The creative director of the company I work for also works in theater. He decided to adapt Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel 'Crime and Punishment' to a play, so he asked Oscar Bastidas to develope the art concept that was going to be used to promote the play (the original artwork can be found here).
The publicity campaign contained 2 phases: The first one consisted of intriguing graphic material which used the original artwork done by Bastidas as the center piece. The second one consisted on more detailed informative material that developed from the first phase and had the same graphical language.
The basic graphic pieces requested were:
· Flyers (both digital and physical)
· Posters
· Invitations
· Animated GIFs for social medias
· Images for Twitter
· Programme
· Voting Sheet
· Video Inserts
· Banners for sites
· Edited photos for the Press
Some graphic pieces were not used at the end due to costs and lack of time or difficulties in the play.
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PHASE ONE: INTRIGUE
FLYERS
Flyer for both digital media and print
VARIATIONS
Plain backgrounds (the black background variation was dropped)
Texturized backgrounds (the black texture background variation was dropped)
ALTERNATE FLYERS
As an alternate flyer proposal, I designed Tarot inspired flyers for every background element from the original artwork done by Bastidas. Each element had a number of the Tarot Cards deck corresponding with what I considered to be the meaning of the element, in this case, The Axe corresponded to Death which means change for better or worse and taking hold of one's destiny. Each card had information about the play in the back. This proposal was discarded.
Information about the play on the back of every card
From left to right:
The Axe - XIII - Death in the Tarot Cards: Change for better or worse. Ending of a cycle.
The Bible - XX - Judgment in the Tarot Cards: Jumping to conclusions, decisions and judgments.
The Corset - XV - The Devil in the Tarot Cards: Bondage, having a chance to choose.
From left to right:
The Cuffs - VIII - Strength in the Tarot Cards: Mind over matter, focus, responsability.
The Letter - X - The Wheel of Fortune in the Tarot Cards: Things to change, everything passes.
The Heel - VII - The Chariot in the Tarot Cards: Determination, ambition, testing and proving what you've got.
The Cuffs - VIII - Strength in the Tarot Cards: Mind over matter, focus, responsability.
The Letter - X - The Wheel of Fortune in the Tarot Cards: Things to change, everything passes.
The Heel - VII - The Chariot in the Tarot Cards: Determination, ambition, testing and proving what you've got.
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TWEETS
In consistence with the Tarot Cards theme, I designed different cards with phrases taken from the play and the hashtag #vieneCrimenyCastigo (here comes Crime and Punishmente) at the bottom in order to make it a trend on Twitter once uploaded on the site. Each card has an element from the original artwork that I considered fit for the phrase. This idea was discarded.
From left to right:
Don't underestimate life fucker...
Not a clue, not a print, nothing. No one saw anything.
Fear is the only thing that separates you from the truth
Don't underestimate life fucker...
Not a clue, not a print, nothing. No one saw anything.
Fear is the only thing that separates you from the truth
From left to right:
Get up, the future is yours.
Wake up if you're still asleep.
Get up, the future is yours.
Wake up if you're still asleep.
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BANNERS
These banners were used in sites to promote the play. The red one was used as the play's image on the website that sold the tickets. The black one was discarded.
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VIDEO INSERTS
The video with the inserts
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PHASE TWO: DETAILS
FLYERS (DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL)
This is an adaptation of the original artwork done by Bastidas with a bit more information. This one was used as an intermidiate between Phase One and Phase Two where a little more information is given but the actors are not revealed in character yet.
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POSTERS AND FLYERS (DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL)
The posters were made first and the flyers were a smaller version of them. These are fully detailed with the actors in character. Poster size: 80 cm x 150 cm. These were printed only. Flyer size: 7 cm x 14 cm. These are both for print and digital media. The woman to the left in the last image was only used for the flyers, not for the posters.
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PHYSICAL INVITATION
As an invitation, I developed a police citation with the information of the person who the invitation was destined to. It would be sent along with the tickets for the premiere. The idea behind it was that since the play revolves around a murder, the person receiving the envelope would play the role of the killer. Since the political situation is a little difficult in my country, the idea was discarded to avoid possible problems with the authorities.
Front of the citation's envelope
Back of the citation's envelope
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DIGITAL INVITATIONS
Invitation for opening night sent on emails. Other versions were made for each day the play was going to be shown.
From left to right:
Promotional invitation for students. They get a discount on the ticket price if they show a student ID.
Invitation promoting the last features of the play. These were displayed in social medias.
From left to right:
Poster-like invitation promoting the last features of the play. The background was changed to red to make it look different from the flyer.
Invitation promoting the last features of the play with cast credits.
These were displayed in social medias.
Invitations to promote the last features of the play using photos of the play taken at the premier. These were displayed in social medias.
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ANIMATED GIFS
Animated GIF using the original artwork by Bastidas as a secuence where Raskolnikov drops the axe.
Animated GIFs with the leading actors in character show 3 poses with information about the play.
Animated GIF of Raskolnikov in a mugshot session used for different sites.
Animated banner used for promoting the play in different sites.
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PRESS PHOTOS
Photoshoped photographs for the press
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PROGRAMME
Cover of the programme
The programme has 4 pages. On the inside there is an art of the sponsor (in this case Pampero) which I also developed. On the other page, the credits of the people involved in the play and of the people involved in the company that developed the whole art (Imaginarios de Venezuela, where I work).
Back of the programme with the credits of the people involved in the theater where the play was featured.
On the bottom, the acknowledgement section by the director is displayed.
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VOTING SHEETS
In the middle of the play, there was supposed to be a pause where the actors asked the audience to look under their seats and they would find a voting sheet with a pencil. They would be asked to fill it in 2 minutes and give it to the ushers. The result would be tabulated and displayed on the stage using a video beam. This idea was discarded.
The questions are:
Is it ok to kill in certain situations? o Yes o No
Does God exist? o Yes o No
Does love have the capacity to turn people into better people? o Yes o No
