Please check out our Movie Poster - Please give us your opinion

[Tommy K]

Sorry for the previous typos... these are working drafts from the designer.

Would this make you curious enough to watch this? That is what we wish to know and the reason for posting it. The topic isn't everyone's cup of tea... we understand that...

This is a draft of our DVD/Bluray insert and movie poster for Politics, Sex and Vodka. The front cover will serve as the poster. The show will finally be finished in a couple of weeks after sitting on it for a while. We are after a simple clean look that fits the subject matter of the doc. The girl on the cover isn't a pro model... she is a law student from Moscow that we found and interviewed in a St Petersburg park. One thing led to another and she asked us if we could do a photo shoot for her, and wanted to be on the cover of our poster and DVD/Bluray.... Who are we to deny someone? So we humored her request in the name of international relations.


A constructive critique is welcome... Please let us know if you like it or not, and why. This low rez JPEG doesn't really do it justice because the print proof really looks good and sharp. There are some background subtleties that don't show up well with this JPEG But you get the idea....

We already have some initial interest from a couple of US major cable networks and a foreign TV broadcast station.

 

[Tommy K]

43 views and not one opinion.. good or bad?
I'm blind and didn't see the typos before... They were corrected in this draft.

 

[robotsound]

Looks like an interesting film.

If I were you, I would consider making the front of the box more focused. Currently, you have several disparate art elements that are all kind of in their own neat little spaces, not interacting with each other. The picture of the lady is definitely more eye catching than the black and white pictures (at least they look black and white from here).

Look at the cover art for some of the other documentaries that have come along in the last few years. Most of them have a single picture on the cover.

I'm also not sure why the hammer and sickle is multi-colored like that.

If you simply removed the top black and white photo and replaced it with pure white, removed the hammer and sickle, and moved the title up more toward the top it would probably be an improvement. You might also consider changing that flag (is that the Russian flag? Does anyone else know that?) into a single colored (red?) hammer and sickle (extremely identifiable symbol of Russia for most of the 20th century).

The picture of that lady is good because she's got that stringed instrument (can't remember what those are called off hand) which is pretty European, and then she's got a bottle of some sort of hard liquor. She obviously represents sex. So you've got the main elements of your movie right there in one photograph.

I liked the poster for An Inconvenient Truth. It's got the factory, and then coming out of the smokestack it's a hurricane. One memorable image.

I'm not a graphic designer, but I know some of them. Hopefully my two cents are somewhat helpful. This looks like an interesting concept for a film, and I wish you success with it!

 

[robotsound]

Oh, and by the way, I think the back of the box functions exactly as it should. It gives you a feel for what's in the movie, and has a great synopsis of what it's all about. It promises to take you to a place you probably couldn't see for yourself, and it combines travel, sex, and a country that was the boogie man to the US for much of the 20th century, all of which are probably going to be interesting to a lot of people.

 

[bruceallen]

FRONT:
You said you aimed for a simple clean look. This is still way cluttered.

1. Re-work your title so that it looks like a title. Don't try to make it stretch across 1 line.
Break it into some kind of thing like:
POLITICS,
SEX & VODKA
Of course you could do the old corny hammer-and-sickle-is-an-& thing... but maybe not

2. Way too busy - Take that grayscale photo out of else make it very very white, almost like a ghost.

3. Not sure about the russian flag etc - I say take them out and spend more time photoshopping the main photo of the girl to look GOOOOD.

BACK:
Is better and clearer. But make it look more like a pro DVD. Use the correct DVD icons, etc. Do credits, copyright, etc like a professional DVD. Just get some other DVDs and copy their look - your stuff looks too big and scattered. The photos need some color balancing (except for the one of the KGB guy, which looks professional).

The copy seems clear at least - although "post communism"? hyphenate? capitalize? Seems weird to me, but maybe it's only me.

Best of luck with your project.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Erik Olson]

What about something that draws inspiration from classic soviet-era propaganda? This is just basic elements of that, but the color and graphics were so bold that it's hard to deny how well they worked.

 

[Tommy K]

I forgot to mention that the JPEG was converted from CYMK color profile for printing, to web RGB profile and there was a fair amount of color shift in the conversion, plus the rez loss.

robotsound and bruceallen - Thanks for the very good suggestions! We will take them into consideration and make some changes hopefully for the better. Your input was very insightful and I think on target. We actually did look at a gazillion Doc DVD covers on Netflix and one thing was consistent.... nothing was consistent LOL. I think we have a decent start and will get some tweaks done.

bruceallen what do think is wrong with the girl on the front cover? The picture is actually pristine in full rez and on the print proof. What is your thought on this? I like the ghost look suggestion for the Kremlin top pick. That may do the trick of uncluttering, yet cementing the theme.. as in the ghost of commuism. I like it!

robotsound yes that is the current russian flag, we wanted to have a national symbol of todays democratic government and the old commie symbols represented.

Once again a big thanks for the helpful comments! I'll post an update.

 

[Zissou]

i like them, and i like the concept. i had a 2 month long love affair with a russian girl whilst in france a while back, she was unique... at least from a westerner-raised perspective. looking forwards to seeing your product.

 

[Tommy K]

Eric Olson - That was very cool of you to give us your vision! That is a nice alternative to what we have. Thank you very much for taking the time to help us! We did think of going for a wild look.. but chose to go with the subdued look.

Zissou - Thanks for your comments. I found Russian girls to be quite beautiful on the whole. Ordinary women look like tall super models walking down the street. It amazed me...


The new version is posted at the top of the thread now..... OK I think we have a keeper or very close now. I did a lot of tweaking thanks to some great suggestions. I think most of you will agree that it is looking a whole lot better now. You were right on target.

BTW I forgot to mention the building in the background is the kremlin if anyone didn't recognize it. The cover girl (named Masha) is placed on the actual bricks of Red Square in front of the kremlin. I took the pictures of the kremlin and the Red Square bricks myself, to use as a cover. We think it is important to keep Russia's equivelent of our White House in the background. We may have to adjust it either lighter or darker depending on how the new color proof looks. Thanks again! Let us know your thoughts on this version.

The JPEG has a lot of resolution loss... The highr rez PSD looks really sharp.

 

[robotsound]

TommyK,

The new changes look really good. I think it looks more focused, and I think the Kremlin works in there now.

If I were really to nit pick, I would say that the hammer and sickle doesn't look quite like the one I remember from the old USSR flag. I'm not sure if this is a stylistic choice or not. Now that I look again, I believe the original had more of a rounded handle on the sickle and the relative dimensions were a little different. Again, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. As a casual viewer though, my first thought is that the traditional one would look more "right" to me.

Please let us know what becomes of this film. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Tommy K]

TommyK,

The new changes look really good. I think it looks more focused, and I think the Kremlin works in there now.

If I were really to nit pick, I would say that the hammer and sickle doesn't look quite like the one I remember from the old USSR flag. I'm not sure if this is a stylistic choice or not. Now that I look again, I believe the original had more of a rounded handle on the sickle and the relative dimensions were a little different. Again, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not. As a casual viewer though, my first thought is that the traditional one would look more "right" to me.

Please let us know what becomes of this film. I wish you the best of luck!

You are correct... very astute of you. The old version on flags etc is thinner and a little bit different. The version I used is now being displayed on the nostalgia retro soviet memorabilia, souvenirs, artwork etc, and this was a stylistic choice. You see this new version all over Russia now. To us it was a blend of the old and the new, which sort of sums up our subject matter. I attached the old version.

I will give an update as to what becomes of the show. It is in the final stages of the first cut... I am sure we will make some changes or wish we had more or some better material. It always goes that way. You only have so much time and money on trips like these. This was a very low budget project. Once we were in Russia, we had to find most the people to be interviewed and work with us. The people were great to us and gave us leads and recommendations. Only a few, like the Russian Porn King were pre-arranged. It was all networking, pounding the streets and working the phones. Guerrilla doc making at is best... or worst? It was a hard grueling process, and a lot of fun.

 

[Lustgarten]

Tovarich,

My video distribution company, LEO Films, has done over a hundred dvd covers and they can be quite tricky to get right. I tend to like ones with simple, provocative iconic like images. Putting vodka bottle on the cover because it's in the title is a bit redundant. You have a great symbol in the sickle and hammer and I would use it to better effect. I would make the s&h fill most of the cover and do another photo shoot with the girl made to look like she's pole dancing with it. Find a cool retro font for the title red on white and you're there. Just remember that old advice KISS (Keep it Simple Soviets).

 

[Lustgarten]

btw, there's no place for a upc code on the back.

 

[Tommy K]

btw, there's no place for a upc code on the back.

That was on purpose... for now. Bar codes have to be assigned by an agency called GS1 and cost $700. I have registered with GS1 several times in the past. A distributor may wish to assign there own internal barcode. I have actually been involved in many DVD cover development processes in another industry. So I actually know the process very well, including creating legal and proper bar codes. We just thought it would be great to hear from the talented people here at DVXUser and get them involved from the rough draft to the final... and they delivered. Thanks!