Post 16; Ancillary Task 1- Postcards post 1

Film posters

In class we were made to write a list of what we thought we would see on a film poster, a number of elements which most of the class came up with were simple, and usually something in which we would expect to see on a film poster. We are not required to produce a film poster, but a post card, although it is required we are to know about film posters to help us with our postcards. 

As a class we decided that these are the conventions we would expect to see on a film poster.

• The name of the film-(depending on the knowledge of the film, depends on the size of the font) The title of the film is also a unique selling point.
• A picture from the actual film which dominates the page.
• Name of the director
• When the film will be out (cinemas, the release date e.t.c)
• A slogan- To catch peoples eye, also known as a "tagline"
• Actors/ Actress names
• Style- e.g dark for horror. Or even add in a prop of the film e.g a gun.
• The small writing, which includes production details.
• Film company name and logo. (important for independent film makers)

The short film industry does not have enough budget for posters like feature films use, which is why they use small postcards to help reach their small target audience. Short films have the opportunity on the back of their postcards to invite specifically who they would like to come to their first showing of their film, (in which they would put the screening time on the back of the postcard) they cam write to them formally, and individually, which is usually a useful marketing tool for short film makers. 

Short films also market themselves through film festivals which are usually popular, which will eventually increase their audiences. 

Here is an image of a well known film poster. Harry Potter. As we can see the title of the film is not in very big writing as opposed to some film  posters. This is because the image dominates the page and by looking at the big image, audiences will automatically know which film it id from.

The style of the poster is also an indicator of the film, where by the darkness of the poster tells us it is a well known sophisticated magical film.

A prop is also used in this film poster, which is a wand. The wand is a significant feature in the film, which may be essential on some film posters, as in this one.

The "Tagline" is shown on the top of the image, which gives the audience a short clue about the film, catching their attention, and drawing them in to want to watch the film.

Also, the main character is situated in the center of the image which also helps the audience relate to the film, and because of the popularity of the film, making the audiences want to watch it. Production details are situated at the bottom of the page, which you can find on almost every film poster.

This film poster is from the film Role Models. It uses bright colours in which they would mainly be used to suggest the film is comic, and humerus.

The title is in fairly small letters, with directors names directly above it, and images of the actors and actresses underneath the title of the film.

Production details are again situated at the bottom in small writing.

The image is not an image directly taken from a shot in the film, they have taken a separate picture in order for the audience to gain a feel for the type of film it is, we automatically know they are bad role models.

Just like in the Harry Potter poster, the tagline is placed at the top of the image, again drawing in the audience in and wanting to watch the film.

Post Cards.

Posters are not used when making short films, as they are More suited to the bigger films in the industry, which have a higher budget and usually best sellers. Posters are needed for short films due to their big budget, so they decide to produce postcards. They are usually made on a piece of A4 paper, which provides a lack of information on the postcards which draws the viewers in. Post cards often have a graphical design, for example : On a life's edge, and often use it as a way of introducing cast and characters from the short film industry. Postcards can also be sent to people to advertise the short film, as it can be used as a personalised marketing strategy.
Below you will see a postcard produced by the film divine.

The top section of the postcard is a clear space to invite people to your film. The top left hand corner is where the title is situated, and directly below that it states who it was written and directed by, yet another unique selling point.
Straight down the middle is who the film/ postcard was designed by. The website/ crew details and costume and editing list is on the bottom left hand side, which has the advantage of anyone wanting to contact any of the film crew, which becomes beneficial for the film company bringing audiences into their marketing strategy.
It is also important that on a postcard the company's logo is placed somewhere on it, again for marketing strategies. In this case the logo is placed on the bottom right hand corner. Funding details are situated below the logo, informing all audiences where the film got all of their sources of money from.








The tagline "Lets go to church" is placed in the center of the image at the bottom, hinting that the film is about little girls, and their experiences at church, although different audiences can interpret different things.

This postcard is from a different film, on a life's edge. This postcard if structured and presented differently from the one seen above, as it contains more graphical features, and is more presentable. The graphics on this postcard draws the audience in, making it more eye catching and wanting them to go and watch the film.
Like the other postcard the title is at the top left hand corner, and just below it is a small little synopsis of the film. Cast and credit details are placed in the middle of the page along with the duration of the film, and there is little room for writing to invite people to the film.
The logo's are on the bottom of the information page, again










My Postcard designs
My postcard designs took alot of time and thought. We had to think about how we were going to produce a picture that was relevant, appropriate style of writing, and how it would reflect our film in a unique selling point manor. I felt that this task had tested our creativity well.

My first postcard design included a two different pictures which are main features of the film. A teddy bear, and a clock. I decided to put these two together to create the image on the front of my postcard as they represent the film well, and are very important to understanding the message in the film.
Isabel is always seen carrying her teddy and her teddy represents her loneliness in the film, the only thing that is close to Isabel, so i thought this would be an effective Image to make on the front of my postcard.
The clock represents the time, and how long is left until the train incident happens. The clock plays an essential part in the film which is a sign to tell the audience something strange is going to happen.
I have also included the title which is situated at the top of the page, making it eye catching for the audience.
My tagline is just beneath the title which states "Sometimes all you need is attention", i decided this would be a reasonable tagline as the whole message that we are trying to get across in the film is that children need to be loved, and Isabel's parents do not give her enough love and care.
I have put in the rating of the film according to other sources of the media. A newspaper, the times have rated it 5 stars.
The bottom part of the postcard includes, our production groups logo, which is Natural Apple Productions, details of the director, and other participants within the group. For example: lighting director, Production Designer, and Camera operator.

My second postcard design was similar to my first design, however a different image is placed on the front.
This time i chose to include a close up Image of the main character (Isabel) showing her sadness and loneliness. In decided to have her Lent upon a table with her head slanted showing her boredom. Hopefully this will enable the audience to gain a feel of sympathy for the character, giving them an insight of the plot of the story.
The title is situated at the top of the page, in order for the viewers to see it effectively and so the Image can be seen clearly.
I have also included a phrase from a review from another media source, a newspaper, the guardian which states "Short film of the year" this should make it clear to the audience that this film is a film worth watching.
The logo is placed on the bottom part of the postcard, and a space for a small stamp is placed on the right hand side.
At the bottom left hand corner is all the crew details, such as the director, lighting manager, production designer, and camera operator.
Below the stamp space, are small lines in order for us to personally invite someone to the viewing of the film.



My third postcard design, was like the layouts of the two above, yet with a different picture, which is associated with the adults in the film. As my other postcards have been very much linked with Isabel in the film, i thought i would think about having an image associated with Lisa and Simon, as they are still key in the film.
I decided to have a picture of Law books, particularly because the parents in the film are lawyers, and that is their occupation.
The "tagline" is the same on every postcard as i feel it is a good enough tagline to catch the readers eye and make them want to watch the film.
I have also included two statements from different newspapers, from the daily times, and the guardian, these ratings will also be for audience benefits as they would like to know the positive reviews about the film.
On the bottom of the postcard I have got lines to privately invite people to the opening of the short film, our production groups logo is also situated on the left hand side, and on the bottom left hand side are names of the crew and what role they had in the production of our film.

Once i have decided my 3 three designs of the postcards i decided to get some audience feedback of some students who could help me decide which design i should choose for my final design. I asked two different people, a boy and a girl. I decided i would read them the synopsis of our short film first, then i would show them each of my postcard designs.
Both of them said they preferred the third design, which i then proceeded to choose and start creating. The agreed together, that the close up helps draw the audience in to create suspense and sympathy towards the character, and with the synopsis they thought this design would be the most effective, as it reflects the storyline. 

Post 15; Reflecting on Theory

It is important for us as a group to start reflecting on the different theories we learned about in class, and how we can apply what we know to our production, and how each of the different theories does or does not apply to our short film script, and plans we are making.

Genre Theory- From the Robert Smyth School, Genre is categorising films under the labels of science fiction, action, melodrama, horror, e.t.c. In our case our film Genre would be Drama. This is because is takes in alot of emotional events and drama does occur in some scenes. It is trying to send a message across to the audience, which is what every Genre should do in order to survive. ( Paradoxical nature of Genre) "Genre's depend on their ability to change, or adapt in order to survive" and they also have patterns of flexibility as well as patterns of change.
More information about Genre theory (Daniel Chandler)

Within genre theory, it is essential that we are able to recognise the different conventions to ensure we know what genre of film we are watching, and the different genre's that the producers use to categorise their films. This can be determined by a number of factors that audiences should recognise which are, location, themes, narrative structure, lighting, language and music. All of these factors help audiences identify which genre they are watching, so they can relate to the film.
We have to ensure that when making and filming our film, we have these conventions in mind so that we can identify with it, and ensure that we are putting across the correct genre to the audience. Our film could be categorised as Drama, due to the amount of emotion that can be associated with the film, which events happening which is not the normal family life.
For example, during the planning process of the film, we needed to think about the conventions and how they could contribute to the making of our overall film. One of the conventions we thought about was the theme of loneliness and unhappiness, which Isabel, the main character is. She does not have an ordinary child life, and her character can often be associated with neglect.

Another convention we thought about when planning, would be the location of the film. We needed to create a suitable location in which the audience could relate to. For example, the location would be inappropriate if it was filmed in a field. We had to locate the film in a suitable place which could connect with the characters and represent the theme of loneliness and neglect. We decided to film in a house, which would be the family's home and an easy location to get the message across to audiences.
We have added extra lighting sources when filming, these are 85 filters, to warm up the atmosphere when filming outside. We are also using blue gel's in the living room, as the sunlight is too strong, and it needs to be cooled down.

Narrative theory
When talking about narrative theory we often associate it with the way in which the story is told, and how it can be told. This can Be interpreted in many ways, such as fiction or non fiction. Three key theorists are included in this Narrative theory they are Prop, Todorov and Levis.
Prop was interested in Russian fairy tales. He said that in certain films you can get 8 types of characters, a Hero, villain, helper and a donor, a dispatcher, a false hero, a princess and a father who protects the princess, and these 8 characters, do 31 things throughout the film, which is called a sphere of action.
Our short film is not a Russian fairytale, so none of these characters will apply to us in pre production, however, it is useful to have these idea's in mind, and think to ourselves, could the parents (Lisa and Simon) be viewed as the villains, and Isabel to be known as the princess.

more information about Narrative Theory

The second theorist Torodov, stated about the equilibrium, where in every film there is an equilibrium, which then turns into a disequilibrium, and then transforms into a new equilibrium. The first equilibrium states that there is a basic storyline, where nothing interesting happens, and everything is normal and calm. When the disequilibrium occurs, things disrupt the storyline and strange things may happen to create a new situation, which can apply to the new equilibrium. This theory is hard to apply to our short film, despite our main character Isabel not having a normal, steady life in the first place, however, with the train and clock, strange things happen which sends out a message to the audience that this little girl is pining for attention.





The third theorist we can apply to narrative theory is Levis, who came up with the term Biary opposites. These are two clear opposites in which a film can promote to certain audiences. For example: Rich vs Poor can be an example of a Binary opposites. In our short film, we could represent some Binary opposites, depending on how the audiences interpret the characters. Lisa and Simon could represent Evil in some peoples eyes, and Isabel could represent the good, however depending how you interpret the messages and values in the film will differ whether you can recognise Binary opposites.

Audience Theory


Media know it all- audience theory

The first Model associated with audience theory was the Hypodermic needle model. This model is also kn own as the effects model, where the audience is seen as passive, where the producer then sends a message to the audience in which they will relate to. In our case, Anton the producer wanted to transmit the sadness of neglect across to the audience which will make them realise the importance a child's behaviour can be.

Another model connected with Audience theory is the two step flow, this was brought about in the 40's and suggests that the audience is still seen as passive, however, the producer uses something/ someone else to relate to the audience. In this case the message gets to the audience via something else whether this be a prop, a special object etc. In our short film, the teddy or the clock are two clear significant objects which can be used to transmit our messages through to the audience.

The uses and gratifications model came after the two step flow, which emerged in the 60's. This theory suggests that the audiences are not passive, they are active. It is not all about the producers sending out messages and how they interpret their specific messages, it is also about what the audiences want and need. We have to accept that all audiences are different and react differently to different things. In our short film, we hope that the audiences will take away        different messages that are set out in out film, about why parents feel the need to ignore their child's needs.

The last theory linked to audience theory is Reception theory which was developed in the 80's and 90's. This theory stated that each individual perception would effect the interpretation of the texts. For example, this could mean age, gender, ethnicity etc.  The theory also states that the message is encoded by the producer, and decoding by the audiences. For example Anton, our director has his own interpretations of what he wan ts to encode in the film, when audiences it is down to them if they decode the messages the way Anton put them across, or whether they interpreted them differently.