Ancillary Task 1 (Poster)

Introduction:

So now we have all produced our final film shorts, we can now move onto the ancillary tasks. This ancillary task is to create a poster for our film on PhotoShop. There are 4 different types of film posters: Teaser, Main, DVD Release and Character however we aren't doing a teaser or DVD Release poster. 

This ancillary task requires each group to come up with a unique poster for which they have taken their own photos for of the actors that stared in their film and must use every resource possible to make sure that the photos are perfect before we got into the post-production of creating the poster.We must make sure that every detail of our poster sells our films and also tells the audience a little about it - there is no point having a picture of an elephant on the poster, when your film has nothing to do with elephants, for example. 
The groups must show a good understanding of film posters and further on in this page I will be de-constructing a couple of film posters which, in some way, have a link to my film - one of these will be Enough staring Jennifer Lopez (below). 


Film Poster Research:

As I said in the introduction, there are four different types of film posters that are used at different intervals. Here are the definitions and some examples for each one. :)

Teaser Poster:

The Teaser Poster is used when the film isn't out for the public to watch yet - it contains simplistic information through a picture of one the stars in the film; eg. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-men etc., or a specific prop used within that film, so Captain America's shield or Thor's Hammer for example. A Teaser Poster  is used to entice the audience into going and watching the film when it is out in cinema by only giving them enough information to whet their appetites and leave them wanting more by hiding the plot away from them. It has little writing on them - just 'Coming Soon' and sometime a catch phrase of some sorts.

 This teaser poster is from The Hunger Games and straight away the colours capture the audience's eye. The Mockingjay is a significant symbol for the film and so gives nothing much about the plot but is a well known sign. The fact it is on fire can really intrigue the audience and could show how the plot is really intensifying etc

Main Poster:

The Main Posters contain the information about the stars, the production personnel and the distributors - so basically they are openly showing exactly who is in the film and possibly revealing a little bit more about the film plot. They don't tease the audience but they are designed to still intrigue and delight them.

The big named stars are all across the top of the poster to show the audience who is in the film - this is because if the films title doesn't capture the audience, or the poster design then the names of the actors will because they may really like Van Diesel for example, and so want to watch the film solely because he is in it.

Character Poster:

This poster primarily features the film's main character instead - often because it's nearly always the hero of the story that everybody likes and wants to win or the character is played by their favourite actor or actress. 
Katniss is the main character of The Hunger Games and most likely the character that the audience is all rooting for and Jennifer Lawrence is, by now, on nearly everybody's favourite actress list. These two factors help to make this character poster work because it will make that person who likes the character or actress really want to see the film even more than before simply.

DVD Release Poster:

DVD release posters come out when the film is actually released on DVD. This means that the poster can then have one line reviews printed out on the poster with star ratings from relevant publications.

On this poster for The King's Speech, there is 4 star ratings and 2 comments from newspapers etc that have rated the film and all show the audience how good the critics think the film is. The fact this film was nominated for seven golden globes will also catch the audience's eye and so helps the film's reputation and hopefully get people to buy the DVD so money can be made.

Deconstructions of Film Posters:


Photoshop Training:


To help progress my Photoshop training I went off searching the internet for videos and documents that would help me to create my production team's film poster. I didn't want to waste time looking at videos that were not specific to our needs so we made sure we had a rough idea of what we wanted - such as learning how to blend images together in Photoshop - before I looked. The one website I found was called Photoshop Essentials, and it REALLY helped me - much better then any video and had everything I needed on it, however I still went and found more videos to see it done live instead of through screenshots on a page. Below is some of the videos that I found usual for my Photoshop Training :).


Training construction of a film poster:

It was all well and good reading through loads of instructions and watching lots of photoshop videos to learn how to use film posters but we really needed to put what we learnt into practise. We did this by choosing a film poster to follow the instructions and construct them correctly to practise elements that we will wanting to use within our own film poster. We really wanted to use the gradient tool in our film poster so this particular practise is helpful for us to learn that particular skill.

Adding the photos together
We started by dragging each of the photos we wanted to use into the same screen, creating a layer on the background image. After this we then had to adjust the beach images size to match the image of the couple and positioning just under half way up. 

Creating the layer mask ready for the gradient
Once this was done we had to blend to the two images together by creating a layer mask upon layer 1.  This layer mask allows us to add a gradient on top of the images to blend the images together. To do this we picked the gradient tool and help down SHIFT as we dragged a small line in the centre of the page downwards to just above the couple in the beach pictures head. This then blended the images together and created a nice effect. 

Finished practise film poster

Flat Plans and Trial Layouts ideas:

Now we have completed the training for the poster it was time for the flat plans. These are rough documents that are made up of simple boxes that are placed in a desired layout. We had two overall ideas for our film poster so we did two flat plans and two trial layouts. The trial layouts were an add on because we wanted to test our layouts with the proper photos. 
1st First Plan
These trial layouts was how I practised using the Photoshop software as well as how my group got an idea as to how our film poster will look when it is completed. We felt that by creating our design on paper and then transferring it roughly onto Photoshop to enable us to practise was a much easier way of teaching ourselves to use the software because we were then using the tools that we would use for the draft poster. 
By doing it this way we have been able to chose which looks best out of the two we designed and then improve on that to create the final draft (further down the page). The cast members were not in costume at the point because we simply wanted just a practise with the new equipment (white background for the photography), practise on the new software - which I have never used before so I needed to cram a lot of training to complete this poster - and to have a spot on idea of what angle works best for the photos, where about they need to stand and where the camera should be when we took the photographs for our poster. 
1st Trial Layout

This trial layout was the very first idea that we decided upon after being thought up quickly at a very early hour in the morning and being scribbled down onto a piece of paper before it was forgotten :). We liked the idea of having the two girls placed in either of the four corners - facing each other as if in a stand-off or something and we liked the idea that it was sort of a "devil & angle on your shoulder" symbol however as we began designing within Photoshop, we felt that it looked much better with the girls at the bottom and our main character above them and in the centre for a domineering effect. The girl on the right (Rebecca - plays Alice) has been made to look down at the floor as if to avoid eye contact with the girl opposite (Millie - plays Stacey) who is supposed to have more power over her as well as being more confident in herself etc, however Millie's eyes are also slightly looking down because we still wanted to show that Richard (played by Alex) is still dominant. 
The door being behind the credit block was intentional - it was something that we felt needed to be put on the poster to represent the film title as well as fill in the dark blank space we had behind the girls. 


2nd Flat Plan
2nd Trail Layout








This second idea was something we did after completing the first idea, and it was to move everything further up the page so that the credit block wasn't covering the girls' faces like they were in the previous test poster. I also made the bottom of the girl's photos look a little like they have been ripped or something of that sort to perhaps link into our film, such as symbolising torn relationships etc.

Construction Evidence for creation of our Draft Poster: 

The three images we are working with.

We started the process of creating our draft poster for our film 'Behind Closed Doors' by taking photos of our actors on the white screen from different angles and distances to get the perfect shading and highlighting. Because our film has a dark edge, we wanted our characters to have their features cast in shadows while each one holding a prop that resembles their personality or a clue to the storyline. 
These three images are the photos we have chosen out of the many to apply to our draft poster.
Removing the backgrounds of the images.
The next step was to remove each of the white backgrounds from the 3 photos so that we could apply them to the main poster background. The background must be removed so that the other layers beneath can show through. We did this by using the Quick Selection Tool and the Polygonal Lasso Tool to cut around the images and delete the background quicker than using the Background Eraser Tool. We also used the Refine Edge feature of Photoshop to help get rid of and add in pieces of hair that we needed to make the photo look natural if they had got cut off through the removal of the white.

Creating the background
After finding the black background for our poster, it was time to put on the next layer which will be the main image of the poster. Over each shoulder we wanted to use the Gradient Tool to blend the image of Richard with the black background, however one was to be a black blend while the was white and made to look translucent. To this we created two layer and on each one applied one layer with the different gradients on them and then put them together. After this we then cut away the opposite sides of each one (so on the shoulder with the white light we cut away the opposite shoulder which would have been left alone and visa versa) so that we were left with the full image again created by two layers, showing the two different blended shoulders. 
The idea of having a black light and a white light (or gradient) would bring out the fact that one of the girls is evil (Stacey) and one of the girls is innocent (Alice). It links in with the Angel and the Devil on your shoulder idea. 

Before & After Old Style Saturation preset

We combined the images together and then altered the saturation of our poster to make it go from vivid colours to a more white-washed tone as to bring out the darker element of our film. We did this by using the Old Style effect that we found on the hue/saturation presets. 
Shading and blending images together
Throughout our poster there is an incredibly large amount of blending and shading the images together to create a dark and sinister feel to our poster. We wanted the girls to look like they are coming out of the darkness, which represents how they both are killed at the end as it gives them a slight ghostly edge while the shadows surrounding Richard make him look more menacing and dominant. 


Adding the final image
After we had completed all of the other areas of our poster, the last thing to remain was to add the open door at the bottom between the girls. This was just to fill in the black space and also to relate the poster to the film's title even more. We simply did this by dragging the image between the photos, blending the image together and then using the Eraser Tool to get rid of any parts that overlapped or looked out of place. Now it's on to adding the text.

FINISHED DRAFT:

Our Final Draft
We decided to keep our film poster idea very close to our test posters, while improving various aspects such as the positions of the two girls at the bottom of the page. On our test posters they were either floating in the middle of the page, materialising out of the darkness or it was a close up of each of them from the corners of the page. The problems with these were the credit block at the bottom overlapping too much of their faces and the one with the faces floating made the poster look rather squashed up. 
Baring this in mind, we took photos of the girls at a further distance away; making sure the photo was   a mid-shot instead of a close-up. This turned out better because after we put in the images we found that we had the perfect amount of room between the images for the film title and the credit block.      
We took the Old Style Preset from the test posters and put it onto our draft  poster because the saturation took away the incredibly bold colours that were upon the photos and made them all look more depressing and dark, which ties in with our film being a serious drama with a twisted side.

Another thing we decided to change on our final draft was the colour of the text. We felt that the white was too plain and needed a splash of colour, and so we decided to add some red to the important text on the page. We liked the idea of "devil & angel on your shoulder" and because Stacey represents evil and Alice represents innocence/good, we thought that making the text red and white combined these well. Furthermore, the connotations of red are often danger, love, lust, anger etc and so the words "dangerous" and "love" we thought would be best in the red because it supports both sides.

Peer Assessment Feedback and Evaluation:

Now it was time to get our draft posters peer assessed so that any improvements can be pointed out and the positives can be mentioned. Each group chose a method of recording the improvements; we chose to record them on a word document in note form and then write about them in greater detail on our blogs. Overall I felt our poster was assessed truthfully and proved to be very helpful due to improvements were pointed out that we hadn't even noticed or thought needed to be altered.

We then got given a mark and level from our peers based on what the poster was like so far. Our draft poster received: Level 4 and a mark of: 9-10.

Positives:
- The non-verbal communication within out poster is effective and tells its own story. The two images of the girls at the bottom of the screen portray the most non-verbal communication - which was exactly what we were aiming for. The way we positioned them in the corners of the screen with a big gap between them can signify how much they hate each other as well as having them 'facing off' shows that they are locked in conflict, however Millie (girl on the left) is staring straight down at Rebecca while Rebecca avoids her eyes - this represents how Millie has more dominance over her within the storyline and Rebecca is the meeker of the two girls. 
- The choice of images/framing represent the film in the best way. The images of Millie and Rebecca represent each of their characteristics and personalities well, portraying their roles in the film through their positions, expressions and body-language. The image of Alex at the back help to show the dominance he has over the two girls - this could be symbolised through the fact his hands are shown in the image and this is often a way of representing God etc. 
- Shadows are a good representation of the storyline. The shadows symbolise how the story is very twisted and many aspects are hidden from the audience straight from the start and leave you asking questions - a lot like how a scared person questions what is in the shadows. Furthermore the shadows present the films genre better with it being a thriller/drama - it would't fit to have no shadows because it would then not look mysterious and capture the audience's interest like the film does with its hidden story aspects.
- Tagline suits the film and the presentation of it is good. The connotations of red are both represented through the words 'Dangerous' and 'Love' within our tagline being coloured in red, which really brings out the oxymoron within it because they are both opposites and cancel each other out. The words are well chosen to represent our film in a tagline. 

Improvements:
- The blotch on top of Rebecca's head MUST be sorted out! - blend?? I noticed a brief problem with the top of Rebecca's head where I hadn't blended the image together with the background so I knew that this must be suited out before the final poster was handed in. It looked noticeable to me, however within peer assessment nobody mentioned this error.
- Surnames closer to the cast members' names and forenames smaller. We originally put the cast members' surnames the same size as their first names however conventionally this is incorrect and should be that the surnames are a bigger text size then the first names because people often recognise the surname of an actor or actress then the first name.
- Possibly move up the back image of Alex. The background image of Alex was said to be perfectly fine except for the bit of his chin at the top of the page. It was said that this needed to be removed and the cross brought up and centred a little extra to make it much more noticeable to the eye been as it is one of our film's main prop - in fact it actually is the main prop of the film due to it symbolising quite a lot and being the murder weapon at the end.
- Make the tagline smaller and make the title stand out. Currently the film title is battling it out with the tagline to be noticed because they are both the same size and the tagline is much more eye-catching than the title because of the colours. This needed to change so the improvements was to make the tagline a considerable amount smaller while make the film title look bolder and more eye-catching so that the poster viewer knows that 'Behind Closed Doors' is the title of the film straight away; its what draws them in. As it stands a few of our assessing peers mistook the tagline for the film's title.
- Alter the tagline and cast members names' font. The mark scheme wants us to present a wide range of fonts used within our poster to show a deeper understanding - so it was said that instead of having all of the text the same font it would be best to change them and make each part different to make them stand out more.

Improvement Construction Evidence:


Shifting the images along
So the first improvement we wanted to tackle was the hardest one - this being to shift the whole of the poster upwards and slightly to the left. Now as you can see from the screenshot above - it wasn't just one image to move, the background was split into two pieces HOWEVER we did get round this by simply highlighting all of the layers and shifting them together. This way nothing lost its place and remained exactly where we wanted it. Now our poster has no chin and the cross is slightly more in the centre - not entirely but we feel it is just enough because we want it to still be subtle in its presence.  

Altering the size of the website
Next up we addressed the situation of the web address needing to be slightly enlarged so it can be readable. This was an easy improvement to make however while doing this we took into account how the previous door behind the credit block made some of the writing hard to read because it was white on white, so now we have decided to remove the door altogether - more on this further on.

Altering the cast members names
Next we altered the fonts and the sizes of the cast members names. As the feedback said, the surnames must be larger then the first names - as a conventional rule. We made the font slightly more thinner than what it currently was, just to add a variety of font in our poster as well as also trying to keep that element of being formal and business like - which is exactly what are main protagonist is and representing in the poster.

Altering the sizing of the tagline & making changes to the title of the film
The tagline sizing needing changing urgently because it really did look like the title of our film so we made it smaller and have also made changes to the font. We were recommended to perhaps try out a different font for the two words in red and try to find a font that represents each one. We found a more bolder font for the word 'Dangerous' while we found a nice subtle font for the word 'love'. We feel this works much better then it did previously. 
Furthermore the difference to the title of the film was that because we got rid of the door behind the credit block, we felt there was nothing on the poster to represent the film's title and its meaning so, again following feedback, we tried out a few ideas. The idea we finally settled on was, instead of having the o's as door ways, we used the beam of light from the original doorway that we had used and put it under the two o's in 'Door' to make it look like the light is coming through the letters. We only wanted something small and only faintly noticeable because it then brings in the elements of mystery and the fact you really must look closely at our film to pin-point certain hidden aspects.

Final Poster Deconstruction:



Improved overall final poster for 'Behind Closed Doors':


Our finished and improved FINAL poster



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