Transcript
Page 1: Evaluation Q1 (portrait poster)

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

Page 2: Evaluation Q1 (portrait poster)

In the beginning…I began my research of film posters by firstly addressing the key conventions of a poster. I summarised

them in five (what I think) are key elements to creating an effective poster. These were the five points -

• A large title which attracts the eye, unique text that stands out from the background

• Intriguing picture which would attract viewers to the film, a bold image and interesting image

• Persuasive language which might persuade the viewers to go and see the film

• Using the main character’s name for promotion, and the certification will ensure that the right type of people

are watching the film

• An example of how different types of film (e.g. comedy, horror) poster use these forms and conventions to

attract a certain type of person (e.g. teenagers, horror fans) would be a really scary horror film, which will use

eerie images in order to appeal to horror fans

These were my aims going into the design process. I felt if I had all these elements evident in my poster, I

couldn’t go wrong!

Page 3: Evaluation Q1 (portrait poster)

Drive (2010) Poster Campaign –

The first set of film posters I analysed were used for possibly my favourite film (ever!) Drive (2011). I drew

influence from this set of posters for the action film drive.

• Set out: The single figures in the image moved me towards the same style, recreating the dominant image

was key I felt, to my posters success. The use of the release date supports conventions and I think this is key

to a poster.

• Text: This poster’s text is very important not only to the film but to the promotion of the production. The font

is individual and creates an identity for the film, this is very important as it makes the film easily

distinguishable in what is a very saturated market. I have also learnt that the colour of the text is key through

researching this poster, the pink contrasts with the background and creates a bold effect.

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Similarly to the drive poster I have used a large bold image of my main character.

My text draws comparisons to the Drive poster’s text as it is bold and in about the same position; at the bottom and not covering any key part of the image. I have also picked an unusual font which supports the conventions of a poster, this gives the poster an individuality. Although I did I challenged the typical bright coloured title as I felt it wouldn’t have suited my dark, foreboding poster because it would have added colour to what I wanted to be dark and haunting.

Echoing the Drive poster I have put the release date on my poster, this is a key convention of a film poster and I felt it was key to mine too. Unlike the Drive poster I have made mine much more evident. It is in bold writing at the top of the poster, on its own. I did this as I felt it was essential to the poster

Page 5: Evaluation Q1 (portrait poster)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) Poster Campaign –

I continued my research and felt particularly drawn to the

poster for this detective film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It’s

a brilliant film as well as having a superb advertising

campaign.

• Set out: All the text is at the bottom of the page,

conforming to conventions. This allows the image to

be the focal point of the poster. The image grabs the

audiences attention as it’s intriguing yet clear. The

poster also contains studio logos.

• Text: The text is simple yet bold and eye catching,

they haven’t overcomplicated it which I think is key

to success. The designers have used one font for the

title and the actors and another for information

about the film and the strapline.

This poster has taught be to innovative with my image,

not to always used a simple image but change and make it

interesting. It has also shown me keep the text simple and

readable, there is a risk of making your poster too

complicated.

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I decided to not just use a simple image like the Drive poster but to make the main image more interesting and create an interesting element. My image is six images of my main character layered over one another, this has created a dark and haunting atmosphere to my poster. My image still conforms to typical film poster convention as it’s a bold eye catching image.

Similarly to the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster my title is at the bottom and stands out from the rest of the poster. Although it does not completely conform to the typical convention of having a eye catching coloured title as I felt this would ruin the dark/haunting atmosphere.

I drew influence from this poster’s use of the studio logos, Drive’s poster didn’t contain any logos but I felt this was key as it gave it an authentic feel.

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Safe House (2012) Poster Campaign –

This poster caught my attention because of the huge

image, this was the main reasons I decided to use a

large image for my poster.

• Set out: Nearly all the text is at the bottom of

the page apart from the strapline. This creates a

focus not only on the image but the strapline

too. The split of images portrays opposing sides,

supported by the strapline ‘No one is safe’. All in

black and white,  which I think is very effective

and hope to create something similar. The use

of black and white means that bold text stands

out.

• Text: Similarly to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy the

text is white and red standing out against the

black image. Although the text is evident, it is

minimal. The designers have kept it simple. The

date is in a different font to the rest, this means

it stands out against the other parts of the text.

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Text at the bottom of the poster and bold but subtle, both similar as they basically take up the same amount on the poster. They both standout against the B&W image.

Similarly to the Safe House poster, I decided on have a full face image. My main image taking up all of the poster, unlike the Safe House poster where it is split in half. I decided against this as this is used to show division in Safe House but my film is personal and focuses primarily on a single character.

This poster made me positive that I needed the date and it needed to be evident, not tucked away. I used what seems to be the same font used on the Safe House poster (Helvetica), this is a generic serif font. Although I felt as though mine suited at the top better as it stood out but did not distract.

This poster influenced my choice of colour (or lack of it) in my poster. The b&w theme is meant to echo the dark tone of the film. The mix of images and layered effect to highlight torment, then emphasised with deep shades and dark tones.

Page 9: Evaluation Q1 (portrait poster)

Shame (2011) Poster Campaign

This posters screams with metaphors. It fights against

typical poster conventions; it has no central image

instead an empty bed with countless interpretations to

it’s representation.

• Set out: Unlike any other poster I have looked at

the title for this film is centered. This poster is

able to do this as there is no focal point in the

image. This contrasts with typical conventions

but works for this poster. Similarly to other poster

the rest of the text is at the bottom of the screen.

• Text: Although the title is understated it is

evident. It has been placed in the middle of the

poster to create a central focus as there is none

from the image. At the bottom, the text has been

kept simple with only the director’s name in red.

This has been done as he’s a prestigious director

and some viewers would watch his film purely

because of this. The awards are also shown at the

bottom in white.

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The text on both posters is white and simplistic. There is nothing complicated about the posters. I decided to copy the Shame’s poster’s approach to text as I felt it was effective, especially against dark backgrounds like the two below.

The injection and contrast of colour is evident in both posters. Although different in my poster it is the date that is in a different colour but in the Shame poster it is the directors name. I decided against this as I’m not a famous director and felt the release date was vital to the success

Both images are uncomplicated but ambiguous. My layered images, create a dark atmosphere implying a deeper meaning and the Shame poster is completely open to interpretations.

Similarly both posters have their production/distribution companies lined up against the bottom of the poster.

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Followed ConventionsI feel as though my poster has stuck to most of the key conventions that I have identified

during my research process. Out of the five I had identified I felt that I successfully had a:

– “A large title which attracts the eye, unique text that stands out from the

background” I felt as though my title stood out, the white contrasts with the

dark image creating a focal point. The text is also unique and I doubt

anyone will have seen it before.

– “Intriguing picture which would attract viewers to the film, a bold image and

interesting image” I felt as though I definitely ticked this box. I was

extremely pleased with my image used on my poster. It’s powerful and

definitely bold and interesting.

– “An example of how different types of film (e.g. comedy, horror) poster use

these forms and conventions to attract a certain type of person (e.g.

teenagers, horror fans) would be a really scary horror film, which will use

eerie images in order to appeal to horror fans” I feel as though my poster

would attract my audience as it’s different. My audience as I stated on my

blog were people that enjoyed art house/indie films, this poster is different

to most posters and would attract this target market because of it’s arty

perspective.

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Challenges ConventionsI decided to challenge a few conventions that are usually active in film posters, I did this

as I felt they would over complicate my poster. I’ll try to explain my madness below, the

conventions that I identified but avoided were:

• “Persuasive language which might persuade the viewers to go and see the film” I

didn’t want to over complicate this poster as the face in the image takes up near to

all of the picture. I felt if I tried to place a quote on there somewhere is could take

the focal point away from the strong image. I kept it simple and trusted the fact

that the picture was a strong enough attraction!

• “Using the main character’s name for promotion, and the certification will ensure

that the right type of people are watching the film” I felt this was an unnecessary

use of space as realistically if this was released no-one would want to see the

actors used. It was also once again just another complication. I felt that if I had

added the names above the title they would have began to invade the full view of

the face and this was something that I really didn’t want to happen!


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