Film Poster Deconstruction:

In preparation for creating our own film poster, we were asked to deconstruct three professional and two amateur posters looking at what makes an effective film poster.

This included: - 

• Typography
• Choice of image
• Positioning of all elements
• Tag line (if applicable)
• Colour schemes
• Clear indication of genre
• Clear target audience
• Golden rule

the number 23

TYPOGRAPHY: 

~ typewriter font - all white apart from the red used for actors name and tagline - 

CHOICE OF IMAGE:

~ main protagonist - staring directly at camera - words and the number "23" scribbled over his face in black ink - only his face can be see the surrounding areas are complete black - image is in black and white 

POSITIONING OF ALL ELEMENTS:

~ face is in the centre - takes up most of poster - title in bottom left corner - tagline in bottom right corner - actors name 'stretched' across the top

TAGLINE (IF ANY): 

"the truth will find you" - red - bottom right - quite small, similar size to credits

COLOUR SCHEMES:

~ dark yet neutral colour scheme - mostly black, white and greys - red for the horror/element

GENRE:

~ psychological thriller or horror

TARGET AUDIENCE:

~ teenagers and above (15+

GOLDEN RULE:

~ eyes are focused on camera - viewer would be drawn to it

28 Weeks Later

TYPOGRAPHY: 

~ font resembles army writing - red to symbolize blood 

CHOICE OF IMAGE:

~ two young children - surrounded by corpses and zombies - look scared and desperate - London in the background - white symbol also in background

POSITIONING OF ALL ELEMENTS:

~ film name in the 'golden triangle' - tagline at the very top - image in bottom half of the poster with the children  - credits at the bottom

TAGLINE (IF ANY):

~ WEEK ONE: NO TRACE WEEK TWO: NO WARNING WEEK EIGHT: NO CONTROL WEEK SIXTEEN: NO CURE WEEK TWENTY-EIGHT: NO ESCAPE" - quite long for a tagline - countdown of weeks - links to film plot 

COLOUR SCHEMES:

~ generally dull, neutral colours - apart from the red title and blue sky

GENRE:

~ Zombie horror

TARGET AUDIENCE:

~ zombie fans - seems quite gory - teenagers and above

GOLDEN RULE:

~ bright red film name - white symbol in background

Insidious

TYPOGRAPHY: 

~ simple font - the SI is in red compared to the rest which is white - actors names also in red

CHOICE OF IMAGE:

~ main boy - in front of house featured in film - weird eye - cloudy dark sky

POSITIONING OF ALL ELEMENTS:

~ main boy takes up most of shot - main location in background - film title in front of boy - previous films at the top - tag line underneath film title - actors names at bottom above credits

TAGLINE (IF ANY):

"it's not the house that's haunted"  - shows house in background - boy in foreground - hints he is haunted (eye)

COLOUR SCHEMES:

~ dark gloomy colours  - eye stands out  - red top goes with the red typography - sky looks stormy  - symbolizes thriller

GENRE:

~ supernatural with possession and evil spirits - thriller elements

TARGET AUDIENCE:

~ teenagers and above (15+)

GOLDEN RULE:

~ boys head is situated within the 'triangle'  - audience drawn to his eye

Dead Footage

TYPOGRAPHY: 

~ use of 'low battery' sign in title - font looks cracked  - red to represent horror elements

CHOICE OF IMAGE:

~ video camera links to title - can see its situated in middle of London - zombie hands hint at the genre

POSITIONING OF ALL ELEMENTS:

~ film name, tagline and film details all at bottom - camera low down, near title, filming the scene? - zombie hands coming out of top left corner, aiming for the camera?

TAGLINE (IF ANY):

~ "where will you be?" emphasis on 'you' as different colour - direct address to audience - most is in red as horror

COLOUR SCHEMES:

~ dark gloomy colours - mostly black/dark grey - represents typical London - red film name, tagline and 'coming soon' 

GENRE:

~ zombie horror - clear from hands 

TARGET AUDIENCE:

~ teenagers and above 

GOLDEN RULE:

~ background smoke?

alternet

TYPOGRAPHY: 

~ Facebook font - social media - knowledgeable to youth

CHOICE OF IMAGE:

~ close up shots of two main actors eyes - "eyes are the window to the soul"  - effect makes it look like its on a screen

POSITIONING OF ALL ELEMENTS:

~ actors names at top - film name/tagline in the middle - reviews above the film details 

TAGLINE (IF ANY):

~ "become your fantasy" - social media - identity fraud etc 

COLOUR SCHEMES:

~ darker colours - faces are brighter and stand me out - blue and red from the title also stand out more

GENRE:

~ psychological drama?

TARGET AUDIENCE:

~ teenagers - links to social media

GOLDEN RULE:

~ film title - Facebook toolbar - eyes 

Locations.

Locations.

Our trailer will most probably be located in a urban area and so I looked at the local area around me and took photographs of certain locations we may be able to utilise to our advantage. Some also may be good for tracking shots or establishing shots if they are not appropriate for shooting with our actors.

Storyboarding Ideas.

Once we had discussed ideas into what we wanted our trailer's narrative and shots to be I decided to storyboard some of the ideas so we could get an idea of what it might look like and if that ideas we had come with would work on screen.

How to Deconstruct a Film Opening:

·      Organise your notes

Before you even start watching the opening, split up your page into sections so you don’t get too overloaded with information and examples. A good idea is to split it into

• Camera Angles (including movement and framing)
• Editing (including titles and effects)
• Sound (non diegetic and diegetic)
• Mise-en-scene (this is quite broad, it refers to props, lighting, costumes, locations and characters actions)

Watch it as many times as you need, taking each section at a time, if you try to do everything at once, you will miss important details!

·      Take evidence!

If you are using a computer, make sure you take print screen/screenshots of particular moments to document your evidence, for example a high camera that shows one character to be more inferior than the other. Always back up your points with evidence, otherwise what you state is almost meaningless.

·      Terminology

Always include lots of fancy sounding words to impress the marker as it shows that you know your stuff, however if you do include it make sure that it is correct. This includes, specific camera angles such as ‘tracking shot’ or editing techniques such as ‘jump cut’ or lighting, which can be ‘high key’ or ‘low key’.

·      Conventional film opening

When deconstructing and analysing a film opening, always remember to refer back to the idea that it is the first couple of scenes and needs to generally follow the conventions of a film opening. It might chose to contradict that and do something unusual, but if so, you need to mention that to show that you know it is different from usual film openings.

·      Affect on the audience

Remember that films are made to be watched, so it is important to always consider the audience position during the film. Are they supposed to feel scared or is it meant to make them laugh? What techniques have been used that support the purpose and genre of the film?

Tips:

Make sure you don’t get confused between diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Diegetic sounds are sounds that are presented within the “film world” such as a dog barking or a doorbell ringing. These can further be described as off-screen or on-screen depending whether the source of the sound is visible in the frame.
Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that the characters would not be able to hear as there are added for the audiences benefit. Examples would be a voiceover, music added to increase the atmosphere or sound effects, which are added for dramatic effect.

Don’t be vague or waffly, try to be as specific as possible, including all and only relevant information, particulary if you are deconstructing it for a certain aspect like the genre. Don’t mention something which is completely unrelated as it will just waste time. Try to stay focused to the things you need to be looking at.

If you are writing out your deconstruction, make sure you analyse some of the points you made as just describing all the way through is not what the marker is looking for, you need to be analysing to show them that you understand what is happening and know what you are talking about.

If you find something that inspires you, take a note of it as it could give you a good idea of what you want to do. Remember not to copy whole chunks of a sequence but if an editing technique or a camera angle is really impressive, you might want to use it.

If you are writing it out, remember it doesn’t do any harm to include your own personal opinion and what you thought was good/bad. If a horror film opening didn’t make you feel scared when it was supposed to – why was that? It’s similar to constructive criticisms so again take inspiration of what not do for your own opening. 

Exemplar Blog Posts:

We were asked to look at previous blogs and choose exemplar blog posts for certain topics and ideas that would be helpful for us when completing future blog posts. 

Creating Typography - http://mediainternet3.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/alternet-typography.html

~ I thought this blog post was really helpful in terms of making the typography as there is a lot of detail and it was a good step-by-step guide.

Deconstructing Typography - http://llbcmediatrailerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/zombie-typography.html

~ chose a good range of films to deconstruct, with a lot of analysis for each design

Shooting Script - http://mediainternet3.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/videography-plan-shooting-script-sunday.html

~ this group had a lot of good shooting scripts, which included a lot of important information that everyone involved would need such as equipment, props and costume, as well as filming info

Storyboard - http://www.anniehayleyraman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/chase-scene-final-storyboard.html

~ included a description of the narrative, also contained images of where each shot would be taking place

Surveys - http://www.anniehayleyraman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/practical-investigation-survey-results.html

~ included analysis of results as well as charts and graphs to make it more visual

Production Company (Photoshop) - http://www.cragmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/photoshop-production-companies.html

~ really easy and simple to follow instructions on how to create a production company image using Photoshop

Deconstruction of Age Ratings - http://www.anniehayleyraman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/deconstruction-of-age-ratings.html

~ good range of horror films, with reasons to support the age rating

Deconstruction of clothing (victims) - http://www.cragmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/deconstruction-costumes-of-victims.html

~ good analysis of clothing from a range of films

Costume Ideas - http://mediainternet3.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/mise-en-scene-costume-ideasresearch.html

~ was good as kept the character in mind with what they were suggesting, lot of detail

Lighting - http://www.cragmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/camera-angle-research.html

~ had a good range lighting shots with a wide variety of angles

http://theklinger.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/lighting-night-vision.html

~ good example of lighting + editing techniques

Deconstruction of others work - http://www.anniehayleyraman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/deconstruction-as-film-opening-spite.html

~ detailed analysis of editing, sound etc with examples of camera angles and titles

Mise en scene - http://mediainternet3.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/mise-en-scene-matts-bedroom.html

~ good examples of ideas for mise en scene, keeping in mind the characters and other important features of the film

Costume Research.

Homeless Costumes.

For one idea for what our film trailer will be there will be characters who are homeless and so for research into this I have looked at films which use homeless people in them so we can think of ideas for costumes for our characters and also make them look believable.

One film that I researched into called 'Sugar' is about a homeless girl on the streets of Hollywood suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

 All of the clothing that the characters are wearing all have similar elements to them:

• scruffy.
• miss matched.
• mainly outside/winter clothing.
• dirty and old.
• dark and neutral colours.
• hoddies, practical clothing.

Urban-Horror Blending Ideas.

When brainstorming as a group we wanted to do something slightly different with our film trailer. We wanted to stick with a genre of horror but also wanted to make it different by incorporating an underlining tone of urban/urban drama into it as well.

I just wanted to list our initial idea when we approached this type of genre to see what it would turn out to be like and list the types of shots and mise en scene we would want to use.

• serial killer who murders homeless teenagers, calling them scum.
• based on a street, maybe in a city or rural urban area.
• teenagers of both genders.
• old, worn out clothing for victims. 
• vulnerability.
• killer, male, religious grounds, thinks the teenagers have done wrong.
• mild gore.
• mystery and suspense elements. 
• close up shots of victims.
• establishing shots, framing victims and killer. 
• modern clothing, killer, church or religion related. 
• newspaper articles.
• subtle hints to narrative.