My senior capstone project allowed me to spend two semesters researching and developing a design project of my own choosing. Using my love of classic cinema, I created a book honoring the Pre-Code films of the early 1930s in an aesthetically beautiful and informative layout.
The full book can be viewed in PDF format here and the research and design process can be viewed here.
Using one semester for topic exploration, research, and deciding final deliverables, I arrived at the decision to create a book, created by the need to impart a large volume of information and the desire to tell a visual story using the beautiful existing imagery of the film combined with strong typography.
"Pre-Code" refers to films made after the addition of sound in 1929 and before the mandatory enforcement of a Motion Picture Production Code in 1934. The Code was initially written in 1930 with the aim of avoiding government censorship in the movies, however studios did little to follow it, and films of the time were made particularly salacious to sell tickets during the Depression. It wasn't until a major boycott by the public that the code was enforced and classic film became the squeaky clean image many remember it to be.
