The Red Balloon - Short Film Poster Research - Sam Swinson

The Red Balloon - Short Film Poster Research - Sam Swinson

This short film follows a young boy called Pascal. He is on his way to school one day when he finds a red balloon. When he is playing with his balloon he realises that it has a mind of its own. One day the boy and the balloon run into a gang of big boys who steal the balloon and trap the boy inside a bakery. However, the boy retrieves the balloon, but, the gang of boys destroy the balloon and the end of the film shows all the other balloons in Paris as the come to the aid of the young boy.

MRANG Concepts:

These are the three MRANG concepts that I am going to apply to this short film poster:

• Narrative
• Representation
• Media Language

1. Lighting and colour (representation & media language) - parts of the short film poster are very bright which could represent the light-heartedness of the short film because the film is a fantasy comedy. Additionally, the colour of the poster is very grey and dark, however, the balloon is a very saturated red colour which stands out. This could represent that the balloon brightens up the life of the protagonist.
2. The protagonist (narrative) - the protagonist is shown in the poster because the narrative of the short film revolves around him. However, the protagonist doesn't take up the whole of the frame instead he is just in the corner of the frame. He is wearing a costume that is from the time that the film is made and set in which is in the late 1950's and he is wearing a very neutral grey colour.
3. Balloon (narrative) - the balloon is a key prop in the short film and it acts like a person. This is represented by the fact that it takes up the same amount of space on the poster as the protagonist does. Also, the balloon really catches the eye of the audience when they first look at the poster because it is a very bright a loud colour, but, the rest of the colour is very desaturated and dull colouring. This could represent that the balloon is brightening up the life of the protagonist and making him happier. 
4. Title (media language) - the placement of the title is very clever because it is placed on the part of the poster that stands out the most which means that when the audience looks at the poster they will immediately see the title of the short film. Also, the font is very simple which makes it easy to read. 
5. Director (media language) - the director's name appears on the short film poster because he was a French filmmaker who was well known for his short films. This links to the audience of the short film because it will be on the poster so that people who know his name may want to watch the short film.
6. Setting (narrative) - the setting for the short film is in Paris, however, the audience cannot see this in the short film poster. This is because shallow depth of field is used to make it out of focus which puts the emphasis on the protagonist and the balloon. We can see that he is near water and lots of big buildings. If the audience hasn't seen the short film then they would assume that this is where the film is set.

Layout:

• In the top corner of the poster is the Red balloon which is the key prop used in the short film.
• The title of the short film and the director's name is overlayed on top of the balloon.
• In the bottom corner of the short film poster is the protagonist who is holding onto the balloon and pointing at it which suggests to the audience that he is talking to it. 

Title:

• The short film is called the Red Balloon because the film is based around a red balloon that has a mind of its own. 
• The placement of the title is very clever because it is on top of the Red Balloon its self. 
• Also, there is a good use of capital lettering because the 'the' part of the title is not very important so it is in lower case and then the 'RED BALLOON' part of the title is in capitals because it puts emphasis on the title.
• The font used for the title is a very basic book style font that it thin and it is easy to read from a glance or a distance.

Reviews and Awards:

• This short film poster doesn't include any awards or any reviews.
• This is because this is a very old short film and the poster was made a long time ago.
• Therefore, when creating my short film poster I will make sure to include awards and reviews because it can make the audience more keen to watch the film.

Spacing:

• The short film poster is spaced out very well.
• This is because there is not a lot of information that is written on the poster which means that there is more space available to use.
• However, my short film poster will have a lot more information on it, but, I like the use of the thin font because it makes the poster seem uncluttered and easy to read.

Audience:

• This short film appeals very well to the target audience which is young adult men and women who like comedy films. 
• This is shown by the use of colour which is very dull and then there is a very bright part of the poster which is light hearted.
• Also, it is for short film enthusiasts.

What this poster doesn't include:

• This short film poster doesn't include a lot of important information that should be on a short film poster because it was made such a long time ago.
• Here is what it doesn't include:
• Billing block
• Reviews
• Awards
• Summary Reviews
• Link to website / social media
• Tagline
• This makes me more aware when thinking about the creation of my short film and I will make sure to include all the conventions of a short film poster so that my poster is very effective.