Beyond the Scenes
Producing a unique experience
designing a theme
Canon USA approached us to take over production and design services for their presence at the Sundance Film Festival 2020. Having worked with them over past years providing their portrait studio, we had a lot of ideas to make the event more impactful than in previous years.
We wanted to make sure that this piece was given the attention it deserved for a brand as big as Canon. I began by researching the theme of Sundance 2020. Their marketing decided to ditch traditional norms by adopting something that was a lot more minimal and interpretive than previous years. This allowed me to approach the project with a pretty large spectrum of ideas. I just had to narrow it down.
The first thing that inspired us was how similar Sundance 2020 was aligned with French New Wave design of the 1960s. So, I dove deep into that world for a few weeks studying art, movie posters, colors and fonts of the era and genre to create concepts that paid hommage to the golden age of avant guard filmmaking.
Font Study from Masculin Feminin by Jean-Luc Godard.
Pierrot Le Fou movie poster, color and font inspiration.
Inspiration of Piet Mondrian
Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave) Inspiration
One of the concepts that we created was inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian. I felt like his work paired well with the filmmaking world. The grids of various blocks and colors remineded me of film strips in a chaotic frenzie. The client latched onto this aesthetic and we took off from there.
The theme was one of the parts of the design process that actually ended up being one of the easier things to conceive. As slaves to the production machine, we're very familiar with the term BTS/Behind the Scenes. Basically, they are the photos and videos that show the production of your favorite films and photoshoots to show the work it takes in making a scene.
The guests of the Canon Creative Studio are industry professionals. They already know what BTS is as they're the ones making it. So, our idea was simple, let's take these filmmakers one step further removed with Beyond The Scenes.
Beyond the Scenes is the idea that the creative process starts well before actual scene production. For the client it all begins with an idea, gathering with like minded people, and gathering the equipment needed to make the idea a reality. The Canon Creative Studio provided all of that for their guests.
Final Theme and Brand for Canon Creative Studio “Beyond the Scenes”.
production
With the theme and aesthetics dialed in, we had to start designing the space. We were confined to the storefront that Canon had been using in Park City for the past 5 years. So, we took the floorplans and decided to implement our theme physically in the layout. I divided the space into three sections: Gather, Inspire, and Create.
The Gather area was on the first floor at the entrance. This area was the welcoming section that provided guests with information and swag to get them excited for the space.
Walking up the stairs, you enter the Inspire section. This area is where the panel discussions and private networking events took place. We wanted to make sure that this area was engaging and showcased the movies shot with Canon cameras.
Going up to the third level, you enter the Create section. This area included equipment touch and tries as well as the Michael Ori portrait studio. Always a popular feature of the Canon Creative Studio, we wanted to make sure that people had the room they needed to engage with cameras and lenses while others waited in line for their portrait session.
Production reel of the Canon Creative Studio 2020.
Print Assets
Lanyards, Posters, Vinyl Cuts, Signage
digital media
Title cards, social media, email invites, etc.
Video Series
Videos that we shot (walktrhough & lighting setup)