POSTER AND REVIEWTom and Lilly

6 Elements of a Poster Design

1. Attention – jump out from the wall

2. Iconography – showing without telling.

3. Interest – create an incentive to see the film.

4. Style – a look that’s consistent with the film.

5. Lasting Appeal – a look that suits other formats.

6. Recognisability – if it’s a sequel, make it obvious.

From my research I have found that there is a ‘formula’ which all good poster or review makers use and that is AIDA. This stands for;

Attention - This can be obtained by just having your main interviewee on the poster or iconography of your genre. There doesn’t have to be any ‘flashy graphics’.

Interest - They have to be interesting so having someone in extreme long shot isn't going to catch peoples eye. It has to be a medium close up or close up to get people to look.

1. Attention – jump out from the wall

Desire - Your audience must see the poster and want to go and see your documentary. This can have something on it which will make them want to find out what is happening.

Action - Something has to be happening. It has to have some form of a meaning to your documentary

From my research I have found that there is a ‘formula’ which all good poster or review makers use and that is AIDA. This stands for; A - Attention I - Interest D - Desire A - Action

EXAMPLE

• Attention- Main characther- Senna, is on the poster.

• Action- The meaning to the documentary of the poster here is Senna thinking about whether he should race his last race which he ends up dead in.

• Interest- It is in a medium close up of the main focus of this documentary.

• Desire- The audience will watch this because they will want to know how Senna died and look back at his career. This is helped by the comment from Niki Lauda.

HOW AIDA APPLIES TO US? • ATTENTION - We are going to feature Natasha Jelly on the front cover of our

poster because she will be the main girl in our montage footage in our

documentary.

• INTEREST - We think we are going to have a high angle on Tasha siting with

her laptop on her knees with a gun in her hand. This is show she has been over

powered by the bullies and is caving in.

• DESIRE - Our audience will have the desire to watch our documentary because

they will want to know what happened and they will want to know what she is

representing and they can find this our in our documentary.

• ACTION - In our poster we think there will be Tasha with a gun in her hand

looking at a computer screen. This relates to our documentary because people

take there own lives from cyber bullying.

2. Iconography – showing without telling.

• The most effective movie posters are iconic, presenting the themes in the film without resorting to flat out saying what it’s about.

• They use imagery, whether a close-up of a character or item that’s a major plot point, or a simple graphic, to establish the documentaries genre.

EXAMPLE

• It uses tactics such as – sex appeal, contrast, and spacing – to grab your attention.

• At the same time, it also gives a glimpse into what the film is about. This allows it to market to casual observers and horror fans at once, all through imagery.

HOW ICONOGRAPHY APPLIES TO US?

• We plan to show that our documentary is about cyber bullying without writing across it CYBER BULLYING.

• We plan to do this by having the laptop on her knee which is iconography for the genre as to be cyber bullied it has to be through some form of an electrical device so a laptop fits the bill.

• Tasha head will also be looking down towards the gun which suggest she is being cyber bullied and cant take it any more so she is going to commit suicide.

 3. Interest – create an incentive to see the film.

• Icons and more abstract imagery doesn’t work with documentaries all the time – say, for example, it’s a serious topic that can’t be explained with iconography – using an image that provides viewers with an idea of the story is a great idea.

• The incentive is that in order to resolve the situation, the person looking at the poster needs to see the film and find out what happens.

EXAMPLE

• The Inception poster above uses this strategy – it puts viewers in the middle of a scene from the film that can only be explained by seeing what occurs before and after it. As a result, the curiosity created by the poster translates into on-the-spot ticket sales.

HOW INTEREST APPLIES TO US? • This isn't something we are focusing on because although the topic

we are tackling is a difficult one we still believe it is possible to use iconography which will help the audience to obtain interest and want to see the short film.

4. Style – a look that’s consistent with the short film.• Whether we were marketing an short film or a blockbuster, style

matters. Some of the most memorable film posters out there have used bold, unique artistic styles to their advantage.

• What separates these posters from their ineffective art-for-art’s-sake rivals is that they’re consistent with style, in both the movie’s promotional materials and throughout the film itself.

EXAMPLE• Watchmen- to the right is a

classic example of this technique. Since it uses an instantly recognizable comic book style, it grabs the attention of fans of the book.

• It’s uses the same type of stylized imagery as the film itself. This consistency means that it isn’t just a great marketing tool, but a recognizable image for DVD and other releases in our case virally for social networking sites.

HOW STYLE APPLIES TO US? • We plan to keep our look consistent by using the same sort of laptop

which features in our documentary and also the same girl who is going to feature in our montage footage.

• We plan to do this to make our linked products recognizable. We want to create an association between our ancillary products and our documentary.

5. Lasting Appeal – a look that suits other formats.

• There is a very big danger apparently with making your film poster very arty and sophisticated: it’s eventually going to be shrunk to a fraction of its original size for the advertising on social networking sites.

• While a growing number of short films now use different designs for their social networking marketing than they use for their posters, most of the classics and high-budget blockbusters still use the same poster for both.

EXAMPLE• The poster doesn’t use imagery that’s just as visible and clear when

it’s small as when its gargantuan. For my poster to work for the long-term, it needs to have scalable, clear, and lasting design appeal.

HOW LASTING APPEL APPLIES TO US?

• This means that my imagery, titles, and major points of interest such as the gun need to be just as visible on a small computer screen as they are on a giant movie poster.

6. Recognisability – if it’s a sequel, make it obvious.

• Sequel posters tend to be highly related to the first release, generally with a giant title in the bottom third of the canvas and instantly recognizable imagery throughout it.

EXAMPLE• The Godfather and the two sequels in the franchise are a great

example – all three use the same style and design, using the critical and commercial success of the previous films.

HOW RECOGNISABILITY APPLIES TO US?

• Although we aren't doing a sequel this is still important to us because we want to make sure that our 3 products are all linked together and that they have a clear brand. We have talked heaving about the fonts Lucida Grande which is the font that Facebook use and also the exact same colour as the Facebook page- blue.

Elements to consider when writing a film review.

1. Viewing• View the film more than once because although it is a

short film I may have missed vital or key elements after just one viewing. So we will be watching it over and over again and because we made the short film we will know everything about it.

2.Give My Opinion• Most reviewers will give their own opinion on the short

film. However impartial details should also be included. It should give your opinions so the reader can agree or disagree.

3. Who is my audience• I need to consider who my likely readers are because I

need to target them. For example writing to children is very different to writing for movie fan clubs. So from this I know I am writing an educated review for my secondary audience of opinion leaders. So knowing my target audience means I can target them with this product.

4. Give an outline• It is important that I don’t totally ruin the short film for them

by saying exactly what happens shot for shot. It is important not give away essential details but enough that it entices people to watch it.

5. Actors and Directors • I need to talk about the actors here and discuss how well

they have acted in the short film and the importance of the role they play in the documentary. I also need to analyse myself and Lilly in the review as the directors.

6. Structure• I will need to talk about the narrative arc of the

documentary and what featured in each part of the documentary.

7. Music • I need to talk about who the artists where of the music

which featured in the film and whether the music was effective and if it was used correctly.

8. Lighting and Cinematography• I need to give details and be honest about how well I

believe the documentary was shot and directed. I need to look at weather the lighting of the interviews was good or not. This is difficult as we are the directors of both the review and the documentary but we have to be critical of ourselves.

9. Read, Read, Read, Read• I need to make sure once we have wrote it that we read it

over and over again and make sure that there are no spelling mistakes because after all it is meant to be an educated review.