Designing the Video Book Graphics

When designing the graphics for my video book, I knew that I wanted to use photography that incorporated all aspects of the project and the creative process which had been involved in developing my film.

I grouped the behind the scenes photos I felt were high quality, represented my styling/makeup accurately and reflected my film's concept, until I finalised the two images shown below.

This photo included so many components of the project, including the cameraman and his equipment, the studio space, all my models, and me, the director and producer, plus one of my statement styling pieces and a challenging hair and makeup design. I felt it was a team photo which gave a good indication of the collaborative aspects of the film. The quality is high, which was challenging to achieve, because the lighting in the studio was so dark, making many of the behind the scenes images slightly grainy. The composition works to put full emphasis on my main model, with myself and the cameraman framing her confident stance. It shows the team genuinely working on the scene, making the shot look candid with everyone relaxed, but concentrating on their roles. Looking at this image, I am so pleased that my photographer managed to capture the professional working atmosphere of the shoot, whilst giving an inclusive feel, almost as if the viewer is present in the studio and involved in the creative process.

I knew I wanted to include my 300 word project description on the back cover, including my logo and website link. Therefore I wanted an image that I could put on half the back cover, so that it could blend into darkness, for an appropriate background for my white text. As a makeup and hair student, I wanted a close up of one of my main character's designs. However to complement the front cover I wanted another behind the scenes image, rather than a more staged looking still of my film. I decided to take this image with the lighting set up and the model in her full styling to capture the atmosphere of the scene. I also wanted to incorporate the Sophie Lancaster wristbands to promote the Foundation and show my support. After discussing with my photographer, I therefore decided to have a shot of me actually applying her makeup, to showcase the wristbands, show work behind the scenes and give the appearance of a candid image.

(Sim, 2016).

I was initially inspired by this LUSH brochure design, because the bold black banner immediately pulls focus and contrasts with the stark white writing and brightly coloured background image. This inspired me to use one large image, so that there was one focus, with one bold statement, rather a number of less impactful images. Also, I felt having one bold image to represent the whole of my film would be a confident statement in my belief that it could encompass the essence of my film and that the image I have chosen would be an intriguing introduction to Ostracised, encouraging the viewer to delve deeper. 

I felt the white border surrounding the image made the image stand out and would be particularly effective against the black background of my chosen image. The inner white border acts as another frame to the written content, bringing the eye into the centre to focus on the brand name and softening the starkness of the image. 

I experimented with a variety of layouts for the front and back cover, incorporating my chosen images and relevant text. I chose to only include the film's title on the front cover, to keep a simplistic design mirroring the raw emotion of my film. On the back cover I wanted to include a description of the film's context and concept to enable to viewers to discover the true meaning and purpose of Ostracised. I included the website URL to encourage viewers to explore more of my work and the background to the creation of Ostracised, so that the video book can in future be used as an easily accessible promotional tool for my abilities in furthering my career. Additionally I created a logo to be used in any promotional material which may be developed in relation to the film and any subsequent related educational films which I may go on to create, acting as an easily recognised brand. To complete the cover, I decided to print an additional logo and title on the spine to make it easily identifiable.

I found the designs above to be too complicated and fussy, drawing focus away from the main images. I wanted the design to be simple, stripped back to the basics, mirroring the film's style, especially as both images are already very detailed with their own story to tell. I felt the border worked with the more fun and energetic brand, LUSH, however, I felt it was an unnecessary distraction for the more sober educational message of my film. I thought the banner again took focus away from the main images and from their bold statements, as the banner was too dominant and demanding of attention. I therefore decided to simply have the photograph on the front cover with nothing layered over it and the title simply printed underneath. Similarly I decided to have the image on the back cover only across half the space so that the text could be clearly seen over the plain black background, with no distractions. 

I decided to make the photos black and white to convey the sombre nature and serious message of the film. Additionally, the front image contains a lot of colour, from the outfits of the cast to the lights on the equipment, which I felt was distracting from the image's overall focus of being present at the shoot. My final designs are shown below, in the format I sent them to the printers:

References:

SIM, M., 2016. LUSH Brochure School Project - Editorial Design [viewed 26th April 2017]. Available from: https://www.behance.net/gallery/34020738/LUSH-brochure-l-School-project-Editorial-Design