George Feast

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? – Film poster

For my film poster I have decided to conform to the majority of conventions that real media products utilise when presenting a film through this medium. This is due to the fact that I wanted to make it intrinsically clear that my poster was in fact advertising a film and not any other form of product. However, this wasn’t the only reason why I chose to conform to various elements of film posters and these will be individually touched upon throughout the course of this evaluation. For this reason I will divide my poster into sections that correlate with a prominent convention that I have used within the product. However, I have also made several choices to not conform to conventions which I deemed as unnecessary to my final product.

Short tagline:

I incorporated the convention of a short tagline onto my film poster. Taglines are generally succinct phrases or statements which are linked to the narrative of the film presented. They give subtle implications into what the films narrative will consist of or themes and ideologies within the film. This distinctive convention is utilised in a plethora of film posters, making an appearance on the majority of them. My decision to incorporate a short tagline onto my film poster was influenced by the effect it would have upon my audience and its ability to implicitly present themes and ideologies of the narrative. Through situating the sentence ‘DON’T GROW UP’ at the head of my product I hoped to prick their interest intensely. This would cause them to question a statement that contradicts growing up; a fundamental part of life and existence. However, this wasn’t the only function that the tagline served. My taglines main purpose was to allude to events within the narrative. By having such a controversial statement it directly links into the ideology and context of my short film. Due to immense food shortages and an overwhelming boom in human population the government has deemed it necessary to promote cannibalism through an initiative called the project. This is due to the fact that the processing and consumption of humans on their 18th birthdays would combat both of these intense societal issues simultaneously. Thus, my

George Feast

short tagline immerses the audience within the context of the story and advises them to futilely stop growing up to avoid forced consumption. I believe that by adhering to this convention I am effectively presenting these themes within my story in a stylish manner whilst also using a common film poster convention.

Focus on the protagonist:

George Feast

My film poster developed the convention of having the main protagonist of the film at the centre of the poster. This is a common aspect of film posters as it allows the audience to establish who is the main character of the product and promotes them to relate with them. I have developed this convention by exhibiting my antagonist in the centre of the poster and not my alternate character of the heroine protagonist. This was not a mistake and has clear intentions behind it. An aspect of my short film is fluctuating the audience’s perception of my main antagonist’s morality. During the opening shots, the audience identify him as evil due to his fallible pursuit of my main protagonist denoted through camera angles and sound effects correlating with his actions. However, during the course of the narrative the audience are convinced he is acting in a moral way. His promotion of sacrificing his and the protagonist’s lives for the greater good of the project could be interpreted as courageous. Nevertheless, this representation of his character is crumbled once again as he betrays the main protagonist of the short film and allows her to die for the project in solidarity. Therefore, by presenting the antagonist’s face in the centre of the poster I would allude to my audience that he is a protagonist. This relates to him feigning his immoral intentions and attempting to befriend the protagonist, only to deceive her. To not overcomplicate this notion of deceit I have also included text situated around the contorts of his face. The text reveals the objectives of the project and forebode the deception he instigates into attempting to food process the protagonist of my short film.

Actor’s names:

Within the film industry actors are continually promoted on film posters. This is to have an expansive target audience and to make the film accessible to as many people as possible. I have made the decision to incorporate this convention onto the front of my film poster. Through compositing the actor’s names above the title of the film the audience will make a conscious link between the two and identify them with the product. I have utilised this convention to effective use. The fact that my final product is heavily oriented on two characters; an antagonist and protagonist this seemed like an intelligible decision to make. Although my actors are not well renowned and will add to the overall popularity of my final product this is still a useful convention to utilise. Without incorporating the actor’s names I would leave my audience oblivious to who instigated in the dramatized actions within the film. This could result in them unable to pursue the information of the actor’s after witnessing their dramatic skill within the product and therefore would be unaware of them.

George Feast

Nevertheless, I did not want to labour this convention of incorporating actor’s names onto the poster and therefore did not have them appear in a large predominant font.

The title of ‘The Project’:

The title of a film poster is significantly one of the most important aspects of the poster itself. A film title is essential for a film poster as it allows the audience to directly identify the name of the film that is being promoted. I chose to conform to this convention for the obvious reason of presenting my product to my target audience. Through utilising the advanced photo manipulating software Photoshop I was able to present the title in a visually aesthetically manner consisting of a colour gradient with etchings. These etchings represent the prominent dystopian themes of my short film and my title emphasizes this.

Credits:

Credits play a crucial role within the creation of a film poster. By conforming to the miniscule size of the lettering, I hoped to mimic the visual convention within the film industry. This informs my audience that I am the main architect of my product and that I had a crucial role in its creation. Due to the fact that I only operated with another individual in the production process of the short film, I have mentioned his creative role in this process of developing the product. I have also referenced the original author of the short novella which first influenced the creation of my short film. His contribution in devising the short story was imperative with giving me a creative springboard from which I could channel my vision into a short film production.