ON THE SCREEN - FILM POSTER
This last term's assignment we are supposed to create three mock film posters on a genre we can choose, with the title 'Breathing Space'. We explored the meaning of each type of poster, we analysed them in detail, we got feedback for each poster and were given total freedom for composition, lighting, and genre.
We also had a more in-depth look at editing in Photoshop, not only layering wise but preparing the posters and a look into the technical side of creating and exporting (proper inches, color types such as sRGB etc.).
Research
Teaser Posters
The first thing I observed when looking at a few of these was the abundance of black in the image, this tries to emanate an air of mystery, leaving the people wondering what's more to see. This obviously isn't a general rule, but it is more prevalent in teaser posters rather than the main ones, which showcase a lot more information about the film.
The title is sometimes very obvious, like for 'Venom' or 'Joker', sometimes it's there but isn't incredibly obvious like 'Inception' or Disney's 'Maleficent', and sometimes it's not there at all, like in 'Black Widow's one. It is almost always blockbuster films that are able to not include the title or show it partially, as they already have so many fans which instantly recognise the symbols and characters that there is no need to make the title that obvious.
Character Posters
The character posters are quite different to the teaser ones I observed, trying to hide a lot less and promoting a specific actor a lot more. As we can see for the posters below, most have the actual title of the film included, while not crucial. We can also see actors' names, some more obvious than others, and little catch phrases like 'Don't get too attached', these acting like small slogans that people can get a feel of the film and of the character from. In the 'Inception' one we can see the actor being referenced as 'actor of The Dark Knight'. In his case, maybe his face isn't known by everyone in the target audience but as Nolan's film is very renowned, they can remember him, thus striking interest.
One thing that is common for all of them is that we see the characters with something very symbolic that makes us understand who they are. It's usually the outfit that does a lot of that, such as the Suicide Squad's and Avenger's characters wearing their iconic pieces of clothing, or even a more so simple outfit like Emma Watsons' in 'Little Women' can already say a lot about who this person is in the film.
Main Posters
Finally, the main posters are the ones which are supposed to give away the most information and attract the most attention to them. In my opinion, some of them resemble a character poster, but of course, usually each film focuses on one or a few characters and their journey, so it makes sense for them to be the main focus of the final poster. The facial expressions, accessories (glasses for 'Bohemian Rapsody'), and props (guns pointed in 'John Wick 2') all play a crucial role in making us understand what we're about to watch. Some of them focus more on the main characters' surroundings, and usually something to represent a threat or what their journey entails, such as for 'Jaws' and 'Gravity'.
The colors really depend on the genre of the movie, we see a lot of darker tones in thriller, drama or horror films, more blue and red for sci-fi and action ones, and yellow for many indie ones. Here are a few indie posters that caught my eye.
As I said, may of them contain yellow as their primary, or sometimes only color, but other ones can be black and white (as seen for 'The Lighthouse', one of my personal favorites), some have very dark tones like Eggers' debut 'The VVitch', or pastel hues like 'The Face of Ukraine'. All of them unique in their ways, basically do the job of explaining the plot of the film in as much datail as possible without giving out too much or including any spoilers, while draving the audiences in.
There's a lot of work that goes into planning out what exactly to include in the poster, as one 27x40 image should explain the plot and the characters enough to make the viewer aware of the type of story he's about to see.
Initial Ideas + Plot&Title
I had two ideas for the film plot, one has been in my mind a long time now. The film would be about a young girl struggling with depression and troubles at home and at school, lucid dreaming being her only refuge and safe space from her chaotic reality, but what seemed to be an innocent mind game ends up being a dangerous addiction. Similarly to other ideas I've had, there are a few that I keep very close to my heart and want to leave them to develop other times.
That left me with my second idea which, one could say, has the same eerie atmosphere. The film is included in the psychological horror, fantasy, drama genres and tells the story of a young 'human' boy looking for solace in a desolate forest, only to fall captive under the witch's spell.
Even though my initial feel of the title was something breezy and light-hearted, I thought I would play around with the meaning of it and use it the opposite way. What Kai thought would be his perfect 'breathing space' away from his current life ended up being the opposite.
My posters + Inspiration
Teaser Poster
For my first poster I thought I would do something quite simple yet eye-catching. I used things I already have in my room to create it and ended up being quite happy with the result. I asked my friend to hold her hand out with a dead rose laying on top. I thought that using a basic symbol of love- the rose, could work for the first one. The flower being dead induces a sense of unease and conveys death, hinting towards the end of the film, when the secondary character Kai dies. The lighting was only natural and the background used was my black silk pillow, giving a bit of detail int he back but not too much to distract the viewer's attention.
Editing wise I didn't have to do much other than giving it some blue and green hues, and increasing the lightness and saturation of the red of the rose. Initially it was a very faded red but I got given the feedback to make the color pop more and in the end it ended up looking better. I chose a short but concise catch phrase to put on it, as well as 'Coming Soon' and the date it would be released on. The colors of the text are taken from the picture with the color picker itself to create a consistent look.
Another thing I kept in mind for all the posters is not having the text beyond the 2 inch borders on each side, which I did by the ruler guide on Photoshop.
Charcater Poster
For the second one, the character poster, I first imaged it as the main character, the witch, running towards the woods in a white dress, but during the shoot, my friend who was modelling for me offered to do some nude shots and having the candle in her hand I though would create a striking poster. The candle not only gives the image a mysterious ambiance but also illuminates her face well. Her nudity represents the witch's ability to seduce men into her home, in the forest, by not only her supernatural powers but simply by her body too.
To make sure my model was comfortable, she kept putting a hoodie on in order to not get cold, and I made sure to check if there was anyone coming in our direction, to avoid her feeling uncomfortable.
Below are some shots that I didn't end up using, either because I ended up not choosing the ones where she was dresses up or the picture was too moved (I tried to do a long exposure where she would only be moving but I didn't have a tripod so the whole image was shakey).
Main Poster
Finally, for the main poster we were told to use more than one image and merge them in some sort of manner to created a layered image. I thought I would try the well known double exposure type of layering where you merge a side profile with another image. I used my friend's side profile (which was photographed with mostly the sky in the background to make the selection process easier) and merged it with an image of her and my other friend who would be Kai, in an uncomfortable way of posing, which I believe gives the audience an even better understanding of who the main character is and what Kai has gotten himself into. I blacked out his eyes to symbolise how the witch 'stole his soul', and just giving the image that much of an eerie feel. The way I did that was by using a brush with black paint at 95% opacity and creating a little drop shadow to make those edged a bit less sharp.
Another detail which can be seen in the poster up close but not as much as I wanted it to is the spiral contact lens my friend wore. They add a strange, fantasy detail to the poster and give the main character some more attention, as the human eye in drawn to anything out of place like that.
I used many more layers for this one being the main one: I added mock film festival awards, mock credits on the bottom, the two main actors' names, as well as the title and another 'Coming Soon'.
Below you can see a few stages of the selecting and masking process. The quick selection tool did quite a good job without much editing afterwards, as, again, I made sure her facial features where against the empty sky to make the program do a good job at auto-selecting.
When it came to the fonts, I had an easy time choosing the secondary fonts (for the credits and other text) but had a very hard time deciding the main font. I used DaFont.com to choose a font from, and tried many different ones on the poster itself (rather than just on the website) to see how it matches with everything else.
Here are two options I took into consideration, the first one I liked because the text seemed to be sort of obstructed by leaves and branches but then I thought it looks to rugged and harsh, and I was looking for a more elegant and stylised font. The second one would have been my choice if it would've have been so similar to the other ones, and I wanted the title to pop a bit more. The final font I chose is still a bit similar to the other ones but I think it suits the image and the genre of the film.
Final Thoughts
Overall this has been a very good learning experience, not only did I better my Photoshop skills exponentially (everything from layering, masks, color editing etc), but I got more experience directing people, scouting locations and using household items to create something meaningful.
I would like in the future to improve my layering skills though, and play around with different fonts and manipulating text, as well as going even further with props, costume, hair and makeup to come out with something truly unqiue and personal to me.
