Understanding my Target Audience

My target audience is fans of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns.
Aged: 40-60
Male

Of course there will be smaller audiences such as teens, women and 60+.
The graphics will be stylized to perhaps hook a new audience while maintaining the Sergio Leone title sequence styles.

As the audience are fans of these films, the graphics and style of the idents will emulate the original style of graphics used in the film's title sequences. They will appreciate and connect with it it at a personal level.

Once Upon A Time In The West

Out of all the westerns, Once Upon A Time In The West was the odd one out.

It had a fresh change of faces from Clint Eastwood to Charles Bronson and Lee Van Cleef replaced by Henry Fonda.

Also a main narrative difference is that all the previous films had been about bandits in search of money, Once Upon A Time In The West was about revenge and the railroad. Claudia Cardinale was the first woman to feature as a lead role in the westerns.

The aesthetic of the film is very different. It is not fiery reds and greens as it is in the other films, it is more orange and yellow. This is very noticeable if you have watched them all.

The fans of these films will (though not have thought about it specifically) notice this difference and will recognise the idents as a sequence.

Season Ident Storyboard REVISED

The Good the Bad and the Ugly Storyboard REVISED

For a Few Dollars More Storyboard REVISED

A Fist For Of Dollars Storyboard REVISED

Once Upon A Time In The West Storyboard REVISED

For a Few Dollars More Ident TEST

I think this is working well. It is exactly as I had planned out on my storyboards.

Things to Consider next are:

1. Sound, music, gun shots or voice over.

I think a voice over would go against the grain on the other idents.

2. The pace, whether it is fine as it is, or whether it will need to be slowed or sped up.

(This will depend on what sound I use).

A Fistful of Dollars Ident TEST

There are a few more things that I am going to consider to this specific ident.

1. Whether there will be a background, for example some texturing on the red.

2. Try a hand draw style (time permitting).

3. Add in speech from film, however I have already tested this and it was not as strong as without. (Needs some feedback).

Crit Feedback on Storyboards

Feedback Summerised:

The colour, type and images are good.
The storyboards are a bit unclear in that there is not too much indication of animation movement.
Audience is well considered.
Decreasing the opacity of some images to lighten the ident.
Logo considerations, how will having a logo change your approach?
Shades of red.

All Films

ENLARGE

Questions brought to crit

• Is the typeface suitable?

It is, but there is so much of it it is overwhelming. It is not cliche enough for it to work as a Leone typeface. Something similar, but with a bit more 'Leone' feel to it would be fine.

For a Few Dollars More

ENLARGE

Question brought to crit

• I have tried a more hand made style for this ident. Does it still fit in with the other idents or not?

Yes, the colours/photographs as well as the fonts tie them together. It might be good to have some verity.

• Does the white type at the end of the fit on with the rest of the ident?

It would fit in more if it were black. However you will need to find a way to make it legible against the background.

For a Fistful of Dollars

ENLARGE

Questions brought to crit

• I have tried black type on the red background as a change from white, does it work or not?

The white type is better looking at the other storyboards, also it will fit in with the white images.

• Is the typeface suitable for a Western?

It may be suitable, but it doesn't fit in with the continuity of the other idents.

• Does the wording of the last frame seem right?

No, it is too much, break it up. Maybe to 'Only on Film4.'

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

ENLARGE

Questions brought to crit

• Do the blending options on the Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef frames work better than the Eli Wallach frame?

The feedback said that the Eli Wallach frame was better. The blending option style was too cluttered and busy and would be complicated to animate. Also based on what I had told them about the Leone films the simpler style was more suitable.

• Do the transitions seem to be working?

Yes they make sense. They will be simple enough to animate as a sequence of separate JPEGs.

• The verity of typefaces in one composition is a style taken from Sergio Leone's style, does it work here in context with my audience?

It would have been useful to have been able to show them an example of type used in the title sequence of the film, but there was now enough time and the aim of the crit was to cover more than one point. But on a aesthetic level, yes it does work, again going on what I have told them.

Press Ads

Type Characteristics

For a few Dollars More Face Treatments

These image treatments needed to be rich in colour, slightly stylized, but not out of place.

I have taken some screen shots of the characters which will be rotoscoped into the idents.

Each character has a colour in correlation to the title sequence of the film. I have applied a slight cut out to the images. The idea is that it will barely be noticeable but will give the images a styled edge that would otherwise be non-existent.

This did not look rough, in keeping and original enough to fit in with the idents. So I printed out the images on a standard ink printer onto normal 120 gsm paper. This way some quality was lost as well as achieving a textured stock.

I then wither ripped, cut or burned each image, scanning them in as I went.

Then all that was left was to piece them back together in the animation.

Once Upon A TIme in The West Preliminary Storyboard

A fist For Of Dollars Preliminary Storyboard

Season of Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western Preliminary Storyboard

DVD Schematic

This is my initial schematic, I imagine it will change when it comes to creating it, but there are a few things which I am certainly sticking with.

Firstly I would like to keep the main title page un-cluttered. With a maximum of 4 links out. I may put the PDF on the main menu as well. I was thinking about putting the silent movie on it as well, but it is not as important. Really it is just the very beginnings of our understanding into this software and also this type of design context. So I think it should stay in extras.

Also I do not know whether the evaluation or concept statement will be necessary. For one the CS will be in the PDF. However it couldn't hurt to have it in there.

For a Few Dollars More Preliminary Storyboard

The Good the Bad and the Ugly Preliminary Storyboard

Title Menu - Prep for DVD Studio Pro Workshop

This menu was designed in preparation for the DVD Studio pro workshop, it is no the final article.
It is low res, so I can quickly make amendments to it if it is inappropriate for the software.

However as far as the colours and the general idea of a blood splat across the screen goes, it is a good grounding to work from towards the final menu designs. I will pick up on that later when my idents are further towards being finished.

Hand Drawn Motifs- Applied

Looking through the title sequences of the films, i noticed there were a lot of motifs and ornamental decorations.
Therefore I have drawn a few designs of my own which might be useful to drop into the idents at a later stage. Either used on the type or as a part of the composition.

The Pendulum - After Effects Tutorial

This was surprisingly tricky to get right, I am not convinced I have got it right still.

Crit Feedback

Crit Feedback:

Target audience specified.
Context has some specifications to resolve. But on the right track.
Solid knowledge of subject.
Perhaps some presumptions of what the audience want.
No need to include the film four schedule in the ident.

Ident Idea

Ident Presentation

The presentation needed to begin with a short history lesson. I am aware that most people my age don't know about these films, and especially why they are called spaghetti westerns.

After that I described the main elements of the films, such as characters, music and location and the implications they will have on my idents.

Progression of Ident Idea 1

Over christmas I decided it would be useful to actually make an ident or at least attempt one. This would keep my after effects skills up to fresh and possibly path the way for a good start to this brief.

I began with the 'Once upon a time in the west' ident.

Working with the idea of using type and quotes from the film along with some iconic cinematic stops from the film I began making the ident.

This post shows a few of the stages and variations of the ident design process.