DVD Cover-- Evaluation and Production Process

Initial Ideas:

First: as a group majority it seemed we were definately leaning towards this one.

Set in a street at night:

Long shot, low angle of a man standing...

In front of a car, headlights on..




...Silhouetted against the lights.



Pros of this idea: If carried off successfully, it has the potential to be really striking and appropriate to the themes and genre of the 'film' as a whole, divulging some of these themes to the target audience while maintaining a strong sense of enigma. Questions the audience may be asking at this point are; who is this man? what does he do/what part does he play in this film?

Cons of this idea: It could be very tricky to produce this cover shot successfully as we would have to organise someone with a car to remain stationary in the road while we shoot, and even then the connotations associated with the type and appearance of the car could adverselyaffect the overall impression given to our target audience about our film through our DVD cover. A people carrier would have completely different connotations to a Jaguar, for example.
Finding a street that looked appropriate to be found in a thriller- one that has a sense of danger, or emptyness or even a clean-cut 'ideal' suburban street, perhaps? Even the clothes and stature of the man, though he is sillhouetted, would help to contribute to the huge quantity and range of factors that we would need to carefully consider for this shot, and could make the shot look really amateur if they go wrong.


Idea 2: I thought that perhaps this idea was quite ambituous, and although it would be amazing if it went exactly as we planned, there were too many factors to think about for it to be successful and in a reasonably short time frame. I thought that if this shot didn't appear realistic then perhaps a simple close up shot of a man's face, maybe smoking a cigarette, with his face heavily shadowed could be effective.

[WE PICKED THIS IDEA]

Shoot: Steph held the pag light with the windows narrowed so that the light was very low key, and I worked the camera, and we converted it to greyscale using photoshop afterwards.



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Here's the finished DVD cover again:




Positive:

• The text of the title is very strong and helps to set up the identity and genre of the film.


• I think the two main images, particularly the one on the front, are quite strong. The shadows and enigma (especially the way the shot is cropped to conceal his eyes) of this shot are in line with typical thriller conventions and themes.


• I think that the simpicity of this cover is very effective, and it looks rather classic and striking.

Negative:

• The text of the blurb is cramped vertically, and some of the text is slightly overlapping, which looks a little messy.


• Although it is somewhat enigmatic, simple and striking, I believe it is a little too plain. It was not our original intention (see below) to have only one shot on the front cover and so much space above it. The originally idea of having two shots on the front cover, if we had pulled it off succesfully, may have been more effective.


• Also, as this is now the only picture on the front cover, it could be setting up false expectations for the audience. I think it now could connote a more ganster-thriller than we intended it to, due to the typical 'mafia boss smoking with shadows on his face' iconography.
  

-Angela x