VIFF Process Book by School of Art, George Mason University

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

PROCESS BOOK HUONG NGUYEN VU

STRATEGY

PROPOSAL

p.01

RESEARCH

p.05

INITIAL DESIGNS

p.09

FINAL

p.15

HI BIRDIE

p,19

C O L L AT E R A L

p.25

S TA N D A R D

p.37

GUIDE

C ATA L O G U E

p.41

D I F F I C U LT I E S

p.45

P R O P O SA L

The exhibition a combination of branding and merchandise design for Virginia Indie Film Festival 2021. The event will take place for 3 days from June 19 to 21. The project will have several components.

P ROP OSAL

MASCOT There will be a mascot character made for the festival. It is inspired by Japaneseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mascot merchandising like Pikachu, Mickey Mouse, or Hello Kitty. There are prefectures in Japan that have their own mascots based on foods, or animals, the district wants to advertise and this mascot could be something that represents the spirit of Virginia. The idea is to make a character that hasve a friendly image that can appear on merchandises. The mascot will appear on a series of collector buttons. The buttons will be given out on a specific day during the event so it will be something people can collect if they go to all the days. The illustration on the button will either have the mascot dressed up as iconic movie characters or it will be a sequence of drawings with a story and you need to collect all of them to figure out the plot.

GSG There will be a brand style guide to give a clear outline of the visual and verbal representations of the brand through its graphics and typography.

CATALOGUE

MERCHANDISE

A film catalogue will also be given out for free when goers pick up their passes. It contains the information of venues participating in the film festival, and descriptions of the films that will be screen at the venues.

The next part would be design for poster to advertise the event.

MOTION DESIGN

There are unisex T-shirt, and tote bag that will be given out as gifts for those who attend and bought the VIP pass.

A short 30 sec. motion design intro video for the film festival will be made and run before the start of each films.

THE CHOICE The branding for Virginia Indie Film Festival 2021 was the final choice and got approval for continuation. I wanted to choose projects that will let me showcase by my design and illustration skills. The text was edited and proofread by Mason Writing Center.

R ES E A R C H

RESEARC H

Looking through many film festivals, the most common trait is that majority of them do not have any logos. Most use plain wordmarks to convey their brand image. The color palettes are not very bright. Black, red, and blue are colors most utilized. The design choices are likely because film festivals tend to target young adult and older demographics. Film festivals often have â&#x20AC;&#x153;highbrowâ&#x20AC;? or hipster association, so the image used to project their brands tend to go for a sophisticated and mature vibe.

I N I T I A L D E S I G N S

I N I TI AL DESI GN S

To start any branding process, it is most important to get the lock-up that would be represent the brand identity. The rest of the brand identity will be based on the color scheme and vibe of the lock-up to maintain brand consistency. Many combinations of logo and wordmark were created using the different variations, tracking, placement, and acronyms of Virginia Indie Film Festival. It was best to avoid anything that looked too similar with the already established logo to avoid confusions and legal issues. Combinations of VIFF acronyms and spelled out name of the event was played with. In the end, through critique processes and obtaining inputs from others, using the spelled-out Virginia Indie Film Festival as a wordmark was a better choice. The other logo mark designs were too complicated to scale down or did not seem to do a good job representing the brand.

CONCEPTS

cochin

futura

VIRGINIA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

VIFF

viff viff

virginia indie ﬁlm festival lao mn

virginia indie film festival

VIRGINIA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

century gothic

virginia indie ﬁlm festival

monoton

raleway

futura light condensed

century gothic

VIRGINIA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

virginia indie ﬁlm festival virginia indie ﬁlm festival

I N I TI AL DESI GN S

The end concept was narrowed down to using vector shapes to represent the letter V, and slanted arrangement of the Indie Film Festival to suggest the slope of A to represent Virginia by VA instead of spelling the word out. Various arrangement of lines and thickness were tested. The final choice was considered to have the best balance.

CONCEPTS

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

FINAL

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

F I N A L

F I NAL

The color scheme that most people liked seemed to be ones that contain warm colors like orange and red. People preferred it because it matched the color scheme of Cardie, the mascot. It was suggested to not use colors that are too high contrast and go a more analogous or monochromatic color schemes. Through going through testing with contrast and visibility, the palette with orange, red, and brown was chosen. An alternative version of the logo was created from typeface to use in tight spaces. It should be use only if necessary.

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

P P34-5C P P40-7C P P26-15C

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM VIRGINIA INDIE FESTIVAL

FILM FESTIVAL

INDIEINDIE VIRGINIA FILM FILM FESTIVAL FESTIVAL

VIRGINIA INDIE

H I B I R D I E

H I BI RDI E

Cardie, the norther cardinal, was chosen as the mascot. When going through animals that Virginia is known for, the norther cardinal was one of the most known animals that can represent a friendly image for the festival. Many variations of his concept were made to test reactions. The initial design has him with thick eyebrows, holding popcorns and wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt to give him some personality. He has glasses from watching too many movies. The critique group thought he was too like the Angry Bird because of his eyebrow and color scheme. He also seems a little too critical instead of looking friendly.

CONCEPT

H I BI RDI E

The follow up design made him more The illustration changed from flat and gradient shading style to rougher lines to give a more illustrated feel. friendly looking with blushing cheeks and bigger eyes. His thick black eyebrows are now replaced with turf of feathers sticking to create more subtle representation. A bowtie was added to his ensemble to make him look cuter. To quote the 11th Doctor Who, â&#x20AC;&#x153;bow ties are cool.â&#x20AC;?

FINAL

C O L L AT E RA L

CO LLATERAL

I wanted to take into consideration of the event location taking place at Virginia Beach, the norther cardinal, and film imagery in mind as I went through the process to create the collateral materials. The initial designs for the poster used visuals of beach and birds. During critiques, some input that the connection to cinematography was not clear.

CONCEPTS

CO LLATERAL

Revision of the posters included more obvious film imagery like the city forming projection. The buildings are representation of the Virginia Beach town center. The skyscrapers that resemble film rolls, and I turned the sun into feed spool to further emphasize the connection to cinema within the poster. The 2nd versionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept intended to use a realistic depiction of northern cardinal mascot unrolling and turning into film rolls. The first concept was considered stronger, so it was chosen. Even though some favored the bird and like the rustic, earthy vibe of the 2nd concept that blends well with the warm tone of the logo, the execution of the bird unrolling into film was harder to convey.

CONCEPTS INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

20 21

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

RECEPTION JUN 18 ZEIDERS AMERICAN DREAM THEATER 6:30PM

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

JUNE 19—21

VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMA THEATERS W W W. V I F F. N E T

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

20 21

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

JUNE

19—21 VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMA THEATERS

2021 JUNE 19-21

W W W. V I F F. N E T

VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMA THEATERS

RECEPTION JUN 18 ZEIDERS AMERICAN DREAM THEATER 6:30PM

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

W W W. V I F F. N E T

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

CO LLATERAL

The final version and color of the poster was teal and aqua. I used cool palette to contrast with the logo warm tones. The same color was incorporated on the movie passes and notepad merchandise. Notepad is 6 x 7 in size and was chosen as merchandise choice so aspiring movie auteurs have something portable to write down the ideas that might one day become their big breakout piece. The design on the tote bag used minimalist graphic of film lighting and projection. The brand logo was included.

CO LLATERAL

Many people keep event ticket stubs or passes as memorable of the event. The event pass took it a little further and shaped like movie ticket tubs. On the back of the pass has information layout in format like movie tubs with space to write down reviews and rating. The attendee can write down their experiences of the event and keep it for themselves to look back later. The movie passes are 3.2 x 5. It will be printed on laminated thick stocks. The VIP pass will be printed with cracked ice holographic effects However, due to the complications of the Covid-19 pandemic, the plans to print or create physical version of these merchandises were not possible. Unfortunately, because of the unexpected complications, some plans had to be changed during the project creation.

20 21

SINGLE DAY PASS TITLE

P P34-5C P P40-7C P P26-15C

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

RELEASE DATE

2021

CAST

PARTICIPATING VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMAS

RATING

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

REVIEW

P P34-5C P P40-7C P P26-15C

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

SCREENING TIME

JUNE 19 — 21

W W W.V I F F. N E T

WEEKEND PASS TITLE

INDIE FILM INDIE FILM FESTIVAL FESTIVAL P P34-5C P P40-7C P P26-15C

VIP PASS TITLE

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

INDIE INDIE FILM FILM FESTIVAL FESTIVAL

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

P P34-5C P P40-7C P P26-15C

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

RELEASE DATE

2021

RELEASE DATE

2021

CAST

PARTICIPATING VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMAS

CAST

PARTICIPATING VIRGINIA BEACH CINEMAS

RATING

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

REVIEW

SCREENING TIME

RATING

INDIE FILM FESTIVAL

REVIEW

JUNE 19 — 21

SCREENING TIME

JUNE 19 — 21

CO LLATERAL

The illustrations for the pins were changed. Instead of having it made into a sequential storyboard, I decided to parody well-known indie films that were released recently. While the story concept encourages collection, it might not translate so well as standalone collectibles. The movies chosen were Midsommar, The Lighthouse, and Parasite. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all critically acclaimed indie movies that are screening at the event. A neutral pin with black background and just the logo was made from groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members suggestion.

G RA P H I C S TA N DA R D G U I D E

GSG

The graphic standard guide is the most important piece of the brand identity. It sets the tone and consistency of what to do and how to present the brand image in the future for every single print and digital pieces. The style guide used colors from the logo to emphasize the brand color palette. It also gives the text hierarchy and guideline for typography.

C ATA LO G U E

CATALOG UE

The film catalogue gives the information for movies. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also an infographic timetable to show when the films will be screen for attendees. The catalogue maintains the consistent warm color palette of the brand. Half-tone patterns were used to represent the tiny dots that make up film screen, and + markers use on film set as market were used as visual decorations to help tie in some film references.

D I F F I C U LT I E S

D I F FI C U LTI ES

Due to the sudden chaotic situations that Covid-19 caused, the short motion video was cut from the final turn while trying to work with the confusing condition of online classes and redoing schedule. Even though most seniors can expect to feel stress during the last stretch of their semester, the 2020 classes had to deal with the added stress from pandemic that others have not felt before. I do not think many expected how quickly the country, and the world, shut down

when we heard about the infections from China. I am not a social person, so my daily routines did not change a lot. However, it did feel different when you are being forced to stay home out of fear of being sick. However, it is an advantage designers have that we are often working on laptops or computers, so we did not have too hard adjusting to this digital life.