SVS

Whilst researching existing film posters in our genre, we accumulated a list of things that seem to be essential in terms of creating the most "perfect" professional poster:

- Genre
- Main characters involved
- Recurring symbols
- Release date
- Rating
- Social media
- Credits
- Website
- Title 
- Strong, well suited typography 
- Production companies
- Narrative is hinted

It is our aim to make sure all of the factors above are met in our poster, and to the highest standard possible. The posters we researched that had all/ the majority of the list included, the more fascinating and entertaining it was to observe. So to make sure we get a similar reaction from our target audience, our poster must have a lot of tiny but imperative details to create an overall great film poster. 

Poster Deconstruction

JACOB'S LADDER

• The text at the top documents that the director of Jacob's Ladder has produced another famous movie, Fatal Attraction, which should attract the same target audience. This is all in white capitals against a plain black background so that it can be visible.
• Most psychological thriller movies have posters which focus very closely on the face, with very sharp precision to see every bit of emotion portrayed by the actor. This, however subverts that, as the sole focus of the poster is a blurred/smudged picture of the main protagonist appearing to scream. This is layered with soft colours like pale grey with elements of blue/purple to appear ghostly or other worldly. The fact that this face is the only object within the poster should draw interest from an audience who like psychological thrillers.
• The accompanying tag line gives the audience some clue as to what the movie is about, but without giving too much of the plot away, which is important in drawing interest.
• The title and the 'Coming soon to a theatre near you' line at the bottom is blood red, which conveys a sense of danger, death, warning and hazard, implying that there might be some form of violence in the film, which is again emphasised by the face.
• The black background may be simple, but when it surrounds the face, it aids the tag line in the assumption that Jacob's 'nightmare' is all consuming, ominous.
• In pale grey typography, the cast, crew and production companies are written, to tell the audience which production company is distributing it, and what time the movie is to be released.

The Skeleton Key

• The Unique Selling Point in 'The Skeleton Key' is the actress Kate Hudson, whose name is in light beige capitals, across approximately 80% of the top of the poster.
• This poster is an extreme close-up of an eye, which ha an incredible amount of detail, from hair to eyelashes, which should make the target audience unnerved.
• the colour pallette of this poster is skin colours, and pale green in the centre of the eye.
• The eye itself is a mirror of a man in a wheelchair facing a house, which gives little hints for what the narrative is about.
• The typography for the poster is shaped like a key for the e letter, which gives a
• The eye takes up the entirety of the poster, which dwarfs everything in comparison, including the title, suggesting that an antagonist is omnipresent, or always watching the protagonists.
• The production companies lines are very small, and positioned at the bottom, which brings more emphasis to the centre of the poster. However, the date of release is in a larger font because this is a good marketing technique for telling the consumer the date of release.

• The prominent colour to this poster, and most of the posters within our film genre, is black/dark grey/white. This makes any bold colours (in this case red) stand out and become the focal point to the audience. Red in this case, especially as it is linked to the female, infers danger and passion to the audience, so anyone intrigued by what that would entail in the film can find out by watching it.
• The couple take up the majority of the poster, highlighting that they will be the main part of the film.
• A catchy/interesting tagline is found at the top of the poster to draw attention and make the audience wonder what the film will be about- it makes them think.
• There is a compelling nature as the intriguing light surrounding them, as well as the bold title, draws people in.

Friday 9th December- Filming day 5

*Re- did Olivia's running shot from the end of the tunnel towards the camera. Did this as a long shot- to extreme close-up twice.





*Whilst re-shooting, we decided to go back to the Greenwich waterfront location from our first filming day. We also wanted to go just before it became dark, so that we could get some really cool shots of Canary Wharf against the water!

* Luckily we made it in time to catch the skyline at dusk, so we got several establishing shots of Canary Wharf  and the lights against the water .


* We tried out different angles of the waterfront and we decided that we should frame all of Canary Wharf and the water, as that looks the best.
*Today was our 6th and final filming day. This location was at Shanette's garden to save time. Today these shots were done at sunrise, to depict a murder investigation.


*Took a panning shot of the back of the garden with the light coming through on the left, gradually gets darker whilst turning away.



* Took a 360 degree, hand held Birds eye view shot of some police line tape, to depict a crime scene. Did this shot 3 times to choose which one will be the best.

*The wind picked up at this point, so it looks as if the tape has been blown away
* Took close-ups and extreme close-ups of the props that I created. This was to demonstrate the danger of the group , which results in death of innocent people.


* Took an extreme close-up of the head. Started from the eye and gradually moved upwards to make the camera act as a character, which worked quite well. The darkness of the shot at the beginning allows the audience to be held in mystery before being very quickly revealed when the light comes through.

Creating the hand, first using straws to replicate bone structure.  I then used string through little sections in the straw to replicate the tendons. After this, I added some terracotta clay in small balls to replicate knuckles, and from there create fingers. Keeping the whole thing from drying out before it was too late,was important, as the wax won't hold anything else after it's complete. Finally, I created fingernails and little veins to add more realistic features and painted it with brown acrylic paint. At the end, I put the prop hand into a glove, to depict that the person who died was of some sort of profession. The total creating time for the hand was 3 days.

Finished product :)

PRELATE

The character of Prelate symbolises insanity mainly in his persona rather than violent actions. Compared to Virginia and I's character, he is more strange and eerie in his behaviour. However we did not want his outfit to reveal a lot about his character- his actions would reveal it instead. So, we decided that it would be best if Prelate wore a 'normal' outfit so that members of the public would be deceived into thinking he is one of them, when the audience know that he is very different. 


OLIVIA

 
Olivia's character, as shown in the mood board blog, is fond with feline traits. To support this, we thought it'd be best for her to wear a cat onesie. It is also convenient that the onesie is dark coloured to give negative connotations to her character.





The mask is the main aspect of her outfit- the dark colours with the static vibe of the mask radiates a sense of danger and violence. Having a mask shows that her identity is preferred to be hidden to completely separate her normal self to her alter ego. Placing the two together (mask and onesie) is a strange mix and would therefore be unsettling and disturbing for the audience as it infers her character to be quite unpredictable and capable of inhumane acts.