After we have chosen the best picture for our poster, we began to edit. At first, we did not know how we wanted the outcome to look like, however I insisted to put forward the idea of creating something similar to the poster of Reservoir Dogs’. My reasoning behind this is that I found the red, white and black colour palette arresting. Not only did the black and white create a sense of a film noir style but the splash of red was used to give more effect and symbolised danger and blood, which would also relate effectively to our genre for our target audience. Reservoir Dogs was the only poster I found on the internet the most striking because the colour palette and the genre complement each other well and although it looks plain, I thought it was done effectively and proficiently.
To create something similar to the Reservoir Dogs’, Photoshop was used. Although we had two lessons to have a chance to gain some knowledge and understanding on figuring out how to work Photoshop out, many of us (in the class) still found it hard to achieve certain effects we were hoping for. Fortunately, my group has two members who study Photography at A level, so one was editing the poster and the other, the magazine cover. This benefited us tremendously as it meant that we would not have to spend so much time playing around and worrying. Even though they were doing the editing, the other member and I were watching, taking in what they were saying and giving feedback regularly. As we sit in a row in class, it made communication within the group easier. This also sped up our working progress as I did all the editing on the trailer, one did all the editing on the poster, another did the editing on the film magazine cover, and the other gave critical feedback which made us as a group work harder.
Because our film will be British, we wanted to change the misé-en-scene (background) which would help reflect this. We took the background seriously as it plays a major contribution to our poster. This could only mean that we would have to go London to take some photos of famous landmarks so it would be recognisable. We did not want to keep the background of the run-down estate as it made the characters look disenfranchised, which was not what we wanted them to look like. Luckily, a member went to London with her father for a day out, and took some photos on the way. Therefore it saved us money and time within the group.
She took two shots of well-known landmarks in London – the Millennium Bridge and the Tower Bridge. This is to gain immediate recognition from the audience. Because we have more than one background that could potentially be used, we decided to use both the backgrounds and decide on the best one as a group so we would have more of a variety to choose from.
Firstly she experimented with this picture of the Millennium Bridge that she took whilst in London. We originally thought that this was a well-recognised land mark and could work well as the background for our poster. The original picture was rather dark therefore she had to adjust the Lighting Levels on Photoshop to brighten the picture up and highlight the finer details so they were more visible making the photo look better.
Once she had copy and pasted the boys onto the London background she then chose to change the colour scale to black and white as it made the picture look a little more realistic. Although she was happy with the outcome of this picture we weren’t fully convinced and were more than sure that she could do better. She knew what kind of effect she was going for in her head and wanted the background to be extremely eye catching, her reasoning for this was because the entire poster was going to be in black and white therefore it really had to stand out to compete with the colour scheme. She then looked through the shots she took on that day and found a still that she knew would work.
This is the picture we all finally chose to use as the main picture for our background. Our reasoning for this was because the picture was incredibly clear therefore it would be ideal to use when it came to editing. She chose to use a sharp depth of field by reducing the lens aperture to small diameter, this meant the photograph was fully in focus and all minor details remained visible. As it is London Bridge is it incredibly famous worldwide and would be recognised by all audiences, especially the British. We were also very fond of the lighting in this picture and thought the clouds looked very effective. She firstly opened this picture up onto Photoshop and improved the lighting levels by adjusting the input levels. She then opened the picture of the boys onto a separate layer and again adjusted the input levels so the lighting and contrast appeared sharper. By lightening the picture of the boys not only did it look more professional but it also highlighted their facial expressions which would then tie in with the title and genre of the film extremely well.
She then had to get the picture of the boys to lie on top of the picture of London Bridge. To do this she used the Lasso Tool to cut around the boys and the wall. She ensured that she zoomed in so she was being accurate so she would get a better outcome at the end. Although this was incredibly time consuming it made it easier for her when copy and pasting the cut-out of the boys as she didn't have to adjust it too much. Once we were happy with how she cut around the outline of the boys, she then used the feather tool to soften the edges, she did this by changing the pixel radius to 1, and this meant that the boys would look more realistic when placed onto the London Bridge background. She then pasted them onto the background and used the clone tool to fill in some of the missing colour for example blending in the edges of the boys with the background, again this was really time consuming but all worth it in the end as we were all satisfied with the outcome.
Once she had copy and pasted the boys onto the background of London Bridge she then chose to experiment with the colour scale. She chose to change the picture to black and white as this made the overall picture look more realistic as well as effective. Although we were really pleased with the outcome of the picture being in black and white she was worried that it may not be colourful enough to be a film poster, therefore it may not appeal to the audience. As she was a little worried about the lack of colour on the poster she thought about the colour and style of the text she would later be putting onto the poster such as the billing block, the title and the tag line we wanted to add. Even though we were really pleased with the outcome of the picture, she wanted to try one more experiment to ensure she was making the right decision.
She chose to put an old fashioned paper effect frame over the picture on Photoshop as the final development to ensure she didn't want to edit the photo further. Although she thought the frame looked good over the picture we didn’t think it fitted in with the typical conventions of a Gangster film and juxtaposes with the time era our film is now set it. If she hadn't changed the time era of our film I think this effect would have worked well and would have been a direct link to the era we would have been reflecting. I also suggested that although it looks good, it did not conform to a typical poster and looked like a piece of art work instead. By using old fashioned paper, it would not have targeted our audience as it would be too old for them and misleading as the content of our film product, is targeting a slightly younger audience rather than over 50s. Although we didn't want to use this effect for the poster we didn't think creating it was a waste of time. I think the time was spent effectively as it made us certain that the decision of the black and white poster was the right one to go with. Her next step towards creating the film poster was to add the billing block, title and tag line. She had previously made the billing block on a PowerPoint presentation. At first we thought making a billing block would be relatively easy but until it came to making it we realised it was quite a challenge. Her first difficulty was getting the correct font for the text; she kept referring back to other film posters such as Public Enemies to ensure she was doing it correctly. Her second difficulty was the layout of the billing block as she had to ensure it fitted on the poster accurately and didn't cover the background picture too much. And her final difficulty was adding the pictures of the production companies to the billing block as she found it to be really fiddly. She found herself correcting the billing block about five times as we all (including teachers) kept noticing minor mistakes or things that needed to be included.
Her next step towards creating the film poster was to add the billing block; she did this by copying and pasting it from PowerPoint to Photoshop. Once she did this she then had to change the blending mode so the background of the billing block became transparent. She then had to use the move tool to rescale the size of the billing block, ensuring she held down the shift key whilst doing this so the writing didn't go blurry. She then had to add the title to the poster; she wasn't entirely sure how to do this as we weren’t sure on a colour or font. Initially, it was going to be just black and white, deviating from typical colourful modern posters. However, I insisted to add the colour red as it connotes violence and bloodshed, making our genre even more obvious so it would target our audience successfully. We knew we had to inject colour into it somehow but wasn't sure if making it red would look scruffy. She firstly tried with the title white and made the tag line red so there was a splash of colour.
We were really fond of the style and colour of the font, which she created on live type, which was introduced by a friend of ours. We were fond of the way the wall showed through the font as it added a shabby effect. We also liked the way the tag line was in red as it drew the attention to the title more so. Although we were really fond of this poster we were a little worried with the lack of colour therefore a slight alteration to the poster was made with the title being red and the tag line in white. Initially, the ‘loyalty is everything’ tagline also became a problem of ours, as we did not know where to place it. A member and she wanted the tagline on top of the bridge but the other member and I disagreed immediately as it would make our poster look junior and unskilled, so we suggested putting it above the title. We tried them both out and we all came to the conclusion that placing the tagline on top of the title looked more effective and professional.
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