Has anyone tried first impressions vs the alternatives [v2]

I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right. Spent the last few weekends digging into this and the deeper I go the more questions I have. Looking for honest feedback, not validation.

Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land.

I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right. Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I want to write something more comprehensive about this later but starting with a quick post to gather thoughts.