CREATIVE PROCESS - INTAKE & SKETCHING
Austin Mills is a filmmaker and brand storyteller. He specializes in creating corporate video, short film, and brand awareness. In early March 2023, I was approached by Austin with an opportunity to contribute to his short documentary called, farm on the river. He was in the process of editing footage for a short brand film he made for a scaling oyster farm called Ferda Farms. They are located on the New Meadows River in Brunswick, Maine.
Austin needed custom lettering for the film title that would compliment the film's tone and uniqueness when being advertised on social media and showcased at upcoming film festivals later that summer. Simpler the better was what he needed, but to have some fun with it. On the right, is the inspiration that he sent to me that provided the direction I needed to see what he wished to achieve.
Austin made sure that I knew the lettering style he wanted by sending me an image he was fond of and took inspiration from. As far as color, he wanted an all white or slight tint of yellow or tan that was similar to the inspiration. After noting all he provided, I got to work with sketching. Austin wanted to keep the working film title all lower cased in which I explored, but I also explored other options since I knew he was still editing his footage. After presenting my four sketches to him and letting him sit on the concepts for a day, he got back to me exclaiming that he loved them all and had narrowed down his decision to the 3rd option. It was then time for me to refine it and present Austin with a proof for review.
Refined Sketch (Tan & Gold)
CREATIVE PROCESS - REFINEMENT
After noting all he provided, I got to work with sketching. Austin wanted to keep the working film title all lower cased in which I explored, but I also explored other options since I knew he was still editing his footage. After presenting my four sketches to him and letting him sit on the concepts for a day, he got back to me exclaiming that he loved them all and had narrowed down his decision to the 3rd option. He liked what I did, and was open to change the film title to being "Farm on the River" versus his original plan of it being called, farm on the river. It was then time for me to refine it and present Austin with a proof for review.
I worked my magic using procreate just like I did with the four initial sketches, and I finalized a chiseled marker style that complimented the type orientation and weight of each character. Basically, I took note of Austin's inspiration but provided something that would achieve his own unique creative look while staying legible at the same time. After his review, I received his approval with quote
"BOOM! everything I imagined and more. I love the coloring. Is it possible to send the source file, so I can change it depending on which clip I put the title on?"
CREATIVE PROCESS - FINALIZATION & DELIVERY
I finalized the vector lettering in Adobe Fresco and chiseled out cuts into parts of the lettering in hopes of increasing the legibility of the script/cursive flow that connect one character to the next. My final thing to do was to bring the lettering into Adobe Illustrator, solidify the tan and gold colors and save the official vector artwork that I needed to deliver to Austin. After completing these final steps, I emailed my final .ai file to Austin and he was happy to finally have what he needed to help polish editing his footage. He ended up using the tan color for the hand lettered film title and granted me his blessing to use any sample of work from the film trailer and full length feature as well.
It was an absolute pleasure working with Austin and an honor to contribute my hand lettering skillset to his much anticipated short brand film for Ferda Farms located in Brunswick, Maine.
Attached is Austin Mills' vimeo link to his short documentary, Farm on the River.
Hand Lettered Film Title
Trailer Synopsis
Closing Title
Film Synopsis
Opening Title
Closing Title
Credits
Austin and I have been friends since college and I have had the privilege now to have worked with him individually as well as with his family who own the restaurant called Docks Seafood Restaurant & Market that is located in South Portland, Maine. Learn more here to see how I was have helped elevate the restaurant and their marketing!