Creating Our Poster

Due to group members being absent we have been unable to fully complete our poster, this is because we have not had the pictures needed. Instead we have print screened the clown mask from the internet, in photoshop I then cut the head of the clown out and copied into Adobe Illustrator, within this I was able to make the background around the mask black. I then brought the picture back forward so it was just the head placed on a black background. I then used a sketch affect, this made the clown mask black and white and looked slightly blurry. I have also filled in the eyes with red, this makes the clown look more scary and fits in with the way it looks in the teaser trailer.

Our poster is not yet finished as the font we are using, 'circus ornate' does not let the file save, therefore we need to download the font again so it works in Adobe Illustrator.

We have now completed our poster using an image of the clown mask. We placed the image in photoshop and used the magic eraser to erase the surrounding background, then we used the magnetic lasso to select the clowns head. To increase the scariness of the clown we filled the lips in black and also made the eyes and nose red, by making the eyes red this makes the clown stand out. We also blurred the edges of the image which made it blend better with the black background. The font we have used for the tag line matches the font used in the teaser trailer which is circus ornate, we downloaded this from the website dafont.com.

Here is the finished item:

Film Poster Analysis

I have chosen this horror movie poster as the villain is a clown which directly links to our teaser trailer. The movie is called 'drive-thru', the title is clear and is written in red, the same colour as the clowns nose and lips; which looks like dripping blood. The tag line is quite long but is spread out for affect, this makes the audience look at the poster for longer. However the tag line is quite cheesy, but this is a convention for a horror movie, for example the tag line for Saw II is "Oh yes, there will be blood". We have selected a tag line that relates to a circus clown "Welcome to the greatest show on earth" however, similar to this movie poster we could expand our tag line to make the audience look at the poster for longer.

The clown being close up to the camera is creepy and makes it seem as if it is looking right at the audience, this makes the context of the poster eye catching, we could use this idea with the mask and the background could introduce the idea of a haunted circus, or the stalking clown. The poster outlines the plot and tells the audience that there is going to be death. The poster doesn't have a release date which entices the audience further, we could use this affect as it is only a poster for a teaser trailer and therefore is not meant to give too much away.

The second poster I have chosen to analyse is the Friday the 13th poster, which I chose for my marketing campaign. I think this poster really stands out as I doesn't give anything away except the release date however it is still clear that it is for horror movie as the hockey mask is known from the original Friday the 13th movies. I think this is a good poster to use as inspiration for our poster, as the clown mask stands out as being something creepy.

Magazine Cover Analysis

I have selected these magazine covers to analyze as I feel that the first one relates to our movie and the second one stands out and will give us positive ideas for our magazine cover. The first poster has a clown on the front cover and the subtitle is "what made clowns go bad?" this links back to the idea that clowns used to be kids entertainment and are now commonly used in horror movies as the villain; this is similar to the story line in our teaser trailer as the clown still has features that would be similar to an entertaining clown such as balloons, but it is also presented as a stalker, and the clowns mask is the main feature that links it to being a horror movie.

I think the top poster really stands out as there is a black background and the main colour of the clowns face is white, these colours contrast and the subtitle is also able to stand out because it is written in white. The clown looks really life like, I like this feature as it is made to be more creepy, I think we should use this feature for our magazine cover to exaggerate the scariness of the clown.

I chose the second magazine cover as it really stands out, and creates a clear understanding of what is included in the magazine without over crowding the cover. The picture is clear and again just shows the scary characters face, this is a good way of introducing the characters that are involved in the movie. The title of the movie is clearly written below, with a tag line underneath to entice the audience into the sequel, this is a good form of advertising for people to research about the first part of the movie.

The normal features of the magazine are included for example the bar code however the main feature of the magazine covers are the villainous characters, I think we should use this feature for our magazine cover to make the clown stand out to the reader.

Teaser Trailer Codes and Conventions

To be able to make our own teaser trailer we have to first understand the code and conventions of teaser trailers. "A teaser trailer is unlike a typical theatrical trailer, they are usually very short in length lasting between 30–60 seconds and often contain little, if any, actual footage from the film itself. It is usually a shortened version of a theatrical trailer. A teaser trailer is usually released long in advance of the actual film. One of the main reasons for the trailer to be called a teaser trailer is because it teases the audience by releasing its teaser trailer one to one and a half years before release of the actual film."

I found this information on wikipedia, through searching on google.

Another feature of teaser trailers is to not necessarily tell the story of the movie but to let the audience know when it is coming out. I found this website which will help to understand further what makes a successful teaser trailer, this way we can look at making our trailer as similar to a professional teaser trailer as possible.

This website shows top ten teaser trailers and why they are successful.

http://www.noisetosignal.org/film/2007/08/top-ten-teaser-trailers.php

My favourite teaser trailer from this website is 'The Incredibles' although this does not relate to the teaser trailer that we are creating it gives us a good ideas that will be useful. This trailer introduces only one character from the movie and doesn't really give much away apart from the fact that maybe Mr Incredible is no longer the super hero he used to be, the trailer is entertaining and lets the audience know the genre is a comedy. We need to take this into account that we must make sure that the audience are able to establish that the genre of our teaser trailer is a horror.

Magazine Research

We purchased this magazine due to its 'Horror Genre' specific articles in this issue. These included actors and actresses who have been type casted for horrors aswell as horror stories, and instructions on how to produce your own horror film for under £45. The images included were inspiring and the articles were extremelly helpful.

Shortcuts We Have Learnt

Whilst using Final Cut Express, Soundtrack and Livetype we have learnt different shortcuts on the mac.

For example:

'B' for blade, 'I' for in point and 'O' for out point when capturing shots.

'Space bar' to play and pause the movie, 'apple key and R' to render and 'apple P' to play before it has been rendered. 'Apple key and S' to save the project.' Apple and tab' to switch to a different window, this helped when importing the titles to final cut express from live type.

Title Sequences

We used the website dafont.com to download a circus looking font for our teaser trailer, we found one called circus ornate, that fits with the look of an old fashioned circus poster. Which in turn suits our USP (Unique Selling Point) of a fear of clowns and circuses. In order to have the mask effect we had to change the composition of the shot we wanted to mask to 'Travel matte: Alpha' and imported the text from LiveType. We chose to pan the text from right to left so that it is easier to read and also fits with the movement behind the mask. By considering all of this we improved the consistency and flow of our sequence.