OUGD603 - Fences Movie Poster Initial Ideas 1

Starting off the initial stages of the project, I began by practicing different strokes in illustrator. This could then be used to visualise the strikes in baseball in an almost chalk effect. This further gave me the idea to make the strikes look as though they are combined together as a picket fence.

My next idea was to try to visualise the baseball hanging from a rope in the back yard scenes of Fences. This prop was found several times throughout the film and was referenced several times, along with the baseball bat. The idea I had in mind was to try and create a minimal approach to the poster, displaying the rope and ball hanging at the centre of the design.

After seeing several examples of existing movie posters and the layouts used for their design, I started to sketch several visual representations of how the poster could potentially look and what the ideal font could be.

The idea to represent a picket fence in the previous idea also gave me the idea to try this using the title of the film. For example, the planks of wood found in a picket fence could be displayed as each letter of the Fences title. If these ideas do not work during development, then the alternative approach could be to focus on the photographs of characters and how they can combined or reflective of the letters of the title.

OUGD603 - Fences Movie Poster Research

Some of the themes found in this film can be used for the general aesthetic of the design, meaning the layout and colours used in the poster will depend on the tone of the movie. The film itself revolves around the main character Troy, played by Denzel Washington, and his relationship with his family. The film mostly focuses on Troy's relationship with his son Cory and it questions how a father should raise his children, morals of the family and attitudes of the 1950s. The tone of the film is uplifting at times, but also includes several instances of domestic conflict between Troy, his wife Rose and son Cory. Throughout the film there are several references to baseball and how the rules of the game can be applied to real life situations. For example, Troy tells his son that he has 'three strikes' until he is out, meaning he only allows Cory three chances to live in his house before he is sent to live elsewhere. This reference to baseball gave me the idea to replicate the strikes visually in some way.

The audience are also aware of Troy's alcohol dependency throughout the film and how it affects his relationship with his family and friends. One idea that came to mind from this would be to visualise the gin bottle that Troy is seen with in many scenes. As a result of Troy's alcoholism, he often mentions how he 'wrestles with death' and can be seen at several points talking to 'death' as if in a fight. This could also be shown through the design stages as a theme of the film.

reviews

Empire - A simply extraordinary film without crashes, bangs and wallops but full of towering performances delivered with intelligence, power and heart.

NY Times - What is most remarkable about this film is how thoroughly — how painfully, how honestly, how beautifully — it answers the question "What about my life?"

Common sense media - Wilson's screenplay, based on his own award-winning play, is a potent brew that warms your stomach upon the first swig and then simmers to a boil. It's intense, exhausting, and worth it.

Rolling Stones - "One of the best films of the year"

Quotes

• You ain't gonna find me going and asking nobody for nothing.
• Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in.
• Don't go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not.

Layout Research

• https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/7-elements-of-a-great-movie-poster-design/  - This article gave me advice on how to utilise certain poster layout methods

OUGD603 - Creative Convos Development

After assigning the roles between the group we were able to create several posters for each day of the event, social media ideas and plans to have the promotion printed. It was important at this point that Meg and I would oversee the progress to the concept, so that any changes that are made would still remain true to the visual approach. The most important thing to maintain was the CMYK and the halftone theme, so that the posters would visually represent the traditional methods of printing.

• Handing over some of the original designs, styles and experiments to the rest of the team showed that several more versions could be proposed.
• We knew that we wanted the posters to remain similar to how we had imagined them, and therefore the team only made subtle changes. This included experimenting with colour placement, as well as positioning of the halftone effect and the text.

• At some points in the development we knew that we wanted the colour of the halftone to remain a focus. Here we decided that adding more colours such as black would only further complicate the printing process, as it would require more screens to be prepared.
• This also somewhat took away the element of minimal approach, which we wanted to be an important factor.

• Experimenting with the colours also brought about the idea to try overlaying colour during the printing stage. This would allow certain areas, such as the halftone pattern, to remain subtle and light, while the central design could show a more eye catching flat use of colour.

• The box used to display the central text had undergone several experiments, which would propose an easier option for the printing process. This involved trying to use outlines, negative space and limited colour palettes.

OUGD603 - Creative Convos development discussion

Today we met with our voluntary collaborators and organised a plan of action for the remainder of the job. This included discussing certain ideas of development as well as assigning specific roles that would benefit the project but also the individual's practice. The team had now been expanded to include 2 social media developers (George and Mike), promotional material (Jasmine) and another screen printer (Megan). By assigning these roles, we could then use each person's expertise to our advantage and create the vision we had in mind for the project.

OUGD603 - Fences Movie Poster Brief

When thinking about my portfolio and the types of work that I want to use for interviews, I know that designing in relation to film is something I have always loved. By including a movie poster in my portfolio I will be varying my style of visual approach to promotional material. Some of my past works on movie posters and CD covers has also provided me with the techniques and process necessary to make more of what I love best.

Movie Ideas

• Fences was a movie I had recently seen which had some interesting concepts and subjects that could be explored through graphic design. This includes family life in the 1950s, the role of parents, references to baseball and several recurring props. 
• Props in Fences - Baseball/baseball bat, chain link fences, picket fences, wood/saw, gin bottles.
• References in Fences - Bases on a baseball field, strikes/strike-out in baseball, 18 year marriage, 'wrestle with death', hard work, family.

I chose to promote Fences in a movie poster because the plot was easy to reference, there were limited characters and while researching several examples of the movie poster I found that there were limited existing concepts for this film. My plan from this point would be to further research the contemporary approaches to movie posters, look at poster design of the 1950s and see what trends are recurring in this area of design. From here, I may be able to get an idea of how I want the poster to look and gather some inspirational designs to use as a starting point in the initial stages.

OUGD603 - Creative Convos meeting

After finding out my collaborator and I had been chosen to complete the branding for Creative Convos week, we met with tutors to discuss further development of the project. This would include talks of collaborating with other designers, potentially animators and/or photographers. This would be beneficial to the current work that has been proposed, as it will allow us to share our vision with others and manage different roles accordingly. At this stage, it is clear that time management will be an important factor in the weeks to come.

From this we devised a plan for each day of the coming two weeks, in preparation for Creative Convos week. Today, we would be making several changed to the visual approach of the poster and logotype. More specifically, I would be proposing several alternative versions of the speech bubble used in the logo while Meg would be altering the layout and composition of the promotional material.

During today's development of the logo I experimented with a series of styles, including different kerning space and placement within the speech bubble.

In order to further develop the bubble the text was changed to italic, which encouraged the design to become more slanted as a result. I felt that this approach was more unique and added a more abstract feel to the design.

In an attempt to make the logo more playful, the corner shape was experimented on. The aim here was

to play with the idea of an alternative shadow design. The problem that we found however was that in order to add this shadow effect the screen print may need to include another colour.

After trying these ideas, I focused on the mix between the colour found in the posters and the halftone background that was initially used. Combining these into logos and alternative approaches to the poster can be discussed during the week in critiques.

OUGD603 - Creative Convos Presentation

 The first slide will talk about the concept of the event and the theme that we have chosen.

The second slide talks about the alignment of the logotype, fonts and idea generation. The idea for this was to choose a font that was circular in its visual approach and contrasting in shape. Therefore, we chose to use lowercase Fugue regular and a square shaped speech bubble around it. This would represent the conversations between students and speakers.

The third slide identifies the fonts and alignment of text in more detail, according to the poster or social media post in which it is found.

The fourth slide shows how we decided to use CMYK as our colour scheme for the physical prints. This also meant the colours found in the posters would be limited to just 3 available colours that can be used with black text.

The fifth slide shows the layout grid that was used to align the poster and social media posts.

Here the presentation begins to show the outcome of the initial stages in the form of our first poster. This would feature the names of all the speakers beneath the halftone pattern.

 Here we show the three coloured examples of the posters and how CMYK would influence the output.

We then explained the printing process of the physical material on our screen print. This shows the colour scheme of our example, as well as the prepared screen used to make several prints. We found that this method was efficient and effective in its visual approach.

When our promotional poster had been printed we realised that it would need to be printed at a larger size for the event. This was due to the placement in corridors and around the studio, next to other large posters.

 After explaining the intentions of the traditional print concept, we then explained how the initial ideas were applied later on to the digital output in the form of social media. This allowed us to expand our colour scheme and add images of the speakers at the event.

 Following on from the social media promotion, we explained how the posts could be applied prior to the event and documented afterwards.

Feedback:

• collaborating with an animator at a later stage could prove useful for gifs and moving images.
• change the posters to A3 to stand out
• consider the use of halftone on the social media images to maintain consistency.