How to make a film poster

Before creating a teaser poster or feature poster for our film, I decided to research how to create an effective poster which will make the audience interested in watching our film. 

I found this video on YouTube and it explains the importance of a film poster and how to make an effective one which will demonstrate the genre of the film and a basic idea of the storyline. To do this it analyses a poster: 


The film tells us why the advertises used certain techniques and what makes the poster so effective and eye catching. 

I also found a website: http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/how-to-create-a-great-movie-poster/- which gives three stages in the process of making a good poster. The three stages are similar to those presented in the film but are explained in a different way: 

Part 1 – STYLE

Decide what kind of movie your poster is going to represent. You should try to convey the general mood of your film to its graphic design. For example, if you work on an action or horror movie poster, you should create an intense or dark atmosphere – if it’s a comedy, it would be better to choose a funny and light style. Your poster should be striking, memorable and focused on a single, clear message. When you are working on your graphic design, always make sure you think about your target audience!

The first stage explains that the poster design should match the genre of the film. Therefore, in our film poster we need to display that the two main characters (James and Sally) are in love but something must be stopping them from being together (the train). 

Part 2 – TEXT

The next thing to focus on is the text. Apart from the movie title, your film poster must also contain a tag line (a striking sentence or branding slogan the conveys the movie’s message), the name of the director, names of main actors or characters, the release date and a billing block (credits at the bottom).

If you need to emphasise a presence of someone famous in your movie, or highlight some other particular aspect of the film, you may write it on your poster, along with making sure this information is really indispensable. Your movie poster must say just enough to make the sale and not a word more!

Our tag line should also be around the main characters love and how they are forced to be apart. But it shouldn't give away that Sally is killed by the train. 

Part 3 – IMAGES

The most difficult step is choosing images. You should hire a great graphic designer. And your designer should help you with this. But even with the professional assistance, choosing the correct graphics can be difficult. So the best way to find out what to put on your poster is to look at other similar works or to watch some films in the same genre for inspiration.

If you don’t have any good pictures of your actors or movie scenes, you can try to substitute them for some more symbolic images. On the Internet you may find many interesting photographs that would express the mood of your film. Otherwise, you may choose to forgo photos for representative drawings, which would make your poster illustrated rather than photographic.

Although the need to print a poster may seem secondary in digital distribution era, you should always consider that most video on demand marketplaces will require your art in a relatively large format. That’s why anything you do should be created using a high resolution!

Lastly, you should use a consistent graphic design in all areas of your marketing, including website, DVD cover and all other visual collateral associated with your film. Good design is a complicated task, but can be rewarding when you see your sales increase!

The last stage focus's on the images which will take up the most space on our poster and so, the most important. For our poster I think we will need to show the main characters and the train in between them to show the separation. However, this may give away the storyline and so we will have to develop the poster as we are making it. 

Audience profile

 

From the various questionnaires that we distributed via video or Google docs we now have a better understanding of our target audience. We particularly asked questions about the person answerings background information such as age, gender or occupation in order to conclude our target audience better.

By doing research we can now film with the audience in mind ensuring that we make the film as suited for them as we can.

We now know that our audience will be made up of majority of females. This is because the genre and narrative is more appealing to females to males as oppose to males because it's drama/romantic. Furthermore the age of the audience will be mostly of teenage age because this is the most audience feedback we obtained from and they answered that they would be interested in watching this short film. I believe that it would be more appealing the older teens audience such as 15+ because with the characters being of the older teen range and the themes such as teen pregnancy it may be more of interest to them even though our certificate is a 12A.

I don't think that our film would have a particularly niche audience because it has a narrative that would of appeal nationally or possibly worldwide. This is because not everyone will be in the same situation as Sally or act in the same way as she does in the film however, aspects of the film will be highly relateable to many for example, parties or relationships. Therefore, it is a more mainstream theme.

Flashback Research

In our film we have two scenes which are flashbacks and are vital to our story so we need to make sure that it is clear to the audience that they are flashbacks otherwise the film will make no sense to them. Therefore I have done some research to find out how to make flashbacks clear to an audience without it being cheesy and common. 

What is a flashback?

A flashback is a scene that is inserted into a narrative to take the audience back to another point in time. This can be at the beginning, middle or the end of the narrative. A narrative with flashbacks included becomes a non-linear narrative. 

The purpose of a flashback is to give the audience information that is needed to help the audience understand the actions or situation the characters are in. They are usually important events from the characters past which has changed the future of the character. For example, in our film the main flashback is of Sally cheating on James which made them break up, putting them in the situation they are in now. 

A flashback can be subjective or objective. If it is subjective this will show memories of the characters or their thoughts and if it is objective, it will show past events in relation to the present day. 
In our film we use objective flashbacks to describe to the audience why Sally has gone to confide in her friend Lizzy. 

Flashbacks can be established in multiple ways: 

Text: Showing the date or time of the scene through narration (speech) or written subtitles.
Dissolve/Cross dissolve
Fade to Black
Sound may be edited in a way which makes voices echoed or added sound effects to suggest to the audience the change in time. 

We feared that the audience may get confused between a passage of time and a flashback. Therefore, we used cross dissolves to demonstrate flashbacks and a fade to black and text to show a passage of time going forwards in the film. 





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List of shots.

1. Split screen (long shot) of James and Sally looking for something in their rooms
2. Split screen (close up) of James and Sally when they find a photo of the other character. 
3. Establishing shot  of James walking to the train station.
4. Dissolve into a medium shot of James on the platform.
5. Eye line match of James and Sally.
6. Perspective shot (break 180 degree rule) Sally walks directly to James (and the camera) 
7. Shot reverse shot between James and Sally as they talk. 
8. Long shot of the train coming into the station.
9. James walks past camera from medium shot to long shot and gets on the train.
10. Match on action of James boarding the train.
11. Long shot of James walking towards the camera, up the aisle.
12. Medium shot of him sitting down.
13. Medium close up of James' face as he looks out of the window.
14. High angle medium close up of Sally sat down on the train. 
15. Flashback - dissolve into a montage of shots of Sally and James
16. Cuts back to Sally, Medium shot of her getting up, she walks past the camera and down the aisle. 
17. Cuts to James' flashback, fast variation of shots, point of view shot of James walking (he is drunk).
18. Establishing shot of him walking in to the room.
19. Long shot of Sally cheating on James with Danny.
20. Medium shot of James pouring another drink. 
21. As he turns round, it cuts to an establishing shot of the three characters. 
22. James walks towards Sally and Danny in establishing shot.
23. Medium shot of James' face and his arm as he grabs Danny's shoulder and pulls him to the floor.
24. Long shot/Match on action as James pulls Danny to the floor. 
25. Low angled shot of James.
26. Shot reverse shot/close up of James and Sally's faces. 
27. Long shot of James walking out of the room. 
28. Cuts back to the train. 
29. Medium shot of Sally sitting down opposite James. 
30. Shot reverse shot as they talk. 
31. Establishing shot of James and Sally standing up to get off the train. 
32. Dissolve to the platform at Meadowhall. 
33. Medium long shot of Sally and James as she pulls out the ripped picture. James copies.
34. Close up of them putting the picture together. 
35. Long shot of Leah, looking at James and Sally. Shot reverse shot.
36. Low angled shot of James and Sally smiling. 
37. Long shot of them walking and James grabs her hand. 
38. Long shot of Leah running down the steps towards them both. 
39. Medium shot of Leah pushing Sally.
40. Close up shot of Sally's feet as she is stepping back. 
41. Cuts to a black screen. 

Tricky shots video

Establishing shot is filmed by Lizzie.
Unsteady close up is filmed by Beth with the character being Jess.
Edited by Beth.

Tricky shots practice

This video is of us practising the trick shots that we want in our film. The first is an establishing shot, both zooming in and out because we want to film on the bridge of the train station to set the scene. furthermore, we had an idea to zoom in/out on the characters as they are walking down the slope to the platform.
Our second shot is an unsteady close up, which entails the character staggering and the person holding the camera to walk backwards whilst moving the camera, keeping a close up shot. We wanted to do this because we have a party scene where the character is drunk therefore showing him walking around, giving the drunk effect.
In the editing process I divided each shot up, adding text before to show which shot it is. furthermore, i added the transition cross dissolve between each cut to add continuity to the video. Furthermore, I added bloopers at the end because it was extra editing practice which I could extend my editing skills.

List of Tricky shots and locations

Filming on the train:
We will have to get written permission from the train company that will allow us to film on the train. 
It will also be difficult to film match on actions when characters are getting on and off the train because we will have to take into account other passengers wanting to get on and off the train and we will have a limited time to film them as we need to make sure we have all the shots before the train leaves the station.
Shooting shot reverse shots between James and Sally on the train will also be difficult as we will need to work around the train seats which may be difficult for it to look like a shot reverse shot. Furthermore, if there are passengers on the train we do not want to disturb them or ask them to move so we shall make sure that we aren't filming at peak times to avoid this problem.

Filming at busy times:
If the train/train station is busy people may not want to be filmed therefore we will have to get consent from people and passengers before filming. If an individual doesn't want to be filmed then we will have to make sure that they are not in the shot. 

Establishing Shot of Wombwell train station: 
This should be quite easy to do as there is a bridge that overlooks the train station however, we may not be able to hold the camera high enough to get an effective shot because we want to catch Sally and James stood at the platform in the shot. 

Unsteady Close up of James at the party: 
This may be difficult to film as we want the shot to be a close up of James' face however it needs to look like he is walking as well so it will involve tracking the camera. Moreover, this will have to be a handheld shot as we want to create the effect that he is drunk and so his vision is blurred and so the camera needs to be shakey and unsteady for an affective shot. 

Second, updated questionnaire

This is the direct link to our Questionnaire.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGtQMWRIVlVCYnh3T2hudTZReEtuRkE6MQ#gid=0

We have put together another questionnaire using Google docs to gain more opinions on different aspects that we didn't necessarily ask last time. Furthermore, we have added some of the same questions because it stills helps in our target audience knowing a few things about the person answering for instance, age and gender. This questionnaire has been made due to us changing our synopsis (as a result of the last answers on the questionnaire giving us constructive criticism on it such as, adding more events) and putting together character profiles which we hope to gain opinions on. 

We edited the layout because we thought that it was relevant to our Romantic genre with the text font and the love heart underneath the title. 

Second questionnaire distribution and conclusion

Beth's Facebook

Beth's Twitter

Link to our questionnaire
These images shows that we have distributed our questionnaire link to our individual Facebook and Twitters to gain audience feedback on our updated short film conclusions.

Jess's Twitter!

Film poster research and example.

A film posters purpose is to visually advertise a film. Originally, films posters were more exclusive and were to be returned when the film left the theatre and before the 1990's film posters were mainly centered around illustrations as opposed to photos.. However, now they are displayed everywhere for instance, inside the cinema and billboards in order to gain interest in the release of the film.

However, the main features now of a film poster are;

• the title of the film which is usually the largest text there is on the poster
• a tag line that relates to the narrative of the film
• a large image of the main characters with the actors names and director
• the release date to ensure the public know when to go to the cinema
• ratings of the film

Example

Original film poster



Annotated film poster

I chose to do the Last song as a review for a film poster because it is of similar genre to our own short film idea, Romantic/drama. Furthermore, I annotated the film poster in the image as I noticed it had the conventions expected of a film poster, therefore similar to ones I researched.

This film poster has the main characters situated at the top which is the largest image on the poster. By doing this, it can promote the characters in the film which may be appealing to the target audience. In specifically this film poster, the target audience is mainly teenage girls and with Miley Cyrus being the main character it will attract more people as they may know her from her previous work or look up to her as a role model. Furthermore, the boy character is less in focus but you can tell that he also has a main role within the film which is appealing as teenage girls as they may be attracted to him. Their facial expressions look quite serious, implying that there is some conflict between them in their on screen relationship.

Other image is the bottom half of the poster, focusing mainly on the beach setting which shows two characters walking and hugging. From this it isn't specific about which the other character is therefore is ambiguous done specifically to not give away too much about the narrative. The beach relates to the film as it is one of the significant settings and also they can be an assiociation of the romantic genre.

At the very top of the poster there is the writing saying 'From the author of The notebook and A walk to remember.' This may gain more interest in the film if people are interested in the author and enjoyed his other books subtly persuading them to go and watch it at the cinema as they are of similar genre. In addition, there is writing which states, 'A story about family, first love, second chances and memories in life that bring you back home.' From this, it isn't the main feature of film poster but gives audiences a slight insight into the narrative which may be appealing to them and gives further information about the characters relationship. It is a basic overview which again, persuades people to go and see the film if they are of interest to this.

The main title is the biggest text on the poster which is purposefully done to add emphasis to it. The word are also capitalised and in white to contrast the colours between the background for emphasis also. Other text on the poster that has done this is the 'April 2' as it is an important aspect because it is informing people when the film is released therefore they can and watch it. Without this, it would lose more interest in the film because a lot of people wouldn't purposefully look for the release date unless they were of vast interest in it.

Film Poster Research- Romeo and Juliet.

A film poster is used to advertise a film before it is released. Posters involve a feature photo of the main characters and the film title. Before the 1990's, illustrations were more common than the use of photo's. Furthermore, the lettering of the film title will be large, bold and eye catching so it is the first thing the audience see. The poster will usually display the main actors names to attract a wider audience. For example, a certain actor may normally star in action films but if their fans notice they are in a romantic drama they may decide to watch the film just because their favourite actor is starring in it. 

I have decided to annotate the film poster for Romeo and Juliet (1996) because the film has a similar genre (Romantic drama) to ours and so it might create idea's for our own poster. 

Here is the poster: 



The poster shows the main characters, a gun and a cross necklace. The props that are shown on the poster represent something important in the film. For example, the gun is what Juliet uses to kill herself and the necklace is symbolic for their love as Juliet gives it to Romeo when he says he will marry her. 

Romeo and Juliet are coming out of a picture frame which makes the poster look 3D which makes the audience feel involved with the characters. By using this technique, the poster also displays that the genre of the film is romantic drama as you can see that the main focus of the film are the two characters: Romeo and Juliet. However, this will imply to an audience that the film is all about the love of Romeo and Juliet which will mainly attract a female audience and so to attract a male audience they have made the gun in the picture stand out which implies that there is violence and blood in the film which might persuade them to watch the film because it takes the focus of the romantic side of it. 

Analysing a film poster

I decided to analyse the 500 Days of Summer film poster as it is a similar genre to our film, being that is a romantic drama.

The film poster is quite different to the average one, it doesn't show the faces of any of the actors so people don't recognise them. Usually when people see a film poster with an actor they recognise from a previous film they have seen or find them attractive etc they are more likely to want to watch the film. In the case they have used faceless characters, with just hair and an accessory each, this could be to show that anybody could be either of these characters. The love story in the film isn't very complex or unique, its something that everyone could and probably will go through. The font is in yellow which is associated with summer and happiness, which is quite ironic consider it doesn't have the happiest ending between the two characters as they don't end up with each other. Also, the girl in the film is called Summer so it all ties in together. The background is also like card which fits in with the story line as they both work in a company that makes cards for occasions such as birthdays and holidays.

The tag line for the film is used to reveal a little bit about the story line, here it shows that it is a romantic story by using the word "love." However, its unique selling point is that instead of a typical love story with a small difficulty in the middle that is eventually resolved and then there is a happy ending it is more realistic in portraying a couple that don't work together. When people think of a love story, its romantic and passionate and everything goes according to plan. By saying it "is a story about love" it instead sounds as though it is a more factual interpretation of how love actually is.

The actors names are also shown at the top of the film poster, this is used to entice anyone that may recognise the actors names to watch them. They may have seen a previous film or just like the actor in general.