2. Process
The first thing I did was open up a new file with the size of
movie poster. The first image which I opened on a different
layer was a black wallpaper. Then I opened up the images
that I was going use on separate layers. First one being
Michael Myers. Then Jamie lee Curtis and then the house to
place at the bottom. Positioning them to where they should
go. I set Michael Myers character as luminosity so that his
character has a more mono darker edge to it. Then using the
paintbrush tool I applied the dripping paint, used the
eyedropper tool to copy that shade of colour that was
matching her jacket. The next thing I did was find a grey
grungy wallpaper to put only over Michael Myers character
because I wanted him to look old and darker then the other
character. I also turned the brightness down of the image of
Jamie lee Curtis character. Using the brightness/contrast
stamp at the bottom of the layers order. Then I opened the
logo of the film into a new layer. The next thing I did was find
a style of colour that blended in with the whole of the poster,
using another but different grey grungy overlay. I gave it a
hard light look. So that it fit’s in visibly with the rest of the
poster. Now that the poster was finished I had to export it.
Going on file and then exporting it as quick JPEG.
4. What didn’t work – Colour correction
The main thing that didn’t work was as well as with this
poster in terms of its look is the saturation of Jamie lee
Curtis’s character. She looks unnatural in comparison to
Michael Myers. Whilst the character was meant to look
a little more lighter. It looks natural and needs a bit
more shadow applied to it for it to look better. The steps
to this is to first desaturate the image. By selecting
luminosity and making it black and white. Then to
smooth it out using the blue tool the character could fit
into the background. Then smoothing the character
using the smudge tool to take away any hard edges. I
would also apply this tool to the bottom section of
Michael Myers body where it cuts of to the house. Using
the smudge tool so that it fades in without any
noticeable stop to the body. Along with this it doesn’t
feel very filtered. I only used one filter to layer over the
whole of the poster. I would use two more for the whole
of the poster so it had a theme for the poster then I
would export it.
5. What didn’t work – cast and billing
card
In my mind I had this set to be a teaser poster
and tried to make it as blank and open as
possible so that the image presented is more
appealing. Whilst most of the time the viewer is
drawn to the image of the poster anyway and
not the details of the film it does leave it an
open mystery to any further developments of
the film. I should have however included some
sort of release date or billing card that tell the
you the crew of the film. If I did then I would
place both of these under the title of the film as
that’s where it goes for most movies posters. If I
was to add even more detail they I would have
the two main figures names on the top indented
in the middle. Jamie lee Curtis and nick castle.
My intent throughout however was to have this
as a teaser and keep the image as minimalistic as
possible.
6. Tools used – Strengths and
weaknessesTools used Strengths Weaknesses
Exposure panel tool – Go on the sidebar full of tools
and select something that looks like a magnifying
glass. This is the exposure tool. It lightens aeras you
have selected, and you can format the size of the
picture that you want brightening.
A strength of this tool is that it’s really effective and
specific on the part of the image that you have chosen.
This is a difficult tool ton use because you cant see the
area that you are selecting when formatting the size what
you want as a different colour.
Eyedropper tool - The eyedropper tool can be
found on the sidebar. This is what you use to
identify whatever colour you are trying to trace
from
This is a useful tool especially when you are good at art
because you find the coordinates of the selected shade of
colour and apply and image to longer lengthy or add more
to it through pencil or brush.
One weakness however when it comes to using this stool
is that there have been times where it’s a picked out a
shade of colour and it hasn’t been identical to the one that
was hovered over because I tried drawing over it to trace
it.
Opacity tool – With the opacity too. You need to
first select a layer and the box will be at the top
right. Its just a percentage point that you can
simply changing by lifting the cursor up and down.
Opacity tool is good because can distance itself away from
the audience with there not being a clear image. This
makes the viewer look more closely to spot every detail.
However one weakness could be that your selecting
something very faint and for some people this could be
seen as a positive approach as people might admire how
mysterious it looks. However its difficult to see.
Magic wand tool – When selecting the tool. You
click on the image that you want cutting and it
automatically cuts around the object. You then
enter the hit the enter button and it gets rid of it.
Magic wand tool is a really useful tool as it cuts up the
background of people or object and saves a lot of time.
Having to go round with an eraser and rub out bits that
feel roughened up a little.
Occasionally it’s better to use the quick selection to draw
around the image because the magic wand sometimes
gets rids of bits you didn’t want selected.
Eraser tool – The eraser tool is pretty self
explanatory, you just click on the tool. Then select
the size and the hard and delete what you want o
get rid of.
The eraser tool is a really effective especially when going
around the sides of the image. You can zoom into the
image and it’s attention to detail.
A weakness of using this tool and is one that works for
most of these. Is that you have to be precious and if your
hand slips you'll have to go back.
Crop tool – Crop tool is also another self
explanatory tool where you select the fifth icon on
the sidebar and then you resize the picture to focus
on the image that you want.
This is the quickest way to cut out a large background that
you don’t want.
This tool sometimes selects the whole of the page to crop
as that is what it selecting.
Levels – Levels can be found when you go into your
layers and into filter box, a tool of brightness and
contrast to accentuate the font from background.
Levels are a huge strength to photoshop as its selective to
the last bit of detail that is needed in darkening the image.
Levels can be not that useful sometimes though with you
already deciding on what the brightness of the image will
be.
7. Reflection
• The main element that I will include in my product from this is the
dark overlays that were applied to the final image. This is something
that is essential when thinking about the design of a horror poster,
or just any poster for that matter. Other than that there's isn’t an
awful lot that can be picked up from looking at this poster and what I
have planned further down the line.
• There were a few thing that I could work on. Like the saturation and
the imagery felt a little out of place looking very wobbly. However
this can all be improved through my final products.
• I have gone through several skills that I had previously practised
through my practical experiment but this one felt more better suited
whilst making it. I have also learned that a poster doesn’t look like a
poster without a release date even if it just teaser. Next time just
make the image simple but a date of sort has to be included.
Editor's Notes
Discuss the tools and processes used in your experiments