Collaging A Collage

We've been contracted to do the graphic for the NEH/PBS initiative "Picturing America".

This has mostly been the title sequence and typesetting with a couple other things here and there. That's in addition to the handful of full subjects we've produced.

Last week we began discussing with Gail Levin a way to illustrate the construction of Romare Bearden's "The Dove".  The impetus behind this idea was the voice track of his niece describing the artist's thought process.

We thought it would be interesting to document the process as we go along.

Today we got the audio cut.

Step One: Listen to the voice over a few times.

Step Two: Type the transcript.

Step Three: Verbally run our idea by Gail.

This little bit is deceptively difficult.  When it's complete it should easy and obvious, but getting there might be tricky.

The primary concern in creating illustrative graphics about art is to be "true to the subject."  At least in these educational films.  Reverence is appropriate.

What is difficult here is that we'll need to show the construction of the collage without the benefit of pulling apart the layers from the original. 

Our next step will be to sketch a rough concept board.

Monday Morning Motion Graphics: Pictures of Pictures

These are two clips from a sequence we did for Gail Levin's American Masters' Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides.

Since Starman, Jeff Bridges has chronicled the production of all his films with his widelux camera.  He then prints a small run of books as wrap gifts to cast and crew.

Presenting photography in documentary can present a tough issue.  Showcasing the image is the primary task, so you want to respect the image, intent and cultural context of the picture.

In this case presentation is made even more difficult by the ultra-wide format of the camera.

So we decided to show the books instead of creating a digital graphic presentation.

The idea was to evoke an intimate, personal feeling with the books.  The photographer has an unusually personal relationship to the subjects, so we felt as though the "hand" should feel present here too.

So we shot a test in a couple hours, it was probably about three minutes long.  A few days later, Jed Parker, the film's editor, trimmed it to the length they needed.  We then reshot to match that length.