3D Film Poster
Keeping with the Multi-dimensional brief the next task set is to work in 3D by hand, exploring the possibilities of hand crafted, well lit and a realistic sets to capture an image which displays a film poster.
The film I was given is a 1951 'screwball comedy' called Behave Yourself with actors Shelly Winters and Farley Granger.
The film is based around a Welsh Terrier that works as a courier for the mob yet follows a stranger home (Mr. Denny) and becomes an accidental anniversary present for his wife, little do they know all the trouble that comes with taking in the dog. Mr. Denny has to deal with gangs, the police and his unimpressed mother in-law.
The film I was given is a 1951 'screwball comedy' called Behave Yourself with actors Shelly Winters and Farley Granger.
The film is based around a Welsh Terrier that works as a courier for the mob yet follows a stranger home (Mr. Denny) and becomes an accidental anniversary present for his wife, little do they know all the trouble that comes with taking in the dog. Mr. Denny has to deal with gangs, the police and his unimpressed mother in-law.
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Research
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Whilst I watched the film for the first time I took a few notes and ideas, after the second time I watched it I paid more attention to details and main attributes to the film. I also took screen shots on important scenes which I could use to refer to later on in my process of thumbnailing and developments.
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Artists
Before I began sketching ideas down I researched popular artists from the world of film poster design. I found the following artists work quite interesting as I prefer the styles which display 'less is more' and mainly focus on colour tones and specific objects or situations that are solely based from the film.
I also went through my Saul Bass book to reference his work and find a style which I believe will give me some inspiration in the right direction towards my own work. What I find I deeply enjoy about his style of work is he uses little to tell a lot. His work is inspiring to me from the colour choice, imagery or typographic communication.
I also went through my Saul Bass book to reference his work and find a style which I believe will give me some inspiration in the right direction towards my own work. What I find I deeply enjoy about his style of work is he uses little to tell a lot. His work is inspiring to me from the colour choice, imagery or typographic communication.
Saul Bass
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Bill Gold
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Spike Lee
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Akiko Stehrenberger
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Other artwork which I found interesting
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Noma Bar
Noma Bars illusionist and clever use of negative space really intrigued me, I know I definitely wanted to try and incorporate this way of design during my development stage and see how I can create my own interpretation as I believe this would work well when designing in 3D.
Ideas and Thumbnail Sketches
I went over my notes that I took whilst watching the film and turned them into quick sketches and then paired them down into thumbnails. I then re-watched the film and took more notes and sketches and carried on thumbnailing. I am only interested in getting an initial few ideas down before I think about how to create the work more technically, I want to develop my ideas further and then start experimenting with small sets using plasticine and paper/card.
At this point I was picking at vague idea's, they were slowly getting better however I still wasn't overly inspired to develop many of these ideas further.
Instead I went back to the drawing board and started researching the film again, finding reviews and storylines which I circled and noted main characteristics from the film. I was fed up of not finding the drawing of the dog accurately enough as it's a Grey Haired Welsh Terrier and my drawings all resembled cartoon floppy eared dogs. It was these small observations of how the dog actually looked and the fashion of gangs in the 1950's which helped me to overcome this set back I was feeling.
Instead I went back to the drawing board and started researching the film again, finding reviews and storylines which I circled and noted main characteristics from the film. I was fed up of not finding the drawing of the dog accurately enough as it's a Grey Haired Welsh Terrier and my drawings all resembled cartoon floppy eared dogs. It was these small observations of how the dog actually looked and the fashion of gangs in the 1950's which helped me to overcome this set back I was feeling.
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I started on a fresh sheet of paper and started drawing whatever came to my head and what stuck out most to me from the film and how I could communicate this into a poster.
One of the main observations I couldn't shift was that this was the era of Marylin Monroe, the hourglass figure and tight curls of blonde hair. This was a similar style to Shelly Winters (Mrs. Denny) which echoed the 1950's American era. So I went from there and didn't try to restrict myself to thumbnail sizes until I had an idea of what to fill it with.
One of the main observations I couldn't shift was that this was the era of Marylin Monroe, the hourglass figure and tight curls of blonde hair. This was a similar style to Shelly Winters (Mrs. Denny) which echoed the 1950's American era. So I went from there and didn't try to restrict myself to thumbnail sizes until I had an idea of what to fill it with.
Developments
I have 4 main idea's which I feel have more potential with further development and refinement, and eventually will result in experimentation with materials and colour schemes.
I initially felt quite set on these 2 ideas however I couldn't match the colour scheme in my head how I desired, and it was taking longer to redraw and re-colour my ideas out again therefore I decided to mock up these two developments using Adobe Illustrator in order for me to really push these ideas in a way that would help me decide on colour and any ways to improve the initial drawings which would help me when it comes to building my set.
These are just rough developments and not perfectly refined, they act just as a visual mock up.
These are just rough developments and not perfectly refined, they act just as a visual mock up.
Digital Developments
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Favorite choice |
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Out of my developments for these designs I felt most happy with these two as a choice if I were to use as my final film poster.
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Hand Rendered Developments
After I had tried some digital work, I went back to my drawn developments and ended up coming up with some more ideas, I decided to try and tweak these new designs and imagine them as an actual set, quick thinking of any ways to create the drawings into 3D.
Material Experimentation
To begin with I wanted to see how paper/card held up. I have an idea of using clear material and somehow getting the window images onto this, and having it displayed in front of grey card. I like the idea of layers and the projection of images on different materials.
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Before I started to build my components to the poster I needed to figure out a way to create my figures, ideally I needed wire however did not have any so instead tried with cotton buds and hair pins then with tin foil. It could of worked however this method was tedious and felt like a never ending battle.
However I was determined to use the modelling clay I had bought and in the end managed to combine it with plastersine and use a paper template I had drawn to begin with my figures.
However I was determined to use the modelling clay I had bought and in the end managed to combine it with plastersine and use a paper template I had drawn to begin with my figures.
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Planning
Before I set off with the full build of my set I did research into making models from watching videos on YouTube however as stated I did not have any wire, instead I planned my build and picked out the correct colour shades and sizes for each component.
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To create the windows that lit up I bought small boxes 7.5cmx7.5cm and balloon LED lights which could be easily fitted.
Once I had an idea of everything that worked and did not I.E. cellophane did not work and card did, it was time to start building.
Once I had an idea of everything that worked and did not I.E. cellophane did not work and card did, it was time to start building.
Building Process
I started by creating the boxes, I had 14 to assemble then fill with coloured card for the walls and create light holes, this was long and in the end did not turn out how I wanted, it wasn't as neat as I planned.
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I really enjoyed creating the clay sculptures, it took a long time however the outcome was as I had hoped and it felt less stressful and quite calming, although they are far from perfect they were suitable for my use.
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I printed off the typefaces which I was most keen on using, I ended up using Economica as it was sophisticated yet a bit relaxed as well. I cut the title out and stuck them both onto clear plastic sheets.
The top title I stuck down to the backdrop, and the lower part of the title I bent the edge and tucked it under the front so that it would have this overlapping effect.
The top title I stuck down to the backdrop, and the lower part of the title I bent the edge and tucked it under the front so that it would have this overlapping effect.
Assembling and lighting
Once I was ready to start incorporating the main elements to my set I then played around with lighting to see which best worked to create some atmosphere.
The initial building process was difficult as I had not added in the lights in the measurements so some boxes were overlapping and being pushed out of place, this was a bit of a problem as alot of the boxes are not straight and you can see all the cutting out which was not my intention.
Lighting was difficult also, this set is rather large and quite hard to accommodate to where I live so I was restricted to where I was able to take photo's. This was not to my advantage as sadly the lighting is not the best and adding torches and lamps did not help either.
The initial building process was difficult as I had not added in the lights in the measurements so some boxes were overlapping and being pushed out of place, this was a bit of a problem as alot of the boxes are not straight and you can see all the cutting out which was not my intention.
Lighting was difficult also, this set is rather large and quite hard to accommodate to where I live so I was restricted to where I was able to take photo's. This was not to my advantage as sadly the lighting is not the best and adding torches and lamps did not help either.
As you can see, the edges of the box is rather untidy, my original aim was to have it so the front squares on the main cardboard box were smaller so you could not see the edges of the coloured card or the lights, sadly this did not happen as I got my measurements off slightly and it was fairly thick card to cut aswell which made it trickier. For the future reference I think MDF would be more suitable.
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Final Poster
I am trying not to be 100% negative on my poster as I like how the images look when it's dark and just the lights are on however, this poster took a lot of preparation and my end result did not live up to my expectations, the images I got were not great either, I think it's because I had to have the room quite dark to get some effect and even adjusting the contrast and curves in Photoshop didn't increase the image quality.
I am happy that I made it through, as many times I did not want to, I am not a fan of intricate work mainly as it's not my strong suit!
Nevertheless I am glad I completed it and now know not to do something as big in the future, it was a challenge but here we are.
I am happy that I made it through, as many times I did not want to, I am not a fan of intricate work mainly as it's not my strong suit!
Nevertheless I am glad I completed it and now know not to do something as big in the future, it was a challenge but here we are.
