Poster- The Design Process

Poster Write-up

Attempt 1: In my first attempt I tried mixing the text and the face together, but I was curious to see the effects of the image without the transparent text. After editing I liked the look of the text beside the stature of Stephanie, but I felt the text outweighed the protagonist. I also felt that the quote overtook the title and I wanted to add more prominence to the title, either through a bold title or italic font. The blackness of the background helped sell the illusion of the drama genre, and I was pleased with the overall tone the poster expressed. I wanted to play on this dark tone more, as I felt it reflected Stephanie's fight against adversity in her effort to score her goal. Overall, I felt this first attempt was a good insight into the placement of the wording, but I wanted to see how prominent I could make the cream text without the transparency effect. 

Attempt 2: In my second attempt I tried using an italic font for the title and also add a board for the credits. I found that the italic did help with the cream font in standing out, but The title did not have the impact I wanted. I added a credit block at the bottom of my poster in order to see how it changed the posters framing. After editing I realised this made the poster look messy and unbalanced, and the credits took the impact away from the quote. Although I did like the framing of Stephanie in this poster, I felt that the poster was now too clustered without any relevant information being visible. 

After creating this photo I decided that the cream font needed to be transparent like the one in the tutorial, as it would create a more atmospheric approach to the film. 

Attempt 3: I was very impressed with the transparent text because of the dramatic connotations it exuded. This gave the audience insight into the tone of my film without having seen the trailer or full short film. The effect also solved the balancing issues I had with the earlier posters, and I knew that this effect would be something I would continue to experiment with in the future poster. My only issue was that the background was too dark for the text, and this made the beginning of 'Impossible' hard to see. I felt that the black background was too prominent in this poster, which outcast the protagonist and gave her less prominence because of the texts dark highlights. I decided to attempt the poster again, this time using a highlight tool to bring up the contrast on the darker side of the image (left) which would make the text easier to see. 

Attempt 4: The Dodge Tool helped with the issue of visibility, but I found that the tool was only useful when some light was bouncing off the coat. The neck, however, was surrounded in darkness and therefore had no effect on the text, even with the Dodge Tool in practice. I now found myself in a difficult position as I liked the transparency effect, but I needed my audience to be able to read my text in order to gain a basic understanding of the film. It was important for me that a spectator could gage whether the film was of interest of them by reading the tone of the poster, such as the colour scheme and the tilt of the photo. The spectator needed to at least be aware of the name of the film, otherwise the poster would be pointless. I decided the best thing to do would to be experiment with other Images I had captured and see if this solved the issue at hand. 

Attempt 5: The good side of this image was that the black and white contrasted better, allowing Stephanie's face to be more prominent and allow for her character to be prominent within the poster. The downside was that I found the image too awkward and cropped, which did not give Stephanie the confidant stance that I wanted to portray to my audience. That way they would understand that a change would occur in the narrative and intrigue them into wanting to watch what happens to the protagonist. The 'I' in 'Impossible' was nipped at the beginning,and although this could have been solved I felt that it was not the picture that was the issue, but the placement of the font. I decided I was going to use the original photo, but erase the quote and focus on the main title. This would ultimately reduce the cluttered feeling of my poster, and reduce the problems with the black background, as the words would not overstep the borders of Stephanie's face. 

Attempt 6: Upon further inspection, I found that if I placed the text vertically, I could enforce the length of the poster and create a sense of height of Stephanie, therefore depicting her confidence in adversity. I cropped the left hand side of the issue, which solved the problem of the black space, which gave prominence to the right hand side of the frame where my quotes could go. I experimented with this text placement and found that having the Titles in a triangle effect allowed for a natural gaze to occur, leading the reader to the quote below. 

On the other hand, I still felt that the poster needed the black space on either side. I liked the idea of the black space being consumed by a quote, not only levelling out the poster but complimenting the vertical text in the middle of the poster.

I had a small issue with the 'The' which was resolved using the fill tool. I had an issue with the darkness of the word, similar to the issues beforehand. However, due to the length of the word and it's placement near the head, I found that I could use the Select Tool to pick out the white of Stephanie's forehead. I was then able to write 'The' in the same colour as the skin tone, giving the illusion that it was light from the protagonist's head. 

Attempt 7: In this photo I can be seen experimenting with the black background, but this time implementing the cream text as part of the credits. I liked this mixture of transparency and cream, as it gave prominence to the title that I was looking for in Attempt 1. The Dodge Tool was more effective this time around, with the 'Impossible' being fully visible and the neck being increased in contrast to make the 'S' visible.

The titles where much more simplistic than in Attempt 2, and I felt that this was better at capturing the tone of the film, because it could play of the black barrenness of the poster and enforce the themes of strength over adversity in the film. I liked the idea of a simplistic title because of the complex transparent text in the middle, and I felt that both styles complimented one another. However, the double vertical lines felt too much and left me with a huge space of black bars.

Attempt 8: At attempt eight I found that the balances of text, background and photo was able to give off the effect that my film emulates. I changed the placement of the credits from the left side of the frame to the top of the frame, giving the text enough space to be prominent and also allow the reader to naturally gaze from the actors names onto the transparent title. After the previous experiments I found I still liked 'The Impossible Goal's placement and font, and found that combining the Dodge tool and the vertical font helped highlight the title whilst giving prominence to the protagonist. The quote was used in the middle left of the frame, which filled out the gap between 'The' and 'Goal', which prevented the poster from looking clustered and confusing. I used the 'A-' spacing to give the EMPIRE quote the tone that readers would recognise, therefore drawing in an audience and giving reassurance that the audience would be interested in. This couples well with my movie review ancillary, as it not only quotes the review in question but aims at a market audience that the film would aim towards. 

The Impossible Goal (2016)

The Impossible Goal Trailer

Tone and Address: EMPIRE Magazine

EMPIRE Tone and Address of articles 

Target Audience Research

Who is my target audience?

During the process of creating the Impossible Goal I took influence from previous female football films in order to have my own style and opinion on the subject. My target audience is between the ages of 9-12, as Stephanie is the age that I am trying to expose to sport. I like the idea of having a strong female character that is in her early teens, as this is area that is not covered by the film medium as much as I would like it.

When I investigated into female football films in the last decade I noticed a gap in the market for my target audience. There is a lack of female football films in the film industry, mainly because of its suppression and lack of media coverage from 2000-20010. From personal experience, I didn't have a female football player to look up to until April 2010, when the official women's Super League started. I believe because of this lack of coverage football films with female leads where scarce, but I was able to track down three films that embody the attitudes of the media to female football at the time, and how this effects my target audience.

Films/ Documentary that focus on women in the last decade

Bend it like Beckham
Released: 2002
Genre: Comedy/ Drama

Pressure Makes Us
Date Release: June 2011
Genre: Documentary/ Promotion

The 99ers
Date released: 2013
genre: Documentary

How do these products market themselves towards my target audience?

With all three examples, the films vary in how they market themselves towards the audience. With the 99ers was released as part of an ESPN breakfast show special, showing a one hour documentary on the development of football in hope of aspiring fellow youth players. ESPN began screening female football in 2010 after the surprise success of the Super League. This not only opened up the sport to young girls but also conveyed the rise of the US women's football team way before mainstream success.

I was disappointed with the representation of women in Bend It Like Beckham, as the girls are not taken seriously in the sport. The girls can be seen walking around in sports bras, whereas comparing this to the many male football films, few show skin so explicitly. I was impressed however, by the diversity of race and religion in the film, and felt this was a good moral message to convey to younger audiences in order to prevent social prejudices in later years.

Pressure Makes Us is by far the most motivational and impressive of the last decade. Produced by the sport brand Nike, the idea behind the marketing is to focus on the women's talent rather than a particular brand. I was impressed by this representation which took football seriously, creating new role models for females and young girls.
This is something I have included in my own film, giving the audience a role model that they can follow until the end of the narrative. I wanted by audience to be invested in my protagonist even if they are not into the sport particularly. I used the drama convention of the underdog in order to stimulate the audience:

Underdog
Definition: A competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest

How did I use this convention to interest my target audience?

 

I used the cinematography in these shots to allow the audience to align with their hero. By having a shallow depth of field I allow the audience to hear what Jane is saying but not allow her to have any power in the scene. This reflects Stephanie's physiological status during the scene and manipulate the audience to follow Stephanie with her battle. 

 

This help magnitude the effect of the goal as Stephanie attempts a shot. The goal outweighs her, but Stephanie's action to carry on anyway gives the audience a reason to retain interest in her character. By doing so the younger audience members can become inspired by the protagonist's efforts, even if it is not in the context of football but simply standing up for yourself. 

Empire Hard copy: Layout

Empire Hard copy: Layout

Opening page: In Cinemas

Title: The opening page consists of the title, slanted on the side of the page. This draws attention to the opening image, a striking shot summerising the movie in one image. In this example, DiCaprio stands defiant as he battles for survial in a long shot, which enforces the battles he is about to encur in the narrative. the titled angle of the shot gives the audiernce an inishgt in the dominance of the character and the role DiCaprio will play in the film. By doing so, EMPIRE give important infomation to the reader in order to help them make a well informed choice at the cinema.

My Magazine: I plan to have a page spread similar to this house style, using the image to summarize to the reader what my film embodies in terms of themes and style. The title 'In cinema' is interesting and I hope to experiment with this in my later drawings

Borders: Three lines separate the font, giving the house style a retro take on art deco. I liked this choice of art because it combines with the 'In Cinema' font, which I will use in my final review print, enforcing the House style of my magazine.

My Magazine: A house style that uses a cool colour palette would suit my style better, as it allows the eye to be drawn onto the image and see the visual clearly:
Page Numbers: the numbers match the colours of the red house style, which is plan to emulate in my designs.

Above: the Splash for EMPIRE

Star rating: The rating gives the viewer an idea of the review at a glance, allowing them to decide whether to invest their time into the material. This is an interesting use of the splash as it allows the browsing reader to judge the look of the review before investing in it, giving them a sense of achievement for showing it.

My Magazine: I plan to use this star rating to draw the audience in, using the

Brief information: Underneath the stars the text gives information on the release date/ certificate number/ run time (minutes). This gives the reader the impression of the film and the audience it is aiming at, for example, Spotlight is aimed at a mature audience (15 cert.), letting the reader know of it's serious subject matter.

Director and Cast: This source of information is valuable for the niche of EMPIRE readers, as it gives the magazine change to reel in its audience with the attraction of an all star cast or an award winning entourage. 

My Magazine: I want to take influence from this theme because my audience would read a magazine similar to this layout. However I am using unknown stars for my film, so I will experiment with the placement of this information, say, at the side of the article rather than before it, due to the lack of audience engagement in this particular category. 

Plot: I like the use of a turquoise colour for the font since it clearly defines it from the following text. The font is simple enough to read and does not distract from the message of the film.
My Magazine: As mentioned above, the use of colour is effective in catching the readers attention, and I plan to do this in order to draw my audience into the new material. I am aware my narrative is not a mainstream blockbuster, but I plan to have the audience not drawn in by the celebrities but the idea of a stereotypical narrative (the Underdog) being told in a new perspective (a Female Footballer)

Above: Added Details

Bold Font: A simple bold font with a side rectangle plays on the art deco theme of the piece as well as defining the text from the other sources of information. 

My Magazine: I plan to use the bold font in my spread, allowing the audience to define the difference between my spread and the review.

Distance: The distance between each set of texts prevents the eye from being cluttered from a glance. This gives the layout a sleek first impression that is organised and planned.

My Magazine: I plan to use the spacing to give my magazine a sense of order and structure, possibly using breaks in between the stanzas rather than clunks of text. I shall experiment with this in Photoshop during the creative process.

Above: EMPIRE ending

Writer: The writer is placed at the end of the text, acting like a punctuation mark for the end of the text. I liked the placement of this because it allows for the hours colours to be reinforced once again, but also acknowledges the writer, allowing the consumer to judge the work and be attracted to the authors next spread because of the themes in their text.

Page Number: A simple number at the side of the page. This prevents distraction from the page and allows the reader to focus on the important details of the image.

Logo: Inspecting closely, the EMPIRE logo can be seen in the margins of the grey background, This gives a professional look to the magazine that I intend to emulate, giving the impression of a long time running magazine that can be trusted in its resources. 

My magazine:  I intend to use this to give my magazine. The 'March 2016' is a good touch to add to the magazine, as it gives the impression of a house style that is constantly changing with the times and gives the user gratification that they have chosen the correct product. 

EMPIRE vs. Sight and Sound: Internet Edition

EMPIRE vs. Sight and Sound

Whilst drafting a poster for my final product, I am researching into different house styles that I can take inspiration for my poster.

language styles (what do they think is more important than one another?)

Opening Page- Banner and Splash

The name of the film that is being reviewed is written inside a red box, linking it into Empire’s house style. The social media buttons are easy to access, with simple details  for the social media logos of Twitter, Face Book and Pinterest. These are all visual social media sites that allow the large images to be prominent in the house style.

The top of the article has a moving image, detailing the main characters and theme of the film. This gives the reader the ability to glance over the review and decide whether to read it or not, with the article giving the reader enough information to make that judgement.

The colour naturally draws the eye to ‘Spotlight Review’ and gets the reader to start reading the black bold font below. The text is straight to the point and gives a reverting summary of what the reader can expect from the film. A splash of stars connotes the importance of being able to access visuals quickly and if the article is worth reading. By having these ratings the readers is more connected to the writer, as their venting of the disappointing performance can gain a response from the reader, and increase the popularity of the magazine.

Sight and Sound, on the other hand is a lot more humble in appearance. Dressed in a grey background, its main target is to bring in regular customers. The BFI Logo are the brightest part of the screen, which draws in the readers eye. This is a seal of quality, and the customer can be assured that the reviews in this magazine are to the best quality.

Quote and Red House Style

The thin red line divides the statement eloquently, allowing the layout to look professional and well organised. There is linking of the red colour palette again, allowing the red white and black colour palette to blend in with the various films the reviewer may cover. This allows there to be definition between the fix of font sizes

A bold comment defines the article with a certain style, giving an insight into the tone of the film. I like the idea of using this in my house and possibly using a signature colour to implement the audience my magazine is aiming for. Instead of Red, I could use another bright colour, such as a blue or green, depending on the tone I want to go for in my film.

Trailer Link 

One of the major differences between Sight and Sound and Empire is Empire's decision to use a video at the end of their review. This is a media format that is more commercial and allows the spread of a scene or trailer to be passed among social media websites, such as FaceBook or Twitter.

Sight and Sound may not have such a presence in social media formats, but its theory and analytical works make up for its social media differences. Clearly there is a difference in audience here, with Empire aiming for a more mainstream audience, whereas BFI'S Sight and Sound having a more sophisticated presentation.

Down below there are links to other reviews as well as a quick summary of other links to other films. I like the idea of this being at the bottom of my review, as I can link to other films and give the impression of a running magazine.

Sight and Sound did not have any links at the bottom of their page but did have a visuals that showed the viewer a sneak peak into the magazine edition of the review. Although the words are too small to read, Sight and Sounds main impression is to convey it's rich visuals which balance it's in depth analysis.