Portfolio Idea Change

Portfolio Idea Revision

I love movies, and I love movie posters, so what I wanted to do for a piece in my 2007 Portfolio, was to pick 10 movies, and redesign the movie posters, and design a book around the posters and the process I went through.

But lately I have had reservations about the idea, being bored and uninspired by it. So, I have been totally neglecting the project, and now I'm about 3 or 4 weeks behind. Thats what happens when you have a teacher that lets you do whatever you want. It is now halfway through the first semester and I have nothing to show for it.

I was on the L today, waiting for it to start moving, and reading HOW Magazine. Now, I am not sure what I was reading that made this Idea pop into my head, but it did. Of course, what I thought of is going to be way more challenging than my original idea, but more interesting as a portfolio piece and versatile as well. And since my teacher is so flexible, I don't have to finish it by the end of the semester.

I want to take the Movie Poster Idea, and rip it out of its context. From start to finish. Make sense? No? Ok, let me be more specific.

Every movie evokes a specific emotion and has certain visual elements that make it consistent and cohesive as a film, as a story. What I want to do, is take those elements and feelings out of the movie, and bring them into pieces of design.

For example; Desperado, I had made a movie poster for it, thats all fine and dandy. But, what if, instead of a movie poster, I made a poster promoting a singer, or a musical group called Desperado. In the movie, there is the idea of the Mariachi, Revenge, and Love. I take those Ideas, plus some visual elements, such as a guitar and/ or a gun, and create a promotional poster for Desperado.

Another example would be the movie Quills, great movie (read a short plot summary here) And I can take the visual elements from that movie, such as 'writing in blood' and create a piece using that. I can do some package design, and package actual quills and a little ink jar with 'blood' instead of Ink, and sell the idea of the movie like that.

What I hope to accomplish, is to take 10 different movies, and take the idea of the movie out of movie land and bring it into design, Packaging, Postcards, Business Cards (A whole Identity), a Brochure, a magazine, a logo, a bag, a book (of-course I don't have to design a whole book, just come up with a basic idea and a few pages.)

Then from those 10 separate pieces, I can make a book showcasing them, explaining why I use movies as my central theme. The fact that movies give you so much to work with, and can bring the whole piece together.

It sounds so much more complicated than it does in my head, anyway, please let me know what you think, and I am open to suggestions. I know it is a little late to go back to the drawing board. But, I have to. Designing 10 posters is too boring, and it doesn't show my flexibility as a designer. So don't try and talk me out of it, I don't think I can take that sort of criticism this late, hehe, but i am open to suggestions to make the idea better!

~shal