A2 Media Studies - Ancillary Task - Film Poster

1. THE PROCESS OF
CREATING MY FILM
POSTER USING
PHOTOSHOP

2. To create my poster, I started
by opening Adobe Photoshop
and then opening the image I
want to use. I then selected
the person at the front, who is
Mia in the trailer, using the
magnetic wand tool and
created a new later using cut
of just Sophie. I also did the
same for the characters in the
background.
The previous stage allows me to
change the brightness of each
different section now. I wanted
the background to be much
darker than the original image
but I need the people to be
lighter so that they stand out as
they are wearing darker clothes.
Therefore, I adjusted the
brightness of the background first
so that I could then see how
bright the people needed to be.
Next, I adjusted the brightness of
the people. I only adjusted the
characters in the background
slightly as I want them to be
seen but the main focus to be on
Mia at the front. I had to be
careful when adjusting the
brightness on Mia as if it was too
bright, details began to be lost
and it looked as if she’d been
cropped into the image and was
very out of place.
I then used the burn tool to
darken the wall behind
where it was wet as it was
very shiny and made the
whole image feel lighter than
it was. I also went around the
edges of the wall to make it
blend in more.
Next, I felt that the characters
should be more central in the
poster. Therefore, I decided to
crop the image down so that
there was less at the top and
the image was slimmer. This
also made the image look
darker as the grass outside the
tunnel wasn’t as bright and
We used cardboard for the
actors to sit on when filming
this part of the trailer as the
ground was muddy and uneven
with lots of rocks and we didn’t
want them to sit straight onto
the ground. However, I am now
going to remove the cardboard
using the spot healing tool.
I also had to use the spot
healing tool on the
background so that none of
the background could be
seen and so that I could also
remove the cardboard from
under Mia’s legs.
Even though I cropped out a
lot of the opening and the
greenery that came with it, I
felt it was still too bright so I
decided to use the magnetic
wand tool to select the
opening and then create a
new layer by cutting that
part of the background out.

3. I then used the brightness
and contrast adjusters to
changed the brightness
which helped to darken the
image. However, I feel this
may be darkened further
when the text is added to
make it easier to read as I
plan to use white text.
As I changed the brightness
on the background I also
needed to adjust the
brightness of the people so
that they weren’t too bright
and looked out of place.
Using the text tool, I added
in the title using the same
font as we used in the trailer
and also made sure it was
white to match the trailer.
Again, I used the same font
and the text tool to add in
the age certificate next to
the title. I made this much
smaller than as it tends to
be a lot smaller than the title
and any other text that is on
the poster.
I added in the tagline using
the text tool. I used a
caption that we included in
the trailer as my tagline.
Underneath the title, I
added the main actors name
so that people know who
the main character is in the
photo.
Next, I used the text tool to
write who directed the film
and I positioned this next to
the actors name and under
the title.
I also added in the award
that the film won at the top.
I made who is giving the
award smaller than what the
award is.

4. I started to create the review
by adding in stars using the 5
point star polygon tool. I then
duplicated the layer and lined
them up so they were in a
straight line and all the same
distance apart.
Using the text tool, I then
finished the rest of the
review, adding text around
the stars.
Next, I added the website
link at the bottom of the
poster so that people can
watch the trailer and find out
more about the trailer.
Underneath the
convergence, I put in the
release date so people know
when the film is due to be
released. I also put it at the
bottom as this is the
standard convention.
To create the credit block, I
used PowerPoint as it is
easier to move text and kept
changing the formatting
than on Photoshop. I used
text boxes to create the
correct format and a more
condensed font so that it
looked more realistic. I then
saved it as an png file.
I then inserted the credit
block into Photoshop by
opening the image and
dragging the layer into a
different tab and onto the
poster.
I used the same process to
insert the logos for our
production company ‘Skyline
Productions’ and the
distribution company
‘StudioCanal’.
I felt that the image wasn’t
positioned correctly so decided
to move it up so that the people
were framed between the
writing in the gap. To do this
without distorting and
stretching the image, I
duplicated the background layer
and moved the original layer as
well as the separate layer with
the people in up. I then
positioned the duplicated layer
lower.

5. To blend the two
background layers together,
I started by hiding the text. I
then used the rubber tool to
erase part of the ground so
that the two images blended
together and didn’t look
obviously different images.
I then tried to fix the
problem that you couldn’t
read the white text at the top
because of the brightness of
the image. I started by
adjusting the curve levels to
make the image slightly
darker.
Next, I decided to edit the
corner of the image where the
sky and grass can be see.
Therefore, I selected the existing
grass on the image and created
a new layer by copying it from
the image. I then moved the
layer above the existing
greenery and blended the two
together using the rubber tool.
The wall was also too bright
so I decided to adjust this. To
only darken this part of the
wall where the light was
shining, I used the magnetic
wand tool to select part of
the wall and then copied it to
create a new layer.
I still wanted the image to be
realistic and I needed this part
of the wall to be slightly
lighter than the rest to show
the light shining onto it from
outside. Therefore, I
brightened it slightly but so
still read the text.