Iterum (2014) AV Campaign
Title Treatment + Official Trailer
Synopsis
"Iterum" (Latin: once again, second time, to repeat) is a short psychological thriller that centers around Ornela, and up and coming young artist, who journeys to decipher what seems to be a message from the future. She stops at nothing, even as her mind betrays her and unravel the very fabric of her reality.
This short film is a result of my undergraduate thesis goal to a create a narrative that is a visual portrayal of time travel as a state of mind, grounded on psycho-neurological studies. Moreover, the plot of the film was created to be a metaphor to design process.
Phase One / Title Treatment
The wordmark of the film needs to evoke a sense of distorted perception, which essential to the film's core theme. The final iteration of the logo is rooted from overlapping the word Iterum twice, which symbolizes the two timelines colliding in the movie. Using the typeface Pill Gothic as its base, the overlapping wordmark is manipulated into one, resulting in the "impossible shapes" optical illusion – becoming a nod to the idea of impossibility in the film (the main character "foreseeing the future"). It also is completely outlined, exuding a "blueprint" aesthetic, which connotes a sense of "questioning your identity or sanity", which also is a theme of my thesis film.
The final animated result:
Phase Two / Storyboarding The Trailer
The film, being cryptic, enigmatic and unpredictable in nature, gives me a big playground to toy with when it comes to portraying its premise. There were three initial ideas that the trailer could have been approached with, with the initial two being too much of a give-away to the plot of the film. The third (and final) idea stayed true to exactly what the film's thesis: a girl having premonitions that forewarn her of doom...or does it?
Final Trailer
Tick tock, tick tock: the transient pacing of the trailer's editing was a deliberate decision to amplify the vagueness of the film's premise. The simple yet sharp and jarring music, married with the flickery cutting of the visuals also reflects the main character's very cryptic journey as she races against time to find out what is true and what isn't.