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My vision for this piece was to play on the word “break”. I hoped to get close to the line for meeting the client’s requirements, while staying true to my artistic desires. Where my previous assignment was wildly abstract, this one was ment to show restraint. I looked through the reference, and I took parts from all the different models to create a whole new body. I wanted a pose that created clear, open negative spaces. I purposefully left “breaks” between each of the parts. Here are my first takes, all done in Photoshop. Once I found a design that I create the separate elements. I had the dancer breakdown, the dancer highlights, and the text. I set up the page according to the required specs for the Dance poster: number of pages = 1, deselect Facing Pages, page size = Tabloid (66 picas x 102 picas), orientation = tall, number of columns = 1, and margins = 3 picas all around. I set up a layers folder for text, graphics, and background. I brought in my image using the hotkey, CTRL + D to bring in my TIFF. I adjusted the position to be off center because I thought it would make for an interesting Z layout that forced the eye to drift down the dancer. I checked my links. I adjusted the display performance to High Quality Display. I set a rectangle to fill in the space to the bleed. Next, I brought in the text using a copy and paste from the given media copy. I created a spot color for the text and titled the color highlight blue, R:72, G:231, B:214. I created a process color and titled Yellow title, R:2544, G:199, B:0. I created and applied guides for the text to be aligned on the right side. Each line was removed from the media copy, adjusted by creating a text box, and given a paragraph style that was titled appropriately. I used a font called Caviar Dreams for all the text, which I downloaded from a website, dafont.com, and is 100% free for personal and commercial use. MCCC Title had a bold, size 30, leading 35 and aligned to the right. I wanted it to hover over and drape over the title of the dance series. DANCE TITLE was bold, size 30 and used the color: Yellow title. The dance words: Jazz, Latin, Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Modern, and Ballet, and Directed by Dave Massey were left at size 18. I transformed the text, Hip-Hop and Tap, vertically, to cut the figure, while using the others as cuts horizontally. I felt inclined to do this to preserve the original inspiration of where I joined different parts of the dancers. The performance dates were changed to size 14, and I made a decision to apply the color Highlight Blue to the date. The Location was given a given a size 12, and the color Highlight Blue. For the bottom I wanted to try something different with the style. I created three styles: Left Bar, Center, and Right Bar. I figured that by creating texts boxes that aligned to the guides I could quickly place text that were balanced. The Left Bar was set for size 14 and left aligned. The Center was set for size 14 and center aligned. The Right Bar was set for size 14 and right aligned. I add the Highlight Blue to the admission costs. I believe that this set up of styles give the bottom a foundation, a floor for the dancer to propel itself from. The postcard was a different challenge. I hoped to meet some of the other requirements here. I set up a new document with two pages, dimensions of 8 ½ x 5 ½ . I didn’t forget to deselect facing pages. I set 0p9 for a 1/8-inch bleed all around. To leave text space I set up guides, for 2" x 4" of blank space at the bottom right for the address information, 1" x 1" of empty space at the top right to allow for the permit/indicia, and 1/4-inch from the outside edge of the postcard. For the back, I followed much of the same as the poster. I applied the paragraph styles from the poster. The changes here were to change the MCCC Title to Left Aligned and size 18. The Dance Title was now size 36. Both were given a drop shadow effect. The text body was given a style of SimpleText with a size 12. I chose to keep its color paper white. I aligned it to a guide that I place in the center. I created a gradient swatch titled black to blue. I adjusted the buttons to have the gradient occur where the graphic ended. I left it linear to give the illusion of movement from the right to left with the character jumping off the text body. For the front, I wanted a simple image that related to the poster. I placed the dance titles back into the dancer body. I removed the dance titles on the back to showcase the sections of the dancer body. The text was sized exactly as the poster. I felt by simplifying the imagery of front, it would hit home my concept of “break”.
Having the title only also amplifies the “break”. I kept the same font size as the poster, and brought back the drop shadow effect from the postcard back. Overall, I believe this is a successful design that showcases a simple image used to emphasize a theme. I wanted to create a piece that represents contrast and growth from my assignment. I look forward to our conversations on font.
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I am proud to present my poster for the upcoming MiraCosta theatrical performance, The Graduate.
I believe that the story has been presented for some time as a coming of age movie, and a story that represents the anarchic attitude of youth. However my poster adaptation will focus on my opinion for promoting a more current theme opened by the story, our cultural fascination with “the cougar”. You see, I’m a person who has watched many a teen age hormone directed movies, from Animal House to American Pie, and TV shows that objectify the sexual yearnings of the mature women, like you don’t remember Golden Girls’ Blanche Devereaux! My original thumbnails focused on the exploits of Benjamin, but after watching the movie again, I found him to be unrealistic, and quite a simpleton. He is not a character that as a young man I would in no way have sympathy for, but in fact would argue is a moronic portrayal of sexual confusion and hormonal instability. This is not what attracts the audience. Instead I will support my choice with the lyrics made famous by Fergie, “My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, And they're like It's better than yours, Damn right it's better than yours, I can teach you, But I have to charge.” Mrs. Robinson is a dynamic; some would argue an iconic character in film history. So simple in fact that the leg is a symbol that alone continues to sell the story. I find her, and the mental state of the modern day “cougar” to be a sad reflection of women confused by the roles of femininity, motherhood, and the very definition of beauty in society. All too often I see a reflection of Mrs. Robinson in so many areas of our modern life. Anti-aging cream, plastic surgery, even Junior sections of department stores filtered with women well beyond the target age barriers. I am particularly disturbed by the idea of mothers being teen daughter’s best friend in more than relationship, but in dress, language, and, as so well portrayed in the story, engagement with men. So much in fact that I jest that if a woman of a certain age uses LOL or OMG in any context, I believe that device should self-destruct. So, now that you understand my political stance, please allow me to describe my vision for the piece. I wanted to play up the duality theme that is prevalent in the story. I found there to be an agreement in my interpretation at http://www.filmsite.org/grad.html, “The two different generations are also reflected in other dualities: the two rival women (young innocent doe-eyed daughter Elaine and the older seductress Mrs. Robinson), the two California settings (Los Angeles and Berkeley) and S. and N. California cultures (materialistic vs. intellectual), and the division in Benjamin's character (morally drifting and indecisive vs. committed).” I combined a few thoughts from my thumbnails to design my image. I thought a profile image would best reflect the showcased character; my original was focusing on Benjamin under the water. Profile by its play of the definition, is an examination of a character both externally, but more importantly, internally. What is the mindset of Mrs. Robinson? She is callous in her behavior, the immoral choice of breaking down her marriage, the manipulation of her daughter’s life as a consequence of her own choice, a clear denial of accountability for how her choices are reflective to the lives of all those caught in her web. I created an image that shows a person more concerned with the ash that may fall from the light of her cigarette, a woman whose vanity is based on the proper flip of her bleached streaked hair, than the foundation and unity of her family unit. I wanted a painting that showed the strokes of life on her face. I made the decision to layer thick painting to showcase the caking of unsecured makeup that is cracking from within. All the meanwhile, her shadow looms largely over those caught in the weaves of her hair, the lies, the redirections, the false statements of responsibility to a moral code promised between two caught in sin. Lost in the tangled strokes, is a face of a young woman, silenced by the dark barrier that was created not by her own choices, but by those of one she has been disciplined to honor and respect. My decision to create the starring image of my poster would be a contrast to the samples presented for previous class selections. I wanted this to appear as a street art, near graffiti throw-up that slanders the reputation of the woman, therefore the destruction to a story that supports any opportunity for the fairy tale, happily ever after. I imagined the text as classically written, placed on traditional horizontal and vertical grids. The text and the strong black background would serve as a backdrop to a time long gone. In its place is the offset image which I simply transformed with a rotation, like a graf sticker wobbly placed with little thought of presentation, therefore a statement on the impassionate presentation of the female image. This took some experimenting, as my original idea was to have the image placed vertical and center. I chose the title to be from the font STENCIL. I could imagine that the text was sprayed over the image like a scarlet letter. I would have had a drip to up play that concept but I liked more how my painting splashes off the negative space and up into the title. Overall, I believe that my image and the choices I made in using the text and framing within the InDesign program create a story that draws a new audience to look deeper into the meanings presented by the drama. I think it is visually attractive from afar equal to the appearance up-close. The street art choice speaks to a younger audience, while the angst created in opposition to some of the classical elements will provide intrigue to the mature viewing members. Step back, and then ask yourself, “Do you ever really graduate into the person God intended?” |