A+E Networks History, HE and H2 channels. Digital Distribution banners. For all of the shows that were premiering new episodes we made multiple digital banner sizes with the show's key art. Distribution generally had a very low budget so all banner sizes needed to be created very quickly.Ā For many of the shows on H2 and HE (History EspaƱol) there was no new key art created. The following are examples of my having to take either stock images or production images and create key art for distribution.
Original production image for Modern Marvels Food Truck episode.
I enhanced the image, replaced the sky; added more foreground and sides to the image for wider and taller banners; removed any blatent licenses shown on the truck and added some people to liven up the scene.
For America Unearthed, I did HDR effects to the original to make the image brighter and more gritty. I cut the host out and enlarged him while adding more sky and ground for wider and taller banners. I also had to manipulate the hosts eyes; he was originally squinting more and looking to the left. I leveled and cleaned up theĀ plateau and made the show title two colors to get the unearthed part of the title to work with the background instead of floating a solid show title into the sky.
For the widest banner I couldn't easily add more background to the right side of the image, so I just took the host and added him to a similar background.
For H2's In Search of Aliens I could not find a good production still that was mysterious enough to be used as key art. To solve this problem I cut the host out of the above still. I found a stock photo of trees in mist and manipulated the image of the host adding shadows and color filters so that he fit into the scene. I added more trees, painted in some fog and created the bright burst of light to keep the show title dark, but pop off of the scene.
The Epic History of Everyday Things. This show had maybe 4 usable production stills and no official logo other than the show title used at the beginning of the show. I created the logo using an on brand font. This image also needed a lot of enhancement and background added and elements removed for the various banner sizes.
America's Book of Secrets needed new Key art for Distribution. I chose a simple image of Congress at night, added a bluer sky, smoothed out the ripples on the water and added a progressive radial blut around the central image to draw the eye quicker to the show title.
For America's Book of Secrets: Freemasons, I focused on the architecture of the Freemasons. I had a good image of the statue of George Washington inside of theĀ George Washington MasonicĀ National Memorial shown above, but couldn't get a great image due to copyright issues. I presented the above image and the one below as choices. The image below was the one chosen. It shows the Freemason symbol as seen from the observation deck at the top of theĀ George Washington MasonicĀ National Memorial.
For Lost Worlds, I chose the stock photo shown above and the one below, presented both and the client chose the latter.
For the final key art for Lost Worlds I cut out the pyramid in the foreground and scaled it up and down to always make it the foreground image for all distribtion sizes. I also photoshopped out extranious trees and enhanced the sky for more drama.
