The Main Poster
We very much liked the idea of opposition and conflict that was in our trailer. So we thought about the main poster being in landscape (so it would appear on billboards etc). Then we thought about having two teaser posters as well.
We very much liked this image which we had taken of the two groups clashing together. There is plenty of space in for titles and information. I decided to create a mock-up design for our poster, simply using my phone and several apps on it to create a sort of pre-draft.
I used an app called "VSCOcam" to add a grey effect to the photo, this was to fit into the genre of apocalyptic films like the poster of The Road (dir. John Hillcoat 2009).
I then used a separate app called "Over", this was to add text, I experimented with the opacity of the text and the kept the colour scheme as basic as possible. I showed Daniel and Lizzie these mock-ups and they were both very pleased. We then thought about how we could improve the poster when it came to actually producing the poster on the computer.
We used the computer program Serif DrawPlus in order to create our main poster. We used the original photo (unedited) and then planned to re-edit the photo when it was on the computer, this was so the quality of the photo would remain as high as possible. We added the text in a similar layout to the draft I had made.
We used the names of our favourite magazine names. By this time we had decided that our magazine name would be "BoxOffice". We kept to two reviews as it shows that more than one reviewer thought the film was good, we included quotes from the reviews as well. We did not want to overdo the number of reviews like in the Skyfall poster. But, due to there being two it meant there was a level of symmetry in the poster, furthered by the figures of the characters either side of the title. Then, we added a black "glow" to the text to make the white writing stand out against the overcast sky. The idea of conflict is clearly shown in the poster, something central to the narrative. We were inspired by the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 teaser posters. Only we wanted to show a more animate and lively conflict. We were happy with the poster, but we returned to look at influences and conventions of posters to make sure we had not missed anything.
We also felt the poster lacked impact, we knew we did not want it very bright because that would not match the content of the film and the genre. We were also inspired by The Road posters in terms of colour-scheme. But, we then edited the picture by decreasing brightness, upping the contrast and adding a cooling temperature filter.
After looking at existing film posters, we realized we had missed quite a lot. We added in the fact that our film (being a Hollywood made film) would be available to see in 3D and IMAX. This stereoscopy is a convention of many high-budget Hollywood productions as it gains extra profit and also adds a second unique selling point (USP) to the film. We also added a logo for Dolby Digital Sound due to it being Hollywood made, it is conventionally Dolby who covers the audio of the film. We also added a cut-out of our own Eden Logo, as it was the convention on other posters to have miniatures of their logo present. We added a small certificate rating near the title. By showing this on the poster, this would show who the target audience is and also the demographic would know they are able to go and see the film in cinemas. We also added the credit of the "author" of time in the credits at the bottom (it's not actually a book, but many of our influences were based on books, so we had ours based on a book too as part of the USP).
On top of this, we then added a web-link for our film at the bottom of the poster. If we had more time, we would have actually made our own website, but we did not create a website, we added it to the poster though due to convention. We also added links to the Facebook and Twitter accounts for the film. We did actually make Twitter and Facebook accounts for our film, as a part of distribution and marketing.
The Teaser Posters:
We took photos for our teaser posters at the beach as well. We had decided to produce two teaser posters. They were inspired by the teaser posters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Again, they showed the ideas of binary opposition present in the film. Though we were not happy the way the photos had turned out for the Selene and Eve poster. This was due to the fact that Clare is taller than Lizzie and we wanted them to look equal on the poster.
We were not happy with this photo either because the backdrop is not very interesting and Clare is not fully in frame. But, we were determined to get the photos, because we felt the Teaser posters would really compliment the main poster for the promotion of the film.
It was difficult to get the composition right, another difficulty lay in the fact that someone would start laughing during the photos being taken. What looks a considerable distance apart in the photo is actually very close in reality and it was difficult to keep a serious face. What I found helped was concentrating on a certain area of the face. This also meant my brows were furrowed and added to the imagery of conflict. We realised that the Harry Potter poster photos had been taken separately with a green screen so they could be easily edited together, thus removing the hilarity of the photographing. But, we liked the organic location and background, so we decided to carry on the way we were. By not being in complete profile it meant that the poster had a depth to it, which we liked, the pier also added a sense of perspective. We were happy with this photo, even though my hair was blowing about in the wind, we knew it could be easily cropped or edited.
After taking the photos that day, I used an app on my phone called "Snapseed" in order to start thinking about colour schemes and editing styles for our teaser posters, we wanted them to tie-in with our main poster but not be a repeat. Influenced by the colour-drained effect on The Road poster, I created this edit and increased the contrast to add a more dramatic feel to the photo.
I then started to think about the layout of the tagline and title of the poster. We had not yet finalised a tag-line for our poster so I just made a generic Hollywood style tagline for the meantime. I thought it looked the best in the middle, filling the space but also serving as a semiotic barrier between the characters and warring groups. The title also seemed to fit in the best at the bottom of the poster.
We decided to retake the photo for the Eve and Selene teaser poster. This is due to the fact that we had come up with the idea to use a different location, because the film does just take place at the beach, like the trailer we wanted to show a range of locations used in the film.
We went into a wilderness area near college that looked like an area near the field chase scene. Unfortunately it was not overcast like when we took the photos at the beach, but this not discourage us, we knew we could edit the sky to be greyer and darker if needs be. I took it against the sun at first, although the light leaks/sun spots looked good, it would not match the theme of the other posters. So I took it from the other side, this time getting Clare to lower herself to Lizzie's height, although it looked strange we knew once the photo was cropped it would look natural.
We knew what we wanted in terms of layout, but we thought that in terms of editing the photos, we would make it more subtle then the draft I had previously made, as Hollywood companies edited their posters subtly, so it seems more real. Eventually we decided to use a line from the trailer as our tagline on the posters "With the adults gone... everything was different". We then included some indication of when the films release was due and the cast credits above their respective faces. We did not want to include as much information as the main poster because these were meant to tease the audience and build an interest/following in the demographic.
We had the change of colour in the tagline occur on the word "Gone" to make it appear that the word was slowly vanishing away. We used the ambiguous "coming soon" to tease the audiences of our film. Although we used the same font for our title, it seemed thicker than before, something we wanted to remedy.
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