OUGD505 - Design Practice 2: Studio Brief 3 (AMP Poster)

For this brief we were each allocated a different film to watch. The film I was given was Terms of Endearment. I watched the film and found it really upsetting because the theme running throughout it was quite close to home and the ending was harrowing. Despite this though I could appreciate the acting and had a lot to work with in terms of creating a visually exciting movie poster for this brief.

Below are some of my initial ideas which are very roughly drawn out but they illustrate all of my current thoughts. I think it is going to take me quite a while to reach an end result which I am really happy with, however it will be worth it in the end. I am also going to make sure that I don't spend any longer than a week on this brief because we have been told not to and I can value the importance of finishing briefs on time and having a quick turn around.

This was one of my initial ideas. I thought about how I could possibly illustrate a heart separated in two, to represent the mother's heart and the daughter's heart. This is because, in the film, when the man was introduced into the daughter's life, the mother was pushed out quite considerably. I then thought about how I could illustrate a man and a woman in the centre to illustrate the controversy, and then I drew a house around the two symbols to illustrate the family home. 

Following on from the same idea, I created another illustration to show the family home and how the road from home has increased for the daughter since all of the complications have arisen in her life. I think this design is really boring though and I am not happy with the outcome at all as it isn't deep and meaningful enough for me and it doesn't exactly speak for itself, it requires an explanation, which a movie poster shouldn't need.

I also came up with this idea, showing a road running through the centre of the heart to illustrate the thoughts of the daughter who is torn between mother and lover. I don't think this outcome is obvious enough to the audience though and it is somehow too deep to understand at a first glance without an explanation. 

I then carried out some further research into the film as I felt as though I needed more of a focal point to work with. I thought about the film and all of the key events in it and realised that one of the most important continuous themes running throughout the film was the phone calls between the mother and daughter. 

I then found a section in the film and took a screen shot so that I could see what the phone looked like and the details on it. I then imagined how I could use an illustration of a phone to illustrate the film. By doing this I could perhaps place the letters inside of each of the small circles to spell out the title of the movie. I am going to develop this idea and see where it takes me. 

I decided to experiment with an illustration of a phone but not in such a literal way. I like the idea of incorporating a heart into the design to show the love hate relationships running throughout the film all the way through. I tried to do this by placing a heart in red at the bottom of the phone but I don't think it looks very professional. I also don't feel as though it says anything important about the film really. 

One thing I am certain about at the moment is the use of cream and black with a touch of colour. This is something which has come from being influenced by the research I carried out. I am definitely going to use this colour scheme for my final design no matter what else changes along the way. 

I experimented with using a bright red. I enlarged the heart and tried to put it at the top of the phone instead, with a wire hanging down from the top of the poster. I think this is a vast improvement but I am still not convinced it is strong enough as a design. 

I then experimented with using a sans serif font in uppercase below the phone and also drew some rough circles around the edge to give the phone a bit more definition. 

Experimenting further with this layout, I placed a small heart in the centre at the top of the phone. I have decided that there is something about this that I really don't like and I don't think it works well. I also don't really like how linear the whole design is as there is a lot of negative space surrounding it. 

Here I have dropped the phone down a little bit further to see whether this made any difference, but I think it is more to do with all of the space in the background than anything else. Perhaps when I incorporate text it will make a vast difference.

Rather than having the heart on the phone, I have decided to see what it looks like behind the design to give it a bit more impact. Along with the text the design has improved dramatically but I am still not satisfied with the outcome. 

Reverting back to my initial idea and combining it with my latest thoughts, I have come up with the following movie poster design. I really don't think it works now that I have tried it, but it is something which has been in my head throughout my development so I thought I should try it to be able to move on and make progress.

At the end of Terms of Endearment the daughter found out that she had breast cancer. I thought it would be relevant if I incorporated the ribbon into my design somehow. I draw it out and placed it in the background of the design. 

Although I quite like how there is now an added angle and a bit more of a balanced effect, I still feel as though it needs more work and development. 

Using an image of a telephone wire, I experimented with incorporating the twist of the breast cancer logo into the shape of the telephone wire. I feel as though this has given my design an added dimension and I am really pleased with the outcome of this idea.

I decided to draw my own telephone wire out to make sure that it is a bit more accurate and neat looking. I think this works really well and I feel like I am finally making progress towards my final design outcome. The line along the bottom is only temporary for the time being, as I am not sure whether or not it is relevant. I am going to get some feedback on the design though and then take it from there. 

I had a crit with an industry professional who is a character artist and has experience within the graphic design industry. He said that he really liked the overall layout of it but that the angle was a little bit too sharp and that I should experiment with moving the image over slightly. I have therefore decided to make some further progress with a selection of different layouts. 

Final Few

During my development process, I saved a lot of my final ideas in a folder. These final ideas aren't in concrete but they demonstrate how I reached the final outcome. 

When I asked for further feedback, I received a valuable suggestion, to include all of the small print information at the bottom of the poster as this makes it more realistic. It also demonstrates my understanding for what needs to be included on a film poster, linking back to the primary research I have posted of the photographs of the Superman and Iron Man screen printed posters.

Below is my submission to AMP. I am really pleased with the outcome and I am looking forward to getting it printed in time to hand in after Easter. I am going to get it printed at A4 scale and A3 scale so that I can also submit the larger version in the future. 

Once I had submitted my poster, I heard back from Simon straight away. I was really pleased to receive this feedback and was grateful that he had been able to take the time to send a personal reply, which I am sure he has done with everyone. I then noticed that he had posted my work to the Facebook page before adding it to the website which was quite exciting.