Critique wanted for possible movie poster

[Gospel]

I'm guessing that this is supposed to look like a piece of metal with the Umbrella logo on it, right?

Sigh, it's too bad you can't change the logo size or color, because that blue doesn't really go well with silver. Too many light colors, you see.

Darken up the steel and tad. Hmm...you're right, that would have looked great with some blood on it.

Can you try chipping the Umbrella logo some? To make it look like paint is peeling?

I don't like the way "Survive the city" sounds either. Perhaps someone else can think of a good tagline?

[EGGO]

Alright, I darkened the steel (metal or whatever) and made the Umbrella logo look a bit more disheveled.

I thought I could use the classic line that we saw before the end of the first movie when we see a newspaper in big letters, "The Dead Walk." Now if I know my english, the walk is supposed to be in it's singular form since dead is (highly) assumed to be plural, unless I want to say "The dead walks amongst us."
So I'll fix that before I turn it in, but so far s'ok?

[Daedric]

That looks really good, I like the symbol and the line at the top is clever. Good work

[Gospel]

Lighten it just a bit. And that should be "The Dead Walk", which still isn't a good tagline.

Hmm...are you using some type of rock picture in the background? I'm noticing some cracked layering in the rock, which doesn't go well with metal. Could you maybe use a real photo of decayed metal as base?

Also, can you remove the colon from the title, and scoot Apocalypse a bit closer to other words and let me see how that looks?

Also, the Umbrella logo isn't centered, and they points don't meet in a central location. Straighten that up a bit.

[EGGO]

Tried making it lighter and centering the logo.

I'm going to try and see if I can make the title like this with the Resident Evil on one line and whatnot, but I want to know if that makes it look too small.

As for the decayed metal, I'm trying to find a good picture of one but it's proving to be hard.

[Gospel]

Ah, the Umbrella logo looks much nicer. Now the tagline is off center though. And move the Umbrella logo as a whole, just a tad to the right.

Movie title is starting to look nice too, I like the smaller size, but can you get rid of that ':'? It really throws the whole thing off.

[EGGO]

I moved the logo a smidge to the right (about 5 pixels), and even the tagline.

[Jase]

Man that one is wicky i like the "the dead walk" bit

[df0notfound]

http://eggo.us/images/poster3b2.jpg
+That tagline is borderline illegible, the information is illegible at this size and probably will be at most sizes with that background. Make it solid white again
+The background is too visually noisy and it detracts away from the title
+The logo tells me nothing about the film, if I cover up the title I would not have a clue what it is. I'm guessing the logo is something to do with the film, but if the only place people will know about this is from resident evil film 1 or the games then its not gonig to work that well as a poster.
+Red on blue? What about colour blind people?
+I'd change the tagline font too, thats a bad font legibility wise because its badly kerned and too stylised, most film posters generally go for something alone the same genre as the rest of the poster but a bit more pedestrian. The film name is a logo and thus has to be stylised, if you write everything else on the poster the same way it could dilute this branding.
+Think it needs at least Millia Jovovich's name at the top, shes the only reason anyones going to watch it anyway.

http://eggo.us/images/poster2baroqueb.jpg
+Match the logo to your 2nd one
+Change the cast font and shrink it a bit, if your going to plaster their faces on the front.
+That guy top left looks 3d rendered, mess with the lighting on him or get a better photo that doesn't look straight out of poser.
+Photo at the bottom is too '28 days later', actually scrap that its too much of a clich� for the zombie flick on the whole try and put an original slant on the zombie genre if possible because silhouetted crowd has been done to death.
+Think it looked better when the portraits were smaller, its too cheesy and in your face and kinda looks like Scream 4 or something. Is it not supposed to be a bit more of a serious horror film, but this is a traditional method of the slasher style film. If I remember rightly anyway.
+If your going to arrange the title like that, move evil down a bit its intruding on resident too much.

oh and "The dead walk" isn't a great tagline.. well if I'm honest its an awful tagline because its stating the obvious for a zombie film, I mean if it was like the first zombie film ever then WOW great but seen as we've been flooded with about 7 zombie films in the past year or two then its expected. Its like if there was an Ace Ventura 3 having a tagline "He makes stupid faces and does more silly catchphrases" or A new star wars film "Lucas wanks on a film reel and puts it in a projector...AGAIN!"

On the whole I think they need a lot more work and possible complete rethinking (esp on the logo verion).

[Gospel]

Heh....I thought that the guy looked CG as well.

[EGGO]

df0notfound, that seems more like a bash then a critique, but allow me to respond to some of your points.

That tagline is borderline illegible

Agreed ever since it was being made. Trying to still figure out how to do this or if it should even be there at all. Just make this solid white again you said?

the information is illegible at this size and probably will be at most sizes with that background. Make it solid white again

By "information" I assume you mean the billing block at the bottom. It will be legible when the printout comes, the point of the Billing Block is to see where it would be positioned and the proportion of it to the poster.

The background is too visually noisy and it detracts away from the title

Think so? Should I clean up the dirtyness a tad? You're the only one that really made that point but I'll see how it looks like if done it that way. As for the title I think it does pretty nicely, I even added a suttle element that would make the title stick out.

The logo tells me nothing about the film, if I cover up the title I would not have a clue what it is. I'm guessing the logo is something to do with the film, but if the only place people will know about this is from resident evil film 1 or the games then its not gonig to work that well as a poster.

Remember The Ring? The movie poster and its commercials told nothing about it, but it's still very well-known to the point of it having a sequel. Luckily for us, this is already the sequel. The target audience IS the people who played the games and watched the first one anyway, since it takes place right after the first movie. Besides, the movie poster shouldn't really tell the story, that's what the commercials are for.

Red on blue? What about colour blind people?

Color blind people will have a hard time seeing almost all movie posters. Even the movie where there'll be even more red and blue. Nothing I can really do about the movie title treatment.

I'd change the tagline font too, thats a bad font legibility wise because its badly kerned and too stylised, most film posters generally go for something alone the same genre as the rest of the poster but a bit more pedestrian. The film name is a logo and thus has to be stylised, if you write everything else on the poster the same way it could dilute this branding.

So don't use the same font as the title, go straight to perhaps a clean looking sans-serif?

Think it needs at least Millia Jovovich's name at the top, shes the only reason anyones going to watch it anyway.

I disagree as her being the only reason why people would watch a movie that is a sequel based on a hot-selling video game, but if I am to put her name in, do you think it would look best if I replace the tagline with her name? Or with the tagline, it would help people a tad more?

Match the logo to your 2nd one

Agreed

Change the cast font and shrink it a bit, if your going to plaster their faces on the front.

Think I should just have Jill and Alice's names on there and then just have the two girls on the poster? I really only wanted a 3rd person for the triangle formation, buuuuuut I think we can just have a good linear one with Jill being about as big as Alice's face.

That guy top left looks 3d rendered, mess with the lighting on him or get a better photo that doesn't look straight out of poser.

Got rid of him anyway, I think I like the black guy better. =0)

Photo at the bottom is too '28 days later', actually scrap that its too much of a clich� for the zombie flick on the whole try and put an original slant on the zombie genre if possible because silhouetted crowd has been done to death.

What do you suppose I do? It's a tad too small to put in the sillouhette of Nemesis, perhaps a cityline?

Think it looked better when the portraits were smaller, its too cheesy and in your face and kinda looks like Scream 4 or something. Is it not supposed to be a bit more of a serious horror film, but this is a traditional method of the slasher style film. If I remember rightly anyway.

It's more of an action film, not really a slasher. Perhaps if I made the portraits a tad smaller, but not as small (average out everybody's liking of the size)?

oh and "The dead walk" isn't a great tagline.. well if I'm honest its an awful tagline because its stating the obvious for a zombie film

Anybody is free to throw any ideas at me, the tagline was stylized like that to see how it would possibly look. I was just using the headline that they used in the newspapers when Alice woke up in the city.

[Gospel]

Nemesis silhouette?

Hmm, this give me an idea. The silhouette is just an all black figure, right?

Take a white background, and place the large Nemesis silhouette against it. Then, in the blackness of the silhouette (contained it) put the faces of the characters.

Mkae sure you can see the body of the Nemesis clearly though, and place the title, etc. near the bottom again.

Can you do this and let me see it?

[EGGO]

Originally posted by Gospel
Nemesis silhouette?

Hmm, this give me an idea. The silhouette is just an all black figure, right?

Take a white background, and place the large Nemesis silhouette against it. Then, in the blackness of the silhouette (contained it) put the faces of the characters.

Mkae sure you can see the body of the Nemesis clearly though, and place the title, etc. near the bottom again.

Can you do this and let me see it?

Sure, I'll work on it tonight. Should it be grungy a tad as well? Or just keep it clean for the critique's sake?

[Gospel]

Clean. Everything should look crisp.

I just want to see what the poster would look like.

[df0notfound]

"df0notfound, that seems more like a bash then a critique"
Nope thats comments, I don't pussy foot around things design wise. If you don't like them you don't have to listen.

"Trying to still figure out how to do this or if it should even be there at all. Just make this solid white again you said?"
Well you need a tagline really, but if its white then it should be fine. Just don't use blend effects really.

"By "information" I assume you mean the billing block at the bottom."
Being the only information on there then obviously yes....

"It will be legible when the printout comes"
Well we can only hope.

"Think so? Should I clean up the dirtyness a tad?"
Yeah I think its a bit over the top grit and dirtiness wise, might work better if it was a bit more darker than the title.

"Remember The Ring? The movie poster and its commercials told nothing about it,"
This is irrelevant, thats 'The Ring' or 'Ringu' depending if your talking about the butchered American one that totally missed the point. The whole point of the marketing of that film was to make it enigmatic (thus the poster and promotional material reflected this), which doesn't work with resident evil because its already a well established series of films games and god knows what else.

"The target audience IS the people who played the games and watched the first one anyway, since it takes place right after the first movie."
The target audience isn't just them, they're the least of your worries advertising wise. Well assuming they actually enjoyed the first film.

"Besides, the movie poster shouldn't really tell the story, that's what the commercials are for"
They should tell you more about the film than, its got an umbrella shape in it.

"Color blind people will have a hard time seeing almost all movie posters."
Not true

"So don't use the same font as the title, go straight to perhaps a clean looking sans-serif?"
Well maybe not that far, perhaps a nice slightly distressed gritty font, but just something a bit more legible or to differentiate it. This seems the general trend with movie posters these days and makes sense really.

"I disagree as her being the only reason why people would watch a movie that is a sequel based on a hot-selling video game"
Well I was joking a bit there about the general quality of video game movies. But I do think it needs her name in somewhere cos she is quite the hot property these days. But I think you still need a tagline somewhere at least.

"Think I should just have Jill and Alice's names on there and then just have the two girls on the poster?"
Don't think the guy really adds to it, its not like hes a well known actor or anything. Seen as being firstly an action horror flick and secondly based on a game of the same genre then your probably talking about an audience that will mostly be male. Also Millia has a tendency to play strong female roles so she works well as an aspirational symbol so it could work well on a female level too.

"What do you suppose I do? It's a tad too small to put in the sillouhette of Nemesis, perhaps a cityline?"
I've got no idea what images you have to work with or what the film is about really so to be honest I wouldn't know what to suggest from this position. But at the minute its got that "Another zombie movie" look to it which isn't great after 28 days later, dawn of the dead and shaun of the dead etc all out recently. Try to think what this one adds to the genre.

"It's more of an action film, not really a slasher."
Thats what I'm saying, montage of large faces is something you see a lot in slasher films because its all about sexy teenagers sinning and getting killed. Resident Evil quite clearly isn't.

"Perhaps if I made the portraits a tad smaller"
Hmm not too small but I think they might benefit from some treatment, make them a bit more gritty and dark like the ethos of the film.

Anyway don't take my comments personally, I can be harsh but thats why people pay me to do this.