Our Photoshoot

Here are a selection of our images that we took on our photoshoot. To create the blood on the hand we used fake blood, and black eye shadow to emphasise the shadows to make the image more striking. We experimented with flash on and off to see the differnt effects it created. We also experimented with lighting with in the room to see how this effected the image. We decided that the most effective was when we turned the light off in the room and left the flash on as it lit the hand up and made everything around the hand dark and emphasised the shadows. We experimented with differnt postioning of the hand and using another hand to hold the hand to see if it created a scarier image. We decided that the 'coming soon' wasnt effective and planned to get rid of it once we began to edit them on photoshop.


We decided that this image was the most effective as the positioning of the hand looks as if its coming to wards you. It fill the majority of the shot and is centered therefore making it eye catching. The area around the hand is dark and therefore means that it will be easier to edit. The lighting has worked as the flash has reflected on some of the writing making it stand out and the shadows will be easily enhanced. We plan on enhancing the brightness and contrast to make it more shocking, and we would like to remove the 'coming soon' writing as we feel that it is not effective.

Draft poster feedback

After producing initial design ideas on Paint, we showed our class what we had designed in order to choose one idea and develop it further.

First Draft
Our peers felt that this draft gave away too much information, as in the trailer you are not able to see the man's face, whereas in this image although it will be dark, it still will show too much of the man's identity. This will diminish the narrative enigma and mystery created in our trailer. They also felt that whilst it was a striking image, it didn't stand out as much as the second draft and in comparison was 'boring'.

Second Draft
Everyone thought that our second mock idea would be the most successful film poster. The reasons they said for this was that it was an unique design that would grab people's attention and stand out the most from other film posters. This is important in order to attract an audience to watch the film, instead of them watching competitors films. People also said that our genre of horror was extremely clear, which is important to portray a story and attract people who are interested in this genre. By using conventions of a horror genre such as blood and low key lighting we are able to attract audiences that are engaged by this genre. People also said that as the title is on a hand it creates mystery as that is the only feature you have surrounded by darkness, which makes people question what is happening. As the title is in the middle of the page it stands out, which makes the title memorable. Although people did say that they think there should be more blood surrounding the hand to create a bigger impact.

Third Draft
Our peers believed that this draft also gave away too much information, as whilst the image is shocking and striking, it doesn't leave enough mystery to entice an audience in. They believed that if you were presented with this image you are given the climax of the film and receive the same emotion as if you were too watch it, which defeats the object in promoting it. They also stated that by using this image we would ruin the narrative enigma that we created in the trailer. As we used this image in a short flash, the audience were not completely aware of what the image was, which created a mystery and a want to find out. So by presenting this image we are diminishing this effect and ultimately not achieving our goal of attracting an audience.

Final Decision
Myself and Amy have decided that we are going to develop our ideas for our second draft, as this received the most positive feedback and everyone voted for it as the best idea. We also thought that this would be the most successful idea ad our feedback has encouraged us to develop it further.

inspiration

Myself and Amy where inspired by this poster due to its simplisty. It has a single image, and the key colour is red. The image fills the page and everything around the image is black. There is no production logos, just simply the title. This creates a narrative enigma and leaves the audience questioning what comes next. It doesnt rely on quotations, or captions to define its genre, as you can see through the image that it is a horror film. This shows how a macro media has used a simplistic style and we have taken inspiration from this.

Poster Mock Ups

After analysing other macro media posters for films such as 'Orphan' and 'The last house on the left', myself and Ferne have come to understand conventions within posters and techniques used to attract specific audiences. We have designed three different posters that we could use in order to promote our film, taking into account our research and its relevance to our own film.


Here is our first draft:








This draft focuses on a main image of the antagonist, which will grab peoples attention as they may feel like the figure is looking at them. The image of Bowe remanis sinister, as the poster will have low key lighting and as his hood is up it hides his identity. This helps the audience to recognise the genre of horror, as a dark colour palette and a mysterious figure are conventions of horror. We would have a dark background and the writing would be in white in order to stand out from the background. The white colour for the text would also reflect the title with connotations of innocence. We also placed 'Coming Soon' underneath the title so that the audience are able to relate this as a film poster.

This draft focuses on a main image of a hand. We wanted to use a hand to represent the girl pleading for help. We decided that as the main image we would put the title on her hand in blood to create a bigger impact. The hand would be in the middle of the canvas to ensure it is clear that this is the title of the film. This approach is a unique way in displaying the title of the film, which will help our poster to stand out. The genre of horror is clear through the image of blood and low key lighting, which are conventions of the horror genre. This will help to attract an audience that is interested in horror films, which are part of our target audience. We will also place the 'Coming Soon' underneath the image of the hand to ensure that the audience are aware that it is promoting a film. The simplistic poster creates a greater impact as people can focus on the image of the poster. We have used a limited colour palette of red, black and white. The colours of red and white are very ambiguous and create alternative meanings of the poster. These colours also contrast with the black background, which has universal connotations of evil and the unknown, which are themes our film portrays.

This draft uses a main image of Sophie who has been beaten and in distress. This is eye catching as it is an unusual and disturbing image to see. This will intrigue people and persuade them to watch the film. This image is also shown in the trailer which will create synergy between the different promotional mediums and build awareness of the film as a whole. The white lies will be in a black font as the image will not be black and this will help the title to stand out more than it is in white. This also creates a juxtaposition with the title as it uses the word 'white' and uses the colour 'black'. This can help portray the sinister aspects of a white lie, which is the concept behind our film. We have also used a tagline to reflect the concept of the film, which also makes the audience relate their own experiences of 'white lies' to the film and may encourage them to see the effects.

All of our drafts sell our film through a main image. This is because it is a horror genre and the images in the film will grab people's attention. As our film is in the micro media we have not used cast as our unique selling point as due to our budget we have not used anyone famous and people will not be able to recognise them.

Analysing Film posters

This is a film poster for 'The Last House on the Left' a major influenential campaign to the creation of my trailer. This poster is a really simplitic with one photo, no photos of the cast, and a simplistic colour theme. By not including images of the cast, I can tell that this is not the unique selling point for the film, and that they are relying on the genre of the film to sell it. By using a dark sinister colour theme they clearly portray this genre. In generic horror films the idea of a 'haunted house' is often used in a similar way to this image, with a lonely house on the top of the hill lit up by moonlight with silouhettes of bare trees around it. By including images like this the designers are using intertextual references, that the audience will recognise and relate it to other films of this genre. The use of light exiting the house and it being dark all around reflects the battle between good and evil with in the plot. The picture looks stormy due to the contrast which also reflects this storyline. The combination of the word 'House' being larger than any of the other words on the poster, and the image of the house relate to the focus of the house in the film. By making red the only other colour in the poster it reflects blood and danger. Red could possibly portray love and romance, but in the case of this poster it clearly reflects blood due to the splatters and the rest of the poster being dark and sinister. The title of this poster is larger than the image, this is unusual for most film posters as usually the designer is relying on the image to draw the attention of the audience in. This poster therefore breaks away from the conventions of film poster and subverts them, this may in itself draw the attention of the audience in as its not what they are expecting to see. The fact that the typography is really simple as well is usual as i would assume that normally if they were going to make the text the focus of the trailer, then they would choose to use a fancy font to make it more aesthetically pleasing. The reason why i think they have made the text the focus of the poster is because they want people to remember the name of the trailer the most, this is why they have also used a really simplistic font so that it is quick, easy to read and impacting and therefore memorable. At the bottom of the poster there is the names of the production company, studio, crew and cast memebers names. They are really small and compacted together, this means that they are not the feature of the poster.

Analysing Film Posters

This is a film poster from the film 'Orphan'. The genre for this film is horror and i will discuss how the poster reflects this genre. The image of the girl is clearly the focus for the poster, we can tell this due to the fact she is in the center of the poster and is staring directly out at the audience. The image of the girl has no light reflections on her eyes, this makes her appear dead and lifeless and therefore relates back to the storyline and genre. Her blank expression also reflects this and makes her appear scary. As she is staring directly down the camera lens it makes her appear intimidating and also activly engages the audience with the poster. By using a blank expression and making her appear non human makes the audience feel uneasy, as it makes you feel that she is unable to follow rules and morals as she has no emotions to sympathise or have compassion for other people. This is a common representation used in the genre of horror- the attacker appearing to have no emotions or remorse for their victims, this scares the audience as its unusual from the norms that we have in society and means that the attacker will seize to do as they please regardless of someone elses pain.The genre of horror often uses children as the attacker in films, this is effective as it breaks away from the norms of what society thinks of children. Society expects children to be sweet and innocent, therefore when they are portrayed as evil and sinister it shocks and confuses the audience and scares them more than if it was an adult. This is the Unique Selling Point of the film, the fact that shes a young girl, this is what the film has that no other film does and therefore they have made this the feature of the campaign. The colours are very dull and dark, this reflects the sinister element of the storyline. The girl is dressed in a typical old fashioned outfit for little girls, this is again connotes innocence but it contridicted by her facial expression. The simple use of captions leaves the audience in suspense as they havnt specified whats 'wrong' with the character, and it leaves the audience to speculate. They have used a very simple font for the smaller captions but put the title 'Orphan' in a differnt font, this makes it stand out more. The use of a scratchy point reflects the feeling of someone being trapped and it also reflects a childs handwriting due to the lack of captial letters, this again relates back to the image of a child and therefore the storyline. The use of red for 'can you keep a secret' reflects danger, it could also reflect love, but as the rest of the poster suggests that the genre of this poster is horror we know that it is related to death/ blood and danger. This colour is minimally used in the poster, and we therefore know that the places in which it is used are important parts of the trailer. The fact that she has a red scarf around her neck shows the importance of this and suggests death due to it being quite tight, it also reflects restriction and makes the audience feels awkward. They have made the edges around the poster darker and makes her stand out as she is brighter and your attention is drawn to her face. The lighting is high key and has created harsh shadows on her face which again makes her appear sinister.

The similarities and differences between elements of the campaign for Saw 5

Through analysing Saw 5's campaign I have noticed similarities and differences between the individual elements of the campaign. I noticed that similar images where used through out the campaign, colour schemes and fonts where all kept similar. The reason why I feel the designers may have created this synergy is so that their audience may recognise and associate certain elements of their campaign to each other. For example if a viewer saw the trailer, by keeping the same fonts and images they will recognise the poster if they walk past it in the street.

Throughout the campaign the designers have used the same font and imagery, this gives their campaign a sense of synergy. The audience may or may not see the website, poster and the trailer, but if they do they will recognise the same font and imagery and relate it back to the film. This is their unique selling point. The voice over for the trailer is a recognisable voice, used through out the series of the films, this again is the unique selling point of the film. By deciding that their film was to be released at Halloween the distributors would have had to compete with other horrors as many horror films are released during this period. They therefore would need to ensure that their campaign stands out from everything else. This campaign has relied heavily on its existing audiences from the previous films. By using the same font that has been used in the other films and a similar design and music, they have directly appealed to an audience that will already recognise these devices. The clinical aspect of the images used in the posters is relevant as this film is based around a hospital and a member of staff in it. The washed out images with dull lighting and colour tones, is also used in the film, and therefore by using this in the campaign it directly links to the style of filming used.