“Step Up” Film
Done in: 2015 / Customer: “Step Up” first film shot in Baltimore, MD / Task: All on-screen graphic design. Credited as Kaylee Simon.
What the Client Needed
When the first Step Up film was made in Baltimore, Maryland, with Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, the production designer requested an in-house graphic artist to work throughout production, and the Md. film office suggested me because of my previous work on The Wire. I created almost all signage for the film as well as several unusual elements. Shown here is one of the Maryland School of the Arts logos one sees throughout the building; the more traditional sign on front of building was also something I designed.
My Part of the Project
During production, every poster, program, door sign or number, was all created in-house by me. One of the more unusual requests, though, was a design executed in linoleum for the kitchen floor in Channing Tatum’s character’s childhood home. The designers were unable to find something they felt was quite “ugly” enough, so this floor tile was designed from ground up for what amounted to about 10 seconds on film. This is the kind of design work that makes film work so much fun.
