Film Poster & Magazine Cover

Above is my first draft for our film. I was happy with how this came out but felt it needed more details to make it feel more like a typical horror film poster.



This is my finished poster for our film, Find Me. When designing this poster I used many conventional techniques which are associated with horror movie posters. I used a landscape poster as I felt that I could portray the mystery of our film better, the blank space makes the reader think more about what they actually can see. In some posters for recent films that have been released I didn't like how the credits and company logo's sometimes dominated the whole poster so I decided to make a strip down to bottom to distance all this infomation away from the main image and text on the poster. I think this works well as it shows more of the picture which itself doesn't give too much away so it keeps the viewer thinking about what the film is about.



This is the first draft of my magazine cover for our film. Instead of creating my own magazine I decided to build my cover around the well known film magazine TOTAL FILM.



This is my final edit for my magazine cover. After researching more thoroughly into film magazines that are already on the market I decided to make some changes to my first draft. First of all I didn't think the pink logo stood out enough, this is the main image on the cover and so I added an outer glow and black stroke to make it really leap out the page. I also decided to give some minor details of what the picture at the bottom of the cover represent. To do this I added some small bits of writing simply giving the name of the films that the screenshots are from. Finally I noticed that many magazines have included an extra circle or shape to give extra details of the issue and what is inside. Seeing these made me think that I should create my own 'bubble' so I used a tv test board as the background and some simple black font so te writing stood out. I am pleased with how m magazine cover has come out and I think it links in with our film well.

First Draft Screen and Audience Feedback

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Cloverfield Teaser Trailer

This test card adds to the 'amateur' feel of the whole trailer. It makes you feel that you're not actually watching a film but more like video from government records, especially as part of the test card says 'U.S DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE' which adds to the realism and secrecy. This would be a good technique in our trailer as we want our audience to believe they are watching real footage so we had the idea of adding text like this before the footage begins. This is always a simple yet clever way of showing where the film is set (U.S)



The interference and breaking up of the picture gives the impression once again that this is real footage which makes the audience believe this all really happened. The cracking sound also adds to the realism as it shows the film isn't perfect and was filmed exactly as the horror was unfolding. We will use techniques like this to convince the viewer all this is real, this adds to the tense atmosphere and to convince them even more the horror is real.

No sound is played throughout the trailer except from the cracking and brief muffled voices you can hear but you can barely make these out. The only main 'loud' bit of sound is a loud scream-like noise when the figure suddenly appears, this teases the audience with what ths figure might be and that it will be a jumpy film! Using sound to make the audience jump is clever and is something our group will consider using, we think less is more and so small sudden bits of jumpy sound will add to the horror and realism of our trailer.

Film Poster Montage

Lighting
All of the posters are dark with the majority using low key lighting and then a brightened spotlight used to highlight important characters/props on the poster. This creates mystery and gives off a sinister effect making the viewer almost feel uncomfortable not knowing what is 'hiding' in the distance. Not showing too much makes the audience want too see more and know what exactly the film is about because a trailer doesn't say anything about the storyline at all!

Image
Images on horror posters are normally closeups so the audience can relate and connect to the character and instantly feel their fear. Sometimes when taking a second look at the poster more images can be found in the background or sometimes in the main image itself, this teases even more of the story and viewers can discuss what they have seen with others with then spreads the word of the film.

Composition
The main image is usually always in the centre of the poster making it the first thing the viewer see's. The text showing the name of the film is normally above or underneath this image but sometimes it may be found intertwined within the image itself. The billing block is normally found at the bottom of the poster in a small font to not take the attention away from the image and title, this lists the release date, actors, directors etc.

Colour Scheme
Most posters are dark, with blacks, reds, browns and greens being common colours that are used used. Contrasting colour are sometimes used to make both the image and text stand out which attracts you to look at the poster. Red is usually included because it is the iconic colour connected to horror genre and it implies blood and danger.

Quarantine Teaser Trailer

The night vision in this shot is effective as it helps create suspense and anticipation as the characters are seeing barely anything at all so the audience is really connected to them as the audience also aren't seeing much so they feel more part of the action.

This shot shows a live reporter deep in the heart of the action, almost keeping a video diary of events. I think this would be a successful technique to use as it makes the action feel more true.
The TV interference also makes the video seem more like real footage and I think this is important in helping the viewer really connect to the story and characters.

The night vision on this shot works very effectively as all you can see is the main character. You can't see her surroundings and neither can she so you really feel her pain and suffering as the action unfolds for both her and the viewer. This is something our group will consider doing to add supsense and horror to our trailer. The low angle shot is effective as it puts you right in the action with the character, the camera is level with her eyes so you can really connect and feel for her. These types of shots would be effective in our trailer as we don't have many horror props or blood and gore so we need clever techniques to help the audience feel fear. The silence in this part of the clip helps in creating fear, the sudden scream as she is dragged away is jumpy which would make the audience scared. This is another technique we could use in our trailer to add to the fear we want to create.

Questionnaire Results

After completing this audience research our group has discovered that:

- Trailers influence the audience more

- Gore is the most preferred type of horror

- The storyline would encourage the audience to see a horror film the most

- A horror film is usually only watched yearly at the cinema

- Jumpy scenes scare the audience the most

- Saw and Paranormal Activity are the most favoured horror films