3. Teaser poster:
Using similar effects as the Teaser poster (minus the circular fade
around the edges) to that the wall in both looks identical to clearly
show that this is an important location
However is ever so slightly
dimer to make it look like the
shadow are natural and made
by a glare of light/ a candle light.
Had to make both these separate shots of two of the models into two shadows
because it was too light at the time of the shoot (because the shoot was located
next to a large window that we couldn’t block in anyway because the curtain was
too fragile to move).
Original
images of
the models.
Original
shot of the
wall.
I had to also crop
a lot of the image
so that it could fit
into the category
of a portrait
theatrical poster.
4. How my Teaser poster fits into the codes and
conventions
I believe that my Teaser poster fits into the codes and convention of my
poster because of the colour schemes used in the final poster is
extremely similar to the ones that I intended to use. These colour
schemes fit well with the horror theme because it adds mystery to the
Paranormal sub-genre therefore the poster fits into the conventions. It
also draws in the appropriate ages (late teens to early 30s) because of
the colours matching the key theme which is overall more aimed at the
late teens to early 30s age bracket than anything else. Because of this
and other things like camera settings etc. made the poster have the
effect of being in candle light adding to the tension and mystery but
also drawing in that target audience and overall making the posters
more successful.
5. Theatrical poster:
A outer circular fade to create the
effect of the camera looking
through a spy hole.
Adjusted the camera to be fairly away as I could (it was a
small room) from the group so that you could see every
model and fit them into the portrait poster.
Because of the fact that the location was quite bright ( since
where we were doing the shoot was next to a large window)
used a fairly slow shutter speed so that the image didn’t take
too much light otherwise the model wouldn’t of been visibly.
The camera was also adjusted to this height and distance so that you couldn’t
see the middle of the circle where all the models hands were so that the
audience can wonder what they are doing. Also so that you couldn’t see that
there is anything there for not. This is because I wasn’t allowed to buy a Ouija
Board.
Original image of
the models and the
environment for
the teaser poster.
Had to crop a lot of the image to fit it into the category
of a portrait teaser poster but you could still clearly see
the features of the image (the models and areas of the
environment – that wall in particular.)
6. How my Theatrical poster fits into the codes
and conventions
I believe that my Theatrical poster fits into the codes and conventions. For
example, the colour scheme with the fade around the main image adds to
the features of a Horror poster and particularly a Paranormal Horror poster.
These features are things like mystery, eeriness and tension that gets built up
because of how the possible audience member views/ reacts to the final
poster image. I also believe that because you can clearly see the characters
but without any kind of context also adds to the mystery and makes the
target audience curious about the contents of the posters etc. I also believe
that because of the colour schemes and how old the models look in the
poster also attracts the target audience (late teenagers to early 30s) rather
than people outside that age bracket because it is overall more appealing to
the age bracket that is the target audience, which will overall make the
poster more successful because it there is then a higher probability of
viewing for what the poster is about.
7. Landscape poster:
A photoshopped image of a Ouija Board because
I wasn’t allowed to buy one but so that you can
get the effect of the main protagonist being
supposed from it.
The title is on the Ouija Board in the same font that they use
when print the printing on them, this makes it like the Ouija
Board is specifically designed with the title “Signing Off” on it.
Put a fuzzy/ glow effect on the model
who was the main protagonist to clearly
show that he is not normal or at least not
alive and also gives a ghost/ spirit effect.
Made this effect so
that the lighting in
this shoot resembles
the light of a candle.
Original image for
the landscape
poster.
8. How my Landscape poster fits into the codes
and conventions
I believe that my Landscape poster fits into the codes and conventions of
showing the Paranormal Horror genre. This is because the fuzzy ghostly
effect that was put onto the poster fits into the genre of a Paranormal Horror
because it adds a sense of mystery and eeriness which is coming from the
figure in the poster showing that its not normal. Also the lighting effect
created my having a quicker shutter speed to create the effect of a candle
light, this adds to the mysteriousness of the poster image. I also made it so
that tension is made for someone looking at this poster because I decided to
make the figure and image of a Ouija Board not central. All of these things
are features of your stereotypical Paranormal Horror poster, because you
create the feelings from a normal horror like the tension and mystery
blended with the assumption that the figure in the poster isn’t a normal
human being because of the fuzzy ghostly effect.
9. Analysis for D1
• The main advertising and marketing technique that I have used is to put all text (title,
release date and billing block) in white. This is so that the key pieces of information/ the
information that should be used to find out more about the movie that the posters are
advertising don’t get lost in the poster and that they also don’t blend in with the other
colours of the posters so that its more eye catching, and people don’t need to put in a lot
of effort to actually look at the poster to check it out on the go. This therefore would
increase possible viewing rate of what the posters are advertising because possible
audience members can take in key information about how and when the watch the
movie with just a quick glance.
• Another advertising and marketing technique is that for all my posters I decided to put
the title (Signing Off) at the top of each poster and having it be the biggest font size out
of all the pieces of text for all my posters. This is because in my opinion the title is the
most important piece of text that features on a poster because as long as you take in the
title of the movie that was being advertised on the poster you can figure out everything
else like the release date and who is starring in the movie via a quick google.
10. Analysis for D1 continued:
• I decided to show all of the six main characters in my Theatrical poster so
that the it would be quite easy for everyone who views the poster to judge
the ages of the characters and so that the possible audience member can
use this to judge whether the movie that the poster is advertising will be
for them just by whether they are close ages with the characters which
then leads to the characters being relatable or not to that possible
audience member
• Another idea that things to see if the movie being advertised is for them is
the clothes that the characters are wearing because you can also use that
to guess the ages of the characters and even further what type of character
they are. For example Brad who is the jock of the group of characters
wearing a baseball/bomber jacket is what the stereotypical jock would
wear with jeans and trainers.
11. Analysis for D1 continued:
• The main way that I have made my posters appeal to both genders is
that for my Teaser and Landscape poster I haven’t shows any of the
group of 6 friends (the main characters) and then showing them all in
my Theatrical poster and revealing that the group is evenly split with
three girls and 3 guys. This appeals to both genders because it shows
the equality between the genders even if they are stuck in a Horror
movie being killed. This can also give both male and female audience
members have more choices at choosing a character that is most
relatable or overall their favourite.
12. Analysis for D1
I believe that overall, I was quite successful when it comes to meeting the brief. In the brief it talked about
creating 3 different posters which share the same theme resembling a Horror poster with also choosing a sub-
genre within the Horror genre to make all of the posters resemble also. I have successfully made 3 different
posters that’s colour schemes effects from Photoshop and camera setting help them resemble not only Horror
posters, but Paranormal Horror posters. For example with my Landscape poster I decided to put a fuzzy/ghostly
effect onto the figure in the main image to show to anyone who views the poster that the figure isn’t normal or
at least not a normal person, which brings in this layer of mystery, tension because the people viewing the
poster don’t know and don’t understand why this effect has been put onto a model who is pretending to be a
character of the movie I wont b able to figure it out until you watch the movie. This tension and mystery are
both huge features of what a Horror movie is supposed to do to you therefore putting that theme into my
Landscape poster will show clearly to anyone what the theme is so that they understand whether it is someone
for them or not. Which I believe I have done.
Another way that I have done which meets the original brief is have all 3 of the posters have a target audience,
which are late teenagers to early 30s. I believe that I have also achieved this with my Theatrical poster. In my
Theatrical poster I show the main characters in the plot (the group of six friends), this is the only poster where I
show the main characters/protagonist. This gives the people who view my Theatrical poster the chance to
interpret each character only from looking at them and to see if they relate to them in anyway, whether
through what the costumes are to how old the characters are. This will attract the target audience (late
teenagers to early 30s) rather than any other age bracket because the audience members that are close to the
ages or around the ages of what the characters look like will relate to them more compared to a bunch or
middle-aged people. So therefore, I believe that I have met the criteria of the original brief.
13. The issues/ changes that I have made:
• The location that I was originally going to use as the setting for my Teaser and Theatrical poster (my grandfather's living room) had
to be changed because he was in hospital around when my shoot was and I didn’t feel comfortable using the location if he wasn’t
there especially if he wasn’t well. So the location changed to my friends (who was one of the models) mother’s living room
because I believed that it was the closest thing that would match the theme like my grandfather's living room did in a short space
of time.
• I also decided to swap my Teaser poster and Theatrical poster around because I believed that the original Teaser poster ended up
too detailed crisp and overall worked out too well to be just a Teaser poster.
• On the original Theatrical poster which is now my Teaser poster I decided to swap around the release date and title around
because of how eye catching the Los Banditos font that the title is in and thought that it was wasted if I kept it where it originally
was going to be.
• Finally for similar reasons I decided to move the title on my Landscape poster to the top of the poster and enlarging it. Another
reason for this is that the poster looked unprofessional and badly made with the title put on top of an image of a Ouija Board,
which was the closest I could get to the original plan which is shown in the Landscape poster sketches.
• After doing some research about posters in my own time and finding out that a Teaser poster doesn’t need a billing block and
doesn’t need a BBFC age rating either I decided to take out both of those things from my original Teaser poster design.
• I didn’t have it in the budget to buy an actual baseball jacket and after asking around the people who I know (including the
models) to see if they had one and being unsuccessful, I decided to change the jacket to a bomber jacket which is more modern
and someone already had one.
14. Improvements that I would make after
everything is now complete:
• The only thing I can think of that if I had more experience with
Photoshop that I would improve any of my poster would be the
colour scheme of my now Theatrical poster. This is the only poster
where the colour scheme is not similar to the colour board however
because of the last-minute change in location the colours scheme is
different. However, if I had more experience with Photoshop I would
alter some of the colours used in the image to match the original
colour board for the poster.
