The Motorists brand
Inspired by the design and typography of the classic car era, The Motorists’ logotype is a play on bringing a car’s wheels to life in a simple and modern way.
Classic cars have a history of embracing bold colour in contrast to today’s world of blacks and whites. Drawing form this we developed a colour palette with an instantly recognisable and striking bright green, supported by muted blacks and greys.
Approach
The Motorists celebrates cars from the glorious years, with short films featuring one beautiful car at a time. Caramel were tasked with creating The Motorists brand, website and crucially, the art direction as well as editing for each film.
Art direction
In stark contrast to the frenetic, overly-stylized direction often seen across car shows, The Motorists opted for a deliberate and contemplative episodic format. The cars–referred to as ‘Sculptures on wheels’ by Dave Belford–were treated as such. Cinematography emphasised form and exquisite close-ups highlighted the intricate textural details cherished by enthusiasts.
Filming the vehicles in motion and on the road remained essential while great care was given to curating locations that reflected the Australian setting. From the historic Werribee Mansion to the breathtaking Pt Leo Estate, Caramel covered all angles, employing techniques including in-car point-of-view shots, aerial landscapes and car-mounted gimbal captures. The powerful roar of engines was recorded up close to bring a tangible presence to each film.
Editing
Each episode required a day’s worth of footage, necessitating precise ‘time of day’ synchronisation across a range of devices: drones, in-car Go-Pros, external Go-Pros, F5 footage and separate sound recordings from talent, engines and exhausts. These sources were deftly assembled into an 8-hour, 16-track multi-cam timeline and colour graded for consistency before beginning the process of storytelling for each episode.
A narrative structure for the 10-minute episodes was meticulously developed and fine-tuned to maximise engagement with YouTube’s algorithm. Caramel introduced several content pillars alongside aimed to enhance audience engagement, including trailers and ‘stories’ that provided a more relaxed and extended exploration of each vehicle’s captivating history.
The digital expression
The brand’s YouTube, socials and website serve as the central hub for all activity–from watching films and reading stories to buying merchandise.
The films serve as the cornerstone across these channels, delivering emotion and joy. Caramel developed the digital design system in a similar way to mirror the art direction with an understated, refined feel.
Easy navigation, full-screen takeovers and muted graphics allow the content to be in the fast lane and command all the attention. Explore the website:
themotorists.com.au
Content is king
Beyond films, The Motorists planned to extend the brand to publishing. We designed a series of collectible periodical publications to strengthen the brand, promote its video content and act as another impactful touchpoint to entertain and delight the audience.
