Evaluation of My Film Poster

In creating my Poster, I wanted to limit the potential 'leakage' of main plot areas of the film, and in doing so, I decided to use symbolism to hint at what the film may be about. I chose the road placement, so as to represent a journey, Grace's and Diana's mental journey in the film. In searching for the location, I scrutinised various aspects before settling on the one used. I feel that the road not only is easily distinguishable as showing a journey, but has an immediate focal point with the vanishing point, which is intensified by the trees following the road. Taking the vanishing point as the focal point the piece, I chose to use it as a feature, placing the hands underneath, so to ensure that the audience would see the focal point, and then read the other information of the piece. I stuck with the conventions of Drama, using a calligraphy font, as to foretell of an emotive drama piece. From my research into potential fonts, I decided on this font, 'English', because it is easily read, but also is reminiscent of aged handwriting, so to represent Grace.

From showing my poster to audience members, they all find the piece to easily foretell of a drama, and the hands symbolising some sort of emotional joining. My audience also saw the film as a 'Drama' genre, most using the font to distinguish this. They also see the mixed cloudy/sunny sky in the piece to foretell of a mixed atmosphere.

I created my piece using Adobe Photoshop, and I found this easy to use, and using layers I was able to easily incorporate all of the factors I wished to. The text was bought in from 'DaFont' and then coloured in Photoshop. If I were to recreate this piece I would outline the white text with another colour (i.e. red or blue) to lift it from the background slightly. If I were to industrially create the piece, I would emboss the film title, tagline and other words around the hand, to draw the audiences’ eye.

I feel that my film poster works well with my trailer, as it retains a sort of anonymity for the main characters, whilst generating a mysterious interest in the piece. I do however, feel that the Young/Old theme is not shown enough between the two hands, and if I were to recreate it I would work on this aspect.

Overall, I am happy with my Film Poster as it creates the mysterious, slightly ambigous theme in the film. It is easily distinguishable as a Drama, both because of the text and the content, and raises most of the themes I wished it to, without making the story of the film too obvious.

Inspiration For My Magazine Cover

Like my poster, I wanted to some how demonstrate the Life and Death aspect of the film - with the dark tree demonstrating Death and the shining river symbolising Life. I chose to make a simple magazine cover, as I wanted the piece to be poigniant, but without over complicating it. The cycle of Life and Death is also easily shown by the Fauna used in the piece, as well as the river representing a Journey.

I used the background/foreground shift to keep with the research I had made, as well as to make the tree more prominent. I chose the colour theme of gold and white, as both are sterotypically conjoined with drama, and also suit the sophisticated font of the title.

Reaction From Audience

I chose to show my poster to a sample of 30 potential audience member, showing them three alternate versions, on which I had removed certain aspects of the text. I then asked them to choose the most effective. These are:

Potential Idea A: In this idea, I removed all text, leaving the opposition to be represented with the hands. I think this idea is much simpler, and so would not need for much reading.
Results: 11

Potential Idea B: In this idea I used only the 'Life' and 'Death' faded text - I prefered this take as it still keeps the opposition, without the somewhat random other text.
Results: 17

Potential Idea C: In this idea, I kept the same features to see whether the audience would prefer this.
Results: 2








I decided that I would use Potential Idea B as my final idea, as it is more simplistic, but still allows for the opposition in the piece.

Making My Magazine Cover

Stage 1: This is my original photo which I downloaded into photoshop to begin editing.

Stage 2: I then removed colour and darkened the tree area, to give the idea of death being represented by the gnarled tree.

Stage 3: I then brightened the river area to give an oppostie to contrast the darkness of the tree.

Stage 4: I then recoloured the leaves to highlight the darkness of the tree trunk. It acts as another area of contrast in the piece.

Stage 5: I then added in the 'Empire' title, and using masks I cut around the branch to create a background/foreground shift in the piece which I found was typical from my magazine cover research.

Stage 6: I then inserted the Barcode and 'Selling Point' (which I later removed in favour of a small barcode).

Stage 8: I then inseted a tagline and then a gold banner over which I can place my film title.

Stage 9: I then inserted the film name in 'English' typeface which I also used on my Film Poster.

Stage 10: I then put in my name in the editors slot, placing it under the film name to give a double tiered effect.

Final: I then inserted other text (i.e. other stories, price, website and slogan) - I also changed the barcode to a smaller version as to show more of the photo.

Looking For Text For Magazine Title

This text style, I chose because it has a simplistic and 'punchy' effect which could draw the eye of potential audeince members. I prefer the title 'Kingdom' is capitals because it gives the letters more emphasis and effect.

I chose this text style as a potential title as it is effective in lower case as it gives a double layer of text. It also has an emotive appeal for film magazines, as it is close to both 'Total Film' and 'Empire'. 

Inspiration for my poster

In developing my ideas for both my poster and film cover, I decided to give both of them a recurring theme - that of Life and Death, whether represented by nature or another symbol; and also that of Old and Young, to show the two main themes of my film. My poster is based around opposites, which is why I contained to the two sets of words, Love and Hate and Life and Death, which are also main themes of the film.

On a print run, I would choose to have the background in matt and the hands in gloss, as well as having the words slightly embossed to give a multi-layered effect.

Creating My Film Poster

Stage 1: Importing the original picture, I first magnitised around the hands to select the neccesary area. I removed any skin blemeshes and other marks. After this I then Cropped the picture down to size.

Stage 2.1: I then placed the hands on a white background and began to remove the shadow on the wrists.

Stage 2.2: In this stage I experimented with potential background colours, before settling for white.

Stage 3: I cropped the hands to remove the most shadow from the wrists.

Stage 4: Being unhappy with the plain white background, I scouted for a potential location which would symbolise distance. The picture opposite shows the uploaded picture, with the road exteneded slightly to accomodate the hands.

Stage 5: I then imported the hands into the picture, which involved a slight stretching to give them the neccesary size.

Stage 6: I then began to import the text (using Calligraphy text 'English'), choosing to make the centre of the hands the focal point of the piece.

Stage 7: I then imported the word 'Life' and began to distort it over the wrist area. I also gave it a 50% transparency.

Stage 8.1: I repeated stage 7 with the word 'Death', and then imported the release date, and began to examine where to place it. I also darkened the trees and brightened the hands.

Stage 8.2: I then moved the release date into the sky area, and then placed the tagline underneath the film title, before deciding this did not have the desired effect.

Stage 9: I then replaced the release date underneath the film title, and warped the tagline around the fingers and above the title.

 Stage 10: I then imported the words 'Love' and 'Hate' in white, as well as 'Starring:' and 'Anne Froshaug'. I chose then to utilise the remaining space underneath the left hand.

Final Piece: I then imported the second and last actors name, as well as applying a 70% opacity to the words 'Love' and 'Hate' as to allow them to be easily read.

Purpose and Themes of Main Roles

In my film, although there is little exposure of characters in my trailer, I sought to challenge the representation of age and women, with Grace featuring in both these catergories.
I am now going to lay-out my ideas behind each main character, with the themes and semiology behind them:

 

 

Grace:

• Grace is a dominant character, which is replicated in her children. Although she is in her 80s, she is passionate, expressive and a champion of her own views. She lives in a slightly cluttered environment, going against the neat, tidy elderly female stereotype.
• With Grace's diagnosis she goes through an epiphanetic moement, with her life showing to be somewhat futile.
• Her relationships, both with her family and with Diana, are exceptionally diverse, being fluid throughout the film. Her behaviour has set her apart from friends, but with Diana's arrival she is shown to become more friendly and open.
• Challeging Sterotype: In this character, I envisaged her to be a loud extravert character, going against the quiet, intravertness that apparently comes with age.

Diana:

• Diana is a somewhat submissive character, with her personailty being very different from Grace. With her age being around 26, she is exceptionally young, but also very secretive about her own background. As Grace begins to reflect on the tings that had happened to her in her life, both bad and good, it is seen that Diana is taking Grace's reflections as advise to herself.
• When the romance between Diana and Richard develops, it is shown that Diana becomes much less internal, and so develops as a character, whilst remaining somewhat opposite of Grace's blunt personality.
• Challenging Stereotype: I created Diana with the purpose of contrasting Grace, and so is the opposite of the typical young adult sterotype, with her personality being intravert and shy.

Sophie:

• Sophie is an exceptionally elitest, and also somewhat selfish, with her patronising treatment of her mother introducing Diana to Grace. At her age in the early thirties, Sophie is at the peak of her career in Real Estate, with her 'American Dream' marriage breaking down behind the scenes of the storyline. 
• Her personality is robust, grating and egotistic in the early stages of the film, with her being portrayed at the Antagonist in the first half of the film. 
• As she moves to divorce her husband she is revealed to be paranoid and nervous, and also much more like Diana. 

Richard:

• Richard, unlike his sister Sophie, is an exceptionally kind and caring individual; being the opposite of the caring of Grace. His age is in the late twenties, with his life being less career oriantated than Sophie. 
• Richard enters into the film as he returns from travelling in Hong Kong, with his life being unplanned and free. He is exceptionally artistic, with his appearance reflecting a somewhat disorganised personna.

The main roles are three-quarters female, but if I were to go on to create the remainder of the film, Grace's 'flashbacks' will contain various roles which are not contained in this list.

Colour and Text

The implementation of colour in posters and magazine covers is of vital importance, most notably because of the psychological power colours have on the human psyche. When analysing which particular colour to use, it is important to understand the effect it is meant to have. Here I am going to analyse the meaning of colours to allow me to give a more emotive feel to my text.
Red: Red can be used to symbolise extroversion and anger, giving it a somewhat double meaning. The use of red can be used to symbolise blood, romance and rage, and so it's use must be made deliberately obvious using shades of red for different feelings. In some cultures, red can also tell of different emotions, i.e. the Chinese view red as the colour of prosperity and in others it is seen as a more angry colour.
Blue: Blue is generally used to show purity and youth, but also with fluidity, sincerity and also as somewhat conservative. Blue comes in a variety of shades, with dark blue symbolising knowledge and wisdom and light blue symbolising youth and enthusiasm.
White: White is often said to symbolise purity and energy. Most cultures see white as also symbolising love, with  many cultures wearing white wedding dresses.
Black:  Black often seen as a darker colour but it can also be used to represent elegance and sophistication. In films black is most often used to present the 'bad' guys.
Green: Green is the colour of nature and life, with it's use symbolising balance and harmony. In films, green can also be used to represent envy and mistrust, but like other colours, the symbolism is dependent on shade.
 Purple: Purple is often viewed as symbolising royalty and intelligence, with its use lending more to stability and calm. Purple is a favoured colour by pre-adolescents, and it also has much use in Drama films.