#WhatYouWatchFilm

 

    I did, I made an Instagram account for the film. It may not seem like much, but it took me a good bit to get to this point. 

    Yesterday my instructor gave a presentation about how to run a successful social media account and develop a brand. Up until this point my brand has based around some photos on my Pinterest Board and my usual harsh and vibrate lighting style, but I had actually designed as Key Art that could be used for developing a brand. 

Me + Michael - Music Video
Dir. Alex Duque

The first choice I made was deciding what  would be the major colors associated with the  brand. Initially, I thought about how I've never  used greens before in my previous productions.  I've seen the color be used to associate a  griminess or  to add a grounded feel to the  story  or certain locations; a green color grade  has been repeatedly used in Amazon Prime's  The Boys and even Disgust in Inside Out is a green color. I then began to think of the lighting from the TV, and I thought maybe using some blues would convey the technological aspects. Blue has also been used for color grading scenes to make well-lit scenes look like they were filmed at night. 

The Boys

Mad Max: Fury Road

    While the ideas were nice I turned on my inner designer to see if the two colors would work. Blue and Green on on the same side of the color wheel, so naturally there not much contrast between the two. I downloaded some stock log footage to tried and color grade a look. The very first problem I ran into was making the green and blue look like two separate colors and not just a teal-ish color. I had made the shadows have a green tint to them while the highlights would have a blue tint. Below I have the raw log footage on the left and the graded look on the right. The footage just looked like it wasn't white balanced. Ultimately I decided I would be best to ditch the greens as the blues had more in touch with the story than my want to try used green looks.

    Now with the blue is the main color associated with the brand and story, it was time to work on Key Art for the Social Media. Now I choose Instagram because my target audience would likely consist on 18-24 year olds, those interested in psychology, and those with well versed understandings of media spheres; I feel Instagram has a large range of users and I can use hashtags to reach further audiences. Since I was just focused on creating the Instagram, I prioritized making a logo for the Profile Picture and first post. And with not footage to use, I had to channel my inner Graphic Designer. I wanted to create a TV display that had the title, What You Watch. I found some stock photos of static TV's and I used a bold font that was clear to read, which I would then combine in Photoshop to change how the text would blend with the background image. I then went on to fiddle around with blend modes, color adjustments, and even adaptive camera angles. I tried many different combinations of things, none of which I was happy with; they'd either look too simple, too colorful, or just plain hard to read. I decided to take a rest and come back the next morning.

    It's crazy how much a good night's rest can help because I woke up and immediately scrapped the previous project file, found a new static backdrop, adjusted a handful of a settings, added a texture to the text, and BAM that was it! The design was consistent with the brand's colors, detailed, and most importantly easy to read, but I had just remembered about how this logo is very much a horizontal logo with not much room for cropping to 1:1 aspect ratio for the Profile Picture. It was then that I referred back to one one my initial sketches of a close up of an eye with a reflection.

        I grabbed my camera, turned off all the lights in my room, shut the currents, put a flipped version of the logo on my phone, and got up right next to the camera. This decision also for the most part solidifies myself as Eric; this was a decision that I had been delaying to confirm since it would be nice to have a actor who would only have to focus on playing the role of Eric, but I've been focusing more of my time to look for a Host character and I've play role in my previous films before and I feel as though It wouldn't be that bad as long as I plan things out (which I will). I also was inspired by this short film where the main character was also the Writer, Director, Editor, and Producer.

    Anyhow, I took a few photos and combine the photo with the best framing with the photo that had the best reflection, and made this:

    I really liked how it came out, so then I hopped over to Instagram made a new account and set it as the Profile Picture. I also added a brief Bio, introducing the production and teasing more to come. I'll be making the first official post this Friday and it'll be of the TV Logo (perhaps Photoshopped atop a TV Screen in a dark room to fit the tone and setting of the film. Anyways I'm glad I made the Instagram because it forced me to finalize a few decisions and move along in the project schedule.

Follow @whatyouwatchfilm on Instagram :D