Camerini Robertson Films
Shari Robertson & Michael Camerini are a directing / producing team who have created numerous award-winning documentaries that incorporate a hallmark of their work — unprecedented access to their subjects. Level has been collaborating with the filmmakers for over seventeen years.
Over the past 17 years we’ve asked Level to tackle a huge range of design challenges, from film titles to posters, press kit’s and what turned out to be possibly the most beautiful pitch book ever produced for an independent documentary. In every case, they have amazed us with their ability to synthesize ideas and come up with a design solution that communicates serious complexity in what appears to be just a simple, beautiful form.
— Shari Robertson + Michael Camerini
Filmmakers
How Democracy Works Now titles
concept, design, animation
Published in Carter, Rob, Ben Day, Sandra Maxa, Phillip B. Meggs, and Mark Sanders. "Typographic Design: Form and Communication," 6th edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
More then a decade in the making, the twelve part feature length documentary film series How Democracy Works Now — Twelve Stories was one of our most extensive collaborations with Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini. The films provide the audience with unprecedented access to the complex process through which an idea becomes a law, and the many steps in between.
The filmmakers asked us to develop the overall visual Branding, Opening Title Sequences, On-screen graphics, and Packaging for the DVD boxed set.
We created a title sequence that suggests the character-driven nature of the films, and the intricate layers and nuances that make up Democracy in action today. There are twelve unique variations of the Opening Titles, tailored to each of the “stories” that make up the series.
Stuart Anderson from Forbes writes, "Without question How Democracy Works Now is the best documentary film series on government ever produced. There is nothing even close."
How Democracy Works Now – Twelve Stories was screened at The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, and aired on HBO.
HDWN DVD Packaging
concept, design, print & production management
Packaging we developed for the twelve-part film series boxed set. One challenge of this design was that the filmmakers wanted to begin to sell the box set before all of the films were completed. To accomplish this, we designed the package for each set of films to include imagery from the film on both the DVD itself, as well as printed on the location where the DVD would ultimately sit. Because of this, the consumer knew that they were missing a film, and could in the future complete their collection.
Packaging includes the full box set of three packages, each containing four of the twelve films. An additional sleeve was also created to package any of the films when sold individually.
How Democracy Now – Twelve Stories was screened at The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, and aired on HBO.
Well-founded fear
concept, design, animation
One of our first collaborations with Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini was to develop a complete design campaign for their film Well-Founded Fear. This feature-length documentary focuses on the U.S. asylum process by following several asylum applicants and asylum officers through actual INS interviews. As with all of their films, unprecedented access to the closed corridors of the INS allow the audience inside the asylum process, and the difficult decisions made by individuals on both sides. Our work for the film includes development and design for the Opening Title Sequence, Poster, and Press Kit for the film.
Our design concept for the film was to communicate the significance of the film's title that is taken from the actual U.S. law that defines a refugee under the UN Convention: A person deserves protection "owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”
Well-Founded Fear was screened at The Sundance Film Festival, on PBS' film series P.O.V., and at the International Documentary Film Festival.
WFF Poster
concept, design, print management
Press Kit & Teacher's guide
concept, design, print management
The Press Kit
Well-Founded Fear was screened at The Sundance Film Festival, on PBS' film series P.O.V., and at the International Documentary Film Festival.