Poster research - The Gravediggers son

The Gravediggers son

The Gravediggers son is a gothic horror by Jake Yard about a gravedigger in poverty who is struggling to make ends meet for his son. Unable to do so he resorts to grave robbing which leads to "haunting consequences." 

MRANG concepts

- Genre

- Representation
- Audience


- The title of this short film is prominent as it makes you assume the character underneath it is the gravedigger. This is useful to the audience so they have some insight to the short film.
- The director of this short film is clear at the top of this poster, this infers that he has made other short films which possibly means people may want to watch this as it was directed by him.
- In the lower part of the poster, we can see the awards that it has. This may make people more likely to watch it as it infers the short film is worth watching.

Genre



The Genre of this short film is likely thriller or horror. This is because of the image used in the poster. As it has quite a dark theme it connotes a dark theme within the short film which suggests it could be a horror. It could also be a Thriller because of the dark theme. However, it could also partially be social realism, this is because it is mainly about a farther trying to care for his son.

Representation

In this short film, the representation of the gravedigger is that he is working class. This is because of his profession, grave digging, which is unskilled labour inferring he is not paid very much. From this poster, we could also infer that the gravedigger has a dark personality. This is because he is surrounded by darkness possibly reflecting his personality.

Audience

The audience this poster would attract is an older audience. This is because is has a deep story line behind it of parent hood for the poor which older audiences who have children could relate to. However, it may appeal to young adults because it has a certain mystery behind it due to dark lighting and the use of the back ground image complementing it.

Structure

The structure of the poster is in portrait, this is so we can get a full body shot of, what we can assume,  is a character from the short film with the title, awards and billing block all clearly visible for potential audiences.  

Connor Hilton Short Film Poster Photoshop Draft

Creating My Short Film Poster Photoshop Draft for 'Alone'

I have created a draft of what the poster for our short film might look like. I created this draft of the poster using Photoshop CS6 which is a photo editing package created by Adobe and is used often by artists. This kind of software is often used to create posters for short films and feature length films because of the wide variety of effects and tools that are available to the user. Before creating the draft the group went out to take some high quality images so that they would look good when blown up to poster size.

Step By Step Process:

Step 1:

The first thing that I did after taking the images for the poster was set up the photoshop document. I first selected the international paper size and selected the A3 size. I also changed the resolution to 600 to make sure that it wont look blurry when you print out the poster. Lastly, I switched the width and height to change the orientation of the page to landscape.

Step 2:

Then I added my desired background image to the document. I had to choose which image I wanted to use carefully as this would be the focus of the poster. Once the image was placed in the document I adjusted the size so that it would fit the dimensions of a film poster better. I also adjusted the brightness and contrast of the image slightly to make the image look slightly better.

Step 3:

Next I added the title to the image. I used the font Agency FB for this title. I then adjusted the spacing of the letters so that they were slightly further apart and this added emphasis to the text. It also made the text fill the space so the top of the poster didn't seem empty. I also added a very slight drop shadow to the text which gives the text a small shadow and adds emphasis to the text.

Step 4:

The next thing I added to my poster was the quotes from reviews underneath the title. I did some research previously to see what types of things could be said here and which companies might review a film like ours. I decided to add "Outstanding"-Little White Lies and "Mesmerizing"-Short of the Week. 

Step 5:

After this I created the awards for the poster. I searched online for the leaves that conventionally surround the award text and then I did some research into film festivals and the awards they give. After this I added the awards to the poster with the awards being for "Best Short Film Slough International Film Festival 2016" and Best Narrative Cambridge Short Film Festival 2016".

Step 6:

The last step is to add the billing block. For this I used a font called 'Credits' and typed the billing block out. After I had typed it I made some words such as the actor names and the production company names larger than the other text as this is conventional on a film poster. Doing this also adds emphasis to certain main parts of the billing block. 

Short Film Poster - Final Photoshop Draft - Sam Swinson

Short Film Poster - Final Photoshop Draft - Sam Swinson

Here is the final Photoshop draft of the short film poster for the short film that I have created.

The Poster:

The Process of Making My Short Film Poster Draft - Photoshop Draft of Short Film Poster - Sam Swinson

The Process of Making My Short Film Poster Draft - Photoshop Draft of Short Film Poster - Sam Swinson

I have created a draft of what the poster for our short film could look like. I created this draft in Photoshop which is an Adobe photo editing package used by lots of professional artists. This piece of software is often used to create real film posters because of all the tools that it offers to the user. To create the Photoshop draft we went out to take some pictures that were very high resolution so that they could be printed out and not look blurry. Then I added the conventions of a short film poster to the picture and saved the whole poster as a high-quality A3 picture document.

Step By Step:

There were lots of steps involved with creating the final Photoshop Draft for the short film poster which are as follows:
Step 1:
The first thing I did was to create a new Photoshop document which would be the starting point for the short film poster. This is where all the different elements of the short film poster will be assembled together. The size of the document is an A3 piece of paper. However, the way photoshop originally set up the document was in portrait and I wanted my poster in landscape. Therefore, I switched the height and the width of the document to make it landscape. Also, I upped the resolution of the document from 200 to 600 because if these pictures are printed then the higher the resolution is then the less chance there is of the poster looking blurry when it is printed.

Step 2:
Once the document has been created I placed a background image in the document. This would be the focus of the poster which meant I had to choose my image very carefully. Once the image was in the document I adjusted the size of the images so that I looked better and it would fit in with the elements of a short film poster better.

Step 3:
Then I added some effects to the background image. Firstly I used a paint brush that was very soft and paint black over the protagonist on a new layer. Then on another new layer, I painted white with a soft brush over the protagonist's friend. Then I lowered the opacity on both of these layers so that they were almost transparent. This gives a subtle effect making the protagonist seem darker and the protagonist's friend seem lighter whilst keeping the background as it was. Then I added a small vignette border to the background image which darkens the corners of the background imaged and it makes the center of the image seem lighter.

Step 4:
Then I added the title of the short film to the poster. The title of the short film is 'Alone'. We have to use the same font for the title on the film poster as we used in the short film itself which meant I used a font called 'Bebas Neue'. This title and the font were appropriate for our short film for reasons that I explained in an earlier post. Once the title was placed on the image I kept zooming in and out to see what the poster would look like small and what it would look like big. After doing this I realised I would have to add an effect to the title to make it stand out more from the background. I tried 2 different ways of doing this and I ended up going with the second version of it because I felt it looked better. When placing the title on the screen I used guides to find the centre of the document and then made sure that the middle of the O was in the middle of the screen.

Title Effect Version 1

Title Effect Version 2

Step 5:
The next thing that I did was to add some review summaries and some star ratings for the short film. For the star ratings, I found some pictures of stars on the internet and then imported them into my document and aligned them with some summary reviews. The summary reviews are the single words of phrases that are used to entice the audience into watching the short film. I used some guides to help line up the reviews part of the poster and make sure that it is pixel perfect. I used guides at the edge of the title which lined up with the edge of the summary reviews. Also, I lined the star ratings up in the middle of the summary reviews.

Step 6:
Then I created some awards that would be displayed on the short film poster. To do this I looked at some real short film awards from places like the London Film Festival and then I created my own. I obtained a picture of some Laurel Leaves which are the bits that go around the awards. Then I added text in between the leaves saying 'Best Short Film' and 'Best Narrative'. Then I placed these awards below the title and this added some symmetry to the poster.

Step 7:
After this, I created and added a billing block or a credit block to the bottom of my poster. This was very simple to do because there is a credit block font that allows you to create the billing block easily. All I had to do was adjust the size of certain parts of the font. For example, the names of people involved were big 'Sam Swinson' and the additional parts were small 'Edited By'. Then I placed the billing block at the bottom of the poster, but, I was not right at the bottom because I left space for company logos.

Step 8:
Next, I added some logos from companies underneath the billing block right at the bottom of the poster. I added the London Film Festival logo and the Lottery Logo. Also, I added the White Woolf Productions Logo to the side of the poster in the corner because that is the production company that makes this short film.

Different Parts of the Poster:

Here are the main parts of the poster that I have created:

• Awards & Reviews

• Billing Block

• Title

• White Wolf Productions Logo

Decisions:

Through the process of created my Photoshop draft of my short film poster I had to make some decisions about the look of the poster and the information on the poster.

• Firstly, I had to decide what image I was going to use for the background image of the poster. I narrowed this selection down to 3 pictures. The reason I decided to choose the image that I did was because it looked very visually appealing and it gets the audience thinking when they look at it.

• Another decision I had to make was the font style of the title. I had two different versions of the title and both looked good on the poster. However, I decided to go with the second of the two font styles because it looked better from a distance and stood out more from the background.

Changes to the Poster:

After reviewing my short film poster, I have had to change on an aspect of the short film poster. The change I made can be seen below:

What I have done is remove the star rating from the short film poster because often the companies that review the short film they won't give a star rating to the film. Additionally, I have added a line of text under the summary review which states the name of the company that gave the review. This is done in the same font as the summary review, however, it is a smaller text size than the other word because it is less important. This gave me more room to increase the size of the summary review text because the star ratings previously took up a lot of space. On the other hand, I didn't make the text too big because when it is printed out on A3 I want to make sure that the summary review doesn't take away from the title of the short film. Furthermore, I have changed the colour of the 'Best Narrative' awards that is in between the two summary reviews. I did this because having the two awards in different colours made the poster look disjointed so now having them both white with a black outline makes them stand out from the background and it doesn't make the poster seem disjointed.

Notes on Blindness - Short Film Poster Research - Sam Swinson

Notes on Blindness - Short Film Poster Research - Sam Swinson

This film follows an old man just days before the birth of his first son. In order to make sense of the upheaval in his life and he begins keeping a diary on audiocassette. This film encompasses dreams, memory and imaginative life, excavating the interior world of blindness.

MRANG Concepts:

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

• Narrative
• Representation
• Media Language

1. At the top of the poster there some awards that this film has won. This is good because it shows the audience the quality of the film because they are very well known film festivals which are recognised to give awards to very good quality films. Some of the awards it has won are Sundance, Sheffield Dog/Fest and San Francisco film festival.
2. Also, there are star reviews which are a visual representation of how good this film is. This gives the audience a quick idea of the film and because they are 4 and 5 stars it may entice the audience into watching the film.
3. Additionally, there are some summary reviews which are just a few words that describe the film. These are also, used to show the audience how good the film is and entice them to watch it. 
4. The title appears on the film poster and it is the largest text on the poster. However, it uses the same font as the rest of the text which is good because it is easy to read and it makes it fit in well with the poster. On top of this, the text colour is a dark blue which matches the colour of the protagonist and it also, stands out very well from the light background which means you can read it clearly from a distance and it stand out when looking at the poster.
5. Just below the billing block are some references to websites for the film. This includes a dedicated website for the film, a Facebook page, a Twitter page and a hashtag to use which means that people can find out what other people are saying about the film.
6. Also, there are some logos of companies which are involved in the production of the film. If the audience see a logo that they recognise and they know that company has made good films in the past then they are more likely to watch the film.
7. In the man there are other pictures that are overlayed over the man. This represents the memories that the protagonist is thinking about after he goes blind.
8. Also, the close-up on the man shows that he is wearing glasses which are commonly worn by blind people or it could represent that he has always had eye troubles before he went blind. 
9. This is the protagonist of the film because he takes up a lot of the poster to bring attention to him.
10. The background of the film poster is a white colour. This created a massive contrast between the protagonist and the background to make him stand out more. This could also, represent that the protagonist can see anything anymore apart from the memories that he has stored in his head before he went blind.

Layout:

• Along the left side of the poster, there is all the text information that follows the same line and it all uses the same font. This information included is:
• Awards
• Star rating
• Summary review
• Title
• Director
• Billing block
• Websites
• Company logos
• Then on the right side, there is the protagonist with some pictures that appear to be memories overlayed on his head.

Title:

• The title of the film accurately represents that film itself because it is called 'notes on blindness' and it is about blindness from the perspective of a blind person.
• Also, it is the biggest text on the poster which is done to draw more attention to the title of the film.
• In addition, the title is in the same font as the rest of the text on the poster which keeps it consistent and it is an easy to read font. 

Review and awards:

• This film poster has lots of reviews and awards on it.
• The awards it has won are:
• The Sundance Film Festival 2016
• Sheffield DOC/FEST Storytelling & Innovation Award 2016
• The San Francisco Film Festival 2016
• It has 2 four star ratings and 1 five star rating.
• Also, there are some summary reviews about the film:
• "a sensitive, moving and poetic recreation of one man's experience of looking sight"
• "miraculous... a beautiful, accessible and thoughtful work of art"
• "audaciously ambitious, formally inventive revelatory cinema"
• "profound and deeply affecting"

Spacing:

• This film poster has a lot of information on it, however, it doesn't look too overcrowded which is good because it means that the audience isn't hit with a lot of information at once.
• All the text is spaced out well to take advantage of the space to the left of the protagonist and it is easy to read because the text isn't crammed together.
• Also, all the text is on one vertical line which makes the poster look very professional. 

Audience:

• The audience for this film is more focused to adults who are either male or female. 
• Also, it is for people who like drama films because the poster shows that it is a drama film due to the memory that the protagonist has when he is holding a woman when it is raining.

Website:

• This film has a dedicated website which is referenced on the poster.
• The website is notesonblindnessfilm.com and it shows the film poster and it shows different ways that you can buy the film.
• Also, this film makes use of social media:
• Has a Facebook page
• Has a Twitter page
• Has a hashtag that you can use to talk about the film

Billing Block:

• The billing block is at the bottom of the left side of the poster.
• It includes the following information:
• Production companies
• Producer
• Director
• Title
• Composer
• Costume Designer
• Writer

Poster Research - This Is England - Connor Hilton

Poster Research - This Is England - Connor Hilton

Film Synopsis:

Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), who lost his father in the Falklands War, earns the respect of skinheads when he stand up to their teasing. He becomes part of the gang and enjoys hanging out with his new friends. Trouble starts with the return of Combo (Stephen Graham), a racist ex-convict. With the gang divided into two factions, Shaun sides with Combo and, unfortunately, finds in him a father figure.

MRANG Concepts:

• Representation
• Genre
• Media Language

1. The film has won awards such as "best film" and "most promising newcomer" which tells the audience that the film is likely to be worth watching. The audience may see the logo for the awards and instantly value the film more because it has won awards. 
2. The poster features some quotes from reviews and shows the star rating that the film was given. This has a similar effect to the awards as it tells the audience that the film is good and worth watching. 
3. The title is separated into three colours, red, white and blue which are the colours of the Union Jack flag. This is effective because it links with the title and shows that the film is based in England and further shows the message that the film is about a group of British people in England
4. The characters are shown in a line up against a sheet metal wall. The characters costume is used to represent the working class of England. The hair and make-up is also used to represent the working class as the male characters all have shaved heads and the female characters are all wearing make-up that makes their skin look very white with very dark eye makeup. The characters are all standing in intimidating poses which connotates the genre of crime to the audience.    
5. At the very bottom of the poster, in very small text, the website for the film is listed (www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk). This is another good way of promoting the film as the poster might get people interested and then they can go to the website to see all the information about the film. Having a website also allows for the link to be shared easily on social media to reach a wider audience. 
6. Lastly, in each corner at the top of the poster we can see the flats that are common in England. The flats are mainly used by working class to middle class people which is again representing the group of working class people.

Structure:

The poster is in the landscape orientation. This allows for the wide image of all the characters in a line up against a wall to be used. It also gives more space for any titles or text on the poster. The poster has a lot of extra information listed at the bottom of the poster which is a convention that many posters use.