Brain Storming

These show my ideas. It also proves that i've been developing my work.

Initial Research

Lacey Masks




La Bal Masque

Venetian Ball

Illustrative Masquerade

Conventions of the poster form

Mardi Gras Inspirational posters

Inspirational Typefaces

Conventions Of The Form

The name of the film 

The name of the  is big and bright. It has to be really big because it is the first thing that catches your eye.It tells you what the poster is about. 

Names of lead actors/actresses

The names of the lead actors/actresses are meant to draw the audience in. They tend to be of major actors/actresses. They tend to be on the top of the page as that is the second place the eye travels to.

Mission Statement

The mission statement tells us a little more about what the film is about.It backs up the image and the title and makes the film is more appealing.

Colour Palette

The colour palette is very minimal so that it doesn't appeared over crowded. The colour palette can reflect on what type of film is about e.g. horror: black,red & grey love: pink,white & pale blue

Face on the poster

The face(s) on the poster often have eye contact with the audience. This is so that you are drawn into the poster. This is an extra key to get you into the cinema to see the movie. 

White Space

The white space is important.White Space has nothing in it.This is important so it doesn't look to crowded.Including white space is really important.

Director/Producer Details

The director/producer details are at the bottom of the poster. The details on the poster are there so that everyone knows who produced/directed it.

Type Face

Type faces are limited to two to make sure the poster has a clean and neat look to it. 

Experimental

ABC Experiment

I found the spray painting a little annoying. However the finishing product looks really good. I layered the alphabet and changed the colour of each layer. I also changed the composition and which makes it have a unique look about it.

Experimental Text

I enjoyed creating the font for my piece. It gave me a chance to push myself and experiment. I had the teachers and my fellow classmate back me up and encourage me when I was about to give up. I am glad for this as I have produced a really good piece of work.

Inspiration: Miles Donovan

I was drawn to Donovans work because it had its own unique style and is an interesting way to push boundaries. I like the intricate way in which seperate pieces are cut and sprayed individually,finally being pieced togeather to create a striking effect. This was a skill I was willing to learn to create my own unusual piece.

First of all I found an image on pinterest that I particulaly liked and felt could be layered. I then dragged it into photoshop where I split it in 2 and made it purally black and white. After I printed the 2 layers off and cut out the black bits creating bridges so the white pieces don't fall out.Next I stuck a piece of  paper behind them and spray painted them seperatly. After they had dried I scanned them into photoshop and experemented with colour and hue saturation until I was satisfied with the end result. See below :) I'm really pleased with this piece as the mask gives it a more creepy look and links nicely with the dark side of the covert and obscure exam theme.

Emulation of Miles Donnovan

This process is all about tone. I had to split the image and build up the picture. After I had cut out the layers with a scalpel I spray painted the separate pieces. I then scanned both of them into photoshop.I then layered them in photoshop and experiment with colour.

    Copy 1

This was the end  result. 



Case Study

Poster 1: Black Swan

Personal Response
What drew me first to the “Black Swan” poster was how dark and symetrically perfect it seemed. Personally I find the poster a bit creepy. One of the reasons is because the swans look like clawed hands surrounding her neck. The fascinating thing about it is a twisted connection to Snow White because of the central figure's purety and innocence versus her dark evil alter ego/rival. There is also the more obvious connection to the ballet Swan Lake with the good white swan and the sensual black swan embodied within the same person.This made me curious to study  the poster more closely.

Form
The colour palette is quite stark but very effective due to the contrast of the black and white with a single blob of colour in the disturbing red eye. There is also lots of white space which helps draw you in to the central image. This poster reminds me of some of the artwork painted by Edward Munch. This is because it gives the onlooker an unsettled feeling. There are dark emotions at play. The black and white reflect the good and evil within her, the pure perfect swan and her dark alter ego, the black swan. I would describe this poster as: DISTURBING, BEAUTIFUL, INTRICATE, COMPELLING & COVERT.

Content and context
 The overall composition is very interesting a bit like an onion in its multi-layering. There is very little text on the poster,  simply the name of the film .This is obviously a poster that came out after the initial advertising which implies you already know the detail of the film. There is a web address which will tell you more if wanted to know more about the film. This is a very bold eye catching poster which for me is really “covert and obscure”  as it has many hidden depths.In order to understand the poster properly you need to look at it several times in order not to miss any layers of the symbolisism amd references to fairy tales that are very strong in the film itself.

Process
This poster has perfection in its symmetry which is very much like the main character Odette, the white swan and Odile, the black swan who is her mirror image and split personality. I would imagine that the artist did this in Photoshop as it has a very polished look about it.The interesting thing about this poster is all the hidden layers in it. When you first look at it, it just seems to be a face with two swans flanking it. However when you look closer you spot all sorts of hidden detail as if the poster suddenly becomes three dimensional. In the face you see that there is actually another face beneath what looks like a lace mask. The swans round her neck become a high necked collar tightly gripping her. Which could also be interpreted as her alter ego strangling her. There is a very slick finish to the poster which captures the perfection and discipline of the prima ballerina. The skills needed would be modern computer skills in order to achieve that affect.

Poster 2: Phantom Of the Opera

Personal Response
When my eyes first locked on this poster, the hairs on the back of my neck immediately stood on ends as its other worldliness struck me. Within the poster there is a strong sense of fear and menace. The woman on the stairs is very scared and is looking backwards at whatever or whoever is scaring her.

Form
The colour palette is quite simple but effective.The black and white appear throughout the poster with green and black accents framing the dramatic blood-red of the central character.
The poster gives us the idea that it is connected with the underworld. As the eye travels down the page it gets darker reinforcing this impression. There is a very minimal amount of text. The title is simple but very effective. It is in white making it stand out against the dark background. It is also big and bold making it easier to read.

Content and context
The artist plays around with the perspective to give the impression of depth and layering. The characters are different sizes to try and make it seem more sinister. You can't tell where the spiral staircase or the doors lead to which adds to the fear.Overall you get a sense of things being hidden and obscure. The theme of the masks and cloaks gives the impression that something sinister is hidden beneath them .The skeletons add to the creepiness without their masks of skin.
All the characters seem to have double identities which makes it very ambiguous in term of who is who. It is not clear to the identity of the central character. Even though the phantom is to the right of the central character , it makes me think that the central figure is the phantom without the mask in order to try and confuse people.

Process
The artist has illustrated the poster but has probably perfected it in Photoshop. However it still has a hand-drawn look about it which makes it look like it's an old original. I imagine that there is a lot of artistic ability from the designer in terms of using traditional and modern techniques to create an emotional piece of art work.

Copies and Emulations

Piece 1

I painted the image from the picture as part of my experimentation in the run up to the exam. The theme of course is covert and obscure. This is beautiful but full of mystery with a very subtle link to the wildness of  nature (long flowing hair , leaves and butterflies) and  my chosen topic of masquerade. I painted in acrylic and concentrated on tone, light and shadow to build up and create texture.I really like this piece as it looks very forbidding and I love the element  of mystery in it.

Piece 2

I chose this image as I knew it would be a challenge. It was painted in 1493. It was painted in the renaissance.  I think that I will struggle with the dress and the head dress. They are very detailed so I will have  to concentrate on the detail.

This  is my copy. I'm am fairly happy with my copy. I am particularly happy with the head dress. The head dress was particularly good. It was also the easiest to do. When I first looked at the head dress I thought it was hard but it proved to be the easiest of the head dress. 

Subject Matter

I made the mask using paper mache

I made this one as well

Unit Evaluation

The exam theme was the covert and obscure so I was mindful of this as I carefully chose the theme of masquerade and the dark passionate world of disguise and secrets. In the run up to the exam I drew lots of different  kinds of masks and replicated these in photoshop. To create the wallpaper effect I had to create a stamp. This allowed me to replicate the masks faster and more easily. I then played around with colour levels to achieve the romantic background to my poster.

Next I decided to create the central image of my poster by cutting out a mask from card and scanning it into photoshop. After I decided to change the levels. I got rid of the background fill and embedded a lace effect onto the mask to achieve a more mysterious  and interesting look.

The next stage was to look at typeface and I decided to ink my own lettering for the title of the film poster. This took me several attempts to master as i did not have a steady hand but after  a few goes I was happy with the result and scanned it in. I added it to the poster and changed the levels as well as the composition of the words to achieve the look I was after.

Finally I returned to my preparation work on conventions of the form in order to make my poster look like a typical film poster with name of actress, opening date etc and check I had not missed anything out.

I enjoyed the whole process and would definitely do it again.

Exam Work in Progress

I hand drew all of the masks individually and then then pieced them together as a tile in photoshop. I then created another tile by replicating the last one until I had a page full.  I  experimented with size of the  the masks.



I  changed  the colour of the background and used the base of the tiles I created earlier. I created a text and edited it in photoshop.  I then added the text  and scanned in a mask.



I started experimented  with  where things are put. I also experiment  with colour and size. After that some of it I  lock the layer.

I  then tackled the mask. I had to chose lace off the internet then embedded it onto the scanned piece and  placed it and then I locked and merged the layers.

I am pleased the final product has turned up great.  It doesn't have a squeaky clean look which puts  a bit of my personality into it. 

Final Piece