05:18,272 And 129 00:05:18,820 --> 00:05:20,560 then I moved in even closer, 130 00:05:20,860 --> 00:05:21,280 because 131 00:05:21,792 --> 00:05:22,176 big 132 00:05:22,752 --> 00:05:24,840 should always be very big. 133 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,560 I determined to use as few elements as possible and still communicate the story. 134 00:05:31,060 --> 00:05:31,200 Did 135 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:32,780 I need the tree, 136 00:05:33,020 --> 00:05:35,800 bow and arrow, Tell and the crowd? 137 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:36,448 No. 138 00:05:36,768 --> 00:05:37,120 This 139 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:39,540 alone gave all the information needed. 140 00:05:39,860 --> 00:05:43,860 That made the color even more critical to add drama. 141 00:05:44,940 --> 00:05:50,380 For another concept, I recast the story of Genesis and Adam and Eve, 142 00:05:50,580 --> 00:05:52,220 the serpent and the fruit of knowledge. 143 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:54,880 The story talks about temptation, 144 00:05:55,500 --> 00:05:55,904 knowledge, 145 00:05:56,340 --> 00:05:59,200 good and evil, and ejection from Eden. 146 00:05:59,540 --> 00:05:59,712 These 147 00:06:00,512 --> 00:06:03,860 ideas are often the central theme of contemporary film. 148 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:06,580 Like the William Tell poster, 149 00:06:06,900 --> 00:06:07,920 the story was clear, 150 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,580 but the composition was kind of a mess. 151 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:11,264 Again, 152 00:06:11,936 --> 00:06:15,820 working with the scale of the elements started to create some order. 153 00:06:16,460 --> 00:06:16,560 I 154 00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:19,720 gave the serpent center stage, 155 00:06:19,940 --> 00:06:22,080 rotated it a bit to add energy, 156 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:23,400 and point to the type, 157 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:27,240 and made the branches larger and asymmetrical. 158 00:06:27,660 --> 00:06:27,904 These 159 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,740 moves helped create tension and the feeling of a stage set. 160 00:06:33,060 --> 00:06:33,880 But again, 161 00:06:34,180 --> 00:06:36,600 color would be the saving grace here. 162 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:42,960 I spoke with my creative partners at Sundance to get their thoughts about color. 163 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:43,584 Samantha 164 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:45,240 Fleming made it clear. 165 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,600 Bob isn't crazy about pastel colors. 166 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:49,760 He likes rich and deep tones. 167 00:06:50,060 --> 00:06:52,320 Like the process we used previously, 168 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,980 I worked with the images from the research that related to the brand. 169 00:06:56,224 --> 00:06:59,760 I sampled these images to find a range of light and dark, 170 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:01,380 warm, cool, and neutral. 171 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:03,480 And I avoided pastels. 172 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:04,128 After 173 00:07:05,300 --> 00:07:11,960 many explorations, I had a palette that matched the attributes and would be broad enough for a variety of needs. 174 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:17,100 But these were still rough RGB colors sampled from the images. 175 00:07:17,380 --> 00:07:18,900 They needed more refinement. 176 00:07:19,220 --> 00:07:19,680 I 177 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:22,560 adjusted the RGB values for the 178 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:24,540 web and motion team to be simpler. 179 00:07:24,820 --> 00:07:26,740 Instead of red 230, 180 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,140 green 179, and blue 52, 181 00:07:29,460 --> 00:07:31,620 I rounded the values up or down. 182 00:07:32,420 --> 00:07:32,520 These 183 00:07:33,460 --> 00:07:36,160 tiny shifts won't affect the color too much, 184 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,280 but they make it easier to specify and more consistent when applied. 185 00:07:40,820 --> 00:07:48,380 I'd rather have this consistency on all items than fight with a super specific and complicated color value. 186 00:07:48,940 --> 00:07:49,088 I 187 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,000 did the same for the CMYK values. 188 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:52,800 Cyan 189 00:07:53,536 --> 00:07:58,500 19.22%, magenta 94.9%, black 10.59%. 190 00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:01,740 That's pretty hard to remember or tell someone when they ask, 191 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,520 hey, hey Sean, what are the CMYK values for the red? 192 00:08:05,020 --> 00:08:05,248 It's 193 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:08,120 easier to shout back 20, 100, 194 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:08,940 110. 195 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:13,900 This gives every printer working on the project the exact same values. 196 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:14,912 I 197 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:17,540 make these adjustments all the time. 198 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:19,920 Believe me, it makes life so much simpler. 199 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,100 To finish, I assign Pantone numbers to each color. 200 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:29,520 They won't be exact since Pantone is a spot ink color, 201 00:08:29,700 --> 00:08:32,580 not a mix of CMYK or RGB values, 202 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:39,552 but they will be required when I have the chance to use them in printing or specify the color for merchandise. 203 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:40,704 This 204 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,000 takes some subjective thinking. 205 00:08:44,300 --> 00:08:46,760 You may need to choose a color that is close, 206 00:08:46,980 --> 00:08:50,580 but not exact as there may not be a perfect match. 207 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:52,300 Keep the same idea. 208 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:54,660 Don't fixate on something impossible. 209 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:55,808 Remember, 210 00:08:56,544 --> 00:08:59,020 no two people see color the same way. 211 00:08:59,820 --> 00:08:59,920 With 212 00:09:01,024 --> 00:09:04,120 CMYK, RGB, and Pantone numbers specified, 213 00:09:04,460 --> 00:09:10,100 the chances of a color being modified by a printer or manufacturer are lower. 214 00:09:10,700 --> 00:09:10,880 Everyone 215 00:09:11,580 --> 00:09:12,380 working on the project, 216 00:09:12,420 --> 00:09:15,040 from designers to printers, web designers, 217 00:09:15,500 --> 00:09:19,000 the motion team, and the client is on the same page, 218 00:09:19,220 --> 00:09:21,880 not trying to match the colors by eye. 219 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:22,720 Now, 220 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:24,840 I had a color palette. 221 00:09:25,180 --> 00:09:27,300 I assigned a color to each character. 222 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,480 I decided that I could use any color in the palette on anyone. 223 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,140 If Picasso could paint people in blue, 224 00:09:34,340 --> 00:09:36,340 why couldn't I have a green man, 225 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:38,240 orange woman, or yellow horse? 226 00:09:38,580 --> 00:09:42,600 Sort of like the multicolored zebra when I was in the first grade.