Poster, Teaser Trailer & Production Diaries

[RottingCorpse]

We didn't shoot a picture without the knife, so we'd have to do it again.

The book cover is awesome (designed by Tyson Tate) and really does zing. I had toyed with the idea of having some blood splatter on the tits instead of using the knife, but it fell through. Your general horror fan likes the over-the-top, so in that sense, the knife in it's cheesy awkwardness works. (Am I justifying? A little bit.)

Also, Mrs. RC thinks that the body pose is awkward too. We have a shot with a different pose that we're trying to get emailed to us. I'll post it when I have it. It hasn't been photoshopped and retouched, but it'll give you the basic idea. The bookmark knife will still be there though.

[nacho]

We've not made your Friday, have we?

[RottingCorpse]

Actually, it's good to test run these things and see how people react, especially when I'm on the fence myself. Ultimately, it has to be the best image to sell the movie to audiences. (And the concept to investors.)

Am I trying to avoid a reshoot? Of course.  But if I have to justify to myself (or to you guys) that the image works, then it probably doesn't.

[nacho]

Reshoot is doubly hard because the hair's gone, right?  I think long hair is a primary part of the look.

[RottingCorpse]

That's a wig. Nice, eh?

[nacho]

That's very nice.  It matches how she looked with long hair.  Terrific.  Well, then, I lean towards reshoot.  Get her a man's knife, if you must have one.  A longer necklace, a little bit more breast.

I'm forgetting -- was the ankh in the script?  You want the woman symbol, don't you?

[RottingCorpse]

No, the ankh wasn't in the script, but people often use them interchangeably with Venus/female symbols, even though the original Egyptian ankhs are actually though to be fertility glyphs.

[nacho]

Well, since the book cover has the Venus symbol, and it's a heavy feature in the story, then shouldn't your model be wearing it?  It seems odd if she's wearing another symbol, no matter how related it may be.

[RottingCorpse]

I think we're overanalyzing it, but an ankh is pretty much a female symbol without a round circle.

Plus, we're not set on using the Venus symbol as THE female symbol as stated in the script. I haven't done the research yet, but we're going to look into other symbols and images . . . try to make it a bit more subtle.

But you're right. Maybe we should make some of those design decisions before we start designing ad campaigns.

Still, the idea with the poster is just to have a teaser image of some sort to start getting out in the ether so people go, "What's this about? When does it come out?" Besides, if by the grace of god, we get picked up for distribution, the distributor will bring in their own marketing team and do it how they want.

[fajwat]

The tits are great but Nacho's right -- the modesty is dismayingly respectful.   

If you don't reveal a little more, I think the viewer will be questioning your motives. 

Explain what you mean a little more.
...
I actually like the cropped version better, even for a big poster. What do you think?

I liked the cropped better too.

Just having a horror film named "Women's Studies" seems to raise many possible angles.  The fact that she could be on her way to a business meeting or grad dissertation, for me, overwhealms the playfulness of the concept.  (Nacho's "book speaks for itself" might be true if the image weren't so indistinguishably dark on my monitor.)  I'm not saying exploit her, I'm saying this pic seems to scream, "NO!  I respect women!  She's neither wicked nor naughty, how dare you think that?"  Which leads to either, "I don't know why they went mad and killed everyone!" or "They were justifiably provoked!" or..?  I'm left wondering the angle, your motive.

And all this is without being able to see the book clearly, so I'm just explaining that reaction.  I guess both of my monitors are too dark.  Without the playfulness of the book's design, the pic's primness (hands clasped, business attire minus a button) seemed to shut down more questions than it raised.  Actually, staring at it and wildly readjusting my monitor has brought me to appreciate the composition more -- but that's my explanation of my first reaction. 

[RottingCorpse]

Those are interesting comments, fajwat. I'm about to leave, so I'll go deeper into it later.

I was going more for the "good girl gone bad" idea.

[fajwat]

ok, back on my home monitor I changed the gamma from 0.95 to 2.0 and the pic makes a lot more sense.  To give an idea of the detail I was missing, below 1.5 I can't see that her skirt is plaid.  I've been getting "good girl gone bad" since just before my last comment, and this view solidifies it. 

[RottingCorpse]

Nice.

Again, the knife is the big weak spot. Just about everyone I've shown it to has said it looks "weird," "strange," or "awkward."

I'll stay with the cropped version for the pre-production promotion then reshoot later once we're working iwth a real budget.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

(And don't worry, fajwat. I'll come back soon and pontificate on my motives as a filmmaker with this script.)

[fajwat]

OK.. can we still see the other pose, if just for funzies?  We all like funzies, right?

Just to be clear, I wasn't really questioning your motives so much as I was saying that this photo raises the queasy possibility that this is actually about women's studies, with incidental knives.  Though I'd love to hear them, yes please.  =)

[RottingCorpse]

I need font suggestions for the poster.

We've got a rough layout, but the fonts not working for us, so if anybody has any suggestions, I'm open.