HiResLeague round 2

[bazzah]

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Here are the results for round 2, of the HiResLeague.




 
 
 
 


 
 

Judges Scores

 




 
 
Bunny Dojo
JollyRoger
Kernie
Paris
 


 
Entry
 
 
 
 
Total Score


1st

xshoty
99
100
94
93
386


2nd

bpmford
93
85
93
99
370


3rd

Antistatic
88
96
98
87
369


4th

M0vieM0nster
92
88
87
95
362


5th

easylife
85
90
86
80
341


6th

pytlaczek
83
81
81
76
321


7th

Speedz0r
74
74
75
84
307


8th

Jazzy
74
74
74
74
296




So now it is on to Round 3, where the following 4 pairs will battle it out for a place in the Semi Finals. Things will be a little tougher this round, as the contestants will now have to follow a theme for their entries. The choice of theme for round three, is to create a DVD or BluRay for any movie that is of the Sci-Fi or Animation genre.
xshoty v Jazzy
M0vieM0nster v easylife
Antistatic v pytlaczek
bpmford v Speedz0r









And here are the judges scores and comments.




 
Bunny Dojo
 


Entry
Comment
Score



xshoty
Visually Spectacular. Rich, complex front and back compositions. Wonderful texture throughout. Familiar style, but original for the film and suitably grand-scale. For small details, there appears to be a floating black Dolby logo on the bottom center, and the Copy Protected logo and credits are a little rough.
99



bpmford
There appears to be a lot of original creativity on display here. Vanessa Hudgens' name placement on the front is kind of tricky, and an extra push in your colors could be intriguing, but, overall, your concept has been wonderfully carried out across the cover. The bottom credits are a bit haphazard, with names and job titles split across multiple lines.
93



M0vieM0nster
Very competant, strong work. Each individual element is well-chosen. It's a bit reserved, for such a boastful, showy movie. This particular shade of yellow isn't overly attractive adding grunge or pushing further toward a bright, artificial yellow might be the missing finishing touch.
92



Antistatic
Sharply put together, with plenty of interesting pieces. Other designers have experimented with desaturated and/or collage styling for this film, and the title treatment and back primary image are familiar from retail posters, so that takes away some freshness and punch. The colors don't really fit the film for me, and Hardy blends right into Theron, looking like a giant on the front. There's a lot of technical skill on display, but the designer's
enthusiasm for the film doesn't shine through.
88


 

easylife
Workmanlike cover, clean, with some nice touches.
I appreciate how much you changed the retail poster but personally prefer the original, which makes it tough to rate really highly. Bold choice to have the tagline on the spine... I think it works. Small Details: Rapace's arm cut on the front and "XXXXXXXXXX" on the bottom-right of the back.
85



pytlaczek
The cover image and title treatment are familiar from the retail, but you've made some delightful adjustments and additions. The back image and framing have some nice work as well.
I've tried making a custom for this film and can tell you've put in a lot of smart work, I just wish the final cover didn't look so much like the retail. The angled quote and low-quality spine image seem ill-advised. Nice energy on the "Special Features," but a little cartoonish.
83



Jazzy
This could be great, but it looks like the initial placement for a cover, rather than finished work. There's no real theme or unifying color scheme to bring the elements together. The front and spine title treatments do not match. Spacing is also rough -- elements are too close to edges, there are big holes of blank space in the bottom logos/credits, etc. A really promising start in need of a lot of extra finessing.
74



Speedz0r
This is solid work, but, given the amount of covers available for TDKR, you need to do something incredible to set yourself apart. The bright blue, Batman's treatment on the front, and little Hardy on the back are a bit cartoonish, and all of the elements on the front composition feel separate. The back Batman treatment is powerful, though. Be careful to fill out the entire template ("Movie © 2011"). The score here is deceptively low -- it's a nice cover -- but, compared to other TDKR covers and other covers in this competition, it doesn't stand out.
74




 
 
JollyRoger
 


Entry
Comment
Score



xshoty
Masterful show of crafmanship and ingenuity! There's a good balance between the front and back; the chosen style is very appropiate.
100



Antistatic
Excellent effort! I especially appreciate the title treatment, and the colors on the front. I miss those same colors, (the orange red glow especially) on the back.
96



easylife
Well crafted, the front especially, and with a good grasp in terms of what goes where. Noticable differencies in image treatment on the images of front and back though.
90



M0vieM0nster
Wellcrafted cover, that needs something to make it pop.
88



bpmford
Nice covers with good symmetry between front and back.
85



pytlaczek
Very nice effort indeed! There's quite a bit going on, everywhere on this cover, very nice ideas and show of creativity!
81



Jazzy
Nice overall effort that does it's job.
74



Speedz0r
Nice cover, that's being let down by the mix of images with noticable diffrencies in terms of image quality. Some nice ideas though!
74




 
 
Kernie
 


Entry
Comment
Score



Antistatic
Originality: Derivative of retail layouts and poster art. Very similar to all other covers out there for this title.
Quality: Impeccable. Beautiful, crisp imagery, text, and legals. Only nitpick would be to left-justify synopsis and special features text so that reader has a consistent left edge to return to when reading one line to the next.
Skill: Cover shows the mark of a skilled and controlled hand with strong layout, excellent use of imagery and color palette, and complete attention to detail.
Suitability: While derivative of retail art and other covers, such adherence to established promotional imagery allows this cover to perfectly fit the tone and style of the film.
98



xshoty
This should be my #1 and will most likely win the comp, however...
Originality: There's a lot of great ideas here (Film reels, film strips, bamboo border, water, montage layout, etc.) but it feels like we've seen it all before on other covers by this artist. In addition, with so many great ideas comes a sense of clutter. I'm probably being too harsh, I really like this cover, but there's a sense of "playing it safe" going on... like it's borrowing ideas from past competition wins and recycling them to increase chances in this comp. In short, it relies too heavily on montage layout, high contrast, filtered images, and clutter... all stuff that feels routine at this point.
Quality: What looks like a masterpiece cover begins to stumble when viewed at full resolution. Typos galore ("wainting" in quote, "extend version," no space between "fascinatingproduction" and "extendversion," "throught"). Remember to proofread. A cover with this amount of typographical errors should not win (at best, it could be due to a language barrier, at worst, the designer has gotten lazy). Also, some poor masking in montage (Adrien Brody in particular) and over-reliance on filters to hide some low-res images. Lack of contrast between text and background (and a smaller-than-average point size) leads to some readability issues on front names and synopsis.
Skill: This designer has some incredible skill but seems to lack a sense of control. The cover is detailed but cluttered. Over-reliance on grain and filters is a bit of style over substance. Text issues result in form over function (a beautiful design can be hurt if text is hard to read)
Suitability: The film itself is excessive and overcooked, and this cover perfectly suits Jackson's bloated film. Expert use of color, filters, motifs, and some creative ideas.
94



bpmford
Originality: Defies conventional cover layouts, especially on back cover & legals. Great use of "vein" motif and color palette.
Quality: Crisp, clean images and textures. Inconsistency between fonts used on front and back. Synopsis font slightly difficult to read, would probably work better with a simple (Helvetica-esque) font. Decrease spacing and leading on billing block.
Skill: While original, the back layout lacks a bit of focus, with all elements occupying similar space and size. Lack of font variety and some typography issues ("Blu-ray Special Features" is very spaced out, while "Witty, warm..." quote is condensed... typography on both of these headlines should be consistent).
Suitability: Warm/cool color palette is perfectly fitting for tone of film.
93



M0vieM0nster
Originality: Clean elegant design but somewhat empty and almost too simple.
Quality: Beautiful, clear images; crisp text, consistent fonts, nice masking, unified color scheme (with exception of blue feather… make it black/grey to match yellow/red/black palette), and an effective layout. Angled stills seem out-of-place, as rest of layout follows horizontal/vertical grid. Some text readability issues on front title treatment, where it blends with picture of Keaton.
Skill: Cover demonstrates a talented and controlled hand. But simplicity of cover doesn't allow many opportunities for designer to show a wide range of skills. What is done is done well.
Suitability: Fits the tone of the film. Really great to see a standard color palette and use of fonts.
87



easylife
Originality: Great work on front cover design (grunge texture dissolving into skyline, border), simple and effective layout but hardly an original layout, particularly on back cover.
Quality: A little more sharpening on front images would help. Back images are crisp and clean. Title treatment, "based on..." and tagline are pixilated (instead of using pictures of text, match the font and retype all text yourself). Also, left-justify synopsis text so that reader has a consistent left edge to return to when reading one line to the next. Keep font usage consistent. Match tagline font and use it for names, synopsis, and special features. Match title treatment font and use it for critic quote and special features header.
Skill: Simple, restrained layout with decent attention to image quality. Front design indicates a higher level of skill and creativity than the fairly standard back, which is heavily occupied by legal template.
Suitability: Color scheme, imagery, and layout seem to fit the tone of the film.
86



pytlaczek
Originality: Nice use of textures, idea of playing cards is better in theory than actual usage and a slight reliance on retail poster for most of front cover. I admire this cover's ambition and creativity, but the whole doesn't quite come together in the end.
Quality: Decent image quality for an older film. Synopsis text is slightly difficult to read (something more Helvetica-esque perhaps?). Remove drop shadow on legal text. Some pixelation on title treatment. Desaturate blue on front playing cards, as it creates an unintentional (and distracting) focal point (my eyes are drawn right to them first). Angled critic quote is awkward and breaks the horizontal/vertical grid layout of rest of cover (especially since this grid is reinforced by choice of textures).
Skill: This cover has some fun ideas and the designer clearly has creativity, but perhaps not quite the skill and experience to effectively capture his/her vision. There is a lot of potential here and the designer should continue to develop skills on future covers. Ambitious but stumbles a bit in execution.
Suitability: Imagery, color palette, textures, and font choices seem to fit the tone of the film.
81



Speedz0r
Originality: Sadly, the choice of film works against this entry. There are so many Dark Knight Rises covers out there that its hard to find ways that this one stands out from the rest. The fiery bat symbol is different from what I've seen before. Front, spine, and back layout are fairly standard.
Quality: Head replacement on front Batman is (unfortunately) laughably poor. Head is too small and looks to be taken from a promotional illustration, while body seems more photo-realistic (but might also be an illustration). Either way, mixing illustrated images with photos (Hathaway/Gordon-Levitt) doesn't work. Back image of Batman works much better. Bane image is slightly low-res. White text tends to disappear against fiery backgrounds, making it tough to read. Remove drop shadow and blue gradient from synopsis and special features text. "Batman Forever" font used on Special Features heading is awkward, as it is not used anywhere else. Color palette is all over the place as well. Blues range from teals to navy to even purple-ish in places. Green fire by Bane's head. All color could probably stand to be desaturated (possibly even completely taking all greens/cyans/blues/magentas to grayscale) to make a more consistent color palette.
Skill: This designer has potential, but needs to iron out some of the issues stated above with more experience. In time and with more covers under his/her belt, I'm confident many of these problems will be sorted out.
Suitability: Imagery, layout, and font choices (with "Batman Forever" exception) fit the tone of the film. Color palette is too bright, vibrant, and saturated for Nolan's gritty, dark Bat-trilogy.
75



Jazzy
Originality: Fairly standard retail-inspired layout. Unfortunately, there's not much creativity or originality on display here.
Quality: Consistent font choices and color palette. Text is crisp and anti-aliased. Image quality is decent for such a recent film. Border on back stills is poor use of a standard filter. Flat blue and grey colors lack any sort of "pop" (could use some subtle textures). Do not hyphenate text at line breaks (digital col- lection) in Ultraviolet description. Why is the "R" red in the MPAA rating? Region A logo in legals is out of proportion (stretched horizontally).
Skill: Front tagline (When everything...) could be made more interesting by varying point size of each word to add emphasis (Everything, Wrong, Six Men, and Courage). Cover feels like an early attempt by a beginning designer. With more time and use of WIP forum, I think this person can greatly develop. This cover shows promise, but lacks experience.
Suitability: Seems to fit the tone of the film appropriately.
74




 
 
Paris
 


Entry
Comment
Score



bpmford
Front

- You have the most inventive TT in the competition
Back

• I love the stills row! This is one of the best back covers in the competition. The way you’re breaking rules and letting it flow freely is great.
Overall

Very suiting to the title by matching the front TT with the artwork in theme. Great work!



99



M0vieM0nster
Front

- Nice hair detail on the character cut-out
Back

• The back is perfectly crisp. Good craft.

• Extra space before a comma in the synopsis “alter ego , his"
Overall

I think this cover really shows a lot of potential but it falls short with the front cover. I wish Birdman himself had been incorporated (there’s a publicity still of Keaton and Birdman walking that I think could have shown more of what the movie was about. I think your front is only half-way there.) Or maybe more of the interior where the play took place which was so much of the movie? You have the cleanest cover in the competition. Hands down.


95



xshoty
Front

• I like the border!
Back

• Your back composition has a nice flow to it with great eye lines leading the viewer’s eye

• Repeated typo in the special features: “Extend”, it should be “Extended”

• Missing space in special features area: “fascinatingproduction” “extend version” 

• Typos in special features area: “acces” "throught"

• The credits have very little spacing between the characters making it hard to read.
Overall

Great concept, but typos really affect overall quality (the tightest ship gets higher votes) But there are very strong concepts at play. Good job!
93



Antistatic
Spine

• Nice addition of the character near the TT
Back

• I wish the still on the back had enhancements like the great work you did on the front and back compositions.
Overall

The front composition is the highlight, but I wish the design was as mad as the movie and was pushed more?
87



Speedz0r
Spine

• Good choice of a photo of Batman for the spine.
Back

• The strokes and gradient on the synopsis makes it hard to read
Overall

You probably picked the toughest title in the comp. This movie has 100’s of covers, so it’s really hard to stand out and bring something fresh. Nice touch of adding Bane by the special features.


84



easylife
Front

- Tom Hardy's gun isn't fully cut out. Pieces of original image still linger and more on the left side of the "C"
Spine

• too similar to the retail, and the tagline is drawing more attention than the TT?
Back

• The back composition works!

• The stills could use more re-working. They aren’t as dramatically retouched as the front mages or the back composition.

• typo "Behind ther scenes”

• Bottom right “XXXXXXXXXX”

• Dates say “2011” and “2010” in the legal area

• Add texture like on front to tan area. Feels really manufactured and plastic, needs grit that works so well. 
Overall

I wish the front and spine veered away from the retail. 
80



pytlaczek
Front

• Good idea of making the TT 3D
Back

• Nice concept of bringing in the cards to enhance the special features.

• I wish the fonts of the special features tied into that of the TT more? The beveling pulls it away.
Overall, I wish the front wasn’t so similar to the retail. You did, however, do a ice job sprucing up the back composition based off of that one image.


76



Jazzy
Front

• I like that you wanted to retouch the front image through photoshop, however; I don’t know if it improved the image? It looks a little bright and surreal and further from a war movie?
Back

• I love that you attempted a stills composition!

• Try to avoid hyphens in special features area
Overall

I really wish the tone of the movie was captured. Beware strokes on text. 


 

74

[sauron]

Really enjoyed reading all the different comments from the judges, so interesting to see what different designers pick up on.

Looking forward to the next round and seeing what everyone produces

[Fidi]

It's great to see/read that the four of you took the time and explained your votes!
Very interesting to read the different comments for each cover.

[Nightrider]

QUOTE (Fidi @ Jun 13 2016, 04:54 PM) It's great to see/read that the four of you took the time and explained your votes!
Very interesting to read the different comments for each cover.

+1