Yup, this is what we do with our long weekends in this house...

[mstakenidentity]

As many of you know, Omniprop Productions will be performing Aristophanes Lysistrata at the Melbourne Fringe Festival later this year. It will be represented in the Fringe Guide by this image:



The question is, should we also use this image for the poster? So far we think yes if only because we can't be arsed doing that much work on it again. We though we should get some quick opinions from others, so I said I'd ask the internet.

Internet? Think this would make a good poster?

Comments

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it works and it suits the play's plot line.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Cool, I wasn't sure if the point came across or if the soldiers were properly distinguishable as soldiers. It's hard to tell after thinking about it and staring at it for ages. :-)

We were thinking of painting a map of Greece on the stomach to ram home the point, but it would probably complicate the shot too much visually. Plus neither of us can draw.

[naturalredhead.livejournal.com]

Provided you keep the text to the top left and the bottom right of the poster, that would be awesome.

Also: I know nothing about the story, but I'm guessing it has something to do with men going to war over a woman/women in general...

[shehasathree]

i immediately recognised them as soldiers (and was intrigued!).

[blinvisible.livejournal.com]

Clearly exploitative. The use of phallic weaponry especially so. It says that women are nothing more than something to stick your sword once battle is done and puts feminism back several generations. Obligatory comment about the patriarchy.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Good. Since that is sort of the point of the play ;-P

[delphaeus.livejournal.com]

The internet says yea. Why? Because random male passerby of computer screen was intrigued enough to read my LJ to find out what it was.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Awesome, that means (hopefully) people will stop and read the description in the guide.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/]

I like it. It's clean, visually clear and they're very clearly soldiers. I think it might need slightly lighter mid tones or something, especially on the stomach, but that's just me. But seriously, it's awesome. I really like it.

Having the text in the upper left and lower right will work, too, since there's not much going on there, especially on the lower right. uh, how will text come out over the sheet? (If that's even where you're going to put it.)

I think it really works.

[mc-shamo.livejournal.com]

Thanks Lisa,

I made the adjustments you suggested (I think - I really don't know what 'slightly lighter mid tones' are, but I made the stomach less red, so it looks a bit more natural).

Looks better - thanks for the suggestion!

[whooz-queen.livejournal.com]

Im going to be the naysayer. I don't like it because of the lingerie. I could live with it if the female figure had white drapes instead of modern lingerie.

I wish that less female submissive photography would be used for this type of thing, Im tired of it in modern advertising. Yes it gets attention quickly and easily, but is it really the message we want to put out there?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bounce_/]

Sorry to jump in here, but I actually like the lingerie. It makes a wonderful series of contrasts - against the sheet, the model and you've got this awesome split between this ultra-modern clothing and the wee little Greek soldiers. Finally, I think it would have really washed out the model's skin to have her only in white, on a white background - she's already quite pale and there's a good change that she'd come across as even paler that way.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thank you. It is good to know how the image comes across to others.

I actually liked the lingerie because there is a bit of fuss made in the play about the women putting on their "see-through underwear". I'm a classics nerd- I like referencing the text in the image :-)

The way I hoped the shot would come across, is that women's bodies- and their sexuality- are a battlefield. In the play the women deliberately and overtly exploit their usually submissive sexual role and use it to invert their political and military roles. The woman is big, strong, alive; the men are small, impotent plastic figures- game pieces if you will.

And in the last scene of the play a naked women is brought on stage and the soldiers use her as a map of Greece to work out boundaries, which we were trying to reference, but if we had her naked it would limit where we could advertise our play (and frankly, as the model, I wouldn't do it).

I think for now we'll stick with this image, but sincerely, thank you for the feedback- I will keep thinking about it, and about other ways to get the same ideas across.

[fnoo.livejournal.com]

You know me, and I know me, and I really can't believe I'm saying this, but..

I agree.

People are going to look at the ad because of the bare stomach and lingerie and then turn away when they realise it's about some classics play.

It's also probably going to make some of the people that you actually want to attract to the performance vaguely uncomfortable, especially if it's plastered everywhere.

[reallyedbrown.livejournal.com]

Cropped in all the wrong places!!! jks :)


And yeah, it's awesome. As someone who knows nothing about the play, I'm gonna guess it's about people going to war over a woman. Possibly, quite literary.

Or it's Gulliver's Tales, the X-Rated version where Gulliver is actually a hot semi-nekkid chick.

I like both possibilities.

[mc-shamo.livejournal.com]

See the show and you'll find out.... :).

[laurenmitchell.livejournal.com]

Oooh, it worked so well! Yay!

And yes, I think you should use this image for the poster.

[onceler21.livejournal.com]

First thought: So, what would happen to those soldiers if you laughed? You'd better not laugh.... *tickle*

The soldiers are definitely soldiers. I'll leave comments about the imagery to those more qualified to make them, and just let you know it looks good.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

So, what would happen to those soldiers if you laughed?

They fall off, and we swear, I apologise, and we have to re-set.

The whole shoot took about an hour, during which I had to stay still, by the end I was sore and grumpy and very cold, so not much in the mood for laughing :-)

[impostinator.livejournal.com]

I like it - it's visually interesting (tiny plastic men!), and it works well with regard to the content of the play.

(I dragged Chris over to look too; he concurs)

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Whee!

And excluding myself and mc_shamo, you guys are the first of the Classics Society's 2002 Lysistrata cast members to give and opinion! Yay!

[fasangel.livejournal.com]

I think it looks great, and demonstrates the story well, although it might give people wrong ideas about what the story is, but then they can learn something.

And I have to say that I hate you for having a stomach that looks that good.

[mc-shamo.livejournal.com]

although it might give people wrong ideas about what the story

Yeah... I know...

I think the basic idea we're trying to convey here is that the military might of greece are just pawns in the face of the 'power' women hold in the Lysistrata. And it's a pretty picture! :).

The caption under the title will probably be (forgive the crappy literal translation at this stage):

"Let war concern only women!' (which will probably turn into 'War should be women's business' or something a bit less clumsy).

Ideally I'd have had toy soldiers throwing down their weapons with clear, and with clear hard-ons. I don't know where I'd find miniatures quite like that though... More's the pity really :).

Hey is that your tummy?

[bar-barra.livejournal.com]

Lookin good girl! OK, clearly a few of these folks don't know Aristophanes from the Simpsons but that's their problem really. This is one play where you REALLY don't have to be worried about postfeminism-meets-porn-culture-what?-have-we -just-outsmarted-ourselves??? Do it. This works very well indeed for me.

Re: Hey is that your tummy?

[seagoon.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Sir, for saying what I wanted to in a much more informed and polite fashion.

PS Thumbs up from me as well. Also phwoar :)

[dozingquinn.livejournal.com]

Picture looks good. Where are the words going to go? On the picture - under or over it? The headline words that you use will need to tie in with the picture - and draw the reader to want to read more. Puns are good. So are questions.

Without knowing this detail it's hard to have a holistic critique of the overall idea of the pic.

[...reading more responses] You could darken the top left of the picture and put a headline there. A few big bold words would work. The date & time could be placed at the bottom lower right.

You could also add the map of greece and overlay it on the stomach, to give it a bit of a tattoo effect. That would create a stronger link between the play and the image. As long as you keep the opacity low - so as not to draw the eye too much. You may need to slightly warp the map too - coz of the stomach curves. (ok I experimented to show what I mean - see link below).

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/4565/playpicze6.jpg

I don't know how to insert pics here, because LJ likes to use non-standard code tags.

I trust copyright etc is all ok.

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Hey cool, thanks for testing that.

Pity a map of Greece is so bloody complicated and not easily recognisable, if only it'd been set in Italy...

As for copyright, it belongs to Seamus since he took the photo. I just did copyright law this semester as part of my course. From what I recall, mc_shamo has the right to the photograph, possibly the people who made the soldiers could kick up a stink, though I'm not sure, and the model (me) has no rights to the image at all (so a good thing the rights rest with my boyfriend, really)

[dozingquinn.livejournal.com]

...also make sure you're doing your artwork in the right resolution & size for printing (300dpi CMYK). Wouldn't want your alterations to go to waste :)

[largestprime.livejournal.com]

it's kinda hot...

I like it, it's edgy, it will make some people feel uncomfortable, but most importantly, it will grab people's attention.

I'm going to be the dickhead here and just say that you shouldn't care too much if people complain about things being un-PC. As long as the messages are connected with the point you are trying to make, then everything is ok.

...and you're going to hate me for this, but I'm going to suggest a very fiddly and time-consuming modification. You should put the writing ON the stomach. Like, get some war paint and physically write it on your tum. If the writing is a bit rough around the edges, all the better. Other ideas? Maybe even get a projector and project the writing onto the stomach... I just think it would look awesome to have writing that follows the uneven contours of a stomach rather that stupid, flat, boring writing overlayed in a corner somewhere.

You may also want to twist one of the blue soldiers just a tad so that it isn't at exactly the same angle as the other blue soldier. Maybe also think about photoshopping the crinkled sheets out of the picture completely. If you can find someone with a good SLR and some good lenses, you could also try shooting with a very shallow depth-of-field (i.e. less than f/1.8 aperture) and play around with your plane of focus.

I absolutely love the idea though (sorry to be so ergh about it). I really wish I was there to see the play!

[mstakenidentity.livejournal.com]

Ah! So many ideas!

Thank you, food for thought always good :-)

And as for time-consuming, we will almost certainly have to re-shoot for the actually poster anyway since that picture was taken with a pretty piss-weak camera (good enough for day to day, but not professional stuff) so it won't be that more time consuming anyway.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_audhumla_/]

I like it. As for all the possible contradictory messages about female power/subjugation I think that's ok as it fits in with the play. Sex sells but I think it is ok to use a sexy poster if it has relevance and is making a point rather than being merely titillating. I think it'll attract the attention of the broader community without alienating the classicists.

[sunshinenoir.livejournal.com]

Wow! Live Journal still exists~!
Yay for surving facebook.
Anyhu, since i was last seen around these parts, i've managed to secure employment as a professional photographer.
So, if it's not too late to be usefull: my 2 cents~

The image concept is Ace~ well composed, nice tummy.
You've taken it with inadequate lighting though ~ meaning things start to get pretty noisey around the shadows.
+ the unironed sheets in the corner provide the most contrasty area of the image ~ drawing your eye away from nice smooth tummy towards noisey boring rumplyness. You might want to try using red velvet or something next time. that shit looks hot crumpled.

Anyhu, if you want a re-shoot of your abdomen~ i have a fierce dSLR, and some highly portable studio lights.
hope all is tulips xx

[sunshinenoir.livejournal.com]

ohyeah!
And everything would be way hotter if there was a bloody handsmear peaking into the bottom of the frame down your ribcage.