Behind the Poster
Aug. 29th, 2008 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elennielIf you've already read my most recent wallpaper post, you'd know I had a terrific time making this one:
And now I'll dive right into the "behind the scenes" of this piece. Because I figure perhaps one or two people might actually want to know how the wheels in my head turned when I was making this crazy Eito Ranger movie poster.
The main image
Figures were traced from a shop photo of the Rangers. And when I say "traced," I mean outlined with the Pen tool in Photoshop to produce paths. Later on I realised that some of the figures were not dynamic enough - especially Black. So I looked through several other shop photo scans and picked one which best matched the camera angle and had a better pose before tracing the figure I wanted and replacing it in the poster.
There was actually a good deal of shifting around involved to get it to look more balanced - like moving Orange slightly more to the right, or moving Yellow & Blue down a bit so it wouldn't look like Red was resting his elbows on their heads, etc. I also used a bit of artistic license to tweak some of the figures so they wouldn't look to flat, or to make them look more proportionate.
The sunburst rays in the background (which snoew knows I rather fancy lately :P ) seemed to me to be the obvious "accesory" to the Rangers. It was simple and at the same time added a "heroic" feel. (Kind of like in some of The Incredibles stuff.)
It started out having a simple tan background - that being the most neutral colour - with a simple radial gradient and a texture overlaid on it. Then I tried other hues, but they just didn't work. So I went on to trying adjustment layer gradients and curves, which seemed to work. So the end result has about 4-5 adjustment layers just to achieve that one background.
The Text
I didn't take too long to pick the title font - I don't have that many kanji fonts anyway. But I knew I wanted something friendly and fun, not something cool or edgy, because the Rangers are essentially pure fun. :D
The tagline ("The bad guys are going down!") was just a line from their Eito Ranger theme song. I watched a subbed vid of one of their skits and looked at the song lyrics to pick a suitable one.
The Credits
Ah, I had fun with these too. XD
"Stardust presents" - I think my f-list would understand the whole "star" issue best. :P
The JE reference was obvious. I contemplated using Teichiku instead, but since that's mainly for K8's music (like Avex Trax for V6), I decided using JE would be better.
The cast list...
I placed Ryo first because usually the biggest star(s)/main characters come first and since - let's face it - he's probably K8's most well-known and popular member, it's almost a given that he would be placed in a leading role. He has the experience, and he'd bring in the viewers.
After that, we have Yokocho and Baru because I think Black and Red have the most pronounced extrovert personalities of all the Rangers. Hina, Yasu and Maru are sort of middle ground there, and Tacchon is last (even though I like him lots!) because Green kinda pales in the bright bounciness of all the others Rangers.
As for the directors and scriptwriters, to make it more fun, I wanted real people's names there. I looked for those involved in dramas like Densha Otoko or Kisarazu Cat's Eye or HanaKimi because I figured those would suit the zaniness of Eito Rangers best. XD (My preference was slightly skewed to Densha crew because that drama was funny and yet had a little core of warmth that really made the show.)
Okay, let's go to the scriptwriters first.
Yoko and Muto Shogo. I put Yoko's name there because he seems to be the mastermind behind the Eito Ranger skits, so I figure he'd be likely to have a hand in this section. XD Muto-san wrote the screenplays for the Densha Otoko and HanaKimi dramas.
Katayama and Takeuchi. The former directed not only Kisarazu Cat's Eye, but also dramas like Hana Yori Dango 1 and Tiger & Dragon. The latter directed Densha Otoko and Nodame Cantabile.
And to round off this post, here's a four-stage "evolution" of the poster:
There's not a very obvious difference between the second and third stages, but if you squint (and if I'd posted a larger version) you can see that that's where I started making a lot of changes to the figure positions. (Well, except for Black, because I changed that figure before coming to the first stage. ^^; )
So there we have it. A little insight into the workings of elenniel's brain. 8D Hope that was interesting to someone! ^_^
And now I'll dive right into the "behind the scenes" of this piece. Because I figure perhaps one or two people might actually want to know how the wheels in my head turned when I was making this crazy Eito Ranger movie poster.
The main image
Figures were traced from a shop photo of the Rangers. And when I say "traced," I mean outlined with the Pen tool in Photoshop to produce paths. Later on I realised that some of the figures were not dynamic enough - especially Black. So I looked through several other shop photo scans and picked one which best matched the camera angle and had a better pose before tracing the figure I wanted and replacing it in the poster.
There was actually a good deal of shifting around involved to get it to look more balanced - like moving Orange slightly more to the right, or moving Yellow & Blue down a bit so it wouldn't look like Red was resting his elbows on their heads, etc. I also used a bit of artistic license to tweak some of the figures so they wouldn't look to flat, or to make them look more proportionate.
The sunburst rays in the background (which snoew knows I rather fancy lately :P ) seemed to me to be the obvious "accesory" to the Rangers. It was simple and at the same time added a "heroic" feel. (Kind of like in some of The Incredibles stuff.)
It started out having a simple tan background - that being the most neutral colour - with a simple radial gradient and a texture overlaid on it. Then I tried other hues, but they just didn't work. So I went on to trying adjustment layer gradients and curves, which seemed to work. So the end result has about 4-5 adjustment layers just to achieve that one background.
The Text
I didn't take too long to pick the title font - I don't have that many kanji fonts anyway. But I knew I wanted something friendly and fun, not something cool or edgy, because the Rangers are essentially pure fun. :D
The tagline ("The bad guys are going down!") was just a line from their Eito Ranger theme song. I watched a subbed vid of one of their skits and looked at the song lyrics to pick a suitable one.
The Credits
Ah, I had fun with these too. XD
"Stardust presents" - I think my f-list would understand the whole "star" issue best. :P
The JE reference was obvious. I contemplated using Teichiku instead, but since that's mainly for K8's music (like Avex Trax for V6), I decided using JE would be better.
The cast list...
I placed Ryo first because usually the biggest star(s)/main characters come first and since - let's face it - he's probably K8's most well-known and popular member, it's almost a given that he would be placed in a leading role. He has the experience, and he'd bring in the viewers.
After that, we have Yokocho and Baru because I think Black and Red have the most pronounced extrovert personalities of all the Rangers. Hina, Yasu and Maru are sort of middle ground there, and Tacchon is last (even though I like him lots!) because Green kinda pales in the bright bounciness of all the others Rangers.
As for the directors and scriptwriters, to make it more fun, I wanted real people's names there. I looked for those involved in dramas like Densha Otoko or Kisarazu Cat's Eye or HanaKimi because I figured those would suit the zaniness of Eito Rangers best. XD (My preference was slightly skewed to Densha crew because that drama was funny and yet had a little core of warmth that really made the show.)
Okay, let's go to the scriptwriters first.
Yoko and Muto Shogo. I put Yoko's name there because he seems to be the mastermind behind the Eito Ranger skits, so I figure he'd be likely to have a hand in this section. XD Muto-san wrote the screenplays for the Densha Otoko and HanaKimi dramas.
Katayama and Takeuchi. The former directed not only Kisarazu Cat's Eye, but also dramas like Hana Yori Dango 1 and Tiger & Dragon. The latter directed Densha Otoko and Nodame Cantabile.
And to round off this post, here's a four-stage "evolution" of the poster:
There's not a very obvious difference between the second and third stages, but if you squint (and if I'd posted a larger version) you can see that that's where I started making a lot of changes to the figure positions. (Well, except for Black, because I changed that figure before coming to the first stage. ^^; )
So there we have it. A little insight into the workings of elenniel's brain. 8D Hope that was interesting to someone! ^_^
no subject
Date: 2008-08-28 06:35 pm (UTC)(just wanted to let you know that ;) now I'm going back to your wallpaper post)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 12:39 am (UTC)And I'm relieved it wasn't boring to you :D
no subject
Date: 2008-08-28 10:12 pm (UTC)you're right about ryo, his name would probably be placed first.
the "stardust" got me laughing. mainly because of stardust promotion where sawajiri erika, kitagawa keiko, hongo kanata and others are signed... looool
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 12:46 am (UTC)What? What stardust promotion? o.O Do you mean there's an actual agency/place called Stardust or that there's a promo for the movie Stardust outside Sawajiri Erika's agency? hahah
I almost used Starlight actually... And now that I think about it I like the sound of "Starlight" better than "Stardust." Dang. XD
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 02:38 am (UTC)there is stardust promotions
i'm not kidding. ^_^
here have a wiki (opens in a new window) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_Promotion)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 03:57 am (UTC)I'm obviously ignorant of all the other agencies apart from JE and Watanabe. hahahah
Now it just looks bizarre to have "Stardust" there because it doesn't match up... 8D I think I'll change it to Starlight - on my own personal copy anyway. lol
Thanks for the info! ;D
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 04:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 05:03 am (UTC)Will send it later tonight after work and all
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 04:02 pm (UTC)You'e wonderful for simplicity OwO
no subject
Date: 2008-08-29 04:51 pm (UTC)Thanks~~
Simplicity is my "thing". ahahaha XD
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 10:18 am (UTC)Thanks~
( The one I submitted for the fanbook actually had a few of the credits removed. I didn't want to have the headache of explaining my choice of director/scriptwriter to them. 8D )