Specific Stills Analysis

The shots in the film are largely composed to represent and symbolise making the film less naturalistic and more expressionist to show themes and motifs clearly. For instance the key components of this shot rush out of shot to emphasise what is happening in the narrative.

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Poster Sketches

I have done some very basic sketches for 6 different poster ideas:

Quite a convention poster using a photograph that would need to be taken - there are no production stills of this kind. Photoshop would be used to change text on the boxes to titles and credits.

Based on Anatomy Of A Murder poster by Saul Bass. Sole use of graphics that are quite abstract and very simple. Quote from Saul Bass on his method for poster design is on the image above : "Simplify & Symbolize", this is what I have tried to do here.

One of our initial ideas based upon Eadweard Muybridge's "Nude Descending A Staircase".

The Marcel Duchamp version of "Nude Descending A Staircae", again one of our initial ideas.

The final of our initial ideas using the tree collage of 'an autistic brain' however tailored to our film.

An extremely conventional style of poster however with the cereal box separating the characters to make it slightly more interesting. Photoshop would be used to add titles and credits to the cereal box.

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Graphics & Titles Planning

I did a short test for a way of incorporating the credits into the objects within the shots. This test shows the actors name of Amelie on the cereal box when she is sitting behind out of focus.

I constructed this using Motion Graphics  for a Final Cut Title. I had to match the colours of the text to try to make it look as if it could actually be printed onto the cereal box. If we used this technique for our actual credits in our short film we would also have to use motion tracking to compensate for the slight camera shake, as this test shows the cereal box moves slightly whilst the text stays still. If this were the real thing I would also like to get the text to move with the box as Amelie pours cereal from it.

In motion I had to cover the original text on the cereal box with 2 shapes which I matched colour to the brown on the box. I then layered the text of the actors name over the top of the shapes and tried to make it look as similar to the rest of the text on the box as possible. Layers were key to use as they determined what was visible in the final test.

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8 | So Far

We have decided on a name for the film finally, we are planning sound, graphics and the ident whilst editing the rough cut of our film. We are editing the first cut exactly the storyboard/shot list. We are planning posters and a magazine article for the film and plan to have finished our entire research and planning section swell as a rough cut by Friday 20th December.

Time Management

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Poster Survey Results

We took a survey of these questions on 5 film posters that we felt not only represented a mix of genre's but mainly adhered to our preferred style. We are producing a social-realist/art-house film and the poster obviously should represent this. This research, influences from the film and titles research will combine to inspire the final movie poster and furthermore the magazine article style. 

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Graphics Research

These graphics work well because they add depth to the shots, they are extremely simple, and the addition of the names of the objects in the shot is quite different and interesting.

A similar style is used in the film Stranger Than Fiction, the titles are more complicated however but are used similarly in an interesting way that relates to the film.

Gattaca has an extremely minimalist title sequence using a very basic blue colour palette and straight-forward which titles in a generic font. The style fits well with the film which is very sleek, minimal and simple, this title sequence is a perfect example of how the titles much fit in conjunction with the style of the film itself.

This is the famous Saul Bass title sequence for The Man With The Golden Arm. The use of the bars across the page work with the film since the bars are all skewed and disjointed, a reflection of the narrative of the film. This gave me an idea for our own titles as on the other hand to The Man With The Golden Arm, our film is a lot about the symmetry of some shots, therefore it could work for us to use bars in a similar way except have them all horizontal or vertical to highlight the symmetry.

Finally these are some titles created by Danny Yount for Semi-Permanent Portland. The graphics are beautifully composed and work well by intertwining themselves in with the objects within the shot. They also use lines and reflections to highlight the geometry and perfect symmetry of each shot. The titles themselves are fairly simple and use a modern typeface to match the style.

Having researched these different title sequences I feel that it will be important for our titles to work with the objects in the shot, rather than just look as if they have been stuck over the top. This will give the film a more professional look as well. Also I think it is vital that we use the titles to help our shots look composed and symmetrical, this was the aim for a lot of our film and rushing the titles with actually make the shots look worse.

TB

Poster Research Survey

1. What is the first thing you notice about this poster?
2. What genre do you think the film is & what gives it away?
3. What do you like about the poster?
4. What do you dislike about it?
5. How much of the narrative does it give away?

Iconic Film Posters

Nowadays Hollywood churns out at least 10 posters for every film released ranging from the main poster to character posters to teaser posters. However it used to be that 1 poster was produced for a film and was treated more as a piece of artwork than just promotion. This is why many older film posters are more artistic and in my opinion are far more effective, compared to more recent posters which are edited photographs more often than not.

This is a small collection of some of the most iconic film posters of all time:

This poster for Hitchcock's Vertigo was designed by Saul Bass in 1958. The poster is based on a simplified two-colour process that uses hand cut lettering against the orange background. The only figures shown are the hand-drawn figures of James Stewart and Kim Novak. The film on its release was seen as slightly outside the Hollywood normal, more edgy and physiologically complex, this is reflected in the poster through the typeface and abstract graphics.

Perhaps THE most iconic poster of all time is the Jaws poster designed by Roger Kastel in 1975. Through one image the poster manages to exploit the audience's fear of the unknown - what is beneath them in the sea. The combination of the blood-red type, thick border and size of the shark in comparison to the girl all add to the impact of the poster. However undoubtedly what makes this poster so great is the impression it leaves on the audience before they have even seen the film, it is truly unforgettable and therefore is so effective.

Stephen Frankfurt's poster for Downhill Racer in 1969 is not seen widely a particularly iconic poster, however in my opinion it should come close. The use of negative space below the up-close photo of these two characters makes for a powerful poster, plus the subtle skier in the centre. These basic elements of the poster manage to sum up the rough plot of the film in a very simple but effective way. The title noticeably does not fill all of the negative space, it is consciously smaller than what would be expected. This can happen because the top half of the poster manages to draw the audience in so well that it draws the eye down to the title at the bottom.

These are some more of the many iconic posters that leave such a mark on their audiences that they can draw almost anyone to see the film:

Poster Analysis

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