Movie Me Reflective Statement

I was assigned to design and develop a movie that featured us as a main cast. The design process would involve creating a movie poster, ticket and wallet that would showcase the development of the movie design created. After researching several movie genres and existing movie poster designs, I started brainstorming my own ideas for a movie and decided that my chosen movie genre that I would work on a Coming of Age/Animation movie that would feature both Live Action and Animation, as development continued a decision was made that I would change my original idea and simplify the design and only focus on a Coming of Age genre that would strip away the animation side.

For this project I originally wanted to create a movie poster that took inspiration from Coming of Age and Studio Ghibli movie posters. It would feature myself as an artist that is trying to escape his life through a piece of art that he is struggling to finish, it would combine live imagery with illustrations that would represent the other world. As I progressed with developing my concept the idea of having the illustration separated into individual pieces of paper was conceptualised to emphasise the tone and important theme of the movie to the audience, this would coincide with the use of color where bright colors would be used for the illustration that would contrast the saturated tone of the live imagery. With the direction of the poster decided I started brainstorming ideas for the ticket and wallet design that would work well with the poster design, the idea of having the wallet as a book with the ticket came about, I wanted to choose something that didn’t feature on the poster but would have a key appearance in the actual film, as a result the viewer wouldn’t fully understand the connection until they saw the movie. With the ticket I wanted it to have a closer connection to the poster so the idea of having the ticket cut up so that the ticket holder would have to piece it together as it would represent the connection to the main character trying to finish the art piece, although this would not be a conventional product I felt that it was taking a more creative direction which was a goal I had set this year to take more risks with my ideas.

With my ideas sorted I started working on the poster design but as development progressed the decision was made to start over as I communicating my movie was difficult and with time running out I needed to simplify it by taking away the Animation element and creating a purposely rough design taking inspiration from movies such as Napoleon Dynamite and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Using all of my development materials/ideas I proceed to come up with my final design of DRAMATIC TALES which would follow the minds of a man child, by using scans of materials and roughly cutting them out for the design it gave a feel of authenticity as it represents scribbles that people do on paper.

For the ticket I took the initial idea and changed it where the audience would make it themselves, the ticket itself would be a blank sheet with important features such as the title, VIP and information and a barcode but other material that featured on the posters would be provided to use as pleased. The idea came from the poster as people create things differently and the idea of creating something that doesn’t have to be pretty so giving the audience freedom was a way for them to connect with the character of the movie. The idea of the book was still used but changing it to a cheap notepad suited the theme compared to the initial idea of an art book and continued with the idea of giving the user a product that they can interact with and make use of even after watching the film.

Overall I am conflicted with my final product as there are parts that I like such as the ticket but the design itself that set the stage for the rest of the mock-ups is very different from my usual style so I find it hard to tell whether I have created something good even though it was purposely made to look rough for the theme of the movie I am unable to look past it, as a result though I had achieved a goal I had set at the start of the term which was to step out of my comfort zone when it came to my design style. I am happy that I was able to create products that cohesively go together continuing the theme and tone of the movie and chose a more creative route for the ticket and wallet by producing interactive products. I found that I was disappointed that I couldn’t follow with my initial idea as I lost a lot of time by starting over; I had a clear vision at the start of the project but had a hard time communicating it to others. I felt that the enjoyment of this project quickly declined when I made the switch and increasingly felt lost and it felt like I just ended up just creating something just to have something to submit rather than creating a piece that I would showcase but nearing the end after hearing user feedback it was clear that the audience instantly understood the direction my design was going for and the inspirations that influenced the design which lifted my feelings by the end of the project and I am happy with the collection of products that I have design.

If I was to do this project over I would have carried on with my original idea and visually communicate it rather than trying to explain it. I believe that I would have kept my momentum throughout the entire project instead of losing it. After completing this project I have come to realise that I am able to adjust to change but I also need to trust in my own direction even though other may not understand it initially I believe that I would have been able to communicate it in the end with the finish products.