P1 Pre-production materials for a planned original print media product

Meaning and Purpose:

The meaning and purpose for a pre-production post is to ensure I have planned everything before I begin the photoshoot. By doing this I know exactly what is needed to be done and what will be involved in the shoot. For example, draft layouts, colour palettes, font styles for headings and straplines, production schedule etc.

The product I am advertising is for a short thriller film, where I will create a poster to promote and raise awareness for the film before it comes out.

The reason as to why advertising is so important is because it will promote my new short film. By creating posters for the film, this creates and raises awareness. Once this awareness of my short film has been acknowledged, excitement and hype can be built up and by creating a poster with a date on it, people will know when it is realised and are more likely to watch it. Advertisements and posters also give the audience an inclination of what the film is about and what genre it is promoting the film even further.

It is important, that through my advertising the audience recognise straight away what genre my film is placed under. The way in which I plan on doing this is to ensure fairly dark and moody colours are used and I also want the poster to be fairly plain so that the audience are able to focus on the main subject straight away which will either be an image of the main character in a depressed state or an image of the hacker on his laptop watching the main character from his screen which already raises awareness that the film is about a stalker and the audience know that the film will be a thriller. Certain fonts also need to be used which I will experiment with and show my different choices of fonts later on in this posting.

My film advertisements will appear on posters and magazines such as 'cosmopolitan' and 'Ok'. These magazines are popular and are read by many all over the world. They specialize in fashion, celebrities, upcoming releases etc such as new films which is why it would be beneficial to advertise my new short film in one.

The type of people likely to be interested in the film I am advertising will be people who are interested in thriller type films, which can appeal to older and younger people, both genders. Even though it is not an educational film, it still presents the horrors of webcams and young people using laptops and phones etc which may attract adults to show younger people risks of webcams and may educate them as well as entertain.

Launch date:

The poster will promoting a film for Summer 2016
May 1st 2016

Examples of products/posters for my short film:

To advertise my short film I will be creating a poster. Here are some examples of the design/layout in which I would like for my poster

The reason I like this example is because I find the writing at the bottom bold and clear. It also stands out as the yellow contrasts with the black to enable the audience to see it straight away. The poster is divided up with an image and then the title and information at the bottom which makes it clear cut and interesting. The main characters involved in the film a re the main focus of the image on this poster which ensures the audience know what actors they will be seeing the most in this film. 

I like this example because I find it quite mysterious which makes me want to look at it and find out more about what the poster is advertising. The writing at the bottom is also effective as it is clear and you are able to read it easily. There is also information such as who the directors are and when the film comes out which is what I will include in my film poster to ensure that the audience know exactly when the film will be out and who was involved in the directing and cast. 

Yet again, the title and information is at the bottom which is showing a pattern in the designs that I like. The title is big and clear so the audience see it straight away. The image in the background is a medium close-up which also gives away information about the film, for example the main characters involved and the setting in the background. This is what I would like to do with the design of my film poster, in the way the title is at the bottom big and clear, but the image in the background also stands out and gives information about what might happen in the film and the main characters involved. 

This is an effective poster as it is quite mysterious, and although the image gives us information on a certain character, the butterfly hiding the persons mouth makes it quite bewildering and makes the audience was to find out more about the film which is how I want the audience to approach my film poster. And as usual, the title is at the bottom where the colour of the font is in contrast with the background making it stand out more easily. 

I like this film poster firstly because the title is clear and bold at the bottom of the poster and the font is in contrast with the background. I like the background image because it is slightly split up to give the audience more visual clues on who is involved in the film and what it is about. For example the main characters involved are focused on in a medium-close up at the top of the poster and at the bottom we have an idea of the type of setting in which the film will take place. From the poster we can see it will be quite dark and mysterious due to the colours used and image taken. For my poster I want the audience to understand what type of film it will be by the colours and fonts that are used. As my film is quite quite dark, I will be using darker colours and a lighter font for the title so that it is in contrast with the background and stands out clearer. 

From all of these examples you can see that I am interested in posters where the titles and information of the film is at the bottom. This is because it makes it clear and easy to see, while also showing a clear picture above. As well as the writing being at the bottom, they also have another thing in common which is either a close-up or medium close-up shot of a person/persons.

Moodboard - Styling ideas for Film Poster:

For the style of my poster I would like the title to be at the bottom and for the colours as you can see they are all fairly dark consisting of blacks, dark blues and greys. As my short film is fairly dark these colours would suit it the best. I would also like the image to be a medium shot/ medium close-up shot consisting of the setting and man character/characters in the film. All these designs and styles will show the audience that the film is quite mysterious and dark. 

Draft Layout:

1)

Here is a draft layout of the poster number 1 I will be using for my advertisement of 'I-Spy' 

It consists of an over-the-shoulder shot of sam sitting at a desk on his laptop watching Anna through his laptop. The background will be dark, e.g dark blue which will be in contrast with the title at the bottom which will be bold and either white or black so that it stands out straight away for the audience. There will then be information below the title explaining actors involved and information about the film. At the top there is a strapline text saying 'You are never alone' to give the poster a dramatic and creepy feeling to allow the audience to understand that the film is quite dark. 

The image of Sam on the computer will be placed in the middle of the poster as well as the title which will be placed bottom middle. The text above will also be in the middle. This ensures that the audience can see them clearly and straight away. 

2) 

For this second image I will have 'Anna Weston' on top as this shows the audience the main actress who will feature in the short film. This will be black in contrast with a white background. I SPY will be black in front of the image of the main character with the strapline underneath which will also be black. I will then add image credits at the bottom of the image, many film posters include these to show the producers, screenwriters, actors etc. This is quite a plain poster, and will include plain colours such as black and white which will help the image of the main character and the titles to stand out for the audience. The image of the character looking into the camera and a white background will make the poster look mysterious and will ensure the audience know that the film is a thriller. 

3)

For this image, rather than drawing it out again I added the image credits from my last draft to this draft as I want to use the same again. This will be similar to the poster above, but I will have the title and the names of the main characters in the bottom half of the poster. The image of the main character will be nearer the top. The titles and strapline will be black in contrast with the white background. 

4)

For this image I wanted two parts to the poster. The main character on the top looking into the camera, a black rectangle in the middle with the title and strapline in white in contrast and then the hacker on his laptop watching the girl on his laptop in the bottom half. By having two parts the audience will understand more about the film being advertised and will realise that it is a thriller. The top two corners above will be darkened with shadows to create a more suspicious and mysterious look to the poster. The black rectangle will have a drop shadow which makes the poster more interesting and exciting.

Possible Fonts:

Title:

Strapline:

Colour Palette:

From this colour palette you can see that I am going for quite a dark atmosphere within the poster to show the audience that the film is quite creepy and dark. I will be using colours such as dark blue, black, grey and I will either be using white,blue or black fonts to be in contrast with the background to ensure they stand out straight away. 

Production Schedule for photoshoot for short film, 'I-SPY'

Lighting Arrangements:

For the background of my photoshoot I will use white screen to ensure that the main subjects are seen easily and are in contrast with the background. In the middle will be the main subjects including the computer, desk, the hacker (Sam) and his chair. Behind will be three lighting equipments including soft box lighting to the left, and Lastolite Rayd8 C5600 two head fluorescent kit in the middle and to the right of the media room. 

Soft Box lighting:

Lastolite Rayd8 C5600 two head fluorescent kit:

Plan for a magazine inside page:

The advert for my short film will appear inside a magazine page such as the cosmopolitan magazine. It will have one page which will show the poster and will advertise the new upcoming film. 

Here is an example of how it will appear inside the magazine:

This is exactly how I would like my poster/advert for the short film to appear inside the magazine. A one page spread of the poster that I am designing. This will help to advertise the film, as magazines such as 'cosmopolitan' and 'Ok' are popular and read by a variety of different people who will see the poster and may be interested in the type of film it is, which is thriller.