2. Making final adjustments
• As this was the poster selected finally by my audience research, it
needed to be as good as I could get it. The first draft was decent
enough to catch people’s eyes but I needed it to be better than that
for my final poster. I tried to live up to conventions of other posters I
had seen, working on my central image and adjusting the placement
and size of my text/awards.
3. The first thing I did to the image was to add a small amount of noise- 12.5%
exactly as seen in the image above. This slightly distorts the image meaning it
has more of a science fiction feel to it. As the movie is filmed a lot on in built
spaceship recording camera’s this also gives the grainy look old cameras have.
4. The next step for adjusting the image was changing the levels somewhat.
I wanted to image to be darker than it was, adding more mystery to the
image and contrasting the white text.
5. In the original poster I didn’t think the title text was large enough to be
seen as title text. It somewhat blended in with the awards and star
ratings given. For this reason I enlarged it and changed it’s position on
the poster.
6. The awards in the corner seemed a little too small and squashed for my
liking, for this reason I adjusted their size to make them larger.
9. Analysis of poster:
A theme I saw in many
posters was to use star
ratings from large
reviewing companies. For
an independent film this is
especially important, as it
has no prestige in actors of
filmmakers I needs the
support of companies
which have filmmaking
prestige. Informative social
influence theory suggests-
people need to be right so
conform to a majority they
think have better
information. So if movie is
rated well by critics people
think they should watch it
because people who have
better information like it
The central image dominates the overall poster, the focus
on the actor a convention I saw in almost all modern
posters. However something I took from older science
fiction was the minimalistic approach. It is not action
packed but rather focussed on the main idea behind the
poster a girl trying to survive in post- clearly seen here.
I hoped the intense stare of someone so
young would bring interest shocking due
to her age she appears to have seen and
suffered things incomprehensible in the
image. This I hoped would cause people
to remember my poster and watch the
movie when it was released.
While the set is hardly visible, it can
be seen. This metal in the
background while undistinguishable
creates interest for audience’s
perhaps suggesting the science
fiction genre.
The names of actors are not easily readable as this is not the
selling point of my movie- rather genre and concept.
However to have key text is a quality sealing and almost a
rule of poster making so it had to be added.
The title here is prominent and
large- easily readable by an
audience. In this way it is more likely
to make an impact and be easily
remembered.
This tagline is purposefully mysterious
to raise interest for the viewers of the
people who view the poster.
Furthermore to see ‘life is short’ next
to a person so young creates an
interesting contrast. The tagline like
many of the posters I saw is small but
impactful and dramatic.
10. Successes:
• Central image: I think the central image is striking and dominates the
poster as it should. The headset and background also links into the genre.
Fiske says genre ‘attempts to structure some order into the wide range of
texts and meanings that circulate our culture for the convincing of both
producers and audiences.’ As my movie is an independent movies this is my
desired effect, by living up to genre conventions I am able to convince a
large audience of my movie’s validity perhaps making them more likely to
view it.
• Key text: As I have no prestige in my director or actors I choose to
purposefully make their names small. This allowed more space for my title
text and image. It also creates a clear focus on concept rather than
anything else.
• Critics/Awards: In these I hoped to generate prestige for my movie despite
the lack of funding, cast and director fame.
• Title: This is large and clearly visible in this way it is more likely to stick in
the minds of those who see the poster. It is the second thing viewers look
at besides the image- exactly the way I would wish it to be.
11. Room for improvement?
• The room for improvement I saw was that it was not evident from the
poster what genre the movie was and therefore some of the effect
would be lost. For this reason I decided to insert a ‘quote’ from the
director: Ridley Scott. Well known for his science fiction creations and
directorial skills thereof.
12. This quote can be seen in the final version of the poster- meaning that the genre is
easily accessible to audiences- the very words used to make them aware of it.
Final Draft:
