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WATSON DESIGN GROUP
Walking backward from the movie
The team at Watson/DG lives and breathes movies. Posters for Mockingjay, The Expendables, The Kings of Summer and The Grand Budapest Hotel—all gifts from movie studios—adorn the office walls. “When we leave on Friday, we talk about the movies we’re going to see that weekend,” Cuddy-Angel says. “When we come in Monday, the first things we talk about are the movies we saw. That’s the conversation we have—day in, day out.”
Those conversations continue in the brainstorming meetings with which Watson/DG kicks off every new project. Who is in the meeting? “Anyone we can get in the room,” Ramirez deadpans. That means interns, receptionists and avid fans, according to Tracy Robinson, office manager and self-described “den mother.” If you care and are interested, you’ll find yourself in the room. As Robinson says, “To tell the story, you have to want to tell it.”
What’s interesting about the initial brainstorming session for designing a site like Birdman, Marholin says, is that they talk about everything but the website. “We talk about themes the movie explores. What is it trying to tell us about character? You have to find what’s inter- esting about the movie. For Birdman, it’s the story, not just the actors. It’s sound, artistry and cinematography. As we figure out how to represent that, eventually, the website grows out of these conversations.”
The first brainstorming session starts wide. It begins with a reading of the script and often an advance screening of the film. Ramirez says they ask clients, “What’s the feeling you want someone to get when leaving the movie theater?”
By the second round of brainstorming, the list of participants is shorter. “We scale down to tighten our focus,” Ramirez says. Passionate fans “with a really big
Left: “With Big Hero 6 (watsondg.com/dev_public/big-hero-6), our goal was to take an official movie site to the next level with WebGL and video interstitials to make each of the heroes shine. The characters are larger than life, each with their own distinct look and personality; we put them front and center so audiences could begin to get a feel for the film and form a connection with their favorite character.” Walt Disney Studios, client.
“What happens when you can’t distinguish a machine from a human? It’s a thought that captivated us throughout the social campaign for Ex Machina and helped inform a Tinder-based stunt at SxSW. We focused on making social content as intellectual as it was sensual, drawing in new followers with the film’s beautiful and hypnotic artificial intelligence, Ava.” A24, client.
This page: “Amy Winehouse means so much to so many people—it was important for us to build in a meaningful interaction on the official documentary’s site (amy-movie.com). We gave fans the oppor- tunity to share personal messages about the late singer on the site as well as on social media. Paired with candid footage of Winehouse, the site reflects her incredible life and legacy.” A24, client.
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