MY NEXT TASK IS TO CREATE A POSTER FOR MY SHORT FILM.
I HAVE THEREFORE BEGAN LOOKING AT DIFFERENT POSTERS TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY TYPICALLY INCLUDE AND LOOK LIKE.
They all include large bold titles in capital letters this makes it stand out and catch your attention. It also makes the title easy to remember! They each have a large image in the background which represent the film and reveal something about it, for example; 'The Grey' has the main character as the background, we now recognize him. The man is injured - which gives us the presumption that something dangerous happens. There is also snow in the image which shows that it is probably set in winter. The poster is very important because it gives the audience one of the first impressions of the film. If they have not had a chance to see the trailer then this poster could be the deciding factor as to whether or not they see it. It has to draw them in!
To draw my audience in I purposely used an image of Sam smoking cannabis, this I knew, would catch peoples attention - whether it was for a good or a bad reason!
As you can see, all the posters have the actors, producers, designers names etc directly below the title in small capital letters. (Except for the most famous names, which have been put at the top of the poster where they will be seen first!) I am making a small indie short film though, not a hollywood blockbuster, so there is no one famous - and therefore no reason for any names to be at the top. There are also distribution/production/supporting companies logo's at the bottom of the poster - I have copied this. I did not use the logo's of The Warner Brothers or Sony because again, my film is not a hollywood blockbuster - there is no way it would ever get funding from huge companies like that! I instead used realistic, less well known logo's like - The Uk Film Council. (Which actually doesn't exist any longer, but never mind.)
To improve my poster I could remove the 15 rating, because on the posters above and many others I have looked at - there is no rating! Therefore it doesnt follow the conventions entirely accurately - but I would consider it to be a development. I personally feel that It would be better if film posters had rating's on because It gives the audience more of an idea of what the film is going to be like. Not only this, but It avoids disapointment for people who love the look of a film and then find out later when they go to buy tickets that they're not old enough!! The fact it is a 15 could also be really appealing for some, I know many people that judge a film based on it's rating - they think that a horror film won't be scary unless it's 18 for example. So many 15+ year olds will only see films with a high rating because it is going to be more shocking. Many people will go and see a movie JUST because they have just turned old enough and want to feel mature. So I reckon a lot of 15 year olds would feel tempted to see it purely for the fact that they are just old enough to see it! However this could also put people off the film, I know some adults that don't like to watch movies with a high rating because that suggests to them that there is something unpleasant in it - this is a slight misconception but I can understand.
Below are the two posters I made. I decided to make two because I had two favourite images and I wanted to compare them both and see what worked better! Both images consist of Sam smoking cannabis and the camera. I have edited both the images using Windows Photo Gallery. This software enabled me to change the contrast, brightness, colour and crop. I made the contrast higher and the brightness lower to make his face become more shadowed and his features darker. This makes him look more mysterious, as you can not see what he looks like very well! In the first version below, the camera is the main focus point and Sam is more in the background. I prefer that you can see the writing on the camera in this version, you can see the make and the stickers etc - it is much clearer and defined! I purposely made the title white so it would stand out against the dark behind it. By having the camera in the foreground, it makes the titles double meaning 'Exposure' more obvious to the audience. I think it is less obvious in this image that Sam is doing drugs, you can tell the cigerette is coned but it doesn't look as big as the one in the second poster!
This is my second poster; although I edited both the images using Windows Gallery - I added the text and the logo's using Microsoft Publisher. I prefer the colouring in this version, it is more red - which connotes danger and gives off more of a crime/action vibe. (Which is what I want!) Like I said, this image makes it more obvious that he doing drugs, the way the light is hitting the surface of the cigerette makes it stand out. The fact he is doing something illegal creates an uneasy/crime sort of vibe too. His face is not only dark from my editing but it is also covered by his hair, making him appear more mysterious because the audience are unable to see his eyes. Again, I have used the same white title to contrast against the dark background. Overall I think it looks really proffessional, the only thing I feel I could improve is by adding a website. I felt reluctant to add one because I wanted the entire film to be a shock, I did not want to give much away. However, after looking at a variety of other posters I can see that the majority have websites and I now regret my decision because I want it to look exactly like a real film poster and I think it is a website is a very good way of advertizing the film.
Here I have uploaded the poster to Facebook to see what my target audience think of it. I knew that by putting in on Facebook I would recieve some feedback because Facebook is the most popularly used social networking site by teenagers and young adults. It enables people to upload photo's, 'like' them, share them and comment on them - which is perfect for me! I really would like to know what people think is good about it and what they believe I should improve. I only put it on a few minutes ago and already have some feedback so the idea is looking promising :)
I made this shot of Sam walking from the background to the foreground faster because it was too long and boring. I then edited the film so it would cross cut to the couple also walking in the forest. I made this shot faster too because it is not interesting watching people walk slowly. The cross cutting transition enabled the audience to see that they were both walking in the same forest and were likely to cross paths. I wanted to make it obvious that they were not just any random couple walking, they're significant to the plot!
extreme close up
