Hairy Horror Story

About This Project

Movie Poster

Digital Photography, Digital Image Manipulation, Layout Design

The Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

Sketch

I wish I could say that I had many ideas beyond the initial cosmic horror concept. For some reason, the idea of a man with the power of oblivion secreted between his face and beard delighted me to the exclusion of any further ideas. The nearest stylistic example would be the film The Ninth Gate, which I watched the first third of before falling asleep.

First Draft and Subject Matter

I immediately knew who I wanted for this piece, my friends John and Melissa Meek. Among their many creative credits is their time as background characters on Stranger Things. If you saw a lab scene chances are you saw them. I knew they could deliver the right poise and expression for this piece.

In some ways, this ended up being one of my most sophisticated Photoshop edits to this day. I adjusted colors, I created fog by adjusting the opacity of an image of clouds. I adjusted the light and shadow and colors. It was an excellent learning experience.

Environmental Contact

While attending a Raster Design class at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design I was tasked with creating a movie poster for a fictional movie. I decided on a horror movie because it is not a genre I favor but is fertile ground for a range of imaginative aesthetics. But I didn’t want to create something as obvious as a slasher flick. I wanted to make something more in the genre of cosmic horror.

Color and Font

For the title font, I chose Rockwell Condensed. It has a stark, rigid feeling to it. It can feel almost like bleakness in font form.

For the other text I chose Berlin Sans FB. This font mirrored some aspects of Rockwell but in a sans-serif form. This would be a good match for Rockwell without competing with it.

For color, I wanted to give the impression of night and darkness. But, not in a way that leaned too heavily into black colors. So I chose lots of gradients of blue. I then dialed up the reds and maroons in the actor’s pictures to create the highlights.

Final

To better communicate the narrative thrust of the piece I reorganized the pictures to tell something that pointed to John as being the villain with an equally villainous woman invading the lives of his wife and child. I also added awards and accolades.