Film Poster: Photoshop Construction

Beginning the Photoshop process, I still hadn't determined which image would be the one I used (I had a possible 4 to choose from) so my first step began with opening up each image in a separate document so that I could start to apply the same changes to them as I went along. You'll notice that this image above is not the exact one I had shortlisted, it is slightly off centre and I thought that I could experiment with this one by using the space on the right hand side and along the top to fill with text. However the colour on this photograph was quite bland and ineffective, which is why I added a black and white layer over the top to add stronger contrasts in the image. That being said I quickly concluded that this image, as aforementioned in a previous post, lacked emotivity because we couldn't see the characters at a closer angle. 

I got much further with this image, applying a black and white layer but also adding the text and colour balance to give the characters' faces a more distinctive effect, as well as make the trees at the top light enough for the text to stand out. On reflection I loved the simplicity of this poster, all it needed was a release date and possible a little less brightness to make the characters look glossy, but overall I was very impressed. The black and white layer is something that I felt benefitted my poster very well because colour plays an important part in establishing the themes of the film, so by removing all of the colour from the poster and relying on the two binary shades it helps to juxtapose the colour of the film but also establishes the contrasts within the narrative. Therefore it combined with the film in terms of colour significance but stands out on its own by lacking all colour. 

I am not going to use this poster though, because it comes across as too upbeat and in my opinion is more like a book cover than a film poster. I think that it supplements the second half of my film well due to the tonal shift, but I've already stated that I want my poster to mislead the audience. I want the themes of redemption and forgiveness to be completely undetectable and place the conflict between the characters at the forefront of the implications, making the audience think that the film will be about revenge. 

This is the most basic start to my Photoshop process: opening up the file in the programme. When doing my photoshoot I made sure that all of my photos were taken with a portrait frame because this is the style of most posters and so when I used them in Photoshop I wouldn't have to alter the image size because it would already be appropriately measured. 

Unlocking the base layer (the photo) enables me to add changes to the image. The first and one of the easiest steps was to add a simple black and white layer. At the moment you can see that it doesn't look defined or sharp, and this effect comes when I alter the contrast, brightness and colour correction. Also visible is the text, which was easy to add and position since the emptiness at the top of the image provided an ideal place to put the title. The difficulty with the title is the font and the colour, because it needs to stand out but not enough to make it incongruous with the overall photo. 

The screenshot above shows my experimentation with the type of font I wanted for the title, but it shows that I have added the tagline as well. 'The line between grief and guilt is not black and white' is the most clever statement that I could think of to support my film. The 'black and white' reference not only complements the 'Shades' of the title, hinting at moral ambiguity, but is also complements the black and white of the image, outlining how the bland colours are a personification of the internal conflict of the characters. At the moment I am unsure on the font of the title,since I think the letters are too thin and maybe too inconspicuous to be noticed at a distance. The tagline looks okay because it doesn't need to be instantly eye-catching, it just needs to do reinforce the title.  

I have relocated the tagline to above the title here, using it as a tease or an introduction to the title of the film. Therefore it could be read as 'The line between grief and guilt is not black and white. Shades of Reason' where the 'Shades of Reason' seems to summarise the tagline in a concise and complex way. I have also changed the font in order to embolden the title to give it more of a presence on the poster. And a release date has been added using a simple numerical system. In America this would be read as the 3rd of August but in the UK this is the 8th of March. Like I stated when making my magazine review page, I wanted the release date to imitate the decision making process that distributors undergo. I knew that the 3rd of March is the official release date of Logan in the UK, and so by putting my release date as 3rd of March on my magazine review page it makes it look as though my film would hypothetically compete with Logan on the opening box office weekend. 

Therefore I consciously chose to change this date when making my poster because it reflects how distribution companies maximise profit by releasing their films at a time with little competition. The slight push back to the 8th of March shows that I have considered the financial disadvantage of my original release date and changed it accordingly so that my film is not overshadowed by the highly anticipated Logan. The white colour choice was intentional to stand out amidst the grey and depressing tone of the poster. 

The only change apparent in this screenshot is how I've moved the tagline from above the title to below. I feel like when it was above it undermined the title, whereas keeping it below in a conventional supportive position feels like the title is still the more prominent.

 

Because adding the black and white layer is an easy process, I decided to make that layer invisible for a while so that I could explore the possibility of using colour on my poster. Note that here the tagline is still above the title, and this is because I decided to do this before the last screenshot, so this was more of a detour taking place. 

The box on the right hand side demonstrates how the effect on the image was achieved. Using a simple bar to control the brightness and the contrast, I made the brightness much higher so that the image wasn't so overshadowed and also maximised the contrast to make the image a lot more definitive. I liked how the lighting of the image became white along the top, creating an almost spiritual transition from the ground to the sky. 

The blueish tinge on the poster and text is the result of changing the colour balance (shown in the top right). I think that by enhancing the green and blues within the image, my poster now resembles the poster for Manchester by the Sea, which is very light and natural in its use of colours. The effect of the more pastel colours on my own poster gives the setting greater depth in the background as well as makes the characters seem more pale and human. This sense of lifelessness has an eerie and dramatic tone at the same time. 

By increasing the brightness to its maximum level,  I think that the tone of the film dramatically shifts from downbeat to upbeat. The two screenshots above emphasise the difference in brightness and how this contributes to the overall impression of the film. I prefer the brightness when it isn't too obvious, where the top half of the frame lingers in light while the bottom half remains in the shadows. This is reflective of both the film in terms of its themes and also carries religious symbolism with the idea of light and darkness relating to repentance or punishment. I am thoroughly satisfied with this poster, although the photo could still emphasise the characters a bit more. 

I wanted to draw attention to this effect above. On Photoshop, a threshold layer is intended to help change the colour balances of the image, but I found that the simple effect of just adding the layer over the top of the image resulted in an intriguing sample of abstract art. It reminds me of the posters for the TV show The Wire, where the poster was somewhat distorted by the graffiti texture of the images. Although I don't think I like this for my main poster, because it is too dark and oppressive, I think that this could be very immersive for my character posters. 

Before I accepted that the other poster was the best that I could come up with, I tested my final photo from my shortlist. Immediately striking was the focus on the two characters and less on the setting, which just provides the backdrop. In my other images the setting was more prominent and this slightly detracted from the significance of the characters, who should be more imposing. 

In my original flat plan I placed the title in the centre of the poster, which is what I have replicated on my design above. However instead of using the full tagline, I took two key words of 'Guilt' and 'Hate', which I thought summed up the characters' personalities, and placed them in opposite corners of the frame to keep them distinct and recognisable. The effect of this was more blunt and definitive, establishing the conflict. 

I added the black and white layer and made the picture brighter in order to make the writing (particularly the word 'hate' down the bottom) more identifiable. 

I started to play around with the typography of both the title and the tagline. I gave the title a bold and dominant font which made it a commanding presence on the poster. Being in the middle of the frame means that the text could be slightly undermined by the characters on the poster, which is why I have changed the colours. Using white for the word 'Shades' is a logical decision because it is displayed over the Father's black coat, so white writing makes it easily legible. While I think that white would have been the most detectable colour for the whole title, I wanted to use black to show the contrast and allude to the black and white reference in the tagline. Therefore the combination of white and black helps to establish the variety of moral 'shades' being referred to in the title. 

It is also noticeable that I have changed my tagline back to my original, but placed half of it above and half below the title. The reason I have opted to stick with my original tagline is because I like the idea of using individual words to identify the characters, but I will do this for their individual character posters because this would be a good way to show slight variation across the posters. 

I have added the release date in the same place and in the same colour as on my original design. The added threshold makes the film look very dark and again, it is not my intention to use it, but just experiment with the artistic variety of the effect. The red of the title is very bold and resembles a warning, which is too dominant for the tone of my actual film. What is less obvious is that I have cropped the image to make it more rectangular, cutting out some of Dylan's face and making the frame resemble a poster in terms of its measurements. to Below are a variety of my finished posters, with slight differences. I shall explain why I am not going to use them, and finish this post with my the poster I intend to use as my finished product. 

The overly dark contrasts of this poster make it look as though my film will be violent and tonally depressing. Also the first part of the tagline above the title becomes hard to read. The main reason I am not using it is because although I want my poster to conceal the more uplifting side to my film, I don't want it to exaggerate the darker part of the narrative to the point where audiences would mistake it for a gritty and bleak story. 

The rest of my possible posters do not have the dark colour contrasts over them. The difference here is my change of colour of the tagline text to mimic the colour change of the title. I used a combination of the black and white for my tagline, just like I had in the film name. However I am not going to use this poster because the typography is still quite difficult to make out, so although the colour choice is symbolic, it is not a practical decision. 

This variation of my poster differs significantly. I have included an assortment of critical quotations to suggest acclaim and praise, particularly established through the prestigious value of the famous film magazine 'EMPIRE'. Quoting a real magazine with a concise but believable statement was a way for me to test using an institutional feel to my poster. The other to reviews, from 'Film Forever' and 'Screen Wild', were fictional institutions. I deliberately quoted 'Screen Wild' because its the name of my own film magazine, so this was a nice way to show continuity across each of my products. I have also changed the release date to a textual display rather than a numerical display, just to experiment with the style. By fully aligning the tagline on the left, it made the structure of the text less rigid and varied across the poster. 

I removed two of the quotes and replaced them with the names of the actors portraying the protagonists. This is a common trend in film posters and I wanted to see how it looked. I used the colours red and white for my text, as they did with the Logan poster, because this complements the noir tone of the image. However I think that both the quote and the cast names were too distracting from the image and the implications towards the narrative, which is why I don't think I will use this. 

This is going to be my final poster. I have opted for a minimalist approach by limiting the text to the title, tagline and release date. I think that this adds more engagement to the film itself by drawing the audience's focus to the text in the foreground and the dramatic image in the background, where each feature on the poster supports the others. The release date is a simple statement that tells the audience when to expect the film, whilst the rest of the information teases the film itself.