Lost ideas/Stuff that didn't quite work out

Back when I was filming for the trailer Dan and I had some ideas for the magazine front cover and how I could portray the 'split' between the main character.

One of our first ideas was to show the two sides of the ego standing back to back.

So, this and this...

became this:

and then this:

and then this...

and that. (personally, I really dislike the last one there, eugh)
And then I had this idea...

I thought this idea was good for 'teasing' the audience with the character identity. This would be useful if I was having a major star play the character, as it might keep the audience guessing who it was who was being signed for the movie...
And this just lead onto this:

as an idea for a nice and simple promo poster, but I decided that ultimately it was too weak really. Despite that, I do like the monochrome two-tone feeling of it. Black and white also suggest light and dark, or good versus evil, perhaps?

Idea number 2 was a bit more simple, and I put a lot less thinking into it, but....
Started off with the idea of the character looking at himself in the mirror, but it being a different reflection looking back at him. I think this might have been a bit ambitious (especially with my photo editing skills), but we managed to come up with this:

and then with soem cropping and fiddling I made this:

and then turned it monochrome, just to see if that made it any better...

And, in my opinion, it didn't. And so, the idea was abandoned.

Something else I made and didn't get anywhere with...

I do quite like this, but I can't see how it would fit in anywhere well. Sighh.

Facebook

Currently uploading a couple of pictures and stuff from this whole project to my Facebook to hopefully get some feedback and stuff I can use in the evaluation. Whoever said that social networking had no purpose, haha?

Link to the album: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=158236&id=522828786

Vertigo magazine mock-up

Here's my attempt at a quick fake Vertigo, featuring my film. I left off the red box at the bottom though... I like my magazine covers minimalist, haha.

To make this, I just took the Vertigo masthead/logo from a black cover, inverted the colours to make it black on white instead, then created my own upside down 'i' to put over the top, keeping with usual Vertigo theme for consistencys sake.

I've decided to leave off the bottom box with the straps lines in because I think a bare cover is more effective if trying to promote a thriller - this way there's nothing to steal attention away from my film (and I mean that as modestly as possible, realise, haha). Similarly, Vertigo doesn't have barcodes or any of that other clutter you usually see on magazine, which I think allows for a more artisitic and almost genuine look... I hate the idea of every magazine being stamped in the same way, mindlessly, I love that Vertigo seems much more individual and much less corporate. Hopefully, this is in keepign with my film, which I doubt would be taken on by a studio, aha.

Additionally, I'm probably going to go with this teaser poster...

So, in a way, the magazine acts as the other half to the poster? See it? Hopefully, this will come across like a marketing/viral(ish) campaign where the audience is drip-fed little bits of the film one step at a time... Assuming, the poster and magazine cover would appear first, and then the trailer. Also, I've kept the typeface consistent from poster to trailer to kinda help this along.

Vertigo Magazine.

About: History
The magazine has been going since 1993. Originally founded and edited by the innovative documentary filmmaker Marc Karlin, it has stood the test of time and kept a lively, creative and diverse readership informed about the work of the independent film and video sectors across the world. Now in its 14th year, the magazine has had its most successful year yet and hopes to develop its growing readership to new heights through its new website and more frequent print issues.
(Source: http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/about.htm)

Official site: http://www.vertigomagazine.co.uk/index.php?siz=1

... Vertigo I like even better. It seems a lot less conventional, yet still consistant and widely read.

Now to decide if to 'borrow' an existing magazine format and put my film on it... Or to make my own.

Filmmaker Magazine

  

I expect if my film actually existed it'd be pushed on the independent film circuit, rather than as a blockbuster... So rather than research the mainstream film magazines, like Empire or Total Film, I did some fishing around to see what independent film magazines are out there. I found Filmmaker. 

Official site: http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/ 

Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmmaker_(magazine) 

I like the look of Filmmaker. It's fairly well established and has a wide readership, whilst focusing mainly on independent makers and films rather than the mainstream. But, it also follows the conventions of typical magazine covers... A real throw-back to AS, haha. It's not completely overloaded with coverlines, but there are some, and it has the convention of having a main model/actor/whoever as the main image... Similarly, it has a consistent masthead.

Teaser Poster Development...

Ack, haven't been on here in a while.

Anyway, after looking at my supposedly finished teaser poster... I decided I didn't like it. So, I've been fiddling with various editing programs for the past hour or so and managed to come up with a gazillion ideas... Here are some. Feedback much appreciated! xP

1)

Here's the first one I did... Not so keen on this one now, but it lead me onto...

2)

 

This idea. Split down the middle... Because he's split, geddit? Aha...

3)
 

  

  

And so then I had the idea of actually splitting the poster into two - one with the monochrome face, and the other in colour. These could then be displayed side by side perhaps, or alone? Because, after all, it's a teaser poster - it doesn't have to make sense, right?

4)  

 

  

And then... this happened. I'm not entirely sure how, but I got round to inverting the colours on one of the posters, and after a fiddle this was the result... I like it. (And those of you keeping track of this blog will have noticed my third redecoration with this theme...)

I get a more clinical and detached feel from these posters, but thinking now I might try making SPLIT and COMING SOON a sort of blue hue too, rather than thick black....

5) 

 

This was an idea I had too, but I dunno. This one feels too busy to me. I think it would look nicer without the writing there.