Studio Brief 3: Initial ideas

I brainstormed some of the main themes of the film, so that I can form a conceptual poster that is fitting to the plot. What I am trying to avoid the most is creating a poster that is as generic as the film... and the current posters for it.

The theme is incredibly boring and predictable; undercover CIA, kidnapping, shootouts. The things that stand out to me as maybe doable are the family issues; the main character has an estranged half sister, and his father (Bruce Willis) dies, and the rest of the family gets kidnapped.

Cracking - represents the corrupt CIA agents in the movie. I like this idea; something subtle with meaning.
Using 'shhh' - a play on the secrecy in the movie. The father (Bruce Willis) is a secret CIA agent, and also he has kept his other family quiet from his main family.
Light beams - Going with the theme of the film name - 'The Cold Light of Day'.
Snowflakes - Again, about the film name, because snowflakes are cold. I think this is a weak idea and wouldn't work that well.
Briefcase - the thing that the bad guys in the movie want is a very important briefcase. This seems very obvious, but I like the simplicity and the curiosity it could start in people who see the poster. I think a line drawing or simple illustration of a briefcase could be effective.

Icicles and sun - A literal image representation of the film name 'The Cold Light of Day'. I don't think much of this idea really. It has no reference to the plot and wouldn't really reflect the content.

Briefcase code - a close up of the lock on a briefcase, which shows the secretiveness of what is in the briefcase... we never find out it's contents. This could be quite hard to create but interesting.

Thermometer - Literal concept of the name of the film... boring idea that isn't that creative, its also confusing as a simple poster.

Bars - One bar coloured a dark colour to represent the death of the father in the family, or it could represent the half-sister who gets introduced to the whole family at the end of the movie. The second thumbnail shows the fading out of one bar - to represent Bruce Willis' death, and the added on bar to show the half-sister. I like these subtle concepts but aesthetically I don't think much of it.

I am going to work on the light beam and the briefcase ideas, as they are simple (so can work well with 2 colour printing) and aesthetically I could do interesting things with them. I also like the subtle concepts.