Movie Magic
How a Creator Camp, a Couch Photo, and am indie filmmaker made for one of my fav poster projects.
Hey friends,
Hope you’re all doing well!
Over the past few weeks (actually the past month or so) I’ve been working on a super exciting project with someone who’s become a good friend of mine. Today, I just wanted to give you a little behind-the-scenes look into how it all came together.
I used to think stuff like the butterfly effect, how everything’s connected, and the whole “one thing leads to another” idea was kind of… BS. But the more things in my life that seem to connect in that exact way, the more I start to believe there might be something to it.
Back in February 2024, I went to this creator camp—shout out to Katie Mai for putting me onto it. I had no idea what I was walking into, just that I’d be meeting a bunch of internet creatives—from influencers to filmmakers, to artists, to a few other designers.
It turned out to be one of the most pivotal moments of my career in terms of building a real community of like-minded people.
Everyone there had a similar vision or goal, but they were chasing it through totally different mediums. We bonded hard—like hyper-speed bonding. Honestly, it felt like we were all close friends after just a week. Might’ve been more trauma bonding since we didn’t have power for most of the trip and had to improvise everything, but still.
That’s where I met Baron—aka American Baron. You’ve probably seen him online. He was arguably the most popular person there, and he makes these really funny and creative skit-type videos.
Since then, we’ve hung out a few times—some trips, some dinners in LA—and recently, the folks from creator camp asked me to collaborate on a film festival they’re launching.
I had to be paired with a filmmaker… and guess what i got paired up with Baron lol. Baron is actually premiering a feature film there. This became the perfect chance to work on something dope with a good friend.
*I’ll be heading to Austin for the premiere too, so if you go come say wassup.
The film’s a rom-com kinda thing and working on the merch and poster has been a fun little journey.
We went through a ton of poster iterations. The goal was to keep it rooted in that older Hollywood style—something that wasn’t so in-your-face, like floating Avengers heads everywhere.
I started with the merch designs. We had a couple of different directions, but we eventually landed on this dreamy, half-toned version featuring the two main characters. It had this floaty, nostalgic feel with some fun typography wrapped around it.
I think I submitted 3-4 final designs to baron and here were those as well.
I tried to have some variety but you could tell they kinda follow the same style with that one photo.
Here was the thing lol… At the time I designed this stuff, the movie hadn’t even been shot yet.
I only had one photo to work with: a casual iPhone pic of Baron and Caroline sitting on a couch. That was it. But honestly, considering that, I’m really stoked with how it all turned out. Just goes to show what good typography can do.
Once the merch was locked in, I knew I wanted the poster to follow the same visual system—same type, same colors, same vibe.
We explored a few poster versions. That all followed a similar type style from the merch as well as being rooted in that old Hollywood style we kinda set as an anchor.
Below are some alts to the final poster.
But the final one was super minimal, with tons of negative space. It used that same half-tone effect from the merch, but I wanted to push it a little more visually.
So—I printed it on transparent vellum paper using an inkjet printer, then scanned it back in. That gave the type this soft, bleedy texture and made the whole thing feel more tactile and visually interesting.
We were also hyped about how the pink color was printed. The characters looked great, and we went with a staggered type treatment for the billing block to give it that avant-garde flavor instead of the standard tall-condensed block of credits.
Here is the final poster:
Anyway—just wanted to share what I’ve been up to.
If you’re down to come to the film festival (not an ad, I promise), tickets are linked right here—and I’ll be there too, hanging with the homies.
It’s been refreshing to dive into some longer-form design work again instead of just cranking out one-off Instagram posts or content on the fly.
I tend to move between seasons—sometimes I’m deep in design, other times I’m more focused on content.
Right now, it’s all about client work… and surprisingly, I’m kind of enjoying it. A little stressed, sure. But getting by.
That’s it for now. Much love—and I hope you’re working on something exciting too.
Peace. ✌️
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