Ancillary Product: Poster

Feedback (Ancillary Poster): Poster Feedback Response

I asked 4 of my respondents individually so that they would not influence each others answers, here are the responses I got:

Is the poster better after feedback?

• "Yes, I feel that the criticism has made it more professional"
• “The credits now fit nicely under the title”
• “awards being symmetrical fit nicely”
• “actors names in capitals is a very conventional feature of a poster and shown well here.”

How effective do you think my film poster is overall? 

• “I think that your film poster is really effective, the photo is very dramatic and has a cinematic feel to it!"
• "I think all the features work really well together!"
• "I really like your poster"
• “Your poster is really nice!"

Do you think that the photo in the poster is effective for my film?

• “I think that it is effective for the film, very eerie!"
• “I do like the picture but I don’t think it shows all the characters!"
• “I think that the picture is very creepy!”
• “I think the the photo does work with your film though!

Would you change anything about the poster?

• “No! It looks great as it is!"
• “I can’t think of anything that the poster is needing!"
• "I looks really good and I couldn’t think of any improvements.”
• "I like it how it is!”

Response to Feedback

The feedback I received I feel shows that the poster is effective and I am very happy with the feedback in which I had received. No changes I will be making!

Feedback (Ancillary Products): Poster Peer Feedback Questions

I have finished my film poster to the standard that I want it, I am satisfied with the result but it is important to get the opinion of others as my opinion alone is not very valid, and obviously bias. I will interview the same peers that I interviewed for my initial idea 1, they are also in my friendship group (some media students) so some students should have researched film posters. Here are the questions I will ask them:

• Is the poster better after feedback?
• How effective do you think my film poster is overall?
• Do you think that the photo is effective for the poster?
• Would you change anything about the poster?

Process (Ancillary Products): Poster

Based on both my plan and my mock up I decided to start creating my film poster, in this short video I have shown the transformation from my basic plan to my final product (Not in order of processes in the making, below the video is a detailed plan of my poster creation):

With the final product, I changed the final design around, just so it fitted correctly. Also I included the age rating, to inform the audience when viewing it whether they are the right age to see it. Above is is the transformation of my poster done by clicking the 'eye' icon on photoshop which allows you to subtract the additional layer you made onto the poster.

I am using Photoshop Elements 9, which I am unfamiliar with, because I have never used this piece of equipment before. Also this would be the first time I have created a film poster. The billing block seemed like a good place to start as I knew that it would be positioned at the bottom of my page from my plan, and as subtly as possible. However when I came to making and writing the billing block I realised that writing the text in the elongated style with variation in size would be particularly difficult. Having Googled the problem I found that normal thing to do when making film posters is to download a template. I found a free template, and a pricey one which I was tempted by, and downloaded it. I found that it opened as a PSD and was easy to edit and move into my poster. This was done in a separate layer which I could then write out and add onto my poster, and also came with the font used for professional posters. Here is the website I downloaded the template for the credits on: http://www.tipsquirrel.com/movie-poster-credit-template-for-photoshop/.

The next problem that arose was that I only really had two names to credit, so it seemed apparent that I would have to make up names in order to make my billing block look legit. Using some of the film making roles I know of I filled out the billing block until I had enough. The production companies appear twice in the poster, both credited in the billing block and their logos are often present underneath. I used the companies I made up from last year, as it wasn’t worth inventing new ones as I never intended to have them at the beginning of my film. (because they never usually are in short films.) 

Once completing the poster credits, I put them on top of the picture which I darkened for a more conventional feel. Then adding the actors names at the top was easy, by just picking our conventional font being Bangla MN. Conventionally in posters, actors at the top of the poster are in capitals, therefore this is what I did. Adding next was the awards 'won' by the short film. These awards I found had to relate to the poster in some way, say award for best short film, for example as this would look more realistic. From previous research into short films, I remember seeing this film festival, and therefore searched for this award. Finding this was excellent as it had best short film as well as horror, which both matched our film. Also next finding another award for my poster to be symmetric. Relating to Horror also. 

Next adding the title, which we had already picked the font 'hacked'. We felt this font was conventionally the best, and therefore fitted perfect on the film, as a bold title that would attract the audience to watch the film. As well as this, the font complemented Bangla MN nicely. Underneath being the tagline in which I allowed my audience to make a decision on. Red is a very suitable colour to complement white, and also to simulate some sort of murder, blood relation, therefore made this to my tagline and date in which the film is out.

Once I had done this and added the picture again after adding some saturation to it, a few finishing touches including a lens flare effect and a gradient in the title and I was nearly finished. Though there was one more thing I was missing, some sort of quote/star rating. Empire being a well known company for film reviews, I felt this quote would situate nicely upper left of the poster, by the knife. So I added this, and then I felt it was ready for peer feedback.

Research (Ancillary Products): Photos For Ancillaries

For our posters and magazine review pages, we have decided to take photos as a kind of photoshoot to include the graphics into our ancillary products. This is so we can get a better, higher quality set of graphics, instead of taking screen shots from our film, as we feel these aren't the standard of clarity we need for a professional outlook of a poster and magazine review page. The photos taken were on a Nikon D3100, as the quality on the photos it takes are very high quality compared to other resources available to use.

We put in our group chat inviting the actors wearing the same clothes again to be available for a photoshoot. Location: House of the sleep over (Scenes 2 and 3). Time: 6:30 (ish). Taking pictures including the characters. Deciding which one later on we will use. Here below are the pictures which we chose and decided to use in our ancillaries.

These all possible magazine review page pictures to feature it it, but maybe to even feature in the poster. The photo below could be a possible shot for the poster, as it includes everything in the short film.

 These shots were taken to possibly cut out the figures and put them into the poster somehow. These shots were just ideas and therefore there if needed.

This photo above could definitely be used for a in film shot for the magazine review page, as this is a shot which could draw a lot of the audience's tension to, as well as portraying the genre nicely.

 The shots of the 'stalker' tried to be kept secretive of his face, adding ambiguity.

 Possible shots for the poster, as this hides the stalkers appearance, but adds fear to why there is a hooded man at the door of the house.

This shot is one of the favourites. Ironically taken on the iPhone 6, having a very creepy feel to it, being an idea for a poster focal image.

Post-Production (Sound): The Ending Scenes

For our ending scenes, we wanted a sound track which would add to the tension contrary to the footage shown. The footage is a cross-cut* of the 'stalker' trying to look for the boys and the boys hiding from the stalker.

*Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the case.

We wanted a sound track which built tension through the music. We took on the research into finding the track on the website "Imcompetech". This website giving us access to copyright free music, therefore being able to use the music it produces on the website. The website is perfect, as it as specific genres that the music is under. For the ending we wanted a tension building, yet eerie piece of music, therefore we ticked the genres to find the music.

This below is the options in which it gave me. As said previously, the options made it easy to find the perfect piece for our ending. I decided to pick Eerie, Intense and Unnerving, as this is what our ending was. Once I ticked the boxes for the ideal genre of music. It gave the list of the music under those categories. We then downloaded the music through mp3 and tried and fitted the music within our ending in which we edited.

Through trial and error, I found the perfect piece of music for our ending. "House of Leaves" was the chosen soundtrack to partner the ending scene, as well as "Anxiety" in which we used previously in the film during the prank call scene. These two pieces mixed together showed promise for the ending scenes.

Using Expodentional fade as an audio transition in Adobe Premiere Pro, we cut and fitted the music into the desired places (E.g, in time with jump scares, and important parts of the film), and finished the ending/film, with the music soundtrack which we feel adds hugely to the horror aspect.

Production (Storyline): Change Of Ending

For our previous plan of the ending in my story board, I allocated that in the ending, there would be a cliff hanger to when the 'stalker' grabs Thomas and that would be the ending. However, before we filmed the final ending scenes to our short film, we decided for the ending, that the stalker entering the house would cross-edit with the two boys trying to hide from him.

Once filming this ending, we decided that the change in ending was the best solution, as the tension showed between the characters was perfect for our genre and the conventions needed for a sufficient short film. The final ending scenes, was the two boys getting taken and then killed. We felt that short films generally don't finish on the cliff hanger, so the final scenes we felt needed for a certain ending. Unfortunately for the boys that meant both of them dying unexpectedly. We felt this would add to the tension and also the interest to the film for the audience. Also, it would add jump scares to the film, which then introduces more tension and fear, associated with thriller/horror genres.

Production (Filming): Day 3

For our final filming day, we needed to film the ending for our short film. As we waiting for the sun to go down to be darker, to correlate the convention of horror we began filming where we left off. We made sure that the characters present in the last scene for filmed, started with the exact same clothes and in the exact same position. This is so the continuity of the film was flowing consistently.

For the first shot, as Danny retrieved the phone call in the last scene we filmed from an 'Unknown Caller', we started off with Danny conversing the the caller. Being unknown to him who it is, the fact that it could be the 'stalker' was oblivious to him. However, as the same voice of the 'mental' member he prank called earlier filled his ears with the petrifying sentence of "You forgot the lock the back door, didn't you dan?", he realised they were in a whole lot of trouble.

After this, we filmed two different positions of the characters within the house. We tried to gain and induce tension in the film by cross filming what the characters were doing. For example, we firstly filmed the 'stalker' gaining entry in the house, with him going up the stairs and looking for Dan and Thomas. As well as this, we filmed Thomas and Danny hiding in their positions away from the 'Stalker'. As the stalker goes up the stairs getting closer and closer to the two boys, the tension gets greater as in one shot we filmed, he was close to finding Thomas behind the bathroom door.

For our ending of after what we filmed, we made two jump scares. One being Thomas investigating the house to think that the stalker is gone. However, once he begins to call for Dan, we gets taken dramatically and killed by the stalker. After that, he enters the bedroom of Dan, staring into the room being still. We filmed Dan calling out to see if its Thomas, however the jump scare being the 'stalker' lunges for Dan creating a very dramatic ending, without there being a resolution to the film.

We feel that the scenes we filmed on this final filming day was successful, and have now nearly finished our short film and all filming needed for our piece. All filming days were successful and we weren't in need to film any additional camera shots, as we felt the shots we filmed on all three days were sufficient for our film.

Planning: Call Sheet 3

THURSDAY 9TH MARCH 2017

Research (Ancillary Products): Poster Idea's Feedback

From surveying 15 of my friends and family, I gained feedback to which one they would want our film poster to be designed on my 3 initial poster design ideas. Here are the results in the form of a bar chart:

As you can see, initial idea 1 had the most tallies being at 7 out of 15 chose that one. However despite this, I also asked what they would change about it. Here is the feedback in which I gained to establish on my final poster design:

• "The title should be at the top above the focal image, therefore drawing the most eye attention just above the focal picture, if not overlaid." (3 people said...)
• "Awards should be just underneath the focal picture." (2 people said...)
• "The makers of the film should be underneath the credits." (2 people said...)
• "Website not needed" (4 people said...)
• "Don't make the poster too cluttered with text, simple but effective bringing impact." (4 people said...) 

With this feedback in mind, I shall take this constructive criticism and adapt it to my poster when making it.

However some advice I will ignore, as I feel the initial idea would be fine without the advice.

Post-Production (Film): The Film So Far

This is the first draft of our film so far. We still need to film the ending of the film, however this is only the short part of the film. Therefore we are on track with editing and filming. We still need to tweak some aspects of the film for the best outcome, however this is the first draft so far and we are pleased with the outcome.

With this draft, I shall show this to the target audience. This is so I can gain valuable feedback through recording their feedback in video form. With this feedback, me and my partner will then change the faults found to the best of our ability. Gaining better outcomes of the film because of this.

Research (Ancillary Products): Initial Poster Design 3

With this final poster idea, 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 images 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 images 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 In Time, the whole of the main image is the background of the poster, however the important section (the two characters) 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 I didn't include on the plan, however it will be placed under the title, so it can be read straight after the title being read.  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 (Los Angeles Movie 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 gain feedback from target audience to which poster they like and then pick this one, which my opinion also.

Research (Ancillary Products): Initial Poster Design 2

With this second poster idea, I have tried to create a very professional lay-out again. This is following the lay-out of the some of the posters I analysed previously like my first poster. I have made sure all parts included are symmetrical and follow a 'in-line' layout again as this makes it appealing to the eye. 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 discourage the audience away from the poster, and will 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 the Jason Bourne franchise, the whole of the main image is the background of the poster, however the important section (Jason Bourne) is in the centre of the focal point. The title I made sure is the second most important convention of the poster again, where the main focal image includes the title location as well. 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 title, 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 (International Movie Poster Awards 2013) 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 below 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 the design I decide to choose, to make sure it is perfect for a potential choice for eventually my poster for our film.