im getting lost in the ribbon+film interaction. it doesnt make any sense to me. its going BETWEEN the ribbons on the left, then around the BACK of the trophy and in FRONT of the ribbons on the right? the ribbons on the right hang in front of the trophy. its physically impossible. you will need to show more ripple in the film to give the appearance that its curving from the back of the trophy to the front of the trophy in such a short distance. there are a few ways to fix it, some more complicated than others. i think it REALLY needs to be fixed though. its like looking at one of those drawings of a chair with 5 legs and you arent really sure which part the leg is coming from what.

i'll agree with the comments above.

also, how small are the thumbnail photos ii the bottom right corner? it seems like those will end up being quite small.

...thank you for the feedback...

...yes, the film capture strip was a bit of a problem to create and mentioned to the client about it, they soon agreed that pinpoint accuracy wasn't of much concern to them with this area...

...they came to the conclusion that if the right hand side was taller than the left, then the perspective would be that it is feeding through at an angle behind the trophy, such that the left hand second ribbon (furthest back) being pushed/arched back by the film strip. I know this isn't 'absolute' or 'ultimate reality', but they were OK with it in the end. To also be honest, they don't have the budget/willing to throw cash at me to enhance it anymore. Disappointing I know, but the clients word goes in the end...

...the small thumbnails of all the players in actiion reproduce at approx. 42mm square...

so... in english measurements, just over 1.6" square. which is way to small to have any impactful meaning. i would switch to three images that were 84mm square instead, so they'll actually mean something. have you printed it out at full size yet (even tiled on a laser/inkjet) to see what it looks like? it's often difficult to really think at scale w/o seeing it.

A LOT of work has obviously gone into this piece, but I'm finding I'm being overwhelmed with imagery. As noted, I'd lose the jumble of thumbnails and run with a few key photos. The strip of film is being lost within the cup. I'd try reducing the film strip to a few frames and have it cutting across the bottom right-hand corner and ripping right through that frame--imbue the piece with some of the energy of the sport.

LOVE your treatment of the upper background photos and watermarked text overlaid. Overall, great photoshop work and congrats on this award of contract.

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."
— Frank Zappa

...hello again, and thanks for further feedback...

...indeed the smaller action shots of all players involved bottom right were more a secondary requirement as all players needed to be included (including the substitute player) as the club wanted to credit those on the piece too. Some will end up being signed by all these players around the border.

This was added after the main focus originally being the trophy, lifting of trophy, manager recognition, winning goal.

All in all it does become very imagery, but again client word goes so it was the best i could do given the quick turnaround required. Though I agree there is a fair amount going on, but i struggled to prevent the inevitable...

...this has been printed out full size as i work in prepress environment with access to Epson 7800 wide format press calibrated proofer. In a way when mounted the image quality is as high as can be, and does draw the viewer closer without them seeing disappointing images. It also has good impact from a distance, framed in black wood...

...thanks again for all your input, very much appreciated...