Existing Magazine Analysis

To gain a better understanding and knowledge of what a successful film magazine front cover should look like, I found an existing one and carried out an analysis.

I found that this magazine front cover has a conventional layout with the left third, main image, masthead and cover lines etc. I wish to keep to these conventions as they seem to be the most effective.

Final Draft Of Poster

When reevaluating my first draft I felt that the white background made the poster look rather washed out as the picture was faded and the eye was first drawn to the text at the bottom of the poster. I wanted to change this and so I made the background black to represent danger and fear. I recoloured the image of the teddy bear to be white which made it stand out so much more. I used the same bright red for the most important information on the piece and changed the small print to white so it was still visible on the page. I looked at other modern posters and found that mine didn't have a release date on it. When I added this text I made it red as I thought it was a profound piece of information. However at a glance it appeared that there was too much text which would prove a hinderance to passers-by as it would be too much to consume. I then moved the actors names onto the top of image as opposed to underneath it to break up the text more. I made the small print even smaller and spaced out the lettering of the release date to create the illusion that there was even less text.The font for the tagline was also quite large and bold and I changed it to be thinner so it didn't appear to be competing with the main title. I feel that because the fonts were fairly simplistic and not typical horror fonts such as 'Chiller' it gave the poster a sense of mystery whilst the colour scheme and title still gives the genre of the film away so people who enjoy such films would know instantly that the film would be of interest to them.

Overall I am very pleased with my final poster as I feel it successfully carries out the intention of informing a viewer whilst not overloading them with unnecessary information.

Final Draft Poster Analysis

This is an analysis of the final draft of my film poster.

First Draft Of Poster

Once the poll helped me to decide which image to use I experimented with background colours. My chosen colour scheme was red, black and white and so these were my first choices. In my first draft I used a white background with the image of the teddy in a dark grey. I used black and red coloured text and kept to three fonts - one for the tagline, one for the actors names and one for the small print at the bottom. As the text was minimal and the fonts were fairly similar it made the poster still look just as effective without being repetitive or too busy. Text on a poster should be minimalistic so as not to provide offputting or daunting to a passing viewer. I think I achieved this successfully by listing only three key actors - which could be perceived as a persuasive device by name-dropping; the main title and tagline that is deliberately short and to the point without revealing too much of the plotline; the small print which isn't read by the viewer but is there as additional information should a reader want to know about the production team. I positioned all of text together so it became separate form the image. I also used an age certificate as another important piece of information that can be obtained from a glance.

First Draft Poster Analysis

This is an analysis of the first draft of my poster.

Poll For Poster

I kept in line with my original idea of using one item to represent the theme of a child as the main image. Therefore I chose an old teddy and used a tea bag and sandpaper to make him appear worn. I then discovered that even with the changes I had made in the appearance the image didn't fit with the horror genre which could have been confusing for a viewer. Therefore when I used Photoshop I scoured through a range of effects that could be used to enhance the image and make it look more professional and eerie. I narrowed it down to five which I liked best (as seen below) and used a website called freeonlinesurveys.com, creating a poll for people to vote for which they liked best. Here is my existing poll.

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/app/showpoll.asp?sid=javf1ww6mzh7hpp45008&qid=45008

Which looks most effective for a horror film poster?

cutout

notepaper

poster edges

stamp

watercolour

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Title

For my poster I have chosen the colour scheme of red, black and white - following the same ideas as Hitchcock. Therefore I knew I wanted my main film title to be red, fitting with the colour scheme and stading out moreso than the other information. I thought up the title of "INSTINCT" as it is short and doesn't give much away. It also relates to the theme of a mothers' instinct within the plot concerning a baby's cries. As it is a horror movie the connotations of the colour red are blood, anger, danger etc and so I had the idea of making the title look as if it had been written in blood. I used a Photoshop to make the film title and then narrowed my creations down to four possibilties:

I emailed all of the above around and asked people to tell me which they preferred resulting in me choosing this one:

In Photoshop I used a smudge tool, and simply went over each letter with it to create a less neat text. I feel it makes an eerie image which is befitting for the genre of the film.

Poster Ideas Mindmap

In addition to a brief plan of ideas for my poster I decided to create a mindmap to display my ideas in more detail. I found that the layout is much easier to follow and shall assist me greatly when I come to create my poster. I used a programme called MindManager Smart and my final mindmap is pictured below.