A presentation showing my film poster prelim

1. Film poster task
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By Erin Harper

2. Stanley Kubrick was an American director,
screenwriter and producer/cinematographer who
utilised British film studios to make his films. His
motion pictures are generally adaptations of novels
and are praised for his use in cinematography and his
attention to realism. His films cover a very wide
range of genres including horror, war, crime, drama,
science fiction and romance; so he has proved himself
as a very versatile director.
The shining 1980
Genre: horror
2001: A space oddesy 1968
Genre: sci-fi
Killers Kiss 1955
Genre: film noir
Spartacus 1960
Genre: epic historical drama
Barry Lyndon 1975
Genre: period drama

3. His main achievements:
• He frequently used a steadicam to give a stabilised shot, which
was rare at the time, he added extra springs and supports to it
to achieve different angles and effects, the steadicam was first
utilised for the film ‘The Shining’ to achieve a sense of fluidity
• Kubrick was a photographer before he entered the world of
filmmaking, so he put extra care and attention into the framing
of the shots, Kubrick developed the one-point perspective term
which leads the viewer's eye towards a central vanishing point,
this has an almost hypnotic/thrilling effect and emphasized the
genre it was used in, in this case it was mostly his
horror/thriller films.
• Kubrick was among the first directors to use video assist
during filming, this was considered cutting edge technology as
it required him to build his own system, it was used in ‘2001 a
space oddesy’ and enabled him to view the take directly after
filming. Also in ‘2001 a space oddesy’ he showed innovations in
special effects including slit-scan photography and front-screen
projection, this earned him a special effects Academy Award.
From ‘The Paths of Glory’

4. Key themes in his films:
• Kubrick chooses to portray themes and stories
in the form of an individual’s struggle; he
wanted to leave the films meaning open to
interpretations.
• He frequently surprised his audiences by
changing the types and genres he filmed, this
made him original as a filmmaker, examples
include “The Killing”, a film noir based upon
a heist, “Spartacus”, the epic historical drama
about a rebellious roman slave, “LOLITA” a
black comedy about a middle aged professor
infatuated with a 12 year old girl and “2001 a
space oddesy”, a sci-fi depicting human
evolution being affected by mysterious Mars
dwelling creatures.
• He prefers to adapt unusual texts and novels
and filming them with unique realism, at the
time this was uncommon and often frowned
upon.

5. Genre: dystopian thriller/ drama
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Distributors: Columbia warner
Date: 1971
Budget: $2.2 million
Box office: $26,589,355
Nominated for four academy awards
Key Motifs/ themes/ locations
• Korova milk bar
• False eyelashes
• Bowler hat
• Communist style council estate
• Violence
• Gang culture
• Beethoven/classical music
• Nadsat/ Slavic youth speak
• Psychological conditioning

6. Background:
• It was adapted from the original book by Anthony Burgess
published in 1962.
• It was most controversial in the uk after the films ‘violence of
youths’ theme was linked to a number of murders and crimes
committed by teenagers in the mid 70’s after the films release,
consequently it was withdrawn from release by Kubrick
himself.
• The film is set in the dystopian future and deploys key themes
of youth violence, juvenile delinquency, gangs and psychiatry, a
controversial topic at the time. The film follows the main
character Alex, who is a charismatic youth whose interests are
ultra-violence and classical music, in the novel he is said to be
about 15, but to avoid a large audience loss, the character in the
film was portrayed as about 18/19 to seem less shocking.
• He leads a gang of delinquents who pursue the pastime of
violence; they are portrayed as thugs in the film. Alex narrates a
lot of the film in ‘nadsat’ , a youth slang language with
Slavic/Russian origins.

7. Synopsis:
• The films plot involves Alex committing terrible
crimes with his gang, including rape, beating up a
homeless man and murdering an elderly woman;
he is captured and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
The prison psychiatrist wants test subjects for the
Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion
therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two
weeks, Alex volunteers and is forced to watch
violent images whilst being give drugs to make
him feel extremely ill, the idea being that if he tries
to commit a crime he will feel extreme pain. The
rest of the film chronicles his attempted
rehabilitation via this controversial psychological
conditioning and how he us shunned by his former
victims and society once he leaves.
The films message:
• The film deploys a key message about society, for
example the theme of morality is really prominent as it
questions the idea of goodness and should aversion
therapy be used to stop Alex’s immoral behaviour. The
aversion therapy makes Alex behave like a decent
member of this ‘so called society’, but not by choice,
therefore his new ‘goodness’ is involuntary and he has
become the clockwork orange, meaning organic on the
inside but mechanical on the outside. The prison chaplain
witnesses this technique and claims that true ‘goodness’
should come from inside. The technique takes away his
evil nature so he becomes less of a threat to society, but it
makes him less human. This infers he is not rightfully
good as he didn’t have a choice, and choice is vital to
being a human being.

8. Current horror/thriller/dystopian posters:
It is hard to pinpoint a similar
film with a similar genre to ‘A
Clockwork Orange; as it is so
unique and combines different
themes and genres, as it is such
a classic no director has dared
to touch it.
Here I have done some preliminary research into modern films with a similar genre to ‘A
Clockwork Orange’. Most of the films have a dystopian theme, they are set in an alternate future,
usually after some sort of apocalypse. Examples of this modern day genre are, The Hunger Games
which is set after an uprising of the people against the government and District 9 which is set after
an alien spacecraft landing on earth. Another genre my chosen film has is ‘horror/ crime’, typical
horror/ crime films of the modern day include, shutter island, prisoners and under the skin. A
typical occurrence in these posters is the colour red or orange to infer either horror or danger.
Black and grey is frequently used to contrast the red/ orange and top provide a sense of mystery.

9. Original sketches and plans:
Idea 1: Idea 2:
Close up of
face
Bowler hat showing
Tagline slightly
Masthead,
modern sans-serif
font, the
word
‘clockwork’
will be in
orange (link
to the title/
establish a
colour theme.
Orange edited on
to the pupil, or the
iris coloured
orange using the
colour
replacement tool
on Photoshop and
the rest of the
image black and
white.
Main image
covers some
of the key
motifs in the
film, for
example the
knife
represents
violence, the
orange
obviously
links to the
title and the
puddle of
milk (or
blood)
represents the
Korova milk
bar and the
substance
abuse the
gang partakes
in.
Masthead, modern sans-serif
font, the word ‘clockwork’
will be in orange (link to the
title/ establish a colour theme.
Will be more condensed to
allow the fairly long image to
take up most of the page.
The billing list remains fairly
traditional to allow the image
to be the main focal point, it
will be located in the bottom
third.

10. The photo-shoot
I wanted to use a background that had a prison/ medical like feel, to the tiled
in my kitchen worked well as they linked to the main characters extensive
psychological conditioning period where he was kept in a medical
institution. I used a male hand to hold the knife, representing the male lead
character and as he is holding the knife we can infer he is violent. The knife
obviously represents violence and the orange relates to the title and the
message of the film. The spilt milk links to the key location of the korova
milk bar where the gang spend most of their time. I have used high key
lighting from the top of the image to cast a shadow under the orange, this
was achieved by shooting the image under the kitchen extractor fan light.

11. First attempt:
I decided to make the whole image black and white using the colour replacement tool
and then using the ‘art history’ brush to make the orange its original colour, reinforcing
the films title and to create a central focal point. I then used the burn tool to add a dark,
burnt effect to the image and then I used the dodge tool to highlight the milk to create a
luminous feel.
I tested my
initial
design with
two images,
one with a
hand and
one
without.
The font is sans-serif to give a modern, clean feel. As it is compressed the ‘masthead’ can fit on
one line so the poster doesn't look cluttered, the font is black to contrast the image and to infer
it is a dark film, the most important elements of text are in orange as it makes the title of the
film instantly recognisable and provides the audience with a clear view of the release date. The
orange in the title, colour of the font and orange in the image all anchor to each other to create
continuity.

12. Second attempt:
I changed the font to orange and white as it contrasted better on the dark background.
To add tone and a more sinister element I used the burn tool to create a graduated
effect on the text. Adding the creators name and a tagline filled some of the spaces on
the poster and also provides more information on the film, the tagline also related to a
quote from the film so audiences can recognise it.

13. Third attempt:
To achieve a retro ‘pin hole
camera’ effect, I created a
dark border using the burn,
blur and brush tool . This
also reinforced the ‘dark’
element of the film and
makes the poster look more
sinister.
I chose the image with he hand in
the end as I felt the top third was
missing something, the hand fills
the space well and complies with
the rule of thirds.

14. Final Poster:
Aesthetic :
The white, orange and black in the colour scheme all
contrast to make everything stand out. I have used the
orange colour on the most important aspects such as
the orange itself, release date and parts of the
masthead. The unusual and highly symbolic draws
the viewers attention as it creates interest, Also the
colour orange is unconventional for a film poster,
therefore it will stand out from other posters.
Focused:
The orange in the font anchors to the title and the
orange, knife and milk show key motifs of the film.
The ‘pinhole’ effect creates a sense of mystery and
darkness, it also pulls and focuses the viewers
attention on the orange in the middle. This means the
audience want to see the film to see what will happen
Ordered:
The image is stretched across the background to leave
no gaps and the text is sans-serif to give a modern and
formal feel, creating the idea that the film is set in the
future, The text is at the top and bottom to emphasise
the image as it reinforces the viewers eye line. The key
elements of the images also follow he rule of thirds to
keep the poster ordered. The key parts of the poster
are in orange to give a hierarchy of information.