Hold the phone…. that can’t be? Oh buddy it sure is! The 2015 Nickel Independent Film Festival is right around the corner! This year I was instructed to tone it wayyyyyyyyyy down. Holy #$%@ did I ever.
And we couldn’t be flipping happier!
Back to the future
Let’s hop into the way-back machine and take a look back over the last four years of creative materials…
Here is our 2011 creative, which was themed around red carpet Hollywood. Our pals Nickel-Head and Camera-Head were on the scene, sporting some dapper attire and bright lights and the red carpet also played a major role in that year’s creative. The photorealistic approach then and in the following years was fun with zany spin tied back to that year’s theme. Those projects were extremely fun to work on and the results were always well received.
One Wild Ride
The 2012 creative sent our duo on a rollercoaster ride on the famed nickel couch (or the hot seat as she been come to be known as over the years). The overall all theme of the that year was loud and punchy which was a complete shift from the red carpet look and feel of the previous year while still maintaining that photo realistic look.
Those ruby slippers tho
The 2013 creative saw the duo heading down the yellow-brick road as they “We’re off to see the Nickel.” As you can tell the theme was set in the world of Oz. The majority of the creative had our duo heading off down the yellow brick road to the LSPU Hall. Again photorealism reigned supreme for this year complemented with some bright fun colours.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane …
The 2014 creative featured our duo as superheros, and the overall look and feel was very comic book driven, from the poster to the typography. It all showcased a classic, comic book aesthetic. With a few half-tones and some punchy fonts with a splash of bright yellow, we really had something going on. The overall look was still photorealistic but was modified in such a way to emulate that older comic book effect (half-tones for the win).
This is now
This year, we did the complete opposite, and I couldn’t be an happier with the result.
Twelve glorious letters creating my favorite word set the entire mood for this year… minimalistic.
http://giphy.com/embed/Tk1RH495RjYYM
I LOVE minimalism. Can’t get enough of it. When it was revealed to me this was our course for this year’s materials, I was over the moon and then some!
With the 15th anniversary of the festival we took a new and fresh approach.
One solid background colour, paired with a single visual element depicting a well-known indie film and a fun factoid to tie it all together. Short, sweet and to the point.
The folks at Nickel wanted to celebrate the fact that some of best (and highest-grossing) films were independently made and that independent doesn’t mean; “that dude up the road with a handycam that makes films.”
Something independent this way comes
This being the 15th year was something also very special and to mark this milestone we created a micro-brand to pair with the Nickel wordmark. We brought back our old pals Nickel-head and Camera-head in a fun new minimalistic way. Each was placed on two on the republic colours (fun fact the LSPU Hall is painted in the Republic of Newfoundland colours). The middle of the piece features a special 15 cent piece to mark each year of the Nickel success. Lastly, to enclose the design, laurels were used which are commonly used in film festivals.
With those aesthetics nailed down it was time to brainstorm about which films would make the cut for the poster creative. We had a list of over 25 movies we could’ve easily ran with but, in the end five were chosen:
1. Pulp Fiction – The cult classic with it’s star studded cast that was written and directed by indie film legend Quentin Tarantino.
2. The Terminator – This action packed indie film launched the careers of both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Director James Cameron.
3. Shakespeare in Love – This period piece won 8 of the 13 oscars it was up for in 1998.
4. The Big Lebowski – Another cult classic starring Jeff Bridges as “the dude” and directed by the Coen Brothers.
5. The Blair Witch Project – Once the highest grossing indie film of all time, and kick started the genre of found-footage horror movies.
Get the popcorn
Each film was given a single identifying visual and tagline which was paired with a fun factoid for all those non-movie buffs out there. These visuals needed to be so simple and film-specific that even a person with limited knowledge about the film would identify.
Script check
We also switched up the typography for the booklet. Running with Bebas Neue for all our headers/title text.
Matching that with Google’s beautifully-made font Roboto. The two fonts pair very well and Roboto’s high legibility makes it perfect for our long / body copy. We also increased the size of the booklet for readability in the dimly lit LSPU Hall during the event.
Pull this creative over three poster sizes, other print materials and the festival booklet and that is it for the 2015 festival.
That’s a wrap
Hands down this was one of the funnest projects I got to work on this year. Plus in a style that I’m passionate about! I’m so proud and this will go down as a year to remember for the fine people at Nickel. Here’s a huge pre-emptive congratulations to all the staff and volunteers at Nickel from the Dc Design House team for making this wonderful festival happen for the last 15 years.
Check it:
