When creating some more film poster drafts, I found it particularly difficult to make a billing box. Not only did I not know what font and size was appropriate to use, but I felt clueless as to how to format it all and the layout of it. With this in mind, to facilitate the process, I went on a fonts website (www.dafont.com) and installed the font below, which is specifically used to make accreditation on film posters etc:

From there, I was able to use this new font to copy existing film posters, their billing box layout and what order they accredited their cast and crew in their billing box. I then created a billing box on Word, before copying it over to Photoshop in my film poster:

Like the examples below, I wondered how effective it would be to create a poster that used Still images from the film instead of conducting a Photoshoot just to capture an image for the poster…

With this in mind, I went through some of the footage, and print screened any shots that I thought would make an effective film posters. Below are some examples:

THEDARKROOM

BILLING BOX HERE

STRAP LINE HERE

ACTRESSNAME

THE DARK ROOM

ACTRESS NAME

STRAP LINE HERE

BILLING BOX HERE

THE DARK ROOM

STRAP LINE HERE

ACTRESS NAME

BILLING BOXTHE DARK ROOM

BILLING BOX

STRAP LINE HERE

However, taking into consideration the film’s genre of psychological thriller/horror, I thought this one on the left, was the still image that would make the most suitable film poster.

Even though it does not include a strap line, the cold colours and overall simplicity evoke a tone of chill and disturbance which would appeal to the eyes of audiences interested in that genre.

Shoot date: 25/11/2012

Item/model: Olivia Boren (as the main character, Lux)

Shot types/angles/distances: Close up shot of her and her camera In the outdoors. Lux wearing sunglasses (makes character look mysterious)

Macro, flash and lighting: Outdoor natural lighting. No flash, and automatic focus.

Background: Nature background – river/trees/grass. By doing this the focus will be solely on the character of Lux. Gloomy weather to evoke tone of horror/chill.

Positioning on poster: Model either on the right or left side of picture framing.

Details of editing: Pictures edited using effects from either Instagram or Picasa (so poster looks modern and appealing) with colour grading to be changed on Photoshop.

Instead of editing my chosen poster images just on Photoshop, I also decided to use some Instagram effects on the photos. This is because this app is very popular nowadays, and therefore audiences would like the modern, current and cool tone of the poster images and thus be persuaded to want to know more about the film.

In terms of effectively using many Photoshop skills, this is the draft I’m happiest with so far. I edited the picture firstly on Instagram, then changed some of the colour grading on Photoshop and also used other tools such as: brushes, spot healing brush to reduce blemishes and also the magic wand tool.

I feel the billing box is correctly placed, although I think the size is not in proportion with the rest of the poster. Even though I did not include a strap line or film star reviews/ratings I still included the actress’ name so audiences can be persuaded to watch film.