OUGD406 - Studio Brief 3 - Poster Mock ups

I began drawing thumbnails for ideas to mock up digitally. As the film wasn't very varied and had a rubbish plot, all that I could associate to the film were; guns, buildings, helicopters, Russia and the main 2 characters of the film. So far I haven't digitally mocked up any of these designs so far. However I'm currently thinking about the use of hand altered/produced typography for the title of the film. I think that the hand rendered aesthetic of type has an alluring quality to it that people often like. Because this film is action based and gritty, I believe the type and layout should have texture placed within it.

A Good Day To Die Hard is set is Russia. I noticed when watching the film that the building over in Russia often have the powerful hard typeface associated within constructivism on top of many of the buildings. I had never thought of the idea of crafting a constructivist styled poster until my friend mentioned the design movement to me as he mentioned its relevance to Russia. I began searching online for constructivist designs and I than realised that it's something I had seen a lot before, I was just unfamiliar with the term. However I'm glad I researched into it for this idea as it's been quite beneficial for me as It's familiarised me more with the movement itself.

Georgii & Vladimir Stenberg, Mospolygraph Pencil (1928)

Georgii & Vladimir Stenberg, The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)

Georgii & Vladimir Stenberg, Symphony of a Large City (1928)

I googled Constructivist buildings and architecture. Here are some buildings from california that are designed in a Constructivist style.

I got this image from a photography booklet I purchased at a book fair in the Tetley. Craig Atkinson is the photographer and it was inside one of his black and white photography booklets on London Trellick Tower. I thought the gritty exposure of the film photography, the menacing building and angle of the shot looked appropriate for a constructivist aesthetic. Therefore I scanned it in and placed it into my design.

I began experimenting in photoshop. I only selected geometric or neo-grotesque fonts. However I did try to locate some russian block fonts but I wasn't able to find any decent ones for free. I experimented with using Russian text for some of the title. Avenir Next Heavy was used for the Bold 'DIE HARD' text at the bottom of the composition. The colour red was chosen for its direct link to constructivism, power, war and the red from the russian flag or ussr flag. Once I had changed the image layer to multiply the layout became much more effective. Making the black and white building sit on top of the colour. Avenir Light was used for 'A Good Day To' on the last variation, which is best working design according to myself and my peers.

Unfortunately I Hadn't attended the Interim crit to receive feedback on any of the thumbnails or designs I produced. However I had asked several of my classmates their thoughts on the designs and they all thought that the constructivist styled design worked and was clean. Although in my opinion I like how this mock up turned out, but I don't believe it communicates the film in an accurate way. Even if it is in a style similar to that of constructivism, it doesn't indefinitely communicate 'Russia' or an action film. I think that this design is effective but I'm not going to develop it any further. I want to create a layout with more texture and produce some handmade type.