Responses by Kristian Andrews, director, Studio AKA
Background: This twenty-five-second short film introduced collection Paper Box as a resource for graphic designers and consumers interested in Fedrigoni’s paper products. The film also promotes and tells the story of how to use Paper Box, by unpacking the box and exploring its three volumes through tone, texture, color and sound.
Reasoning: Graphic Thought Facility (GTF) had already done a fantastic job designing Fedrigoni’s Paper Box. The design agency achieved this incredible feat of collating the huge quantity of paper ranges, weights and finishes produced over the years by Fedrigoni into this functional object. So, the process of designing this film was straightforward as we followed on from the design vernacular set out by GTF, which meant that our role was mostly as a storyteller.
Essentially, we were presenting the journey of discovery for a new user of this desirable object. We began by playing with the box to find its most satisfying aspects. Eventually, this solidified into a narrative, in which simplicity gives way to levels of complexity until the viewer is fully plunged into the shear breadth of color, texture, finish and weight of all the product ranges. From this huge range of papers, “the chosen one” is selected, the book closes, the volumes are stacked and simplicity reigns once more.
Challenges: This job was an exercise in restraint. It would have been easy to overcomplicate the piece with elements that didn’t fit the minimalist graphic aesthetic. The addition of shadows, naturalistic perspective, and depth of field or texture would have all been missteps into the photoreel. Even motion blur, a tool used to smooth staggered playback, was abandoned on this project as it felt like a compromise of those sharp edges. Many of the movements had to be slowed down or eased to reduce the flicker between the frames, which can create harsh flat shapes when in motion.
Favorite details: Our collaboration with composer and sound designer David Pape. His sound design uses foley recordings of the actual Paper Box itself to build a percussive score that feels authentic, sensory and playful.
Visual influences: Although 1970’s avant-garde graphic design influenced the appearance of the Paper Box, our major influence for creating this piece wasn’t visual. We were hugely inspired instead by composer Matthew Herbert’s 2012 album Tesco. In this album, Herbert samples the ten best selling items from the supermarket chain and makes music that you actually want to dance to. We attempted to apply Herbert’s same lively and resourceful approach to our audio, and add visual storytelling to this project.
Alternative approach: Everyone was thrilled with the results we achieved on this project, so there’s no reason to go back. But, if I was invited to work on the next Paper Box promotional film, I think we might approach the motion blur challenge slightly differently. It’s a bit nerdy and technical, but by delivering at 60 frames per second, I think we could avoid motion blur and achieve a super smooth end result.
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