allcity: design for film

Firstly we will attend a screening along with journalists and cinema buyers, organized by the distributor.

We may receive artwork from the first region to show the film, however in this case a new campaign was required for the British market. We receive the 35 mm transparencies that are shot by the stills photographer on set during filming. Or if the movie has the budget we would receive high quality studio shots.

A brief is issued from the distributor outlining how they want to pitch the movie and to what market. A meeting with the distributor will narrow down initial ideas, themes and direction.

In Amores Perros, three relationships and the fates of two dogs get inextricably entangled in the heart of ever-changing, ever violent Mexico City. Our brief for this film involved reflecting this synopsis but not showing any images of dogs. This was because a restriction was placed on the promotion of animal cruelty.

Summarising and symbolising the plot in the clearest way possible is the most important function of the poster. You have limited time, especially on the underground to capture the attention of the potential market. In this idea we use a composition of stills such as the car crash (which links all the plots) and the main characters. We use a strapline in the middle to link the montage and the title.

We want a rough raw feel to the graphics to reflect the gritty mexican culture Amores Perros portrays. We bitmap* the image to give the degraded non slick look.

*'Bitmap' is similar to the one or two colour print process used on blaxsploitation action movies of the seventies.

Here we use just one still but bleach out the background and around the characters head we extend the shoulder for the title to sit on. The main characters worn face combined with the sun bleached colours and hues create mood and intrigue.

Another angle is to visually explain that the story is about three individual plots. Three windows are used so they can be stretched horizontally or vertically depending on the shape of the format the artwork is to take. Here we show the 4 sheet which is the vertical artwork found in the London Underground, which are 60" high and 40" wide. Horizontal artwork is needed for the cinema lightboxes this size is called a quad and is half the size of the 4 sheet.

We present our initial ideas online. We like to present our ideas like this so that producers and other people involved, no matter where they are, can see the proposals and maybe contribute to the direction of stage 2. Initially we will build our client a microsite for this purpose.

In stage 2 we combine the strongest elements of the initial ideas. Here we use the composition, the windows and the rough treatment. To get the roughness on the title we print it out and scratch the paper, we then fax the page and this gives a flat worn and unique look. We spatter ink onto a page and color it to give the blood splatter effect in the corner.

We want to make the poster have more of a Mexican feel. So we add a bitmapped picture of Mexico City in the background and add more earthy colours. As there are no big names, the film's success will rely heavily on endorsements from quotes and from its 26 global awards. So we leave space of almost a third of the poster for these.