Evaluation

Final Cut

Final Review Page / Final Film Poster

Review Page Final:



Here is my final double-page-spread review page. There isn't much difference in terms of style from my first draft. I have changed the lighting and certain font sizes, but overall its the same as it was in the first draft. I am very happy with the way my review page has turned out. Initially, I was worried about whether or not the image I chose would work as the background of this DPS. However I think the image as the background has turned out very well and I feel it gives the page another stylistic element which I believe draws the reader into this article even more. I ultimately changed the lighting and contrast to create more of a dark tone effect to the image. I also wanted the background of the image to be more blurred. I wanted to do this so the background would look more colourful with all the different objects blurred out to reveal their individual colours. I believe this effect has worked very well and has allowed the text to stand-out which was another element of this review page I was worried about because of the colours of the image.

Another element which has worked well on my review page is the main headline. It took me a while to find the right font which would suit the overall style of this page and I think I made the right choice by choosing this font. I like the boldness this font brings which ultimately allows the reader to clearly see what this article is about, relating to the main motif in our short film. When laying out the headline, I tried laying it out across the whole top of both pages to see what it looked like, however I didn't like how it looked and changed it to only being on one side of the double-page-spread.

I added the red line and text of information of the cast of this film to give this review page another conventional trait of other film magazines such as Total Film and Sight and Sound. I wanted the audience to be involved with the film and to know who was behind the making of this short film. This additional information like I said before is a conventional trait of many real life film magazines. I ultimately want my review page to look as professional as I could, and I believe adding this information has done that. I also chose to show it in the colour of red to allow my magazine to show another conventional trait I have typically seen in a lot of film, and other genre's of magazine. I liked the way a colour could separate the large amount of text on a page and keep the audiences interest in the page by showing various colours which will draw them in. I also like that this separate information has a separate colour to separate the text of the review and the text of the additional information of the film itself.

In terms of the review itself, I wanted to write something which was compelling and gave 'teasers' of the film away, but ultimately intrigued the reader in wanting to go and see this short film. I believe the article I have written does this without giving too much of the film away, but enough 'teasers' of certain key plot twists to make them want to go and see the film to ultimately find out what happens.

Poster Final:

Here is an image of my final poster. As you can see from the difference between the first draft of this poster, everything is relatively the same except I have now added in the movie credits font which makes this poster even more professional looking.
One aspect I really like about this poster is the way the knife stands-out in the illustrated style I have chosen to do. This kind of style I believe goes against the typical conventions you would normally associate with modern film posters. The illustrated style of the knife gives my poster a classical look in terms of film posters I was initially aiming for. I also really like the bright whiteness of the knife which again is another factor as to why this knife stands-out very vividly on the page. The knife is a key aspect of our film which I believe is clearly shown in the poster I have created. The knife stands-out which allows the readers eye to be directed towards this certain element and shows that this chefs knife may be a key factor in the film overall.

Another thing I like about this poster is the 'White Lies' font which I have chosen to show in the colour of red. I used red down to the fact that the connotations to the colour red represent danger and violence, again another key factor of our short film. This colour also fits the overall colour palette of this page. The red stands-out very effectively in front of that black background. The font of the 'White Lies' title also has a classic look and feel to it. This fits with the overall classic style I was aiming for in this poster. I believe I have been able to incorporate a subtle classic element to my poser which is recognisable to my target audience. I mainly took inspiration from the classic film poster of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and I believe I have been able to create similarities between Psycho's various different posters and my own.

I also like the font and the colour of the font for information on the cast and crew. I chose to use this light brown, almost pinkish colour to go against the other secondary colours I had on my page. I wanted the style of the page to stay professional looking. However, I also wanted to keep a stylish modern feel to it to connect with various different age groups.

Review Page Draft 1

Here is the first draft for my double-page-spread film review page. I am very happy with this first draft and feel I have achieved some of the initial aspects I wanted to achieve for this page.
The first thing I like about my double-page-spread is the headline. It ultimately took me a while to find the right font which would fit the overall style of this page. I chose the Britannic Bold font on Photoshop because I felt it gave that bold, yet stylish feel which is an aspect of this page I wanted to achieve. I also decided to position it over the top of the text, similar to the double-page-spread of Skyfall. I believe this fits the typical conventional features of a real-life film magazine, which in tern allows my headline to apply the level of professionalism acquired from other magazines onto my double-page-spread. I have also added the red line underneath the headline, separating both the headline and the columns of text which I believe shows another professional quality to this page.

Going into the red line and the red text, I wanted to ultimately show another colour of text to keep the audiences interested in reading this page. I have seen certain magazines in general use one specific colour for their text, which can sometimes almost overwhelm the reader with a repetitive colour scheme which can lead to boredom within the reader. Because my background is very dark, using white text ultimately allow my writing and other elements such as my headline to stand-out. However, my point is that the same colour of text through-out the whole page can look boring and could potentially make the reader uninterested in reading this review page. Allowing other colour to come into the page, regarding the text, allows the audiences eye to be directed to that section of the page because of the fact it's a different colour than the rest of the text. It's also a way of separating different information such as the main review itself and for example what I've done here is shown information about the crew of the film. This allow for another stylistic feature which keeps the page looking fresh and interesting.

At the bottom of the page I have put a website address in a small font. I did this to keep with the common conventions of other film magazines (such as Total Film) to ultimately make my magazine keep the professional tone I believe I have already created in this page. Also, you can see I've added chosen title idea (mentioned on the title idea post) to keep with my chosen research, and also add more real-media qualities shown in other film magazines to show even more conventional traits.

Editing Process

       

Here is the beginning of my editing process. I have used the image I mentioned before in my research. I felt this image was able to show what type of genre are film is, and also it gives the audience a 'teaser' into what events will take place in this film. The colour I felt was very warm, yet had a cold tone to it which I believe is down to the fact the explicit content shown in this image. This also allows audiences to know whether or not this genre type suits their film taste just by looking at the picture.

In terms of the picture itself, I like the dark-red of the blood dribbling off of the knife. It adds a sinister tone which is something I was looking to achieve for the overall tone of this page. I wanted the reader to instantly feel intrigued and questioning themselves as to what has happened, primarily by looking at the picture. I also like the general photography used in this picture. The focus on the knife, complemented with the out-of-focus background allows the knife to stand-out very vividly to the reader. Zack (Director of Photography/ Cinematographer) captured a lovely looking shot which I believe works perfectly as a starting point for my double-page-spread.

Another aspect which I have added is the White Lies title which has a black rectangle on it. I was inspired by the double-page-spread of Skyfall I analysed for my conventions of magazines post. I like the modern feel of it and the fact it's a bit different to how other film titles are normally shown in film magazines. I also like the bold looking font I used. It allows the title to stand-out very effectively to the reader and the font I feel looks very professional looking, while at the same time keeping a stylistic element to it. Also, the colour palette of the White Lies title, contrasted with the colour palette of the background goes together very well.

Here, I have begun to add pieces of my text which I did a draft of before I started editing my double-page-spread. I want to ultimately add three columns worth of text which will allow my DPS to look in depth and professional for the higher age-groups which I am primarily aiming my DPS to. The green lines shown on the screen I used to find the centre of the page so I was able to measure how big each column had to be to be able to fit three in. This tool has allowed me to develop my Photoshop skills even further as I was unaware this tool was available when I first used photoshop. This has ultimately allowed me to develop my skills to a higher level in Photoshop which I hope will contribute to allow future work to look even more professional.

I have now been able to create three columns of text which I feel look very stylish and professional on this double-page-spread. The white text allows my writing to stand-out effectively to the audience and allow them to clearly read the review I have wrote. I haven't yet finished the writing side of my DPS, however it is very close to being completed. I have also added a quote in between the text of the middle-column of text. This is a common convention of many double-page-spread magazines and felt it added a professional stylistic feature to my magazine which is something I initially wanted to achieve. Even though I like this feature, I don't like the font I have chose. I feel it doesn't fit the style of the page I'm aiming to achieve. I will therefore go back and test out a few different fonts on Photoshop to see which one looks the most appealing.


For the next steps of my DPS, I have added the main headline which says 'Actions Always Have Consequences'. I like this title because it has emotive language which relates to certain emotions featured in our short film. I also like it because it gives almost a 'teaser' to the reader because they are now thinking about what consequences might have accused in this film, almost a rhetorical question to the reader to get them thinking. However, even though I'm happy with the headline I have chosen, I don't like the font or colour I have used to present it. The font itself looks 'cheap' and ultimately doesn't fit the style of this double-page-spread. The font hasn't got that stylish vibe I was initially looking for. It doesn't draw me in to this page, so the reader definitely won't be interested in this page. The headline is one of the most important aspects of a double-page-spread in allowing the reader to be drawn in to explore the rest of the content featured on that certain page. I also feel the colour doesn't work well with the overall colour palette of this page. It blends in to much to the background and is hard to read unless you focus on the headline itself. I want the page to come together so the reader can look at the page as a whole and be drawn into reading it. I don't want their to be any aspects which go against the professional connotations this page I believe has the potential to have. Ultimately, because of this, I will test-out different fonts to see which stands-out the most effectively on my double-page-spread. Once I have chosen my desired font, I will then test out various colours to see which fits the overall colour palette of this page, but also allow the headline to stand-out distinguishably and appealing to the reader.

Firstly, I have now changed my headline and the colour. Before I had a red headline which ultimately looked very cheap. I have now changed the boring looking font I originally had to the 'haettenschweiler' font which I believe creates a much bolder and intriguing effect. The font itself is quite stylish and original compared to other conventional fonts of other film magazines, which I feel works well with the rest of the page. I also like the way the headline is positioned compared to how I had it before in the centre of the page. It looks a lot more professional over the top of the three columns of text. I would also like to add a section in between the headline and text which has information about the cast of this film such as the director, cinematographer etc. I feel this addition would make the page look even more professional for the higher age ranges I'm primarily targeting my magazine to. It also allows audiences to go into more detail about the specific aspects of this short film, other than just the review. I have also changed the colour of the headline to white instead of red. I believe the white stands-out much more effectively compared to the red headline, and it also fits the primary colour palette of my double-page-spread. Overall, I am very happy with my headline and feel it gives the page a professional and sophisticated quality which is what I was aiming for.


Another aspect which I have changed is the font of the quote featured in between the middle column of text. Before, I felt the font didn't fit the overall style of the page and ultimately looked out of place on this double-page-spread. I have decided to use the 'britannic bold' font because of the way it stands-out very effectively on the page. You can now clearly see the quote in between the text and I am instantly drawn to it which is the effect I wanted to create. I have also made the font bolder, which  in tern is another reason why it stands-out so effectively on the page. Another small change I have made is moving the 'White Lies' film title to the other-side of the page. I did this to ultimately fit the main headline over-the-top of the column of texts to make it look more professional. However, I believe the title still gives off that stylistic element which is what it was originally intended to do.

Journal of Critical Reflection on Shoot

The photo I intend to use for my final design is a screenshot from a piece of footage in our short film. As a group, we were intending to have a photoshoot with the actor Rory Wilton on Friday evening after shooting. However, Rory needed for an audition he received a few days before shooting and said he wanted Friday to allow preparation for his upcoming audition on the Saturday of that week. We had thus change shooting days and film the rest of the film, including the scene of the alleyway in that one day. This meant we couldn't proceed with our intended photoshoot we had planned for Friday. Because of this, we decided to use the footage from our short film and screenshot certain shots we wanted for our review page. I ultimately chose this image from our short film because of the stereotypical relation it has to the thriller/ crime genre. I also liked the focus the camera had on the knife, creating an 'out of focus' effect with the background. I believe this shot will allow me to create a tense and intriguing looking review one which will hopefully allow the audiences intrigue to fester, subsequently wanting them to go and see our short film based on the review and the supporting image.

The day of shooting overall went very smoothly which allowed to capture some great shots with the collaboration between Fin and Zack. I also suggested a few shots which came instinctively on the day, however Fin's direction has overall allowed me to get screenshots of some really nice looking shots from our film. Rory also was a massive help in allowing us to capture these particular shots. His focus and acting ability's allowed the still images to look realistic and believable to the audience, ultimately allowing my review page to hopefully look even better.

I believe with this image, I will maybe play around with the lighting and contrast to see if more light or less light is needed to make the image look more sinister, however I am already very happy with how this image looks. One thing I do want to do however is to make the blood on the knife stand-out more. To do this, I could play around with lighting and contrast like I said before, or I could try and select that certain colour on the image and somehow make it stand-out even more. I'm not sure how I could do that, but with playing around on Photoshop I'm sure I can get something similar to what I'm initially looking for.

Another image I was also considering using for the shoot is the one of me as the drug dealer. We also captured these shots on film, and as you can see the colour in these shots are really professional looking. On the day of shooting, we were able to film with myself and Rory at around 8pm, so we were able to get really nice lighting coming from the streetlight above us. The streetlight created a really nice eery tone to the scene which is something we were looking for in both our footage and the shots we were going to use for our review pages. I also liked the fact the baseball cap was covering my face, allowing the image to look more mysterious leading the audience to question whats going on.

I ultimately chose not to use any of these photos because of the fact I liked the other one more for its 'teaser' and the threatening tone it instantly gave. However I do really like the colours in this image and will still test it out in editing to see if this particular range of images looks better than the one I am initially looking to use.

Original Images

This is a screenshot from our short film which I will be intending to use for my main image on my magazines double-page-spread final design. I chose this image based on the content and the colour palette it gives off. The image is very graphic which instantly gives the audience the indication as to what genre this short film is and whether or not it appeals to them. It also allows readers, who may be fans of the crime/thriller genre, to be drawn into reading this page based on their interests in certain film genre's. The image shows a graphic content via the knife with the blood slowly dripping off the blade. I like the overall graphic approach of this image which I believe will intrigue reader and draw them into this page. I also however like the 'teaser' aspect it gives. This is ultimately a major aspect of our film and the fact I am showing a major element of the films plot allows the audience to read into the image, before actually reading the review. This I believe allows the reader to speculate the events which depict in this film, allowing them to create their own ending results before even watching the film, or reading the review, which will hopefully intrigue them into wanting to watch this film.

In terms of the colour palette, it's ultimately very secondary and dark, which fits the genre of our film and conventions of reel media products. The background is out of focus which gives a nice blend of natural colour created primarily from the background. This not only looks professional, but it allows the knife to stand-out effectively to the reader. It also allows the colour of the blood on the knife to have an almost 3-D effect because of the fact the background is out-of-focus. It also allows the texture of the blood to look more graphic and allow the different shades of red to ultimately make the blood look more realistic.

Equipment List

Photography and Lighting Research

Here I have chosen a variation of different locations which feature a low-lighting and dim effect to them, something I want for my main image on my double-page-spread. This first image uses mostly natural looking light which seems to have been colour graded to make the image look a bit dimer. I believe this image relates to our target audience because of the dark tones it uses which typically fits with the colour palette associated with thriller/crime short and feature length films. Having dark lighting and colours in an image is a conventional way to show the audience that this film is of the thriller/ crime/ action genre and feature some mature themes which are targeted towards a certain age-group. I want to show mature theme in my main DPS image which also gives the reader a 'teaser' of whats going to happen in our film.

I believe the second picture I have added shows my ideologies best. We see a women waiting by what seems to be a train-station. She is shown in very dark and dim lighting which is main reason we feel a dangerous, atmospheric tone when looking at this image. We wonder why she's there and what may happen next. This is the effect I want to create with my DPS image. I want the audience to feel anticipation when looking at the image, which will hopefully lead them to watching our short film because of the themes situated in the image.

The next image is very similar to the shot of the scene in the alleyway of our short film. My favourite scene in our film in terms of lighting is the scene in the alleyway which features natural lighting from the streetlamp. I like the brown of the fence against the brightness of the streetlight. It gives a very mysterious and eery feel to it. I want the image in my double-page-spread to have these connotations connected to it. I want the reader to instantly be drawn to this page based on the image which I hope will stand-out very effectively towards the reader, drawing them into the review and ultimately wanting to go and see the short film.
I don't necessarily want the same colour palette and the harshness of the light beaming down, but I definitely want to have that eery mysterious feel I believe this certain image gives off.

The final image is another example of light I would like my main image to have in my double-page-spread. I like the cool light coming from the sky which connotes peace and calmness when looking at this colour. However, when you go down the image you see the brightness of the streetlight which instantly gives you that mysterious and eery feel to the picture. You wonder what is going to happen because of the use of light, mixed with the emptiness in the image. This is another example as to what  I want my main double-page-image to have. I want to radiate mysterious and fear from my main image, but also suspense when the reader looks at it. I want the reader to ultimately feel intrigued as to what this short film is and wanting them to have that suspense from that single image that they want to go and watch it.

Here is a screenshot of a video I found on YouTube about lighting images and cinematography. This video tutorial talks about lighting set-up to get certain desired effects. They say about using a Arri Replica light to gain a 'bounce-light' effect which is a big feature in a lot of Hollywood films. However, we may not be able to acquire this certain light if the costs do not fit our budget. However we can look for alternatives available to us at college to achieve this effect to the highest level possible. They also use a 'soft box ' light which I can acquire from college if needed. This allows the light from both directions to balance itself out to create more of a cinematic effect. He also says that if your taking an image of someone, you should have them hold a sheet of white A4 paper in front of their face to allow the light to be more focused on their face and hair. This is a really good tip in preparation for the photoshoot if I decide to take a picture of the main characters face. However, this technique could be tested on objects as well to allow the light to be centred mainly at that certain point. The box light not only lights the person in shot, but also gives a nice cool glow to the background as well. This is something I will definitely test when going into the photoshoot to see if this technique works for me. 
This lighting set-up will ultimately allow me to take pictures of the certain person or object from different angles to make sure I get the correct framing and lighting in the image. If I feel the light isn't what I'm wanting at a certain angle, then I have the option of changing the angle to see if that certain shot works better for me. This was overall a very useful tutorial which I will defiantly go back to in preparation for my photoshoot with our actor.

Flat Plans

Here is a general sketch as to what I want the lay-out of my double-page-spread to look like. Firstly, I have added a headline over the top of my columns of text to follow the typical conventions of a real media film magazine, such as Total Film. Having the headline laid-out like this will appeal to the audience because it will stand-out at the top of the page. In many films magazines they place the headline at the top of the page to allow the audiences eye to be drawn instinctively to that element of the page. The headline is one of the most important things, if not the most important aspect of drawing the reader into a certain page in a film magazine. Combined with a bold font for the headline and a colour which allows the headline to stand-out in front of either a dark or primarily light colour palette, I believe positioning the headline here will stand-out very effectively to the reader, drawing them into reading about this film.

As you can see, I have wrote 'Main Image' on the background of the double-page-spread. I want to have the whole background as one image from our short film. I have initially planned this because I saw a magazine featuring the film Skyfall with their entire background as one image from their film. I felt it looked very professional and stood-out from other DPS's because of the lay-out. I believe using one image as the background of a double-page-spread is also a very stylistic and bold choice to make because of the fact it's quite an unconventional approach to the typical lay-out you normally find with images on a review page. Conventionally a magazine will use two, maybe three images to show different aspects of the film. Even though I like this approach, I wanted to go against conventions in terms of how an image it typically laid-out to basically make my magazine stand-out from other film magazines.

In terms of the text, I have used the conventional trait of using three columns of text, a normality for film and other genre's of magazine. I want my page to acquire a professional aura which audiences are hopefully drawn to. I also want to use three columns because I want to add a lot of detail to my review to make it a substantial and defining review in which the reader can judge whether they want to see this film or not, based on the plausible information given. I have not yet determined what colour the text will be, this will be explored more once I have found a suitable image for my background and work with the colour palette of that image.

As you can see in the top left-hand corner, I have added a small rectangular box which says 'film name'. I also got inspiration from the double-page-spread review of Skyfall where they put the name of the film in a small black rectangle, combined with bold white text. I believe this stylistic feature  will work well with this page. This also goes against conventions because you would normally associate the name of the film to be shown in a larger font, allowing it to be the main focus point of the page. However, with the inspiration from the Skyfall double-page-spread, I felt it would be interesting to go against typical conventions to make the page look more stylistic for the benefit of the reader.

Title Ideas

Article Draft

I’m not your fucking husband!”.
Strong words from a desperate man. Fin Davis’ directorial debut is a take on the contraints of anger and confusion which signinifys Anthony’s (Rory Wilton) addiction which eventually leads him to suffering and insanity. White Lies is a tale of a man who’s life is ruled by drugs, which evetually leads him to unforgivable actions.
Rory Wilton gives one of the best performances of his career and says it’s the hardest challenge in his acting career so far. “When I first looked at the script, which is brilliantly written by Fin Davis and Benjamin Lee Hicks, I thought fuck, can I say fuck? (laughs Rory) This is gonna be tough.” Rory goes on to say about how he prepared for such a complex role. “Well, instead of looking at the typical representations of this character, like he’s a low life drug addict, I wanted to go deeper in terms of why he’s turned out like this. Could he have had abuse as a child which led to future actions? Did he have a former realtionship and that in some way effected him? I wanted to asks these questions to find the real man behind his broken exterior.”

We begin the film in a dull room in which a therapy session seems to be taking place. Gloomy, distraught figures sat in a circle with expressions filled of malice as they reluctantly listen to the female therapist (played by Alison Dures). A cold and unwelcomed tone fills this first scene with questions as to what level of crimes these men have potentially comitted to be in this sitaution. We then move on to the next scene which keeps the cold and eery tone evident in the first scene. A suspicious character leans against a fence, wearing a cap which hides his face from the warm streetlight glaring down at him, we are filled with suspense as to what’s going to happen next. We then see the protagonist (Rory Wilton) come into shot. His slow and unceremonious walk, a normaility it seems as he goes over to this man. We then see Anthony take ake-out a wedge of cash, in exchange for a small bag of cocaine. We begin to see the true man behind his hidden shell. As he begins to walk off into the cold, dark night, we begin to understand how this addiction is a never ending cycle, almost a vicious circle which is consumed in.

A quick-cut brings us to Anthony walking into his apartment. At first glance we can see that his aprtment isn’t of the conventional one of a typical drug addict. It isquite the opposite. It looks like a nice family home, which may be significant to past events which have accured for him to be in this sitaution. As Anthony is taking of his jumper, we cut to a black and white shot of him dropping the bag of cocaine on his clean, black coffeet-table.

 This is a very stylistic choice to make and I feel it works tremendously well. It has a Christopher Nolan ‘Memento’ type of feel to it, making it more suspenfiul by the second. Another black and white shot shows Anthony pouring what seems to be an alcoholic beverage into a pretty shitty glass. What do we expect? We then come back into ‘real-time’ and we see our protagonist vigouriously trying to get into his precious bag of goods. The bag evidentely tears open, leaving a pile of coke laying on his (now not so clean) coffee-table.. Anthony then pulls out a chef’s knife from underneath a magazine and
begins to cut a line out of the heap of coke on the table. As he begins to cut a line of coke with the knife, the tension begins to rise. Watching a ‘behind the scenes’ view of a drug addict and what truly goes on in their world. He then takes his frist line of coke. The beginning of a nightmare which will never go away. As Anthony begins to line up another hit of coke, however he is stopped by the reverberate sound of his phone, and of course, his wife on the other end. Lucy (Anthony’s wife) explains that their daughter is coming over (which Anthony obviously forgot) and that there approximately two minutes away. In the words of Anthony as he looks down the lens of the camera, “fuck”. He begins to quickly wipe the iniquitous coke off of the coffee table before his ‘daughter’ gets to his house. As Anthony moronically trys to clear away his sins, pouring the rest of the coke reluctantly into the glass of whiskey. The doorbell rings. A slow look towards the door signifys his overwrought, distressed mood as he contemplates what to do next.


Anthony, in an adagio fashion, begins to walk towards the door. He opens the door to a tempermental looking Jessica (played by Beccy-Mead Stuchbury). Anthony (still in a pertubed state) walks towards the sofa and sits next to Jessica. A tense and uncomfortable silence fills the room. Anthony finally breaks the silence, asking Jessica mindless questions which he no doubt forget by his next hit. Anthony then leaves the room. The glass of whiskey still lays heinously on the table. Jessica then downs the whole glass. Her expression begins to change as the drugs begin to infuse into he innocent body. Her body, dead and silent like the doldrums of the ocean. As Anthony sits their in disarray, his phone again begins to ring. It’s his wife saying she’s coming over with homework their daughter forgot. Trepidation fills his guilty face. Lucy then comes in the house, and flicks on the light as she says’ “Why’s is it so dark in here?”.

Target Audience: Survey Monkey

List of Common Conventions for a Magazine Review

Layout:
The lay-out of this film magazine's DPS is very simple and professional looking compared to film magazine's targeted primarily at the younger age groups. It has an independent magazine feel to it in the the way it keeps it's lay-out quite simple, which allows the professional element to show to the audience. Independent magazine's such as Little White Lies don't usually use much text and instead have illustrations to grip the audience to an article or review of a film featured in their magazine. They have typically laid-out a heading which is conventional to other film magazine double-page-spread's because this allows the reader to instantly be targeted to this page because of the title. If the title is small, the reader will quickly miss what the rest of the article is about and will gladly skip past this page onto the next. You need to have a bold title, which also fits with the rest of the stylistic features on the page such as the primary colour palette to allow the page to look professional and modern , which in tern will keep the reader wanting to buy this certain magazine because it relates to what they would want to see in a film magazine.

Another thing to point-out about lay-out is the text. There is very little use of text on this double-page-spread review, however the way the text is laid-out is still quiet appealing and keeps the pages professional level. It's very simplistically laid-out, and looks quite neat in terms of lay-out. The text also fits nicely underneath the headline, which creates a very professional and pleasant looking page for the reader to get they teeth stuck into. Also, beside the text they have put another piece of text about the new film, which has been positioned in-line with the text of the main article. It is also shown in a bold text which is also a nice change in style and allows the page to continue to interest the reader with these slight, but very significant options.
Another element I like in terms of lay-out is the how they've laid-out the name of the film. Sky fall has been laid-out very stylistically. I like the black rectangle over the top of the film name and also the way it has been positioned at the top of the page, in what is a small looking font compared to younger aged film magazine's. They have also shown the name of the film at the bottom of the page, with a blue looking object this time highlighting the film's name. This adds another type of stylistic element and lay-out choice, which in my opinion is very effective for this professional looking page.

The last thing in terms of the lay-out of this page is the image. Having an image from the film put in the background for this page is a very conventional style many magazines are beginning to incorporate into their page designs. Even though the image from the film Skyfall fits well for this double-page-spread, sometimes having the image dominate the page can make the page look boring and ultimately very uninteresting for the reader. However, I believe it works well on this DPS because of the way the rest of the text, headline and other stylistic features are laid-out on this page. Like I said before, the page ultimately looks professional and intriguing because of how everything comes together in terms of the lay-out to create a very high-quality looking double-page-spread. I will hopefully try and do this with my magazine double-page-spread to create the same effect this magazine has been able to do.

Overall, the page is laid-out very professional and neatly which draws me in to want to read more of this magazine because of the professional feel which I ultimately look for in a magazine. I also like the fact they have gone almost minimalistic in the way they have laid-out the image and text, allowing every element in this double-page-spread to sync incredibly well with each other, resulting in a very intriguing looking DPS.

Colour:
Overall, the colour of this double-page-spread is quite limited. The primary colour comes from the image featuring Daniel Craig, which I believe works well with the other elements on this page, such as the headline and general text. It has a light tone to it which is quite appealing to look at. You have a light grey coming from the sky, mixed with the dark green and brown of the hills which adds a slight gloomy feel to this picture. However, you then have Daniel Craig standing stern in a navy blue suit which allows the colour palette to switch up and change tones. This works very well because the greyish background and the fact they have added a navy blue colour from the suit allows the audiences eyes to be directed at this specific colour. I believe this is a good technique, because sometimes in other film magazine's they have too many colours going on in one page and it begins to look unprofessional. This is becoming a conventional trend in film magazine's such as Little White Lies and Empire who tend to use an image from the film as the background for their double-page-spread which allows for, what I believe is, a very professional looking double-page spread.

Because the background is quite bright, the text needs to be able to stand-out, otherwise it could be lost in with the colour palette of the background. The black text they have used for this magazine's DPS is a conventional attribute in many film magazines, mostly when their background has a quite light tone. In contrast, you would use a white text to allow it to stand-out from a darker looking background. The title I believe works very well in front of this light background and really allows itself to stand-out to the reader. As soon as I looked at this page I was drawn to looking at the title because the colour, contrasted with the font type stands-out increasingly well. This is definitely a conventions I want to add to my magazine double-page-spread. The text below the title is also black, and I can see it quite visibly. Even though the colour palette is ultimately very limited, keeping to primarily more darker secondary colours, it allows the page to obtain a professional tone which is sometimes lost in other film magazine's because of the over-use of colour.

Text Use:
Overall, there is very little text used in this double-page-spread. The main section of text consists of only two very small paragraphs of text talking about the film the page is dedicated to. This goes against common conventions of double-page-spread film reviews because you normally have around half a page of text to review the film and allow the audiences to have a general understanding of what the film is like and whether or not they want to ultimately see the film itself. Because the text on this page is so brief, you can't really get a definitive answer and detailed review as to what this certain film is like. I want to follow the typical conventions of a double-page-spread review page and have at least one half of the two pages to primarily have text which I hope includes a detailed review of our short film.

The headline 'Something Old, Something New' stands-out very effectively on this page. The background itself is very light in colour, which allow them to have a definitive looking headline to attract audiences into this review. The black colour, contrasted with the bold font works very well and I am instantly drawn to this part of the page. However, even though I like the font, I feel that the designer chose the typical, even 'safe' type of font to allow the page to have a typical professional quality. I would have liked to see a more ambitious and un-convetional looking headline to give this double-page-spread more stylistic depth which I feel would've interested and appealed to audiences even more.

Camera Shot (Type):
There is only one image on this page and it is shown in a wide shot. The image is the background for this double-page-spread which is quite appealing, something I would also like to replicate for my final design. The camera shot itself, a conventional wide-shot used frequently in many magazines, allows the reader to see the background in detail, and it also allows Daniel Craig to stand-out very effectively to the reader. The wide-shot ultimately fits in very well with the text featured on this page. Daniel Craig is positioned sternly on the other-side of the page, while the other side has the classic James Bond Aston Martin which also fits nicely underneath the columns of text.

Mise-en-scene:
The mise-en-scene of this page conventionally features columns of text which is a typical trait to any professional looking page in a magazine. The columns are laid-out like this ultimately to make the lay-out of text look more professional on the page, which in tern allows the overall lay-out of the page to fit together more stylishly. Another convention in terms of mise-en-scene is showing an image of the main character, who is also most likely a big acting name (in this case Daniel Craig) to draw the audience into this review page and allow their fascination and intrigue in this image to fester, ultimately leading the reader to almost become tantalising to seeing the film. That is ultimately what an image on a review page should do to the reader. The image must make them excited and intrigued to see this film, and want to read this review.

Film Magazine DPS Analysis

Mainstream Magazine - Total Film



Independent Magazine: Little White Lies



Independent Magazine - Sight and Sound

Poster Draft 1

Here, you can see the progress of my final design and how everything is beginning to look professional around the illustration of my knife. I have firstly put two pieces of text on top of the 'WHITE LIES' title and then have added the additional cast information below it. I decided to lay the text out like this so I could begin to fill the un-nessary space left on my poster. Even though I want my poster to look minimalistic in its design and show a modern design type by showing more space on the page compared to older designs of film posters, I want to make sure I keep the space whilst making it look professional at the same time. As you can see I laid the text out showing the cast members at an angle. I did this because I wanted to add another stylistic element to the poster, and I felt using the text to follow the shape of the knife did this very well. I also like the colour of the text, I believe the beige-browny colour of text stands-out very effectively. The mixture of colours on the page, from the red of the title, the white of the knife and the beige-browny colour of the text really stands-out in front of the back background. The next step to finishing my film poster will be too add the film credits at the bottom of the page to relate my poster to real media posters, which will give it more of a professional feel.

Editing Process

Here is the beginning of the editing process for my short film poster. I have decided to choose black for my background based on my research of other thriller/action short films. Normally, the common conventions of a thriller short film poster use predominantly dark, secondary colours to advertise themselves to a specific audience.

I believe the black background is the basis for the audience in terms of them understanding what kind of film this is. The dark colour instantly gives you a mysterious and dark tone to this poster. I also felt the black of the background relates to our coffee table we used in the film. The table we used was black and glossy, which could also be the background. Instead of just being black, I could add more of a glossy effect to it to make it look more like the coffee table we used.

Here is the next step of my film poster on Photoshop. I have added an illustrated knife to my poster. I wanted my poster to originally have a graphic and illustrated style to it, so I could explore different styles of this poster more creatively. I firstly took a picture of the knife (which you can see in my planning) and then I put it in Adobe Illustrator and 'live traced' the image of the knife to create an illustrated effect, which is what I wanted to achieve.
I like how the white of the blade stands-out from the black background. The knife is a very significant attribute of our short film. I wanted to show the knife on my poster to create a contentious viewpoint from people about what their initial thoughts are on the film, based on the illustration of the knife.
Ultimately, I am very happy with the outcome of the illustration and believe I will keep it in for my final design.





Here is the next step of the creation of my poster. I was a bit sceptical and critical about which font would fit in with the genre of this short film and the tone of the poster.
I felt that the black background, complemented with the illustrated effect of the knife, gave my poster a kind of Alfred Hitchcock feel to it. Therefore, I wanted the typography to look more classical, rather than the more modern day fonts conventionally used on thriller film posters, such as Logan.
I searched through and tested many different fonts, but I eventually settled on the Gill Sans Ultra Bold font. I feel this font brings elements of a classic 1950's looking font, which is what I was aiming for. I believe the red of the font adds another element of effect in terms of colour on my poster, and it also connotes to another theme in our short film.

Journal of Critical Reflection

As you can see on my last post, I have grab some screenshots from our short film which I feel would work for my poster final design and also my double-page-spread design. We didn't have time to do a more professional photoshoot because our protagonist Rory Wilton had to leave early to go to an acting audition in London which we were told by him last minute on our first day of shooting. However, I believe these screenshots look professional and will add a statistic element to both my poster and double-page-spread designs. I believe all of these screenshots fit into the thriller film genre and give an edge to each of the products I am intending to create. I also believe these images relate to other images featured on thriller film posters which I believe give them an edge which connotes that these film posters are promoting thriller short films. I believe this mainly because of the colour palette which connotes a dark an eery tone which is essential to a thriller film poster.
I believe these screenshots I have chosen, (including the photo of the chefs knife which I am looking to illustrate) will allow me to test out various different minimalistic styles of designs which will allow me come up with the most professional design for our short film.

I have added an image of a chefs knife to my 'original images' section because I had an idea of using one of the main elements of our short film to promote the film, in terms of the film poster. I have seen this modern take of an Alfred Hitchcock poster of the film 'Psycho' and I feel I could recreate something like this for my final poster design. I haven't definitely decided on using this idea for my final product, but I am intrigued into how it will look
in terms of a more modern approach into the creation of my poster. I also like the fact how this poster has used the typically 'unnecessary space' to their advantage. The only two things in this poster which fill somewhat of the space on the poster is the shower head and the knife, both very important components in Psycho. I also like the stylistic feature of the text coming from the shower, representing water coming from a shower head. They have put information about the cast, director, the writer, and other important crew members, which is done in a very stylish way. I can't do this for my poster because a shower isn't an important aspect of our short film, but I like the way they have gone against more classical takes on other film posters and given it more of a minimalistic, modernised look I believe fits the market of film in todays society.
However, one element of this poster I can take inspiration from is the illustrated knife with the blood beginning to drip off the edge of the blade. A chefs knife is a big element of our short film, so I could somehow use this as inspiration for my final poster design. There is a very similar shot in our short film where the blood is dripping off the end of the knife, which looks almost exactly like the illustration of the knife in this film poster of Psycho.

Also, for my knife illustration idea, I believe I could use a relevant and symbolic colour from our short film for the background, which will allow the illustrated knife and the text of the cast and crew to stand-out to the audience. I believe the colour of black could represent the black glare of the coffee table he ultimately takes the cocaine on. I could also add some sort of powder which symbolises cocaine to show that the black background symbolises the coffee table from our short film.


I have also found this poster from the film 'Sin City A Dame to Kill For'. I like this poster because of the title in red. I believe the red title saying 'Sin City' looks very statistic and adds a certain edge and change in tone to the rest of the features of this film poster. I want to somehow incorporate this style of text and the colour red which will symbolis blood, a very crucial factor of our short film. I also believe the large bubble style font of text gives the poster a classic and animated feel to it, which I believe will fit perfectly into my film poster. I like how big the text is. It allows the title of the film to made evident on this film poster, and the audience are instantly drawn to this area, even though there are many things going on in this poster. This is definitely something I want to replicate for the final design of my poster, which is also a very important aspect because I want my poster to have more 'unnecessary' space to go against the common conventions of real media products.

Another aspect I like about this poster is how the text is laid out both on top of the 'SIN CITY' title, and underneath it. I believe it keeps the text very neat, yet stylish which is also something I want to have for my final poster design. I will therefore try this style out in the editing process of my poster to ultimately see whether or not this idea will work effectively with the rest of the elements on my poster.

Original Images

Here is the image I took on my phone of the knife I'm intending to illustrate for my poster final design. I decided to take this image on my phone and not with a Canon because of the fact I'm illustrating it, so you won't see the image of the knife anyway. I want to illustrate this knife on Photoshop to replicate the style of Hitchcock's reinvented poster of Psycho which features an illustrated knife with the title name on the blade of the knife. I don't really like the title being on the blade of the knife, but I like the overall lay-out of the poster, with the knife being the main vocal point of the poster drawing the audiences eye to one of the main aspects of the film itself. The knife is one of the most crucial objects in our short film and believe showing it on the poster will relate both the poster and short film together in a stylistic way. Also, the knife on my review page links into the poster and the film as well, illustrating to the audience that the knife is a key aspect in our short film. Not only does Anthony use it to cut a line in the cocaine, but at the end he uses it to kill his own wife.

I will most likely use a black background because of the survey monkey results we received from the target audience which showed they wanted predominantly a dark secondary colour palette because of thriller/ crime genre of our short film. Another thing I'm thinking about adding, in terms of the 'White Lies' title is a classic font type and colour which would be used on posters of classic thriller films. Here is an example of a film poster from the film Vertigo. I like the old font used on this poster, which almost has a cartoonish feel to it, something which should suit my illustrated movie poster.

Equipment List

Here is a list of potential and crucial pieces of equipment we will be needing for the shoot. Even though we have both the Canon 5D MKIII and the Canon 6D, we will be mostly using the Canon 5D MKIII due to the fact the film is more crisper and sharp which is key. The Canon 6D will be mostly used as a back-up camera is anything does happen on the day of filming. However, the Canon 6D can also be used to take behind the scenes shots and footage to add to our blogs post-production of the short films process. Also, having good quality cameras which take crisp and clear images is essential to the creation of my film poster and DPS design.

I have also included an LED panel light to make sure I get the correct lighting for my desired shots. If this LED light doesn't deliver the results I'm looking for in an image, I can always do the photoshoot in a studio located on the college campus. However, I believe this light will contrast nicely with the black surface of the table I'm intending to use, and I believe it will raise the quality of the image, raising my products to a more professional standard. With this light, I am also able to change the level of brightness which is key to chaining certain atmospheres and tones I'm looking to create in my image(s).

Canon 5D MKIII
Canon 6D
San Disk 64GB SD Cards
Portable LED (Dimmable) Panel Light
Black Coffee Table
Chefs Knife
Fake blood
Cocaine (Icing Sugar)
LED Panel Light

Cast List

Rory Wilton (Anthony): 
Rory is the protagonist for our film 'White Lies'. I believe his rugged look fits the physical profile of the character and gives the character of Anthony an edge no other actor we had in line to play the role had. Also, seeing Rory's previous work on TV shows such as Poldark showed us how he takes on the role of a character. I was very intrigued to see what acting qualities he would bring to the character. Overall, I believe his physical appearance was perfect for the character of Anthony and the acting qualities he brought to the character I believe contrasted very nicely with his look.








Emma Spurgen Hussey (Lucy):
For our female character, we wanted her to have the physical qualities of a normal middle-class women with an edge to show she was married to a drug addict. I believe she fits this specification perfectly. I believe her physical traits and personality she brought to the role allowed the film to flourish and give Rory's character more realism because of what she was able to bring to her character.
I also believe she fits the thriller genre of our film. She has that rough edge you would expect from a wife of someone who is a conventional drug addict, which in tern fits the thriller genre I believe.

Benjamin Lee Hicks (Drug Dealer): 
I put myself forward to play the role of the drug dealer and everyone in the group agreed I had an edgy physical trait which was needed for this role. I also believe the fact we're using me, a young stereotypical teenager, to be the drug addict links to real media stereotypes about how the youth are portrayed. This links to Stanley Halls' "Storm and Stress" which is seen in most adolescents today, and the perception that young people are emotional volcanoes ready to explode.

Flat Plans

Here is my flat plan idea for my final design. As you can see, the main aspect of this poster is the knife. It takes up most of the space on the page which allows the audiences eye to be down directly to this part of the poster. The knife will also be in front of black background which will help it stand-out even more to the audience, showing them that the knife is a key aspect of our film. I have also added the 'White Lies' title near the middle of the page next to the knife so the audiences eye is attracted specifically to this certain area of the page.

I have added the writers of the film (me and Fin), and the main cast members below the knife and title to create a professional, minimalistic looking poster. I have laid the cast and crew information as if they were bullet pointed pieces of text which I feel works well, however I do want to test-out what the text would look like if it were slanted at an angle going down the page.

Finally, at the bottom of the page I have added the movie credits information which is essential for any film poster. This information allows the other members of the crew to be shown on the poster and other cast members.

Target Audience Survey

Here is the survey monkey we carried out as a group to find out 'what the audience wants' in our film.
We have asked questions on what our target audience want to see in our film. These results will ultimately help us determine what aspects in terms of violence, drug use etc, we will be able to use. This will help in evidently writing our script because we will know what BBFC classification rating we need to follow. These results will also allow us to understand what our film posters are going to include such as the main  actor, director, production company, genre and a key plot point of the film itself. These results will allow us to promptly and professionally get on with completing other tasks involved in our short film.

As you can see from the results of the first question, the majority of people primarily want to see a colour palette of black, red and white to fit the thriller/ crime genre we intend to base our short film on. I am glad our audience feels we need primarily dark colours for our film poster. Dark, secondary colours relate to the thriller/ crime genre most because of the connotations colours such as black are typically associated with. For instance, red signify's blood and danger which instantly signifies something bad is going to happen. Seeing the colour of red on a film poster will have the same effect because of the typical connotations of that certain colour.

The next question we asked is 'What is your gender'? We asked this to find out what percentage of male and females like the thriller/ crime genre and who I should primarily target my film poster towards. As you can see from the survey results, the majority of people who answered the survey are males, however females are not very fare behind the percentage of males who took the survey. This evidently means that I must target my film poster towards both genders to make sure it's equal to both genders.

The majority of people who answered our survey were aged 15 to 20, however we had quite a divide in terms of what ages of people took the survey. The next highest age group that took our survey were aged 21 to 25. These results show that the majority of people are of the older age-groups , which evidently means we need to target our film towards the older age group. This means we will need to add aspects to our film and film poster which typically relates to this age-group. This means we can add typically violent themes to our film and film poster because of the majority of older audiences who took our survey. This also links to the popular colour palette which was chosen by people who took our survey.

The next question we asked people was 'What should the main subject of the film poster be?'. We asked this question to get a definitive answer as to what the older target audiences wanted to see on a thriller/crime short film poster. Even though they are of the older age-groups, they may not want to see certain themes typically associated with the thriller genre of film. Because of this we had to ask what the audience wanted to see on our film posters to fit their certain specifications to allow ourselves to attract this certain audience in viewing our products.

As you can see from the results, the most popular choice the audience made in what they wanted to see on our film poster was a key plot point, such as locations or props which were a main focal point in the films plot. For instance, we want to have a knife in our short film which will evidently be a major factor to the outcome of the overall plot. Because of this, I feel it would be a good idea to add this aspect to my poster to give an almost 'teaser' feel to the poster, which in tern will hopefully get the audience anticipated for our short film.

Genre and Institution Research

Layout: I would expect to see a significant object of the short film placed somewhere in the centre of the poster. It doesn't necessarily have to straight in the middle of the poster, but I would want it to be near enough in the centre of the page to draw the audiences attention to what genre this film is.
The cast names can be either in the centre to add a more of a stylistic approach to the poster, or the text can be along the top, much like this poster. Normally you would have the actors names along the top in a reasonably sized text because they are ultimately the selling point for the film.

The information about the crew is usually shown at the bottom of the poster because of the fact is less important to the audience. The audience want to see what actors are starring in the film, rather than seeing who the cinematographer is.

Colour: The colours of this poster stick to the common conventions of a thriller short film. You would normally associated a thriller film with more darker, secondary colours for its posters. This poster has used a very dark blue starting at the bottom of the page and gradually gets lighter with the use of a gradient effect. They also have a brighter colour which is positioned directly down, on what we perceive to be as the protagonist. Ultimately, most short film posters keep the colours to only 2 to 3 to make the poster look more professional. If you cram a load of different colours on a poster, unless its completely necessary, doesn't look as professional as having only 2 to 3 colours. The light, whitish colour of the light shining down on the 'protagonist' allows him to stand-out to the audience, which is a critical aspect when you have the protagonist on the poster, you must make them stand-out.

Text Use: The use of text on this poster is kept to a minimum, which is a typical aspect of a short film  poster. On the top of this poster it says who the creators are of this short film. Normally, you would have the actors names on the top of any film poster, the audience care more about who is starring in this short, rather than who the creators are. The actors in a short film are the ultimate selling point to the audience. Even though the creators must be taken into account, the actors should always be the main focal point in terms of text, unless the creator is of  a high status in the film industry.

They have show the name of their short film in quite a large font. This allows the audience to focus their attention on the name of the film. They have positioned the name of the film near the protagonist so the audience's attention is automatically drawn to that space in the poster. The text is professional looking and fits with the style of the poster. The font is modern which fits with the modern stylistic design of this poster.

Content/ Image Features: This poster features the protagonist in the centre of the page, with a shadow mirroring him on what seems to be the floor of where he's sitting. This gives us an idea of what may happen to the protagonist, which allows the audience to start guessing whats going to happen. This automatically gains the audiences interest because their guessing what will happen. Common conventions of any film poster gives the audience a significant aspect of an event or an object associated with the protagonist to give them almost a 'teaser' of whats going to happen in this film.

Another common convention of this film poster is the fact they've shown the protagonist. This is a typical aspect of many film posters because it allows you to see the what emotional state the protagonist is in in this certain situation. It allows allows you to get a glimpse of what kind of character the protagonist is based on their appearance and what emotion their inflicting to the audience. Also, if there is a big actor in a short film, they will normally be shown to again draw the audience in, which sparks their interest in watching this short film even more.

Short Film Institution

How are they created? 
The director/ writer of this short film, Andreas Climent, also shot this film and edited it. So, he was the one who most likely created this poster with the help of Andre Hedetoft, who also helped create this short film. Therefore, its most likely that the two creators of this short film created this poster, possibly using the program Adobe Photoshop. Firstly though, they would of had to get a shot of the protagonist to build the rest of the poster around him. They probably also had a few opinions from other people associated with this film, and maybe even a graphic designer before finalising this poster for advertisement.

The cost of creation?
Graphic designers will usually charge an hourly rate from around $50 to $100. In addition to this price, the material, shipping costs and other things involved within the making of the poster will be extra money on top of the graphic designers price. The size of a film will vary in prices in terms of the creation of the poster. The background of the film, actors involved, and ultimately the popularity of the plot, will vary the prices of the film poster. The price could range from $2,500 to $5000 for a Hollywood film. Also, the graphic designer will normally take around 15% commission on the printing cost.

How much does it cost to have a poster displayed?
When making an independent film, whatever your budget is, you must always set aside at least 10% of that budget for marketing. To attract your desired target audience, you need to have effective marketing for your films (i.e. trailers, film poster) which will firstly gain an audiences attention.

How film companies use posters
Ultimately, film companies use posters to attract an audience to their film. More publicity and marketing of the film will gain more attention from audiences. Companies also like giving teaser poster which include an illustration which will give audiences a sneak peak of the film, and then eventually the final poster will be released. Not all film companies do this, but the ever rising use of fan-art has sparked interest in production companies, with the added effect that designers can play around more freely with design, rather than worrying about the commercial pressures.

Successful Examples 

One of the most highest grossing films of all time, Titanic, used this now iconic movie poster to firstly market their film. As you can see, both main characters are shown on the front, and the added effect of the Titanic ship, which is untimely what the film is based on. This poster looks relatively simple, but yet it gives you a sense of the tone of the film and the relationship between the two characters on the front lead us to believe that this also a romance.