TASK 27 //
POSTER PLANNING
Poster Formatting
Having analysed existing posters which advertise coming of age films, I am able to understand what is typical within the market and will be able to recreate this with my own ancillary task. The format of posters within the genre are very similar, as they feature almost all of the same aspects to a poster. For example, a large image which covers the entirety of the poster is essential for a coming of age film's poster, as well as the enlarged main title. I also plan to include bankable star names, which will attract a large audience of people who would follow the projects which particular actors are featured in. Review extracts and star ratings will be added to the poster, as this will incentivise audiences to listen to other people's perception of the film and go and view the production themselves to make their own judgement. It is absolutely crucial for the font of the billing block's text to be smaller than the other aspects of the poster, as audiences will be less interested in this section of the poster and will not convince anyone to watch the film. With every poster analysed, I saw that the release date for the film was placed towards the bottom in bold, capitalised letters. This is done to highlight it's importance, as the entire purpose of the poster is to get people who are viewing the poster to also view the production. This allows audiences to find out when the production is available to view and where it is available from. Furthermore, towards the bottom, smaller text is shown which often shows the name/logo of the production company who is responsible for the film. In more recent film posters, there have been websites which are advertised towards the bottom of the poster which I plan to incorporate to show my knowledge on current trends within the market.
Poster Title
The title of the film on a film's poster is arguably the most important part, as this will allow audiences to identify what the film is called and can research on the production in their own time once the name is remembered. Therefore, I want my title to be able to stand out from the rest of the poster, however follow traditional methods of displaying the title. When considering the title of the poster, I felt it was important to pay particular attention to the font of the text. Therefore, I have presented four different fonts which I could possibly use.
The font presented in the top left corner of the montage of images placed above is called 'Zapfino'. This font is very sophisticated in style, due to its curved lettering and imitation of olden-styled handwriting. The font would partly fit the theme of my coming of age film, as these sophisticated and elegant themes are also shown through the scene of the protagonist playing the violin. However, the font would look unusual when placed on top of a picture of a goth character. I would also like to keep the side of the protagonist, Sophie, being a violinist a secret from the audience until they view the production themselves, as it could create a shock factor, allowing them to remember the film for longer and have a bigger impact on them.
The font in the bottom left corner of the montage of images is called 'MS PMincho'. The font shown is very desirable for the title of the poster, as it is simple yet fitting. The font is able to be read easily and follows a similar style to those which I have previously seen on existing posters in the market. One disadvantage of using this font on my poster would be that it is not as emboldened as I had hoped, therefore would not stick out much from the other features on the poster, such as the other pieces of texts, as well as the background image of the protagonist.
In the top right of the image montage, the font shown is called 'DIN Alternate'. The font is very fitting for the poster, as it contains various assets which I aspired my title to have. For example, the font is emboldened, therefore will stick out from other aspects of the poster. Also, the font is easily read and has a simple look to it, which will allow the storyline of the goth protagonist being able to play the violin to still be a secret from the audience. I prefer this font from the one previously analysed, as it is emboldened more and has a more simplistic approach to it.
The last font I considered using for the poster was called 'American Typewriter', presented in the bottom right. This font is very bold and is easily read, however suggests themes which are not applicable to the storyline of the short film. It could suggest war and conflict, due to typewriters being used in older times of history. Therefore, this font is less feasible to use for the title of my poster ands I am less likely to use this one.
Billing Block
For the billing block on my own coming of age short film's poster, I used existing posters within the market as inspiration as to how to structure each name and production company mentioned. I did this to be able to create a professional look to my own poster, demonstrating my own knowledge on the market today. Shown below is the billing block I have created using the font 'SteelTongs', which gave the font a simplistic and narrow effect which the billing block tends to have on posters. The font size also varies in my poster, which is also done in professional posters, to highlight the important names and production companies. Furthermore, I added the names and logos of various production companies and film companies at the bottom. This was done on the posters I researched into for my research tasks.
Image Planning
The next image which I have considered to use as the photograph to be the background of my poster is of Sophie stood in front of a mirror. This mirror would be located in her room and would be surrounded by posters of her 'favourite bands'. These posters would be those which reflect her to be 'gothic' and an 'emo' to signify to the audience that this is the type of person that she is. It allows the use of stereotypes to again be influenced and makes the audience assume that she may be somewhat uneducated and under the influence of drugs. The top of the image would be of a pink wall, which the title could possibly be located. The bottom of the poster is also a typical place where a billing block would be located, as the image which I have drawn will allow the text at the bottom to stand out. The image is able to give some information to the audience, such as what the protagonist looks like and how she chooses to look, as well as restricting how much of the narrative is given away. As there is no specific mention of a violin or anything of the sort, it still leaves the end of the film to be sudden and shocking to the audience.
In the first image which I have drawn is of the protagonist, Sophie, seen in a mid shot, where she is playing the violin. The drawing shows how the majority of the top half of the image would be blank, as the image could possibly be taken against a white or pink background. This would allow the title to be placed in this region, as the title is able to stand out from the plain background. The image also gives the audience an insight into what the short film is about and who the protagonist is. This is conventional in the film posters which I have researched, therefore I believe it is essential for me to be able to replicate this in my own product.
The next image is of Sophie with a violin hidden behind her waist. This connotes how the talented, bright side to her is almost hidden from anyone who initially looks at her. It also shows how she is interested in violins to the audience, giving them an insight into the narrative and allowing them to understand what the film is about. The image also keeps the protagonists' face a secret, as it is not shown in the poster. This can create enigma codes of her appearance. However, I felt this poster would not be as effective, as I wanted the appearance of the teenage girl to be communicated as gothic, however this poster would not allow this to be shown. As a solution, I believe I could possibly add wrist bands to her hands which are dark and contain imagery of band's logos.
The last image is of Sophie walking in the center of a long shot, whilst she is against a brick wall. This brick wall connotes how she is outside and is going to embark on a journey, as well as conform to the idea of 'gothics' being located outside, possibly with their friends. It reveals to the audience how she, at some point in the narrative, walks to a destination. This long shot would allow the costume of my protagonist to be revealed, which would be black. The boots of my protagonist would also be seen in the poster, which is an item of clothing which is typically worn.
Photography
The images above are the three critical stages of the photograph I had used for my final poster for the coming of age short film. The initial photograph on the left of the screen was edited into the image to the right of it by reducing the temperature, skin tone and vignette of the image. This was done, as the image which I had initially taken was seen to have a yellow tint to the entire image. This was unwanted, therefore I adjusted the colour levels in the image using Photoshop to reduce the tint and allow a more natural, white-balanced image to come through. However, I had noticed that the face of the protagonist in the image was also tinted with a dull-pink colour. This was due to the pink walls which the image was taken in. Therefore, I had used Photoshop and followed a tutorial on Youtube in order to enhance the skin tone of the character and colour correct the overall image. I used tools such as layers, curves and colour ranges to achieve this final image.