Feref Unseen - Back This Kickstarter!
The late Spring of 1968. London is the hip beating heart of Britain's Swinging Sixties. The Leicester Square Odeon is showing "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Planet of the Apes" and The Beatles' 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' is playing in trendy Carnaby Road shops as it enjoys its fiftieth week in the UK album charts.
Just down the road, five experienced advertising designers and artists decide to break away from their current jobs, to put in a month's salary and to start their own independent company. To name it they each contribute an initial.
In the May of 1968, FEREF was born.
Over the course of the next fifty years it would work on some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters and a plethora of uniquely British home-spun movies.
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For them, it was a job. They received a brief. They designed a layout. They painted the artwork. They moved on to the next one.
For us, they created some of the most iconic movie posters of all time. They helped colour our childhood.
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Fifty-two years on, Feref is still going strong. Now an award-winning, multi-faceted creative agency working across both physical and digital media. Still independent. Still based in Soho and still working with some of the biggest franchises in the world.
It is also a company with a heart. One that recognises the extraordinary talent that has passed through its doors. Is proud of its accomplishments. That wants to inspire the next generation to do something extraordinary.
So, when Feref's current management discovered that hidden away, in an off-site storage facility, they had an astonishing collection of concepts, layout designs and completed artworks, they hatched a plan - 'Feref Unseen'.
Their goal? To share the archive in a book that tells the story from studio brief, through multiple concepts and layouts to finished artwork. That celebrates amazing artists and that inspires the next generation to leave their mark.
And we can all help it happen. The book is being funded through a Kickstarter campaign. If you aren't familiar with Kickstarter, it is an example of crowd-funding. To support a project, you simply pledge an amount of money and in return you receive a reward. Some examples for this campaign are:
£10 - To receive an Early Supporter Credit in the book.
£40 - To receive a hard-copy version of the book.
£500 - To receive a Contributing Editor Credit and a Private Virtual Tour of the archive.
From Bond, The Beatles, Star Wars and Halloween to quirky British comedies, the breadth of the archive is extraordinary.
The Kickstarter campaign has a target of £10,000 and already has over £7,000 pledged. With 17 days to go, it would be fantastic to see the target reached and for a glimpse of this amazing archive to be shared with the world.
We have already pledged. To whet your appetite here is an exclusive, never seen before, rough draft of a UK quad movie poster for "The Empire Strikes Back". It is one of a number in the archive.
If the project excites you or will excite or inspire someone you love, why not pledge too?
Feref are also interested in hearing your views. What would you like to see in the book? Let us know and we will pass it on to them.
We can't wait to see 'Feref Unseen'. It is born of pride, of love and of a very British company. All things to celebrate.
Let's make it happen. Click here to pledge.
Adam and the Art of the Movies team
Our thanks to Feref's CEO, Graham Hawkey-Smith and Creative Director, Tim Reeves for chatting and sharing a glimpse of the archive with us.
