PROJECT 4

Research and Planning

Film name - Ghosted
Poster trope - Black and white with a splash of red.
Film Genre - Sci-Fi

A) - Decision Log

Date - 12th December 2019 

Today, Olivia and I are devising our schedule for the poster by creating a step by step of the different stages we are going to take in order to finish our poster. For our poster we are also deciding a film name and genre that the poster will represent. The film trope we were given was black and white with a splash of red. The genre we were given was the Sci-Fi and the title of the film was Ghosted. Olivia and I also devised a plot/narrative for our film, this would allow us to broaden our ideas for the poster and help give us semiotics behind the colour, props and location for our poster.

For the second lesson of today, I devised a visual and descriptive diagram of inspirations/colours/fonts etc. of how I envision the poster would be. I represented the title, genre and film trope all visually through images of inspirations that will help me achieve the physical look of the poster, as well as the semiotics and symbolism behind it too. In order to show the semiotics behind the poster, I have used colour as a way to express the emotion the poster captures.

Date 13th December 2019

Today, Olivia and I created our colour scheme for the poster, we also wrote the elements that are needed for our poster. Once we created the colour scheme and described the elements, we started to sketch the plan for our poster. Both of us chose to have the framing and lighting the same for our individual posters, as well as the tagline. Our tagline states 'Where believers are held and souls are celled'. I created this tagline, as I felt it summarised the film's plot/narrative well, without revealing or spoiling too much of the story. The sketch I created using Photoshop as I felt it allowed me to create a more detail draft of the poster, that I would struggle to do by hand.

The colour scheme, elements and sketch work will allow Olivia and I to have a solid foundation of ideas and plans to work from, so that when we take the photographs for the poster we know the framing, location, costume and lighting that we desire/envisioned. Also in today's lesson I gathered some film posters that I was influenced by and described my different reasonings for why I liked them and how I wanted to incorporate their visuals into my own, originally.

Date 16th December 2019

Today, Olivia and I took photographs for our final poster. In order to do this we needed to have a subject/model shot with good lighting. To capture good lighting we used a photography studio and camera, the photos we took were then converted to a black and white filter on Photoshop. Our reasoning for this is because a black and white image enhances the shadows and reflects our film trope (black and white with a splash of red).

For the background of our poster, we wanted to use a narrowed prison hallway. Due to location issues our back ground isn't as visually fitting for the film's narrative, however, it was the best location we could find. So we decided to shoot a plain narrowing hallway for our back ground instead. Once I'd opened Photoshop, I put a black and white filter on the back ground photographs and portrait images too.

I also added a field blur effect surrounding the background to visually capture more focus upon the subject/model. I masked then layered multiple blurred images behind one another, this gives a ghostly look to the poster and captures a more Sci -Fi visual surrounding the subject. Once I layered and masked the portrait images, I added a red skeleton/glitch overlay upon the motioned section of the subject. This was to express the genre of the film (Sci - Fi) through the visual. As well as express the film trope (black and white with a splash of red) as the skeleton effect captures the red 'splash' stated in the trope.

Date 17th December 2019

Today, Olivia and I chose the font that we wanted to use for the poster's title, tagline and release date. To find an ideal font, I chose one from the previous styles and types I'd picked using a website called DaFonts.com. After deciding on the font,next lesson I will choose where I want to position the text/description (e.g tagline, release date and title). The release date chosen is very significant to the narrative as it is the date of soulmate day. Soulmate day relates to the narrative of the film as it's main plot is based upon souls being imprisoned and the protagonist in the plot re connects to her lost sibling in a soul prison. The 'soulmate' wording foreshadows and signifies the relationship between the two characters and hints towards the film's plot subtly.

Date 5th January 2019

Today, I finished my poster design by positioning and arranging all the elements into place. To finish the poster, I added the tagline to the poster and using a bold font I chose in the previous lesson, as I wanted the font to have an enticing and attractive visual to capture the audience's eye. I added subtle changes the the background of my poster to create a more realistic environment surrounding the narrative, this was important as I wanted the poster to capture the location of the plot too. I also added credits to the poster as it is an essential to film posters. For the credits I created artificial production companies and credited myself and my partner equally.

Date 6th January 2020 

 Today I received feedback from a peer, using the feedback I was given, I changed some visuals to improve my poster, to do this I added film critic logos to my poster to give a more legitimate and professional look and I edited the font of my tagline to the same font I used for my title and release date, this made the posters titles look more overall tidy and organised. To conclude today's work, I finished writing my review of my final poster too. Discussing where I felt I could have improved and what skills I developed.

Date 7th January 2020

Today, I received feedback from my supervisor. I listed the improvements I was told to make and used the feedback to improve my poster. One of the ways I improved my poster was changing the font as I was told it was very poor quality. Another way I improved my poster was by editing the back ground, the way in which I changed it was by copying the image (back ground) then flipping the left hand side of the landscape image horizontally to have the same image reflected/mirrored on either side of the background. This was an improvement as it captured a more isolated prison visual to the setting which was ideal as my partner and I's narrative is located in a prison. 

I also improved my font by adding subtly glow surrounding it, this created a smooth finish and added a Sci-Fi look to the poster.

Date 9th January 2020

Today, I received feedback from my supervisor and re edited my poster. The correction I was asked  to make on my poster was to change the font as it was too Sci-Fi styled because it mis represented the narrative of my partner and I's film. I changed the font to a less bold style, and added an outer red glow effect to the text too. This effect helped express my partner and I's film trope too (Black and White with a splash of red). 

B- Organise Time 

For today's lesson I had to devise a schedule of how of the step by step process of how I will create my final film poster. In order to create a schedule I devised a table for each date we have a lesson about Project 4 and structured the tasks we need to complete after each lesson.

C) - Research existing posters and cliches in film posters

For this task, I had to pair up with a peer and analyse three film posters (based on a theme) that we disliked, and five we liked. This task was to prepare us for creating our own individual posters later on in the unit. The theme my pair and I were given was 'Black and White with a splash of Red'. The eight posters we analysed reflected this theme, as well as the individual poster I have will eventually to create has to follow this theme too. 

Three - dislike

Three - Liked

D) - Practise photoshop Skills 

My Recreation

For this task, I had to re create. poster from Guardians of the Galaxy. In order to do this I used Photoshop and re sized the layers and text using the size tool and grab tool, to position and layer my images. The issue with my re creation is the little icon of Groot (Tree character) was incredibly wide and I struggled to change the width, this is why my re creation is not perfect as the width of my icon would not change. 

The Original

E) - Plan Poster given Parametres

Plot summary - Ghosted

Beginning - The location of the film is set in a modern futuristic city. The government (the Antagonists) who rule over the city are extremists and are arresting anyone who practises any religion. After arresting the victims, they place/lock them into a soul prison. The soul prison physically traps people's souls, they are unable to communicate verbally and are given very little human rights. The Protagonist (Saint) is arrested at the age of 18 years old. She is placed into a soul cell and the beginning captures/follows her physical and mental struggle that the soul prison puts upon her. 

Middle - The Protagonist (Saint) has now been locked up for 6 months, she is placed into a group holding cell, however each soul has been separated by a thick like glass texture. She is then accompanied by a familiar face (her step sister sister Lillith who is supposed to be 'missing') in her soul cell. Both have to communicate through their connected thoughts, (as they are step siblings their thoughts are connected strongly) as they cannot speak because they are no longer in a physical body. The two sisters become close and share their missed memories, both confined in each others company. As they can communicate through their thoughts, they devise a plan in order to connect back to their bodies (which are kept in a containers). The Protagonist's sister has been trapped in the soul prison for many years and knows where they store the bodies, but needs help in order to access them (as they are hidden away and guarded). Both of the character's devise a plan. 

End - The end of the film, follows the two siblings as they plan and practise their plan to return to their bodies. In the finale, the Protagonist and her sister Lillith escape to the storage placement where their bodies have been stored. However, the Protagonist (Saint) finds her body and connects back to it, allowing her to speak and be her physical self again. But her sister is caught, before she can reunite with her old physical body. The end of the film captures the sister being caught and you never find out whether the Protagonist escapes.

Film Poster - Inspirations

For the positioning of the titles and credits, I drew inspiration from the film poster 'Her' this is because I liked how the titles and credits were bold and clear, without overpowering or dominating the visuals. I also wanted to use the same positioning as I felt it was attractive and fitted well to the framing I envision for my poster because I want capture the same simplicity and a good balance between visuals/framing and titles with credits.



For the framing of the background I used inspiration from the film poster 'Down a Darkhallway', I liked the backgrounds positing in the poster as I felt it gave a mysterious and dark visual. I wanted to use this framing as I felt it would fit well with the my film poster because I could use the hallway aspects from this framing inspiration and turn the background into a prison cell hallway narrowing for my film poster as it would give clue as to the location fo the plot/narrative.



For the main visual of the protagonist positioning/framing I drew inspiration from the film poster 'Jacob's Ladder', this is because it captured a disorientating and unique motion that I felt suited the genre of my film poster, Sci -Fi. As well the framing of the character I liked how it was focused upon one visual by being simple yet effective.

Draft/Sketch of the poster - Photoshop

Poster draft 1

The different framing and positioning of the visuals in the first poster compared to the second one are that the subject (character) is positioned in the centre of the frame, as well as different style of exterior setting.

Poster Draft 2 

Feedback

I received feedback on both my two draft posters. One of the ways I was told I could improve both my posters was to change the placement of the release date, as both of them look sloppy and misplaced. Another improvement I was given for feedback was on the first poster, I was told that the placement of the title would look more structured and sharp if it was placed between the jail cells, instead of overlapping them. To also improve poster one, I was told that the red glowing lights could fade out the closer they became to the title, this would be able to capture the title better and make the poster's title more attractive. 

G) - Take your photos

H) - Edit

I am drafting the stages of my final poster in order to represent the progression of the visuals. These five drafts visually show my progression with the colouring and fonts used on the poster.

For this draft, I masked the portrait images I shot of the model (Olivia as the protagonist) and placed them upon the hallway location/background photograph I took. I also masked and changed the opacity of the two portrait images of the protagonist as this created a motion/blurred effect my partner and I wanted to visually capture. I added a black and white filter upon all the images used as I wanted to capture the film trope (black and white with a splash of red), using a filter. For the next part of my poster, I will add a more motioned effect across the protagonist's face and add some red colouring too.

For the next draft of the final poster, I added a third portrait image of the protagonist to create a smoother look upon the motioned fading visual. I also added a faint red glitch overlay across the last face of the protagonist to give a the 'splash of red' that represented the film trope, this subtle visual signifies the genre too as it adds a Sci-Fi look to the poster. For the next part of my poster, I will add touches to the visuals.

For the third draft of the final poster, I added another glitch overlay upon the other motioned face image as I felt it enhanced the effect and added a darker look to the poster, this also allowed the smoothness of the motion to work well because the red signifies the 'soul' in the film's plot. This added visual is a representation of the plot, but in a subtle way. For the next part of the poster I will add a title and release date.

This is the last draft of my final poster, I added a release date and title to the cover of the poster, as it is vital when creating a film poster because it states the key, main information about the film's advertising. I used a bold red on the font to add more representation to the film trope and to give the 'splash of red' more consistency. Another decision I chose to add to my final draft was the font, I used a Sci-Fi style font as it captures the genre clearly. I also felt the font was bold and enticing, to give the poster some excitement and draw an audience in. I chose to gather the ideas from my other film poster inspirations and positioned my title in a similar placement to the film posters I was inspired by, this is because I felt they were effective and fitted the aesthetic I wanted. For the next part of my poster, I will be adding credits and a tagline.

Finished/Final Poster Design - BEFORE FEEDBACK

The Final Poster I created had similarities to my original vision for the poster, however I felt it could have turned out better. For example, the location of the background was suppose to have a bar like structures surrounding the protagonist. This was to capture the prison/cell environment in order to reveal the location for the film. But my poster just had hallway with windows, this I felt ruined the visuals because the background does not fit the plot of the film and doesn't represent the genre of Sci- Fi either. However, I believe the visuals of the protagonist were successful and the filtered black and white was successful too. The black and white worked as it captured/reflected the film trope my partner and I were given (black and white with a splash of red) and the subtle red overlay I used on the protagonists fading face I felt captured more of the genre Sci-Fi. The blurred/motioned visual for the protagonist captured our original idea quite well as the lighting and motion were good quality in the final poster. The only other issue I had with the poster was the costume as due to financial issues we could not purchase a style of clothing that worked, so we chose to settle with a plain black shirt. This surprisingly worked as the positioning of the protagonist is focused upon her expression and movement, rather this costume. I took all the images used for the visuals of the poster, although I did not create the red glitch overlay used upon the protagonists face. To conclude, I believe the poster was quite successful as we achieved some good visuals of our poster, although it had some issues it overall captures most of the elements we wanted in our original design.

I) - Peer Feedback

How could I improve on the visuals of my poster? 
Using the feedback I was given, I was told that I could improve my poster by using the same fonts for my tagline as I did for my title and release date, as it looked sloppy and disorientating. I was also told that I should add some ratings or critic awards upon the poster to give a more professional look to the poster.

Are the genre and film tropes for the film poster clear?
The genre part of the visuals was unclear as the it was mistaken for a horror due to the red colouring of the visuals. However, in my feedback I was told the film trope of the poster was clear (black and white with a splash of red), as they are the only two colours featured in the poster.

Is the quality of my poster good, if so why?
The feedback I received said that my poster was good quality as the photographs were shot and framed well, I was also told that the red glitched overlay worked effectively. Overall the poster's visuals were to a good standard, given by feedback.

J) - Revisions to edit

For the final edited poster, I used the feedback from my previous final poster and added critic awards, as well as changing the font of the tagline to the same font I used for the release date and title to tidy up the visuals and improve the final look of the poster.

Second - Feedback

- Enlarge the facial images to signify and highlight the glitch effect

- Change font across all areas of text (bad quality)

- Add another motioned image of model/protagonist

- Change back ground location/image (flip one side of the hallway to mirror)

Final Feedback 

- Add more detail to the background (give more context to the narrative of the film)

I added a cross symbol as the 't' for my title. I felt this would be effective because it subtly hints towards a key theme within the film, religion. I also added prison bars behind the background, I did this in order to represent the caged and prison environment that the protagonist is put in. This gives more information to the narrative, while adding texture and meaning to the background. 

K) - Review of Final poster Design

What makes your poster stand out?

The motioned images of the protagonist I believe is the main visual that stands out in the poster, this is because they are in the centre frame which draws attention to the focus of the poster, the Protagonist. Another visual that helps enhance this is the blurred background, although this background effect doesn't stand out, it allows the motioned visual of the Protagonist to stand out instead. I believe the outer glow surrounding the text stands out too, this is because it captures the title and tagline using a bold enticing light. 

What are some elements you want to improve on?

I would like to improve upon the background of the poster as the location/setting has no relevance or representation to the film's narrative. Ideally, my partner and I wanted to capture a prison cell hallway, but due to certain difficulties we had to shoot an ordinary hallway which is deceiving as the location of the film is set in a prison, and not a ordinary hallway. I also would have liked to improve upon the font I used for my title and tagline, this is because I struggled to find a fitting Sci-Fi styled font that subtle but alluring. Although I like the glow that surrounds the text/font, I would prefer a less harsh font. 

What changes to your workflow could you make in future projects to improve your outcome?

To improve my workflow for next time, I would follow the structure of my schedule more, as I felt I drifted from the tasks in different orders. To improve for next time I would create a more detailed schedule and tick off each task step by step to conclude the work I had finished, this would allow me to see what work I would later have to complete and therefore allow me to be more organised with planning. 

How did you improve your photoshop skills?

I improved lots with my photoshop skills in this project, as I have learned the use of overlays and how I can layer certain images, as well as improved on my masking technique by testing different effects within masking e.g size and harshness. I also learned how to filter images and create a blur surrounding them too. I learned how to add a inner and outer glow to texts. These skill were helpful as I can use them in future projects using photoshop.