Book Cover Design - reflection

After much contemplation and some experimentation I have decided on my image for the book cover project.
First of all I will be using Red Riding Hood (by the brothers Grimm) as my inspiration but I shall be giving her a little dark urban twist. Red Riding Hood shall be come 'Red Riding Hoodie'.Some credit in part must go to Roald Dahl's Revolting Rymes and his Red Riding Hood incarnation "The small girl smiles/Her eyelid flickers/She whips a pistol from her knickers", which has obviously stayed in my subconcious since circa 1984!

I had initially decided to shoot on location at a location that comprised of both woodland scenery and some urban decay. I found an area near by to my home which encapsulated both perfectly. An area surrounded by trees and foliage which is also home to a graffiti tagged rusty old metal container (see fig 1 below).

(fig 1)

However after reviewing my images from a short photoshoot I did and deciding that I wanted to go down a different path and create an image that was more simple yet just as effewctive in what I want to achieve and what I want the cover to represent. Although not as simple as the design for The Phantom Of The Opera (see fig 2) the image I want to create will be more direct and less cluttered than the original idea. I also wanted to make sure the typography had its own space in which to breathe and was not lost in a over complicated background or squashed into such a tiny space it looked like an afterthought.

(fig 2)

So how am I going to achieve my image?
I want to shoot a close up portrait style picture of my Red Riding Hoodie which although closely cropped will still contain all the iconic elements of Red Riding Hood i.e. red hood & axe. I shall shoot my image in the college studio using a female model shot against a black backdrop (in order to give the red hood more vibrancy and for mood and dark tone). I have already been in touch with a model and all that remains is too confirm a date and book a slot in the studio. I am aiming for an end of october/beginning of november shoot.

I hope to achieve an image similar in style to a poster for a film called 'Heartless ' which was released in 2010. Fig 3 shows said film poster.

(fig 3)

The positing of the text for the front cover will be set out very similar to fig 3 and will give the cover a movie poster like feel to it. I like the way the text is below the image very much like a mug shot or corporate photo you see when entering a builidng of a large organisation.

Setting out the text this way frames the photo nicely and once again gives it that whole feel of a cult film character. If only to reiterate this please see below for other examples and inspiration.

fig 4

fig 5

fig 6

fig 7