Hey Gang,
Okay feedback from last class was to keep it simple, show the actual weapons, and don't make my audience work too much. My movies are Alexander, U-Turn, and Platoon. The samples here are real rough...layouts are in progress and I need to get a yay or nay on my "Oliver Stone" fonts... likes, dislikes, etc are welcome on those.
While keeping it simple, I still need to convey Oliver Stone's film style. I did this by showing the weapons using the prominent movie effects/shots he uses in each movie.
In Alexander, (by the way this is his sword on the poster) there is a sequence towards the end of the movie where Alexander gets stabbed in battle and Stone applies a red filter to everything. Everything also becomes posterized and appears in slo mo. The poster also has a red filter and posterization applied. I had to be careful with the red filter because it turns the white blade pink if I apply it too much, and I don't want that...actually, come to think of it...and I'm just thinking of this now....Alexander was bisexual in the movie, so maybe the pink would work...
In U-Turn, the garden shears were used to cut off two of the lead character's fingers for money he owed to a bookee in Vegas. He winds up killing later in the movie to get money to repay the bookee so he doesn't lose his other fingers. Stone uses alot of close-ups in the movie...so I'm using a close-up here and applied some effects similar to what Stone uses.
In Platoon, Stone doesn't use a ton of his classic film effects, but he still uses plenty of symbolism, and sunlight through the trees is prominent. One of the main themes of Platoon focuses on the lead character (Charlie Sheen) losing his innocence. At first I wanted to show sunlight coming from behind the gun, but once I started playing with the sunlight effect I liked how it could shine through the gun...like the warm light was becoming one with the deadly weapon.
At any rate, like I said, these are rough, but time is of the essence and I would love some feedback early. Oh yeah, and does anyone have this AFI vector logo? My understanding was that this needed to be in the poster.
Thanks,
Chris
6 comments:
Oh yeah, I'd have to create a "U" in that 1470Jenson font for U-Turn
I think I need to make the shears in U-Turn the same size as the other weapons in the other postesr the more I look at this. I'm sure there is another movie effect i can use besides the close-up shot...although that was very prominent in that movie. I'm also liking more the heavier non-outlined typeface I created. My 4 year old helped me create the outlined one...finally having a kid has paid off. he's really good at art in his young age and i drew the letter outlines and he did his very best to trace them. I don't think that is quite heavy enough though, and while i like the sloppiness, it may be a bit juvenile.
Chris, you are on to something here, but there are some fundamental problems.
Consistency is important, and your not being consistent. If you are going to show a close-up of one of these weapons, show a close-up or all & vis-versa. I think the sword & the gun are hands down the strongest, it isn't clear what the sheers are and I'm sure you know your images are very lo-res. Same goes for effects, the strange effect on the gun doesn't make sense to me, I think you are forcing extra stuff into the posters. Skip the photoshop filters, they are always clearly photoshop filters.
Ask yourself questions as you design, for example, does doing this effect make it better, worse of keep it the same? This should help you eliminate things that could be interpreted as random or confusing by your audience.
I like the red filter over the sword, maybe make the images in each a duotone or monotone, that would be cool.
The font used in the headline looks fuzzy, fuzzy like a cuddly stuffed animal or something. Jenson doesn't work, too old-style, besides, you can't tell me u-turn looks like u-turn in this typeface. Stone is a modern director, the typefaces should be modern since this is a series about him, not individual films from different eras.
Dude, this is coming together nicely, I'm really likling your new direction and can't wait to see how you finish up. Keep it up!
Thanks Bobby, great feedback. I'll tweak and have improvements by class.
I like your Alexander poster, it is really coming along. Can you use the same effect on the other two posters?
I also think you need a stronger font for your headline.
Chris, I agree that the close-up of the shears for U-Turn doesn't quite fit with the other two posters. Also agree with your font preference--the outlines look too juvenile to me.
That said, I second Bob's comment on the other typefaces--the solid letters are better but something more hard-edged would be more appropriate for the subject matter. Jenson only works for Alexander, but maybe your could use another classic serif instead, something that doesn't call attention to itself.
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