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.

Poster Ideas

Imagery
I would like to keep my film poster fairly minimalistic so it will keep the viewers guessing about what the film is about. Therefore I am going to choose a single item that will represent an aspect of the plot. For example I have in mind using something that symbolises the use of a babies cry such as an old teddy, rattle, dummy, doll or mobile. I also thought of using a tape recorder or weapon with blood on to represent details of the murder.
I may use two of these ideas to give more of an insight into the film whilst maintaining suspense and curiosity for the reader e.g. bloodstained doll; teddy sat on a tape recorder.


Film Title
I haven't yet thought of a title for the film but looking at other films it seems that single-worded titles are very common and appear to work well as they reveal very little about the film itself, adding to the suspense. I am thinking of relating it again in some way to theme of babies, perhaps a play on words surrounding a nursery rhyme or well-known phrase.


Colour Scheme
I would like to keep to a very simple colour scheme so as not to prove off-putting for a viewer. Alfred Hitchcock generally kept to black, white and red which was very effective for horror films as black represents dark or fear and red can represent blood or anger.

Further Poster Analysis

I have chosen one poster to do a more detailed an in-depth analysis of its features to have something more specific to refer to during the making of my own film poster. Below is my analysis of The Birds poster:

Alfred Hitchcock Posters

For further research I have looked at a selection of Alfred Hitchcocks film posters in the hope that I can draw some ideas from them for my own piece.

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The 39 Steps (1935)



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Vertigo (1958)



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North By NorthWest (1959)



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Rope (1948)



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Saboteur (1942)



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The Birds (1963)

I have noticed that the colour schemes of each of the poster are very dark which is suited to the genre and all of them contain red. This could provide the representation of blood, commonly used in posters for this genre and a convention which I may use myself. Text is kept fairly minimal with just the essential information on and the main bulk of each ooste ris made up of image. The images all contain people however the Vertigo poster has a silouhette of a person and I like this idea as it portrays a sense of mystery because we see no facial expressions or identity. I also like the shadowed effect used on Hitchcocks face in The Birds as this presents an evil or danger within the film. Overall I think I will keep my poster rather simplistic as Hitchcock has done although I sahn't be including an image of myself as Hitchcock has done as I feel that this can ruin the illusion of film making it less believable.