Red Bird Cinema
www.redbirdcinema.com
Objective
Initially PERSONE was contacted by Red Bird Cinema, a film production company featuring John Loar, Tony LaRussa, Kevin Pollak, and Billy Bob Thornton, to help with graphic production for Red Bird Cinema's project 3 Nights in August, a film about Tony LaRussa and written by Buzz Bissinger (author of Friday Night Lights).
We began with the 3 Nights movie poster and book cover and once those were finalized, we continued to develop supporting sales materials for the film. We were also asked to re-design the company's logo, and to create other film-related concept art for three production projects that haven't even been shot yet. The idea was to create some kind of graphic, centered around the themes of each individual story, and develop it as placeholder or concept artwork for internal and promotional use before and during the movie production process.
Approach
The 3 Nights in August poster artwork was fairly straightforward as there was existing imagery to use for direction as well as a lot of other material to use for reference in creating the poster. Altering the poster for a 2 page sales sheet brought the focus onto reducing the size of any branding elements, as well as creating some new themes and visual treatments for the photography, logos and while placing more text and focusing the information on sales-related content.
With respect to the film concept artwork, we started off with iconic imagery relating to the core of each story. In one case, The Boxer, we knew it was the life story of Sugar Ray Leonard and so we started looking at how we could represent a portrait of a legend who had also experienced a lot of fame as well as the dark sides of celebrity and success. We played with textures and color as well as choosing a strong central image with various treatments reflecting the many faces of the champion.
For the other projects, we broke down the story and script into its visual components and attempted to convey key aspects of the storyline with simple, immediate visuals. Waiting for Helen, as a detective who-done-it story, revolved around creating an impression of crime and intrigue centered around a seductive but mysterious female protagonist. A Darker Shade of Rose, a biopic about Pete Rose and his friend Tommy Gioiosa, focused on the infamous ball player's association with drugs, fame and the dangerously toxic interplay in their mingling.
Summary
These projects have all been well-received by Red Bird Cinema and we have continued to help them with ongoing graphic and marketing projects. The logo has successfully replaced their previous version and is now propagated across all company branding. The sales sheets are in active use for broker/dealer fundraising purposes and the company is actively developing their in-house film production projects.