STAN 12 props: part 1 of 3

As we make more and more web shows, one simple rule occurs to me: do it right the first time so you don't have to go back and do it again OR have to spend a life time in post fixing mistakes.

this "rule" has often lead us to do MORE work than we need to prior to a shoot, to sell a shot, because if youve done your job right people won't question it. they accept it.

it's this sort of overcompensation that lead me to do this: a full newspaper front page, complete with articles that no one would ever read. why? because i wanted people to accept it, rather than getting distracted by the crappy looking special effect, or poorly glued together newspaper, i wanted to make one that actually looked real.

a lot of crazy research went into this. not only from a design and typography point of view, but also in terms of production. obviously, my first reaction was that i wanted to do a short run of these on actual newsprint, and then hand out the extra 99 that we wouldnt need at the screening. needless to say this didn't go over too well with our bank account, plus nowhere would be able to turn it around fast enough for us.so our second thought was buying newsprint, folding it over and printing one half, then the other. note to the reader trying to fake a newspaper: do. not. do. this. it's stupid and messed up our printer pretty bad and didn't work.long story short: large scale printing at a nationwide printing chain. it costs an arm and a leg, but it's nice to not have to shoot around anything or hide the glue or tape, etc.

photo of the top half.


and a photo of the bottom half, that CAN be seen in the episode, but only for a moment, and upside down.

below are copies of the design file (click for larger)






next time, more practical props.