Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Blood Wedding Artist Statement





Description of the work
The purpose of the work was to promote Lakeshore C. I. main stage production of the Spanish play “Blood Wedding.” The medium for the poster was Photoshop CS4 while the medium for the logo was Illustrator CS4 to print onto a t-shirt
Poster- the technical qualities was the computer software Photoshop CS4. Since the poster needed a photo image of the lead actors, to best showcase the photo, Photoshop was used. By using Photoshop I was able to work with the photo in the ways I needed to. Photoshop also allowed me to print the poster beautifully when it was complete.
Logo – the technical qualities of the logo was the software Illustrator CS4.
Since the logo needed to work in black and white, as well as colour, and needed to be expanded and or shrunk, Illustrator was able to do that without losing or distorting the image. The logo needed to be placed onto a t shirt as well, so because the logo was done in Illustrator the t shirt company could work with the logo to change the size to have it fit on the
Shirt perfectly.
Poster – there are a lot of many great elements of design to this poster. My favourite element used was colour. Even though there is very little colour used in to poster, I found that that is what made it stand out the most compared to the others. By making everything black and white, but only allowing a few key things to be blood red, it made the poster more visually pleasing. Your eye is so used to seeing the black and white, so when the red in now a key element the poster just looks more intense. Space is used very well in the poster as well. The size of the actors takes up a little less then ¾ of the poster, making it a large focus, which is what the client wanted. With the other quarter space left I filled it with the red moon and the title of the play. Both the photo and the title of the play were the main focus of the poster, by giving those both their own needed space, it allowed you to understand by things separately and together.
Logo – the most common element used in the logo was line. Since my logo was a line drawing, of course the lines of the logo needed to look good. To keep with the look of the flamenco dancer I used lines that curved to go with the movement of the dress as she danced. I also used lines that had some texture to them. I wanted to play up the passion of the play so by using not your typical straight lines it worked well.
Poster- the most recognizable thing about my poster is the colour scheme. I chose to work with only 3 colours, which left it simplistic but still very interesting at the same time. You look right at the red lips in my poster which is another recognizable imagine in the poster. The bride is torn between two different men, and if it wasn’t for her kissing these men with her red lips she would not have the dilemma of who to choose. The red moon is a focal image as well. Its not very often you see a red moon so when you do you want to stop and figure out why its there. Since the moon meant a lot in the play to put the moon on the poster was a good choice.
Logo – Since there is only one main image in the logo of course that is what makes it recognizable. The image is also so large and takes up most of the space on the t shirt. When you look at someone wearing the shirt you eyes stare at the whole thing. It’s also recognizable because of the way it was executed. By being a line drawing the logo is simple with some colour.
Analysis
1. Poster – To be honest I didn’t really have a set plan when I did my poster. I knew I wanted it to look very passionate and slightly dark, but I didn’t really plan for it to be black and white from the start. What got me was I knew I wanted a red moon, and from that is what made me do the whole black, white and red look. I was playing around with a few techniques and when I tried the photo in black and white I fell in love. I thought it was a little plan even with the red moon, and from there I tried the red lips. I also knew I wanted a cursive font for the title. Cursive writing is usually romantic which tied well with the subject of the play.
Logo – the look of the logo I had more of an idea right from the start. Since the play was a Spanish play the actors learned how to flamenco dance for a week. The play also had one of Canada’s top flamenco dancers in it. I knew I wanted to do a line drawing of a Spanish flamenco dancing woman. I knew I wanted the look of a full skirt, and when I passed that idea to the client he loved it. He liked that the look of the flamenco dancer looked like the woman who taught the class, Carmen Romero.
B. the main similarities between the logo and the poster is the font and the colour scheme. I wanted to make them still work together so that you knew the two worked together. I kept the font of the title Blood Wedding the same and I stuck with the same colours of red, black, white and grey.
C. Poster – The points of emphasis and focal points is the large red moon in the top right corner. The group photo of the lead actors and the large cursive font title at the top of the poster.
Logo – Since the logo is simplistic like a logo should be, the focal point of it is the flamenco dancer.
D. Poster- the relationship between the images are very well. The intensity between the look of the actors, along with the passionate feeling you get from the style of font and moon makes them work well with each other.
3. Interpretation
A. Poster- since there is so much drama, love, hate, fighting, romance and passion in the play I wanted to get that across in the poster. I wanted the mood to be easy to feel and I think you were able to with the look of the lead actors. The look of the grooms face, you could see all the love he has for his bride because of the way he looked down at her. With the bride you could feel the sadness and confusion she was faced with as she tried to choose between the two men. With Leonardo the intensity and anger in the look of his eyes shows that he is willing to do anything to get her back.
Logo –for the logo the mood I wanted to give off was a mood of fun and more of the Spanish culture. With the look of the woman in the full dress and her hands up in the air it is easy to tell that she is doing the traditional flamenco dance. Since that style of dance is part of the Spanish culture and yet still has the whole passion and sharpness of the play, the logo sets the mood right away even though there is not wedding or pictures of the actors.
B. Poster – the only thing that my poster really reminds me of is vampires. I was worried that people may think the play was about vampires since the word blood was in the title and the colours of the poster. I knew that since the bride’s lips were red but everything else was black and white it may seem like she had blood on her lips. A few people had mentioned that it did look a little vampire like but once I explained my theory behind it all they understood where I was coming from.
C. Poster - I think that the poster could relate to different events in the world. Sometimes you maybe torn between two different options and answers but you do not know which one to choose. Maybe the bride would be you and the groom and Leonardo would be you’re two different choices. You know the one you should go with, but at the same time there is the one you want to go with.
Logo – the logo could relate to the real world because often times when a woman is posed on a poster or shirt or in some sort of public media she is often very thin. With the woman on my logo you can tell that she does have some curves on her. Instead of be the stereotype of model thin, she is the typical size of a Spanish woman.
4. Judgment or Evaluation
A. Poster – I am very proud of my poster and I think it was a huge success. I worked extremely hard on the poster, and tried really hard to follow what the client wanted, and it must’ve worked since my poster was chosen to be the main poster of Blood Wedding. It was also a huge success because my client Mr. D even told me that my poster was his new favourtie main stage poster that he’s seen. It was successful because I used a lot of the techniques and skills I learned this year and last to produce a beautiful poster. It’s exciting to know that my work will hang in the drama studio for years to come. To be honest I’ve never really been this proud of work before. It was so great to walk around the halls and see me work all around the school.
Logo – My logo was also very successful. It was successful because even though it was not very complicated it still had the whole Spanish look to it. I did not even plan for it to look like the flamenco dancer they had come it, but it was great that in the end it did. I also like that even though the dancer had no face it still had expression because of the shape and lines to her body. My logo was also a success because it too was chosen to be the main logo for Blood Wedding. I was so sure mine was not going to be chosen, which made it awesome when it was picked. Since I want to get into the fashion industry it was surreal to see my design on clothing. I remember the first day the acting class wore the shirt, every time someone in the shirt walked past me I had to comment, “Nice shirt!”
B. I know for a fact that both my poster and logo met the client’s needs. The client told me on multiple occasions that he loved my work. He was extremely excited to show me the poster and logo when it was printed. He was also always harassing me to finish mine sooner because he liked my concepts and he wanted to have them completed.
C. I believe my work is original. I mean of course the colour schemes have been used before but I think I added a new twist on it. I tried using different shades but while still keeping it all similar. Even though the other two posters chosen to had the same image chosen, mine is very different from theirs. I wanted my poster to stand out by keeping it original and I think I accomplished it.