Research (Ancillary Products): Initial Poster Design 1

Initial design of poster 1

With this poster, I have tried to create a very professional lay-out. This is following the lay-out of the some of the posters I analysed previously. I have made sure all parts included are symmetrical and follow a 'in-line' layout. I have put the main focal image in the centre. This is because I feel that this engages the audience at first glance. Therefore having it small will only not engage the audience, but not emphasise the film as well. I have decided that the main image will mostly be in the background behind the titles as well. This is because the look of the poster will have a more professional feel to it, instead of the titles being on a background of white.

For example, like this poster of Spectre from James Bond franchise, the whole of the main image is the background of the poster, however the important section (James Bond) is in the centre of the focal point. The title I made sure is the second most important convention of the poster, being as well a big part of catching the audiences eyes. I made sure the title is also in the centre of the poster, therefore instantly catches the eyes as well as being big. With the tagline underneath, the audience will follow the title down to the tagline, hopefully sprouting thought over my tagline (One call. One mistake). The release date is then underneath the tag line, making sure to the audience to know when the poster is being released and therefore when to watch it. Awards are presented either side of the title and tagline. Ive added the awards to make sure the audience gauge the popularity and success of the film, making them therefore watch it more.

For example, this is the logo (British Academy Film Awards) I would want to put in one of the award sections on my poster. As this adds to the professional look and the success of it. As well as this, at the bottom of the poster will be the website of our film. For example,  I shall put something along the lines of "www.JonJimFilms/PhoneAlone.co.uk", this makes the audience research more into the film and also can check of the website for any other work we have created. A star rating review above the focal image with a quote will summarise the film into a compliment above the focal image. I located around the centre and near the focal image so the audience read that near the start, for an extra opinion to the film, making them watch the film. Actors names will be added to the top of the screen, so therefore the audience know whose in the film, and any actors they like will be persuaded to watch it. This is just the start of a design of a poster for our film. I will adapt and add to this design (1) to make sure it is perfect for a potential choice for eventually my poster for our film.

Research (Ancillary Products): Tagline Decision

For deciding my tagline, I am giving the choice down to a survey I took with my friends with which tagline would fit better, due to the reasons of genre and how effective it is. I wanted a tagline in which was short but sweet. It gained effect on the poster and was easily memorable, therefore picked these five. This was done through tally chart and I presented this in a overall Pie Chart. I asked 15 of my friends to give their opinion on which one, and these were the results on the pie chart from them overall:

As you can see from my results, the purple section has the most tallies on my chart. For my poster, as well as my magazine review page, 'One call. One mistake' will be my tagline for them. I also feel this is the strongest tagline. This is because even though it's short, it is also effective as well. It brings a lot of effect, sprouting thought as well. "What call?" "What was the mistake?". These questions will be the reason they also watch the short film as well as being engaged by the poster. 

Research (Ancillary Products): Magazine Review Page Consolidations

During my research into my second ancillary product which were magazine review pages, I found many things to take on board onto my magazine page that I will be designing. The main notable discovery of successful posters to me was again a big picture, if not a picture which invokes the audience to read more about the film. This is key in making a successful magazine review page as this makes the audience attracted to your film, making them read about it and eventually therefore making you want to watch it. The picture can either be on both pages or just one, however it has to stand out of course. For this aspect of the magazine review page, I will be deciding which photos to use for my page, they will be surrounding the ideas of the stalker, as this is a main character which the boys are fearing. As well as the stalker being the main attraction on the poster, the boys must appear as well on it, maybe in fear, which could spout conversation during the reading of the magazine review.

The other notable discovery of professional magazine reviews are definite continuity throughout. This may include colour scheme and graphics for example . This is something I will include on my page. I will be using maybe blue and black, as this is a colourful colour scheme with some dark to spout the genre of the film. However, I feel the colour scheme adds to how professional it will look. The graphics will again, make it look professional by borders being inline and creative, as well as a tension chart in my page too. 

The title is another main aspect I found to be prominent. The title should distribute the genre and feel of the poster through its font, colour and size. Therefore like my poster, I will be using the same font so it adds continuity and familiarises the audience with the specific font to our film. Adding to the amount of viewers wanting to watch our film. Another aspect I found on my research and analyses is verdicts. Star rating verdicts and also quote reviews are also distinct in a successful magazine review page. By having these, they may make the watch the film due to the high ratings on the poster. Quotes from the review itself in bold will stand out to the reader. If the bold quote is positive and prominent then it will of course attract the reader.

Research (Ancillary Products): Magazine Review 3

Background Information (Magazine Publisher)

This is a double page film review of an Action, film Pirates of the Carribean by Empire* magazine, who I have already established as one of the biggest and most popular British film magazine publishers previously in my other blog post. Pirates of the Caribean is a film based on Pirates (Jack Sparrow (played by Johnny Depp) and co ordered by the character Davy Jones to destroy all pirate ships in the sea. Further of the story will be discussed under plot later in the analysis.

*(Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal. Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 sponsored by Jameson.)

Plot

To control the oceans, Lord Cutler Beckett executes anyone associated with piracy by ordering Davy Jones to destroy all pirate ships in the seas. Condemned prisoners sing "Hoist the Colours" to compel the nine Pirate Lords to convene at Shipwreck Cove to hold the Brethren Court. Because Captain Jack Sparrow, one of the Pirate Lords, never named a successor before being killed, Captain Barbossa, along with Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Tia Dalma, and the crew of the Black Pearl, plot to rescue Jack from Davy Jones's Locker. Traveling to Singapore, the crew meet Captain Sao Feng, who owns navigational charts to the Locker and quickly gains an unpredictable interest in Elizabeth. Beckett's soldiers invade, but the crew escape. Feng and Turner make a deal to give Jack to Feng, so he in turn can use the Pearl to rescue his father Bootstrap Bill from the Flying Dutchman. The crew travels to the locker and rescues the marooned Jack. They find themselves trapped, encountering dead souls, including Elizabeth's father Governor Swann. They learn the Dutchman must always have a captain.

Main Image(s)

The main image on the page is the screen shot from the film of the main character. The image seems to have had no effects added to it; this suggests that its purpose is to show what the film is like. I think therefore this screen shot was chosen to show some of the main actors in the film. This type of persuasion to engage the audience towards the article. This is because Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is a very popular actor. Therefore the fact that he is one of the characters thats covering half of the double spread indicates they tried to portray this in the magazine film review itself.  The emotions that the main image of film shows is the fact that he is being help in a scarce position by the other character. Adding tension to the viewer as to why he is being held like that, potentially therefore engaging the viewer to watch the film due to the desire to find out why he is being help like that. The picture also provides an image to match what some of the articles was relating to; making it easier to follow through the chunk of text, as you have the security to be able to relate the text to an image. 

This will make it less confusing for the viewer if he/she doesn't understand part of the plot, or the opinions on the film when they haven't seen the film before. The images take up one of the A4 pages that make up this double page review spread. I think that the size of this image indicates that it is quite important to the spread, because it's the main focal point of the reader. The dress code of the characters in the picture will give a feel to what the film is like, maybe also giving in depth hints to how Jack Sparrow as a character is portrayed in the film.  The high key lighting on the picture creates a very colourful and bright image. Showing that maybe the portagonist, being Jack Sparrow, is a funny character. The size of the image also means that it is very relevant to the article. The photo has a lighthearted caption that makes fun of the situation shown in the screen shot, and give humour to the article when being read. There are three smaller images on the left of the spread. These are small and are not directly related to the article. They provide extra information to the reader and therefore can be small and appear less important without taking away anything from the article. The focus being on the review itself. 


Title

The feature header is 'Screen". The header is the largest and seemingly the most important. It allows people to flick through the magazine and still see this page easily. It is in a large bold font that automatically catches the eyes of the readers. The header relates to the section of the magazine. This section is related to new films and would be considered a unique selling point of the magazine. Customers would buy the magazine because they  they would trust the reviews and opinions that this magazine usually has. There are two other smaller feature headers. The first one is “New Movies in Order of Merit” and the second is the title of the film. The title of the film is the more important of the two headers because it tells the reader what they reading about. It is used to let to reader know what film the article relates to and they then can therefore decide whether they want to read it. Both of these headers have their own kickers. These kickers are in a thinner font and therefore are seen as less important. They are there just to provide a little extra information about this section of the magazine and the article. The body text is written in three main columns. The columns contain a mixture of both bold and normal text, this means that certain sections can be highlighted as more important and are more eye-catching. The columns are interrupted by pull quotes and graphical furniture. The colour of most of the font is black. The other colours used do not have any specific meaning to the reader but they follow the colour scheme of the magazine. There is also a link to the magazine’s website on the bottom left of the page. This highlights the cross promotion of the magazine.

Graphical Furniture

The graphical furniture of the magazine is fairly standard to the magazine. The colours and fonts used in the graphical furniture are design in the house style and in the same colour scheme as the rest of this section of the magazine. The side bar to the right of the picture contains a special feature of the magazine. It gives the reader an idea of similar films which will help them make a more informed decision when it comes to deciding whether they would like to watch this film or not.The logo of the magazine doesn’t feature on this review page but the information bar at the top does however a logo that is associated with this section of the magazine. The logo is part of the style of the magazine and is regularly featured in the magazine. The page numbers are place on the bottom, outside corners of each page. There is also a logo used to indicate the web presence of the magazine. It is linked to the website address that is given below it. Other graphics used are stars which are used to act as a visual representation of the rating that is given by the magazine to this film.

Tone?


The tone of the article suggest that it is written for people who are quite serious about film. The references to other well regarded films suggest that it is written for an audience that is likely to have a strong interest in film. It is written is quite a sophisticated but quite informal way. It presents well thought out opinions in a style that is more attractive that might broaden their target audience. This style means it might be targeted at a slightly older age group but might appeal to some younger people. This would likely be late twenties and beyond. It is for people have a good film knowledge which is not usually associated with young people. The review focuses on quite a combination of aspects. It doesn’t only deal with the actors or things that would be more popular in the main stream; it deals with more specific things like the writing and what crucial aspects of the film that they believe weren’t successful.

Research (Ancillary Products): Magazine Review 2

Background Information (Magazine Publisher)

This is a double page film review of Action, Adventure fantasy film Clash of the Titans by Empire* magazine, who I have already established as one of the biggest and most popular British film magazine publishers previously in my other blog post. Clash Of The Titans is a film based on Greek mythology about the son of Zeus who must save the world by battling epic monsters and travelling far (fairly generic stuff for a fantasy film. 

*(Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal. Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 sponsored by Jameson.)

Plot

In ancient times, after defeating their predecessors, the Titans, the Gods divided the Universe among themselves. Zeus took the skies, Poseidon took the seas, and Hades was left with the Underworld upon being tricked by Zeus. The gods created the mortals, whose faith and prayers fuelled the gods' immortality. As time passed, however, mortals began to question and soon resist their creators, angering the Olympians.

Main Image(s)

image on the left of the two page spread

I took this pictures from the magazine review page itself so therefore could get a better understanding. The picture of the left presents the main protagonist show at a long shot in which his mis en scene is very typical for something you'd expect to see in a mythological style fantasy action film; including his stance, and posture on his approach to the camera. His costume consists of ancient antiquity battle armour with the muscle shaped torso and leg guards and vambraces, all things commonly associated with a Greek mythological hero. The fact that his skin appears to be dirty, follows on to the fact that he likes to partake in battles. Very strong and masculine figure presented. The size of the image being half of the double spread indicates its undeniably strong presence.

Featuring colours however, the dark colours of it subvert this stereotype, you'd expect a "hero" figure to be wearing bright gilded colours to represent his heroism and good intentions, such as Spiderman previously. The dark of this man's armour present him as a different type of hero. He has two props, firstly a full sack. This is shown in the film poster to add a hint of mystery as the audience will question what it's contents are within it. In the other hand he's gripping an odd sort of scaly shield that would excite a fantasy fan as it associates with mythical beings like dragons. Maybe showing that he defeated a dragon to obtain the shield, again, showing strength.

Additionally, there is a second image presented in the centre of the spread, unlike the primary image this one is a still from the film and it hints to the audience a bit more of the narrative, however, slightly smaller. In it you can see the protagonist sneaking around with a rather abnormal looking robed figure towering over him. The scene chosen creates more questions then answers for the audience and would encourage them to see the film. In the corner of the image there is a small description that reveals a piece of the narrative to tempt the audience to read it. Ultimately this picture is used to add more action to draw in the audience into reading the magazine review.

Title

The first part that stands out is the title of this review "Gods and Monsters" although this is not the title of the film the phrase sums up the narrative of the film, God and monsters being the two main aspects in the film. The typography it's styled in has a "Gothic" look to it, mixed in with a dark bronze colour which all links in with the fantasy genre and conventions. As well as the gold armour colour as well being hinted in it. This style of text is also seen in the initial starting the paragraphs adding to the Gothic look of the review. The 'Stand-First' technique is used therefore, gaining the attention of the reader to begin the paragraph. Interestingly the word "God" is presented over the gloomy dark background, whilst the word "Monster" is presented over a clean white background, both words are incorporated with backgrounds that juxtapose their meanings. This might link to the narrative. 

Layout

I really like the layout of this film review as I think it looks very professional and is divided well so it does not look overwhelming with text. The picture on one of the sides of the double spread gains a lot of tension from the reader, and the act of putting a big picture on one of the pages is necessary.  The ratings and titles are clear and bold which makes it easy for the reader to comprehend, therefore gaining valuable information without really having to exceed past skimming on this review page. If anything, this is the sort of review page that I hope mine will come out like as well as the Spiderman one as well.

Review

The introductory paragraph is beneath the title and gives the reader a glance into the film and its production. This part is really just trying advertise how good the film is going to by mentioning what films the actors have been in and how the effects will be truly amazing. This section also talks about the story its relation to the original film. So therefore provides some information for the audience before watching the film and may even engage them to watch the film themselves.

Research (Ancillary Products): Magazine Review 1

Background Information (Magazine Publisher)

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal. Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 sponsored by Jameson.

Plot

Peter Parker struggles to balance his crime-fighting duties as Spider-Man with the demands of his normal life. Estranged from both love interest Mary Jane Watson and best friend Harry Osborn, Peter additionally discovers his Aunt May is facing eviction.

Main Image

With this being a double page spread, the main image for this takes up just over half the magazine review page, which is slightly more than what the normal size. The image stands out extremely well however, showing the protagonist. Which is in fact the main character in the film, so it makes sense for him to be there. His vibrant red colours catches your eye almost immediately when looking at the page. 

Additionally, the image looks like an mid action shot within the film itself. This is due to his body structure and the top and bottom is covered by some creature within the film, so it makes us think he is in danger and is very engaging to know more to why he is like that; making you want to watch the film. From analysing this image on the magazine review, I can see that the film reviews tend to use images in which cause engagement. As well as this, the images tend to be only a small amount shown. As maybe the more pictures shown may cause the reader to get bored and may identify the narrative and concept of the film, due to seeing pictures from the film equally them to not want to see the film itself.
The fact that it shows the main character as well, is a convention I shall use in my film review. The image in the film review tends to match the title on the same page. This adds continuity to the review page and therefore won't confuse the reader. The title and picture should be easily relatable. The use of colour is used a lot within the picture as well; the picture should have bright colours - not boring dark colours. Difficult for a horror I will find when making my review page, however I shall try to incorparte colours in which shall engage the reader prominently enough to read the whole review. The stance of the superhero shows strength and power, which links to the superhero and foreshadows the film well. The lighting within the main image is bright, and very high-key, this engages the audience again as it is an image to eye catch.

Title(s)

The title is a strong visible colour, black and is very thick so it stands out exceedingly well on the white background - using the technique of 'Standing-First', a convention I analysed
before. Just above is a red strip with many one worded reviews and star ratings. There is some great reviews such as 'Must-see' with a 5 star rating however they have also been honest and put a review saying 'Disappointing' with 2 stars. The audience will like this as they are being truthful - not all people like it. Underneath the title is a little plot with a pun to engage the younger audience. It grabs your attention to read on wards for the review, this is something I will include in my review, as it engages the reader thoroughly.  Furthermore, there is a bold sub title stating 'What's the story' which is a more in depth plot of the film. They have made sure you can see the verdict, covering it with a box and a red strip with the stars on. The verdict overall star rating was 5 stars so they have promoted this to make sure the audience are aware.

Also, they used a great sub title saying 'Scenes that will drop jaws and staple them to the multiplex carpet'. This suggests that the scenes will be so surprising and overwhelming your jaw the stay to the ground. It is a very descriptive and effective title that Is great. I need to use a sub title like this to intrigue the viewer of all ages.

Review(s)

Within the film review, they started it with a well known quote from the film, Spider-Man fans will see this and will appreciate it and will be excited to then see the film. They have used terms used with the younger generation such as  'Epic cinematography'. They kept the writing very unsophisticated so it is more relate able for the younger generation - who is most likely to read this review page.  This has shown great thought by the author of this article, as they had the target audience in thought as they were writing the review columns. As well as this, the made the columns in small chunks instead of big heaps of writing; thinking of the younger audience reading the review as well.

Layout

I really like the layout of this film review as I think it looks very professional and is divided well so it does not look overwhelming with text.  The ratings and titles are clear and bold which makes it easy for the reader to comprehend, therefore gaining valuable information without really having to exceed past skimming on this review page. If anything, this is the sort of review page that I hope mine will come out like.

Research (Ancillary Products): Magazine Review

The second ancillary product that I need to create to compliment the 'marketing campaign' of my short film is a magazine film review page. This could be either an existing, established magazine or an original magazine that is specific to my genre and the mood of my film. 

The first thing I did to research into magazine front covers was create a mood board that showed me a range from well established magazines to independent film magazines:

My mood board on the many examples of film reviews I gathered from sources on the internet.

This mood board showed me that there was a large range of conventions when it comes to a magazine review pages. Out of these conventions, I found that the most common and effective things I would need to add into my magazine review page would be a the film title, magazine name, tagline, focal image, page number, date of release, features of a film, interviews, description of the film,film review and an image of a film/character. 

The mood board also showed me that even though I liked the format and structure of already existing and established magazines. Also shown that the lay-out of magazine review pages are very effective in the way they are all laid out.

Magazine review purpose?

For this research, I looked into detail on film reviews, and read through a lot of them (the mood board examples) to help gain a expansive view on what their purpose actually is to serve to the audience and public reading the magazine. I found that the main purpose of a magazine film review is to provide information and opinions about films that are currently about to be released. Without question, film reviews in magazines provide a synopsis of the film, so that the audience can gauge whether the film is their 'cup of tea' or not. The depth of detail the synopsis may have varies with different magazines; for example that I found online, 'Sight and Sound' is renown for giving a detailed synopsis on up-and-coming films and are notorious for giving away many spoilers within them. This is something that I won't include in my magazine review; this being that I don't want the audience of the magazine to not watch it, just because they already know the plot. Opinions on the actors in the film are given, there is commentary on the director's style and narrative structure and there is often an overall opinion given on the making of the film. 

Film magazine reviews often have the purpose to give brutal and ruthless opinions on films that criticise, in order for an objective balance is to be achieved and for people to read honest, unbiased reviews of a film. However despite the reviews leaning an audience members opinion, the review can also make the member watch the film, as they might actually disagree with the author of the review. Additionally, the purpose of a film magazine review is to introduce themes and subject matter helping people establish whether the film would be suited to them and whether it's of their taste, which I agree to be an important part to a film review. Film reviews in magazines allow audiences to understand more about the new role of the actor starring in it and the director's approach to the film and its style. Many well established actors that are well-known will have highly anticipated films that will be reviewed critically and allow many audiences in their fan base or who knows of them to read about their new work. Magazine film reviews cater to audiences who are looking for an expert 'third' opinion on the suitability of a film. 

Many people will look to their favourite film critic in a certain magazine to give an opinion on a film that they are interested in as they trust that critic's opinion and regard it highly. Film reviews in magazines are often used to market a film due for release and often provide an unbiased opinion on the film. Film magazine reviews are hugely important for film marketing as they have a wide influence on many people and reach out to all audiences.

Main conventions of a Magazine Film Review?

a short piece of annotations on a magazine review page.

An example of a film review in the magazine 'Empire'. Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group.
These conventions which I investigated in this example were: 

• At the top of the first page is a very large and bold heading. Its an orange box tilted to the side, that reads “in cinemas” this tells the readers that this film coming out to cinema and underneath in a white box and red text it tells them the exact dates it is out in cinemas. This seems an important feature for film reviews, therefore I will include the title of the film review company, and the date released. 
• Underneath the heading there is considerable amount of white space before another heading which states the name of the film, WALL.E. This is wrote in a bold black text that stands out from the white background and clearly tells the audience what the name of the film is. In red text bellow WALL.E  it says “Meet the little robot with the big heart”  This draws people into reading the review as a little robot sounds cute. It also makes you want to go see the film so you can “meet the robot”.
• Before the review starts there is a small fact box in the left hand column, which covers all the basic information on the film, like its running time, certificate, cast, release date and a basic overview of the plot. I think this is a good idea as it gives the audience all the basic information they need to go see it and some aspects of the film to tempt them into seeing it, like the list of people who do the voices in the film.
• Then the review of the film which includes some slight points which happen in the film, a general review from the author of the article, and ratings. This doesn't include much about the film because it won't spoil anything for the audience which want to watch it. This is something i'll include in my film review page.
• As well as this, on the next page of the double spread is the focal image, which is normally a snap shot of something important in the film. Something that I will include in my ancillaries as this is what will mainly attract the audience to reading the review.

Terminology (in the example above)

• 'Panel' / 'Box Out - Usually contains separate information which may be relevant to the page's main text. This shown on the right of the second page labelled 'Look Closer'.
• 'Slug' -  One of the most common features of a film review, often used to tell the reader where they are within the magazine. This shown in the WALL-E example, the dark red banner at the top.
• 'Sub Head' - Mostly used to contextualise the headline.
• 'WOB' - 'White text on black background' or 'White on black' - either used to make the text stand out or used as a sub heading.
• 'Cross Head' - In long winding texts such as magazine reviews, the crosshead is used to breakup the text, to make it look less intimidating.
• 'Folio' - Much like the slug, this is used at the bottom of the page for the page number or date.
• 'Pull Quote' - Used to magnify a particularly interesting or controversial quote to draw the readers attention.
• 'Drop-Cap' - Simply a bigger capital letter at the start of the article to draw the readers attention to the text.
• 'Byline'- Used to publicise the author/writers name presented as 'Stand First'.
• 'Sidebar' - Despite its name its not always positioned to the side, the side bar is often used to give information, context or even an entertaining point.
• 'Stand First' - Magazines use this technique as a 'teaser', summarising the theme to get the reader interested - without giving away key information or conclusions.

Research (Ancillary Products): Poster Consolidations

During my research into my first ancillary product, posters, I found many things to take on board onto my poster I will be designing. The main notable discovery of successful posters to me was a big focal image presented across the majority of the poster, if not all. This can be as a background behind the overlay of text. However, the main focal image must be bold and attract, engage and cause the viewer to think. For this, I will be deciding which photos to use for my poster, they will be surrounding the ideas of the stalker, as this is a main character which the boys are fearing. As well as the stalker being the main attraction on the poster, the boys must appear as well on it, maybe in fear, which could spout conversation during the viewing of the poster.

The other notable discovery of professional posters is a successful colour scheme. This is something I will include on my poster. Despite posters with bright colours catching eyes, I will use dark colours, as this suits my genre better and therefore suiting to my conventions which I researched into. Despite it being dark, I think it will be a strong marketing campaign as when viewed, causes some fear, making the target audience of horror/thriller to want to watch the film. For example, in my analysis of 2 bedroom 1 bath has very dark colours, however the poster is very effective in presenting a sinister feel to it when viewed. As well as that, The Cabin in the Woods had a very dark colour scheme. However despite the dark colours as you can see, the colours are what make it effective. The feel you get from it is mainly from the sinister colours portrayed from the woods in the background, to the reflecting cabin. As said previously, like the cabin in the woods, a focal picture is used as the background, in the centre, and this is what I would like my poster to be portrayed as. Mainly the protagonist.

The title is another main aspect I found to be prominent. The title should distribute the genre and feel of the poster through its font, colour and size. Like The Cabin in the woods, its portrayed as a very 'earthy' feel as said previously. This title is very effective, and of course displays the genre nicely through it. 

In every poster I have researched and analysed, have the paragraph at the bottom. This is also something I shall include, for the best effect of professionalism and effectiveness. As well as this, the date of release should definitely be included, normally bigger size font than the paragraph. As this catches the eyes of the viewer and is easier to find on the poster.

A Tagline is another prominent and important part of a poster, and even all merchandise sold through the film. Therefore I spent the lesson deciding on what tagline would fit well into our film 'Phone Alone'. These are the ideas I had narrowed down to the 5 best ones:

• 'You shouldn't have made that call...'
• 'Two boys, one prank call'
• 'One call leads to another at the door...'
• 'One call. One mistake.'
• 'Being home alone isn't the best...'

These tagline's I shall do a survey with my friends to which tagline's they think fit the best with the film and what should be included on my ancillary products.

Another aspect I found on my research and analyses is reviews. Star rating reviews and also quote reviews are also distinct in a successful poster. Found on my analysis 3. Don't Breath had the reviews at the top of the poster. Having these are very intelligent as it provides a opinion for the viewer of the poster, and may make the watch the film due to the high ratings on the poster. Despite the picture being blurry, these quotes make or break the audience to watching the film, and this I will take into consideration while designing my poster. But whether I choose star rating or quote reviews I will decide while designing my poster.

Research (Ancillary Products): Poster Analysis 3

Here above is a selection of annotations I made on this poster, and the main aspects in which stood out for me while viewing it, which I will now go into detail about.

Film?

Don't Breathe is a 2016 American horror-thriller film directed by Fede Alvarez and written by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. The film stars Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto, and Stephen Lang, and focuses on three friends who get trapped inside a blind man's house while breaking into it.

The film was produced by Ghost House Pictures and Good Universe. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2016, and was theatrically released on August 26, 2016, by Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. It received critically positive reviews and grossed over $156 million.

Main Image

Conventionally with a horror/thriller genre poster, the film focuses on having one main focal image of a character in the film which is generally fearful or adds tension to the audience. This film poster of 'Don't Breath' follows these conventions well, as the main image shown in this poster is of a women that looks like someone is covering her mouth making her not breath (relates to the title).  As this is the main focal point, it obtains the most attention from the target audience (public) viewing the poster. The image itself is a medium shot of the chocking women. With reference to the lay out of the poster; the design places the main image of the women in the centre of the poster, with the title of the film below the main image as a lay over.

The image signifies obviously as scary, sending tension and suspense to the audience viewing it. Fear is a main theme within this poster, mainly as because of the dark blank colouring and the dark shadows of the trees in the background. The colour of the women is grey, orange, yellow and red with hints of black. Red and yellow connote with blood and fear. This matched with the chocking of the hands over her mouth foreshadows danger in the film. The background being black makes the main focal image stand our even more, making it more exaggerated.

Mise En Scene

The main colour scheme used on the poster; black, grey red and yellow. All of these colours link to a dangerous and fearful narrative to the film. Below is a colour scheme of the poster below, showing the colours within the poster, as shown are all relatively dark and mysterious


The colours of black and grey colouring on the background of the women, adds to show how mysterious the film could be behind why she can't breath.The colour black (shades of) has denotations of darkness and fear of the unknown, showing that there is going to be a ambiguity of what is involved with why she is in danger, as well as this the poster not showing other characters. Importantly who is chocking her. The red and yellow colouring connote with danger (fire) and fear. This can add tension to the audience viewing the poster, and therefore want them to watch it to find out what happens. The white title in the foreground below the focal picture stands out  a lot, adding even more tension and fear. This is because the title is very short but effective.The colour scheme as a whole immediately follow the conventions of the horror/thriller genre that is is, they promote a dark horrid feeling and it also allows the audience to have feeling of suspense and tension before even watching the film. 
The reviews at the top of the poster are also red and yellow mixed, complementing the focal picture of the women well, as well as keeping levels of tension at a high.

Typography

The typography in the poster a very conventional font. This font giving the impression of a very emphasizing' feel. The thickness of the font gives the effect of big and scary, and has a distressing feel to it. The white colour of the font makes it stand out a lot more contrary to the black background. This is important as the audience viewing the poster will need to have to read the poster title, maybe from a far away distance at times. The size difference of the words in the title add effect a lot. This is how breathe is emphasized a lot more than don't, making this the focus of the poster.


Conventions


The conventions of the poster are followed successfully  With all my conventions I researched before being shown. This being main title, main image, release date (coming soon), institutional paragraph reviews etc. However despite these being shown, a tagline hasn't been shown in it. A tagline line is important as it gives a catchphrase to the film which can bring more target audience if catchy/fear thriving. As well as this, A-list actors aren't clear on the poster/not there. This can reject some target audience viewing it as they don't know any actors in it, therefore thinking that they wouldn't enjoy it.

How does it relate to the narrative?


With regards to how much the poster actually gives away about the film, the poster is quite ambiguous. However the focal picture shown on the poster can give a lot away about the film and links to the narrative well. The different colours within the poster may add some sense to the audience that it is dark and scary adding fear to them; danger also from the red and oranges. There are many interpretations you can make in this film. One of these interpretations is that the characters in the film enquire major danger with not being able to breath from maybe the supernatural or the blind man it in.that they stay in.

Lighting


This film uses low key lighting within the image on the poster. The effect of this type of lighting creates a dark tone which links to mood that the film displays about horror/thriller, such as the dark shadow on part of the woman's face.

Research (Ancillary Products): Poster Analysis 2

The annotations above show the main aspects of the poster in which I overlooked before analysing the poster in detail.

Film?

The Cabin in the Woods is a 2012 American horror comedy film directed by Drew Goddard in his directorial debut, produced by Joss Whedon, and written by Whedon and Goddard. The film stars Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. The plot follows a group of college students who retreat to a remote forest cabin where they fall victim to backwoods zombies and the two technicians who manipulate the ongoing events from an underground facility. The film was originally slated for release on February 5, 2010 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists, but was indefinitely shelved due to ongoing financial difficulties. In 2011, Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights. The film premiered on March 9, 2012 at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas and was released in the United States on April 13, 2012, grossing over $66 million worldwide.

Main Image

Conventionally with a horror/thriller genre poster, the film focuses on having one main focal image of a character in the film which is generally fearful. This film poster of 'the cabin in the woods' follows these conventions well, as the main image shown in this poster is of the cabin as a very obscure structure.  As this is the main focal point, it obtains the most attention from the target audience (public) viewing the poster. The image itself is a medium shot of the cabin in the film. With reference to the lay out of the poster; the design places the main image of the cabin in the centre of the poster, with the title of the film below the main image and tagline just above it.

The image signifies obviously as ambiguity, adding mystery to the poster entirely. Ambiguity is a main theme within this poster, mainly as because of the dark blank colouring and the dark shadows of the trees in the background. The colour of the cabin being black, grey signifies that the cabin is not a good place to retreat to, which the college students do. The way the house is looks like it is being reflected, maybe across a invisible lake or some water makes the house appear obscure on the poster, creating a whole atmosphere to the poster to be tense and creating suspense  Colour of the trees again in the background are grey dark and tall, maybe signifying the zombie like figures within the film.

Tagline

The tagline on the poster; 'you think you know the story' adds more intrigue to what story they are talking about, and whether there is more to the story than the poster is showing. The fact that is it above the main title, may make you infact read that first before the title below, this would maybe add more tension as you think 'what story?' 'The cabin in the woods', follows nicely and therefore is placed perfectly onto the poster.

Mise En Scene

The main colour scheme used on the poster; shades of black, grey and and white. All three of these colours link to a unnerving, mysterious and ambiguous narrative to the film. Below is a colour scheme of the poster below, showing the colours within the poster, as shown are all relatively dark and mysterious.

The dark black and grey colouring on the cabin, adds to show how mysterious the film will be and how the college students will find fear within there. The colour black (shades of) has denotations of darkness and fear of the unknown, showing that there is going to be a ambiguity of what is involved within the cabin and around it of the characters, as well as this the poster not showing the characters (mainly the zombies) adding even more to the mystery which then is linking to the colour black and the shades of it. The white colouring of windows may show that there is some happy things within the film, maybe connoting with a happy ending of where there is some finding of purity within the characters (zombies and college students) that needs to be revolved. The colour grey sky and darker grey of the trees show how there is no happiness in the woods, having no help and no contact with the outside world in there. This could symbolise the situation that they are in and the situations that they get themselves into. As the titles feature black in them, this connotes again with fear of the unknown, especially in the woods and the cabin. The colour scheme as a whole immediately follow the conventions of the horror/thriller genre that is is, they promote a dark horrid feeling and it also allows the audience to have feeling of suspense and tension before even watching the film. 

As well as this, the cracked glass effect around the bottom half of the poster, presents the aspect of maybe their cabin getting broken into by the zombies in the woods, and maybe the fact that the windows are very weak, giving a sense of the cabin being very old and therefore the idea of having no contact with the outside world grows stronger within this poster.

Typography

The typography in the poster a very conventional font. This font gibing the impression of a very 'woods' feel. The thickness of the font gives the effect of twigs and sticks of trees, and has a earthy feel to it. The black colour of the font makes it stand out a lot more contrary to the white/grey background. This is important as the audience viewing the poster will need to have to read the poster title, maybe from a far away distance at times. The size difference of the words in the title add effect a lot. How the CABIN and WOODS is a lot bigger than IN and THE signify that these are the main aspects within the film and therefore giving the impression that there will be danger because of the significance in the title.

Conventions

The conventions of the poster are followed successfully  With all my conventions I researched before being shown. This being main title, main image, release date, institutional paragraph etc. However despite these being shown, star reviews from other companies such as news papers and other haven't been put on this poster. This may have drawbacks as the audience wouldn't know whether it is good or not and therefore have trouble on whether to decide to watch it or not. The colour scheme of the poster is followed successfully, as it involved dark colours as show in the colour  scheme I made. 


How does it relate to the narrative?

With regards to how much the poster actually gives away about the film, the poster is quite ambiguous. Just presenting an image of the cabin does not make many links to the narrative apart from the main location in which something happens to the college boys. The different colours within the poster may add some sense to the audience that it is dark and scary adding fear to them. One of these interpretations is that the characters in the film enquire major danger within these woods that they stay in. These themes may be linked to how the characters feels within the film therefore some relation to the narrative is made there. Despite this, the poster only presents one aspect in the shot which does not really give away the narrative apart from being about horror/thriller apart from the colour and text font.

Lighting

This film uses low key lighting within the image on the poster. The effect of this type of lighting creates a dark tone which links to mood that the film displays about horror/thriller. Where the image is covered by dark colours, the image is darker which can bring in a negative mood towards the theme of horror it is trying to present.

Research (Ancillary Products): Poster Analysis 1

The annotations of the poster above highlight the main aspects and conventions. These annotations will then be followed for when i'm designing my own.

Film?

2 Bedroom 1 Bath (2014) is a horror film directed by Stanley Yung where a couple moves into a new apartment. As things seem normal at first, things turn for the worst as the couple begin uncovering sinister, past secrets. In all honesty, this horror film had heart. First off, this film's plots been seen plenty of times before. We've seen the clichéd gimmick of a fresh, new couple moving into a place that's haunted. And with that, they'll see things, have nightmares, the mother will start acting weird, stuff like that. It's a highly clichéd plot gimmick we see plenty of times, this film just being another clone of said gimmick.

Main Image

Conventionally with a horror/thriller genre poster, the film focuses on having one main focal image of a character in the film which is generally fearful. This film poster of '2 bedroom 1 bath' follows these conventions well, as the main image shown in this poster is of the nightmare-like character. Therefore would be causing the harm in the film. As this is the main focal point, it obtains the most attention from the target audience (public) viewing the poster. The image itself is a medium shot of the antagonist in the film. With reference to the lay out of the poster; the design places the main image of the antagonist in the centre of the poster, with the title of the film in front of it as an overlay. The image signifies obviously as fear, adding ambiguity to the poster entirely. Ambiguity is a main theme within this poster, mainly as because of the dark colour and lighting on the character. The poster doesn't show 'it's' face to the audience, adding intrigue to the audience to who it actually is and whys she's there. The body language of the character (looking down being in a still position) adds a sense of fear even more, due to the fact it's not a normal position to be standing in, let alone with no distinguishable face and messy hair. Colour of the dress connoting with blood is a very strong theme within the poster, complementing the main title numbers nicely, and that being the only strong colour shown, adds superiority to the idea of blood being a main culprit within this film.

Mise En Scene

The main colour scheme used on the poster; shades of brown, black and red. All three of these colours link to a unnerving, fearful and dark narrative to the film. Below is a colour scheme of the poster below, showing the colours within the poster, as shown are all relatively dark and mysterious, apart from red, though signifying blood.

The red colouring on the dress of the character is slightly shown on the left of the dress, this adds to show how mysterious the film will be, and the importance of the colour red being less of the limelight. Showing that blood could be involved, linking to murder, death and pain, all conventions of a horror. The colour black (shades of) has denotations of darkness and fear of the unknown, showing that there is going to be a ambiguity of what is involved within the house of the characters and darkness not showing who that character on the film actually is. Linking to the colour black and the shades of it. The white colouring of windows may show that there is some happy things within the film, maybe connoting with a happy ending of where there is some purity within the character that needs to be revolved. Brown is a colour which detonated with dirt, messy and generally mucky. 

This could symbolise the situation that the family are in and maybe their choices. As the titles feature red numbers coloured red within them, they represent an idea that this narrative might feature a bloody scene in the film. This could maybe be death and murder and not resulting in anything happy within the film. The colour scheme as a whole immediately follow the conventions of the horror/thriller genre that is is, they promote a dark horrid feeling and it also allows the audience to have feeling of suspense and tension before even watching the film. The costume of the main character feature a conventionally smart feature, with the dress which could have been for a night out. The feeling of how the mysterious character in the poster shows and screams the question of why she is wearing a dress and why is it red? The white light from the window on the characters arm may symbolise there is purity within her, as the shade of white is technically behind her, waiting to come out, however the darkness of the character is blocking that from happening, maybe signifying possession of the unknown or supernatural within her.

There is a baby doll in the within the poster in the background. This may symbolise that this doll is a main prop within the film which could play a huge role in possession of the kind and why the poster shows supernatural vibes. As well as this, on the wall on the top right of the poster shows writing on the wall. Conventionally, writing on the wall symbolises a sense of troubling mental health, and the fact that it is scribbled all over the wall shows a sense of distress and anger, maybe signifying in the film from this feature in the poster.

Typography

The typography in the poster a very conventional font. This font being similar to the font used in our short film. The white colour of the font makes it stand out a lot more contrary to the dark black background. This is important as the audience viewing the poster will need to have to read the poster title, maybe from a far away distance at times. The colour of the numbers within the title of '2 bedroom 1 bath' shows the colour red in a font in which looks like it has been drawn on by blood. This connotes with the dress as well as this, complementing it successfully. Typography is very important in a poster as it's one of the main aspects of posters which draw the attention from the audience. So therefore, with the white text layered by another font being red, are both also bright colours and easily stand out. As well as this, the colour scheme of the font is kept through-out the whole poster. This is important as it follows a pattern in which doesn't confuse the audience, and also looks professional and appealing. Having a continuous colour scheme makes the poster memorable, as they start associating the colours with the poster; making them want to watch the film.

Conventions

Actors - a main convention of film posters

The conventions of the poster are followed successfully, with all my conventions I researched before being shown. This being main title, main image, release date, A-list actors etc. However despite these being shown, star reviews from other companies such as news papers and other haven't been put on this poster. This may have drawbacks as the audience wouldn't know whether it is good or not and therefore have trouble on whether to decide to watch it or not. With an extra opinion, they can be sure to want to watch it because of the good reviews of the film being shown on the poster. The colour scheme of the poster is followed successfully, as it involved dark colours as show in the colour scheme I made. This adds to the feel of the poster, and therefore creates the tension needed with horror/thriller anyway.

How does it relate to the narrative?

With regards to how much the poster actually gives away about the film, the poster is quite ambiguous. Just presenting an image of the antagonist does not make many links to the narrative apart from who the main character is. The different colours within the poster may add some sense to the audience that it is dark and scary adding fear to them. One of these interpretations is that the character may have mental health issues or possessed by the super natural by the different props in the film. These themes may be linked to how the character feels within the film therefore some relation to the narrative is made there. Despite this, the poster only presents one character in the shot which does not really give away the narrative apart from being about horror/thriller.

Lighting

This film uses low key lighting within the image on the poster. The effect of this type of lighting creates a dark tone which links to mood that the film displays about horror/thriller. Where the image is covered by dark colours, the image is darker which can bring in a negative mood towards the theme of horror it is trying to present. Lighting is very important in posters, as normally the lighter the poster, the generally better it is at catching the audiences eye.

Tagline

The tagline on the poster; 'evil lives here' adds more intrigue to what story they are talking about as you want to know why and where the evil lives and whether there is more to the story than the poster is showing. The fact that it is at the top of the poster may make you in fact read that first before the title below. This would maybe add more tension as you think 'lives where?', following nicely and therefore is placed perfectly onto the poster.