If you’re reading this it means that all the movie graphics and visuals I’ve worked on for Harry Styles’ album Fine Line are finally live.
Which means life just got a little more interesting.
When I first thought about doing this creative project, I wasn’t sure how big of a project this was going to be or how much time I’d need to complete it. I just knew that I wanted to do something that (I think) hasn’t been done before. I also wanted to bring this idea of Fine Line being a movie to fruition.
I knew I could only do that by taking every single album visual, music video, photoshoot picture, and whatever else I could find to try and bring this to life. Through just watching all of Harry’s music videos and looking at his album rollout, I wanted to keep it as close to the classic 8mm film vibe as I could.
But what I didn’t know was how big this would actually be in terms of production. And I only fully processed it when I was creating the strategy plan.
I knew that I wanted to do a single collection for each single on the album and design visuals for all of them. And I also knew I wanted to do an Inside Fine Line booklet with multiple spreads.
For me, the thought of doing a trailer when I started this project in the first week of March was very much up in the air. I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough material to work with, and I wasn’t sure if I could bring the trailer that I was visualizing to life.
By the time I’d filled in majority of the skeleton of my strategy plan, I knew designing assets for the following collections were a go:
- Inside Fine Line
- Lights Up Single Collection
- Adore You Single Collection
- Falling Single Collection
- Watermelon Sugar Single Collection
- Golden Single Collection
- Treat People With Kindness Single Collection
- with a tentative full-length trailer (depending on production)
All of this was to get done for a beginning to mid-April launch, with all the assets finalized by the end of March.
(Would you believe me if I said I originally wanted to LAUNCH this project at the end of March?)
In addition, I wanted to create a few more general assets such as a GRAMMY graphic to recognize Harry’s Best Pop Solo Performance win for Watermelon Sugar (tentative because this plan was developed prior to GRAMMY’s weekend), a Fine Line movie ticket, and additional Netflix graphics that would include all of the thumbnails for both romance and comedy.
(So you can see how intimidating this project was before I could even really start designing anything)
Now that I’ve gotten the foundation out of the way…
How did Fine Line the Movie come to be?
The idea of curating a project that turns Harry’s legendary album Fine Line into a movie was something I’d always thought about since its release. Of course on December 13, 2019 I listened to the album from start to finish. Like I do with every song I listen to, my mind sometimes drifts to places I could possibly listen to the song or playlists I could add it to (in other words the vibe it gives off). I’ll file songs into playlists to play on road trips or at festivals.
So naturally, I did the same with this album.
But it was listening to the last song, the title track that really put the movie idea into my head. The whole time I just kept thinking: “this song sounds like the song you’d play at the end of a coming of age, indie movie.”
Literally imagine if Wait by M83 didn’t exist, Fine Line would’ve been the track that played at the end of The Fault In Our Stars. Or it would’ve been featured in The Vampire Diaries, Six Feet Apart and more.
Since my first listen (and many of the listens after), I always had that idea floating around. If Fine Line were to become a movie, it would be the album that writers developed a storyline around; similar to how the story of Across The Universe (2007) was paired with many of The Beatles’ songs that defined that time. Or it would make a storyline for itself; create its own story with the album as a soundtrack.
And because artistically, I really wanted to bring this to life I knew that instead of recreating Fine Line as an album with different visuals, I wanted to recreate it altogether as a movie.
And that’s exactly what I came to do.
Why a Netflix Original movie?
I think backstories and stories that explain how something so beautiful came to be is incredibly special, especially to the creative process. I’m always eager to know what inspired artists to do or create certain things.
It’s kinda funny because I thought back to that scene in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) where Rami (as Freddie) played the opening chords of Bohemian Rhapsody and then said: “Eh, it has potential,” not realizing that those chords would contribute to one of Queen’s biggest singles.
But onto my story…
My idea for creating Fine Line as a Netflix Original stemmed from trailer scheming before any of the assets were even made. This project kept me up at night; I couldn’t for the life of me turn my brain off to any ideas. The golden idea that really stuck with me was using the line: “should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and then see what we find?” from Woman off of Harry’s debut as the trailer intro (should I actually do one).
And then it pieced itself together: that intro for the trailer would suggest that the romantic comedy that H wanted to find on Netflix on his debut album at the beginning of Woman, is his sophomore album Fine Line – ushering in a new era. (And yes, I know the guy that actually says the line in the song isn’t Harry)
It was from that idea that I decided to push forward with creating visuals for Fine Line as a Netflix movie. This would include two different thumbnails (or so I thought) in each of the single collections: one for romance and one for comedy, since Netflix gears different thumbnails to users based on the genres they watch.
I originally just wanted to create the thumbnails but didn’t know the sizing that Netflix used, so I searched it up. Instead of finding thumbnail sizing, I came across storytellerdorian’s Tumblr post that included a ton of pre-made Netflix templates you could create with. And I’m thankful that I did because I was able to create more Netflix geared assets out of them.
Also major shoutout to Studio Binder – amazing article guides and payoff templates that helped in the early stages of payoff poster design. And another major shoutout to Brent who answered my 9pm plea DM to help me out and iconically mixed the version of Fine Line used in the trailer.
Why was Fulwell 73 included as a production company? And how did Love Luna 17 come to be?
I chose to include Fulwell 73 as a production company for this project because they’d also produced Harry’s Behind the Album movie for his debut album. I just thought it would be fitting to include them on this project as well.
Rather than using my real name, I came up with Love Luna 17 as my production company (and listed myself as a Co-Executive Producer on the payoffs). Love Luna 17 acts as a “subsidiary” company under Fulwell 73. You’ll see on the payoff posters that my company comes first in the billing credits because in this case, Love Luna 17 leads the production while Fulwell 73 acts as the parent. But everywhere else that it’s mentioned, it’s stylized as either “Fulwell 73 x Love Luna 17” or “Fulwell 73 & Love Luna 17.”
The name Love Luna 17 comprises of two of my tattoos (one of them being a crescent moon with luna written in the curve and the other is “all the love”) and my birthdate (my birthday is the 17th of July).
Where can I find the assets for Fine Line the Movie?
Some of the assets for Fine Line the Movie can be found HERE. This includes payoffs, teasers, and Netflix graphics.
Where can I watch the full-length trailer?
The full-length trailer can be found HERE.
You might not need to (considering the full-length is already out), but the teaser trailer can be found HERE.
I guess we’ve reached my final words in this in-depth guide. I’m as excited to talk about this project than I am releasing it because it’s something I’m incredibly proud of (even if it isn’t real). It was stressful (A LOT of image testing was involved) and this project consumed my every thought. It would be my first in the morning and my last in the latest hour of the night, but I wouldn’t do any of it over if given the chance. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t even feel completely done and I don’t think it ever will but I’ve put everything into bringing this to life.
I hope you enjoy all of what my visuals have to offer you!
ED out x.
Listen to (you guessed it): Fine Line // Harry Styles
Also check out the official Outside the Fine Line playlist on Spotify
Ellie Doe-Demosse 