Poster Concepts

We had decided that for the game, we wanted the environment to have a certain sense of realism about it. One of the best ways to do this was to concept and create posters that would feature around the environment. These posters could homage famous films from the 80's that have inspired us for the game, whether it be the colours or the idea of the film. I took on the role of the poster artist, as we didn't have a concept artist among us.

"80's Synth Wave"

I first start by looking at different posters that were inspired by the 80's. This films include Drive, which uses the 80's synth wave style that we were looking for, Guardians of the Galaxy and Kung Fury. The bright purple, pinks and blues is something that  At first I had the idea of creating posters from imagination, one such I called "Rage Man".

"Rage Man"

This was the first time that I had Photoshop other than texturing for a while. I started this poster with the idea that these poster would reflect the 80's Miami style. I started off by gathering an image of an angry man off of the internet. The next step was for me to alter the face in such a way in which the original could not be seen. This include deleting certain features within the face. Going back to the Synth Wave style and what features in our game, I used a gradient of a dark purple to a deep blue. Then by adding a the stroke tool to the body, I managed to receive a decent result. This was also repeated with the background, and where the title sits. To add extra detail to poster and give it that Miami feel, I added a skyline and palm trees to the piece. However as I was working my way through this piece I started to feel that it may be too bright, with the colour slightly overused and over the top, leading me to abandon the piece halfway. I then made the decision to create posters which would be a mock of actual posters in the 80's, to help ensure the player feels like they are in that time period.

Inspirational Poster.

"The Moderator"

In this poster I have mimicked "The Terminator" a famous film from 1984. When it comes to the 1980's my mind straight away takes me to the terminator films. My twist on the original film is called "The Moderator" in which an internet moderator is the main theme on the front of the poster, rather than that of a killing machine. I managed to merge two images that I had found, one being the head, the other  the body,  to create this character. I put a different tag line to the original, to help sell this as a film, such as instead of "In the year of darkness, 2029" I changed it to "In the year of confusion, 2017"

I want people to recognise the original and slightly and associate the game with the same time period.

This really did feel like a movie poster, with the addition of the age rating and credits. 

Inspirational Poster.

"Messy Moves"

This a movie which is inspired by the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing" which summed up the music of the time. This poster is very simple, but at the same time, has own unique twist which makes it stand out amongst others. I really liked the use of the purple tones in the original title and desired that the use of it in the rest of picture would give me a rather interesting result. When we tried this in game, we had a problem with the white background. As the posters illuminate, the white made the poster too bright, meaning that the rest of the detail is lost in the process. The solution to this is to either invert the colours on the poster, so that the white is minimal, or to reduce how emmisive the poster is, though, this will look weird amongst the other posters. I have used two tones for the entire piece, with purple standing out. The range of tone which is used means that even though the whole image is one colour, the figures and their detail stand out. I added an easter egg on the poster in the form of our team name which is at the bottom of each of the posters, again giving this sense of realism to the game. 

Inspirational Poster.

"Live Long"

When I was constructing this piece, I was making a mock of the Die Hard poster from 1988, which was an action blockbuster and set the template for many action films to come. The original poster is a very interesting piece, with the only colour being the red on the main title, making it stand out. I gain tried to incorporate this into my piece. Again, I have also added my own subtext to make the film believable. The L.A landscape features in the background, with a jet shooting out of the main skyscraper. I decided that in order to avoid any copyright, I would use a photo that I had for the main shot of the character. I was fortunate enough that my brother is on the acting course and he has had mug shot ready available for me to adjust. The serious face that he gives off makes the character look like an action hero, suiting the role. 

One thing that is apparent in all the posters that I made is the extra detail such as the credits and age rating. I wanted to make sure that if a player were take any time looking at the poster, it would suit the universe that is situated in. These names are credited with roles that movies would have. 

Out of all the pieces that I had made, this was most likely my favourite, not only because it looks the most believable in this world that we are trying to create, but I also really liked the layout of the poster, with the action slowly merging into the characters face.

I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the project. It was a chance for me to explore my more creative side, instead of having to copy real world objects and create them as low poly mesh. It has been a nice break from 3D programs and has really given me the chance to brush up on my 2D skills.