The Candy Man
Studio photography/magazine layout/typography/videography
“The Candy Man” is a collaboration with W Magazine that tells the story of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” As illustrated by the lyrics of “Pure Imagination” and “The Wondrous Boat Ride,” the viewer witnesses Willy Wonka’s descent into madness across the three spreads and even the front and back covers.
Front and Back Covers
Spread 1
Spread 2
Spread 3
Trailer
Process
After receiving the brief, I brainstormed a list of my favorite movies that I thought could have interesting concepts for a fashion magazine that told a story. Feasibility also played a big role in my decision. Would I have access to the clothes? The props? The setting? Models? Holding the position of art director in this project and ultimately making every decision was a challenge, but I enjoyed having full control over every aspect of the magazine. In the end, I decided that “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” met all my criteria.
Concept Sketches
Part of the requirements for the project was that there had to be some kind of narrative told throughout the magazine inspired by our chosen film. I considered a couple different concepts for my magazine. First, since I had already picked a girl to be my model, I thought about just doing a gender-swapped version of Willy Wonka. But this felt too simple. Then, I thought about having my model dress as both Willy and Charlie and showing the relationship/connection between the two characters. But finally, I came up with the idea to use the lyrics from two iconic scenes in the movie – Pure Imagination and The Wondrous Boat Ride – to visualize Wonka’s shift in personality throughout the movie from magical and idolized to insane and feared.
The sketches on the left show my thought process of choosing which lyrics from both songs would best tell the story. Then, I thought about the imagery of these scenes and drew layout sketches of how I could represent the narrative. I decided to have the first spread show the good side of Willy Wonka, the second spread be a transition, and the third spread show his scary side.
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In the sketches below, I started to figure out how I could incorporate the lyrics into the spreads. I wanted the typography to feel integrated into the photos, and I wanted it to feel playful and have a similar style to the typography and imagery used in the movie.
Moodboard
The moodboard for this project had to be physical which was different than anything I had ever done for past projects. While shopping at Goodwill for props and clothes, my friend spotted a little wooden boat that reminded her of the “boat scene” in the original movie. The boat scene is usually known as very scary and disliked, which is how I came up with the idea to use it as a main feature in my narrative. I bought the boat and I was determined to make it look as similar to the boat in the movie as I could, so I spent hours painting and adding small details like the flag. I thought it would be the perfect vessel to hold my moodboard which features colors, textures, and items that are used in my magazine.
Test Shots
I began photographing with some test shots to experiment with different lighting setups, angles, and poses. I knew that I wanted the lighting in most of the shots to be dramatic, especially in the covers and the last spread. I was able to find that using barn door modifiers, high angles, and single light set-ups gave me the look that I wanted. I also used this shoot to try some different poses that could be used in each spread of the magazine.
Spread 1
I got very lucky that my front cover, back cover, and third spread images turned out exactly how I wanted during the first shoot. However, spread 1 took a lot more effort. I first tried photographing everything in the studio because I loved the look of the crisp studio lighting, and it would make the entire magazine have a cohesive look. But with the layout of spread 1, the studio was not the right choice. The images were turning out flat and I couldn’t get the lighting and angles to work how I imagined.
After photographing my image for the second spread, which happened outside, I decided to try shooting the first spread outside as well. This gave me more room to work with and it fit the theme of the second spread being a transition between spreads 1 and 3. Unfortunately, we shot at a time that didn’t give us the best lighting. The photo turned out grainy, dull, and out of focus.
Thankfully, we were able to make it outside one more time and try again. The final image turned out much brighter and fit the style of the rest of the magazine despite not being done in the studio.
Spread 2
Since I spent so much time decorating the boat, I knew I had to use it in my final product. Another key element to the boat scene is the tunnel in which the scene takes place. I immediately thought of the bridge at the campus duck pond, so I scouted the location to see if using the pond would be possible. Luckily, I found a little rock landing for the boat to sit on.
The image shown on the left is the unedited version of spread 2. I really wanted to make this spread look like the chocolate room with the chocolate river since it’s such an important part of the movie and this scene. I spent hours playing around in Photoshop, creating color masks, blending the water, shading in the tunnel, and a lot more to create the final image.
