I like the garish colors; red, yellow, black. Also the tabloid style layout lends itself well to the overall design. But there are several ways you could make it pop more. First and most important is all your shots are contained within frames. This makes the layout more static. The statue with the uh, enlarged member, would look wilder if his endowment were outside the frame. Then you could put the text around it (see...the lurid) that would play off of that. I'd also move it to the right and put the two women in shock to the left of it, so there's more of a directional focus for that shot. Overall, I like the 3rd one down, the one with the most photos. A lot of graphics people will say it's too busy, but I like it when I have to study something...so I don't mind busy layouts. With that in mind, I'd also keep the shot of you with your legs up (I assume that's you), and again, crop the box so that your legs are outside of its frame. (If you want to see great examples of this style, watch the graphics on the Daily Show, when they pop up on the left, while Jon is talking. All of them use this more modern style of framing most of the content, but sticking parts outside the frame. Colbert Report uses this also.) Anyway, with your legs out of frame, then I'd put that shot to the right of the blond girl, so that there's something for her eyeline as well. (I know that within the context of the movie she's no doubt looking at something else, but for the poster, it makes it more interesting, like she's looking in your bedroom.) Although I do like how you linked "witness" with the girl's stare. In general, let me make a comment about the frames: You could also use a ripped paper style for some (maybe all) of them, as if they'd been torn out of a newspaper. That's getting away from the tabloid style, but it could work. There's another way you can easily make this puppy pop off the page, which is to put shadows and glows on the text. A back shadow especially will elevate the text (you don't want to do it everywhere, but on witness the horror & see the lurid, this works well). And that's just a text layer effect. That leaves your main title, "THE COMMUNE" needing some work. This is a design element that can integrate into your theme in two ways. First, the font itself is too flat. One trick is to just take one little part of one letter, like the descender of the N, and perhaps pull it down and make a dagger out of it, or use it to replace the tree the blond girl's hands are on and just put her hands on the descender of the N. Another trick to integrate the design (this will conflict a little with my earlier suggestion, but these are just ideas), would be to put your legs and feet (if you have them out of the frame) up between the two words, so your feet are in between "the" and "commune" tying it together with the photo. If you don't like those ideas, you can choose a font that looks like housing or horror. The second way of making the title more interesting and more thematic would be to embed some characteristic inside of it (for example, take the shot of the guy and girl in the lower right, and mask it into the text so you see body parts inside the letters). I just wouldn't do both, either make something with the text or mask an image into it. Last little suggestion is I'd make the bottom three photos smaller and possibly all in B&W and maybe frame them into a little film strip so that you can bump up the size of the URL below, so people see that more. (The filmstrip could be just little "heads" with their expressions of horror, then you could have 6 or 7 shots across the page of just people's reactions...but just their heads!) Hope this helps.
My good friend Shauna just voted for the last one as well.
Brian, I TOTALLY agree with you. There appear to be many posters designed for most movies, and I spoke to a film festival expert who suggested I really sell the campy humor sizzle to them to even get it considered...just trying something new. I do think it isn't really our movie, and if it was used on something like our website or DVD cover in a rental store, would lose the crowd that would enjoy the movie, and be rented only by people who would be let down by it. The dangers of marketing.
Personally, I think you'll get a pretty negative response if you advertise a movie that has the lead stab her eyes out in the first thirty seconds with a campaign that doesn't prepare the audience for what they're getting into.
As I said before about a different subject: Embrace who you are...in this case, what the movie is:
A shocking horror/thriller hybrid. I suggest:
A photo of Chauntal by the pool.
A photo of Lago smiling that smile of his.
Some photos with the animal masks.
And a tag line that says something like:
The Commune:
An experience so frightening, you'll stab your eyes out
Or:
The Commune: It'll scare the living shit out of you!
Without knowing you or anything about it, peeople will want to see the movie for three reasons:
1. To look at Chauntal
2.) To look at David
3.) To have their mind blown out their asses by the shocking/frightening moments in the movie...while they watch Chauntal and David.
So I say play up the hot leads and the crazy thriller aspect very clearly, broadly and simply.
Get their butts in the seats, have them watch it and then have them realize that there's more to the movie than they expected.
10 comments:
I can't explain why, but the last one does it for me. But I know nothing of graphic design, you might as well go ask the cat...
Is it... Dave Lago's smile?
It could be!
We Daves are a charming bunch...
I prefer the last one too -- but I think in my case, it's due to my fondness for Mondrian paintings...
I like the garish colors; red, yellow, black. Also the tabloid style layout lends itself well to the overall design. But there are several ways you could make it pop more. First and most important is all your shots are contained within frames. This makes the layout more static. The statue with the uh, enlarged member, would look wilder if his endowment were outside the frame. Then you could put the text around it (see...the lurid) that would play off of that. I'd also move it to the right and put the two women in shock to the left of it, so there's more of a directional focus for that shot. Overall, I like the 3rd one down, the one with the most photos. A lot of graphics people will say it's too busy, but I like it when I have to study something...so I don't mind busy layouts. With that in mind, I'd also keep the shot of you with your legs up (I assume that's you), and again, crop the box so that your legs are outside of its frame. (If you want to see great examples of this style, watch the graphics on the Daily Show, when they pop up on the left, while Jon is talking. All of them use this more modern style of framing most of the content, but sticking parts outside the frame. Colbert Report uses this also.) Anyway, with your legs out of frame, then I'd put that shot to the right of the blond girl, so that there's something for her eyeline as well. (I know that within the context of the movie she's no doubt looking at something else, but for the poster, it makes it more interesting, like she's looking in your bedroom.) Although I do like how you linked "witness" with the girl's stare. In general, let me make a comment about the frames: You could also use a ripped paper style for some (maybe all) of them, as if they'd been torn out of a newspaper. That's getting away from the tabloid style, but it could work. There's another way you can easily make this puppy pop off the page, which is to put shadows and glows on the text. A back shadow especially will elevate the text (you don't want to do it everywhere, but on witness the horror & see the lurid, this works well). And that's just a text layer effect. That leaves your main title, "THE COMMUNE" needing some work. This is a design element that can integrate into your theme in two ways. First, the font itself is too flat. One trick is to just take one little part of one letter, like the descender of the N, and perhaps pull it down and make a dagger out of it, or use it to replace the tree the blond girl's hands are on and just put her hands on the descender of the N. Another trick to integrate the design (this will conflict a little with my earlier suggestion, but these are just ideas), would be to put your legs and feet (if you have them out of the frame) up between the two words, so your feet are in between "the" and "commune" tying it together with the photo. If you don't like those ideas, you can choose a font that looks like housing or horror. The second way of making the title more interesting and more thematic would be to embed some characteristic inside of it (for example, take the shot of the guy and girl in the lower right, and mask it into the text so you see body parts inside the letters). I just wouldn't do both, either make something with the text or mask an image into it. Last little suggestion is I'd make the bottom three photos smaller and possibly all in B&W and maybe frame them into a little film strip so that you can bump up the size of the URL below, so people see that more. (The filmstrip could be just little "heads" with their expressions of horror, then you could have 6 or 7 shots across the page of just people's reactions...but just their heads!) Hope this helps.
IMHO, I don't think that's your movie.
I actually prefer the second one, mostly because it gives a feel for the film without giving it all away.
I'd put the last one as my second choice, though it was difficult to put it second ... those legs ... ;D
My good friend Shauna just voted for the last one as well.
Brian, I TOTALLY agree with you. There appear to be many posters designed for most movies, and I spoke to a film festival expert who suggested I really sell the campy humor sizzle to them to even get it considered...just trying something new. I do think it isn't really our movie, and if it was used on something like our website or DVD cover in a rental store, would lose the crowd that would enjoy the movie, and be rented only by people who would be let down by it. The dangers of marketing.
Oh and Rowan, a BIG thanks for all your expert advice. I really appreciate it!
Hugo, my legs thank you.
AI, will have to go look up what Mondrian paintings are.
SPOILER ALERT...
Personally, I think you'll get a pretty negative response if you advertise a movie that has the lead stab her eyes out in the first thirty seconds with a campaign that doesn't prepare the audience for what they're getting into.
As I said before about a different subject: Embrace who you are...in this case, what the movie is:
A shocking horror/thriller hybrid. I suggest:
A photo of Chauntal by the pool.
A photo of Lago smiling that smile of his.
Some photos with the animal masks.
And a tag line that says something like:
The Commune:
An experience so frightening, you'll stab your eyes out
Or:
The Commune: It'll scare the living shit out of you!
Without knowing you or anything about it, peeople will want to see the movie for three reasons:
1. To look at Chauntal
2.) To look at David
3.) To have their mind blown out their asses by the shocking/frightening moments in the movie...while they watch Chauntal and David.
So I say play up the hot leads and the crazy thriller aspect very clearly, broadly and simply.
Get their butts in the seats, have them watch it and then have them realize that there's more to the movie than they expected.
For what it's worth.
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