01
Period Accurate Graphics
This project was about manufacturing a prop graphic to match a devised script, along with a visual of an establishing shot featuring it. This was my first second year project for DFTV.
After reading the brief, the first thing I did was create a timetable for myself in order to help me with my time management on this project. After that, I decided to collect some primary research by visiting the National Justice Museum. My trip helped me decide to make a period-accurate letter, envelope and keepsake prop as listed in the brief. I then decided to look back at previous trips I’d been on with DFTV and the photographs I’d taken there to collect further primary research on the weathering of period letters.
I then decided on a year and a place – 1920s Los Angeles, California, with the show being a biopic about Neta Snook, the first female aviator to run a commercial airfield. In order to immerse myself in the period I did secondary research like looking at letter sizes using the archives at the University of Congress and collectors’ albums.
In order to create the prop, I needed an envelope net, a stamp, a postmark, a cancellation, a letter written with a dip pen and a keepsake. I created the envelope net using Illustrator. I came across a problem regarding the size and back of the envelope. After a tutorial, I adapted this to have the type of back of the envelope that would be common in the period.
I created the stamp through cleaning up an image of an already-cancelled Washington 2-cent red stamp; the postmark was created through designing a font that matched my research images and then remaking it in Illustrator using vectors. The technique I have chosen works well as it means I will be able to create postmarks using this font in the future.
The same process was used to create the cancellation, albeit using a photo I found and cleaned up using Photoshop. Part of the brief was to create something that would be fine for a close-up, so I kept it in my mind that it shouldn’t be pixelated. I found a piece of paper ephemera from an aerial meet in Canada and changed the wording using Photoshop to make it fit with the setting of the piece. I then printed these out and weathered them using differing amounts of tea. I also sanded them to fox the edges and the sides. I wanted the prop to look like it’d been in a jean pocket before being sent.
I gave the printed ink a little life using the dip pen and then the letter was also weathered. I think this was really effective to enhance the prop as the dried fresh ink catches the light, creating an interesting highlight.
I made the visual using a mix of Sketchup, gouache and Photoshop. My process for this was creating a room based on images I had researched for airfield offices in the 1920s and the exterior of Kinner Airfield (where Neta Snook would’ve worked) and then using the grid method to paint it using gouache. Then I used photographic elements to bring it to a finish. I think this worked well under the timeframe as well as acting on my feedback from the end of Year 1 to use more mediums. It was successful according to my feedback as it helped to create a mood that was consistent with the genre I had chosen.
After hearing my feedback, when I consider my portfolio, I’d like to take the time to consider the weight of the paper used for the envelope. I’d also like to make the adjustments to my visual they mentioned which was darkening the silk pilot’s scarf in the foreground. I would also like to make the time to watch the English Patient and a Room with a View as they were both mentioned in my feedback.
My skills have developed in my project. I have become more confident in using the dip pen and weathering. If I did the project again, I think I would also consider the colours of the paper. Overall, I was really pleased with my prop graphic.
