Disco, Design and Déjà vu
Read MoreNed Bensen's The Greatest Hits is a story revolving around its protagonist Harriet who grapples with the subversive power of music and its nostalgic influence. For Harriet, songs trigger intense memories, leading to uncontrollable relapses into her past, prompting her to shield herself with headphones. The film's credits and title sequences are a celebration of popular music and the iconic designs of 'record label' stickers. Emphasising Harriet's unique ability to foresee moments adds depth to the title design, reflecting the film's thematic richness.
Adding character to the piece, our team opted to embrace an analogue approach of filming in-camera rather than digitally recreate records. Shooting a real turntable and exploring different vinyls, we were able to capture a variety of textures, speeds and looks that give the piece another layer for the subconscious gaze and allowed us to invest more time into the digital requirements of the project – mitigating lengthy rendering and modelling times.
We mixed the live action plates by taking them into After Effects, tweaking the final look with grading, light leaks, and additional texturing. The final sticker labels were each hand-designed and comped on top of the previous live footage to replace the copyrighted images.
Using a lenticular effect to offset the multiple lines and dual imagery, we were able to create shutter-flash impressions of key visuals from the film. The director was also taken with the oily light leaks that can mainly be seen in the entirely black frame, which we worked on trying to incorporate into the chosen creative route.
Initial ideas featured the characters’ faces on vinyl sleeves evoking Harriet’s fleeting memories and her symbiotic connection to music while hinting at the narrative’s future.
