Little White Lies Competition

I was very excited to hear that the magazine Little White Lies (which I have previously done a competition brief for) is running a competition to design a poster for the up-coming film Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.

(see the details here)

It's keeping me busy at the moment! I only wish the film was out already. I've been watching the trailers repeatedly for reference:

...and the latest edition of Empire Magazine also has quite a revealing article on it. The brief says 'We're looking for the most interesting and unique designs, something that captures the tone of the film.', so I'm trying to think of unusual ways to get across the feel of it. So far I've decided on one important thing: the main character's hands are very important.
In the Empire article it says:

'The star is a man of few words...in Drive, his soulful stunt-driver spoke with his boot heels and wheels. In Only God Forgives, it's all about his hands.'

I also found a post on Tumblr with a quote from Nicolas Winding Refn (along with these gifs) about the importance of the hands:

'The first image in the movie that I ever came up with for the film was this—I thought well, I want to do a fight movie and I started looking at my hands. And if you look at your hands like a tight fist—it’s obviously like a very sexual aura. It’s like a very sexual image. Like all men’s extension of their sexuality: violence. But if you open your palm, it’s about submission. And I thought: “God, there’s a movie in this movement.” '

 ...so, I know that Ryan Goslings fists, and this gesture that Refn's fascinated by, will be something essential to focus on. Immediately the thought of building wire hands flashed into my mind. Will I use 3D elements here? I'm not sure how I could make it work.

Another important element I'm considering in relation to the design is the setting: Bangkok. The city is reminiscent of The LA location of Drive, but somehow much more surreal. Visually, the film seems unnatural; full of neon lighting contrasting to the dark of rooms or night-time streets. It reflects the trashy side of the city's criminal underworld which Ryan Gosling's character seems to exist in, but it also looks dream-like and hypnotising. Colour will be something else to think carefully about, and not something I can work particularly confidently with. But I like a challenge!

Today I've been working on a drawing of the character to get me started, using painted ink, pencil and pen. Here's a quick look at it in progress. I hope it resembles who it's supposed to...

 

 

 ...and some more progress...

...and the finished drawing. I was thinking it might look good with a simple red, bold font with the film title inbetween his arms over the image. But sadly I don't have photoshop to complete this simple task at the moment. And I was too late to enter the competition also, which is a shame. But I'm happy with the image.