A2: Film Poster Analysis

The film poster I had produced for my ancillary task received a lot of positive feedback from audiences.

Main Image - The main image I chose to use as the background for the film poster was in fact a still shot from the trailer. This supported typical conventions for film posters as it looked appealing and linked to the psychological thriller genre as well as telling the audience a little about what the film is going to be revolved around. The main image also features a shadow of the protagonist, this was done in order to create an effective link with the psychological thriller genre.
I also merged another image using photoshop. The second image was an extreme close up of the protagonists eyes. At first the poster only featured the main image on it, however I figured that a lot of existing posters have an image on the front that make direct eye contact with the reader. This looked effective as it looked more sinister and appealing at the same time.

Ratings - The star ratings at the top of the poster are used as lures to persuade the reader to watch the film. The star ratings are from different magazine tabloids and newspapers make it look more realistic. I also featured one particular review at the top of the poster 'Brilliantly written, terrifically acted... one of her best!' These reviews are included by a lot of mainstream film posters, crediting the film to make it appeal to the audience such as this one:

Title - The title of my film 'Mental State' is positioned on the right hand bottom side of the poster. This is simply because I have created a house style and decided to stick to this as it made the film much more recognizable and creates a synergetic pattern. Even the colours used, red and white link to the house style making the poster stand out from others and immediately allowing the audience to link it to the film.

Colours - The use of reds and whites link to the films theme and house style. I kept synergy in mind whilst constructing the poster to make it look much more professional and realistic. However, I also introduced a new colour - blue to give the audience a glimpse of the film and make it look more pleasing to the eye as it creates a nice contrast with the red, white and black.

Credits and Date of release - It is typical of all film posters to include credits and a date of release. The credits tell the audience who acts in the film as well as giving them details about the producers, directors and other main people who worked in or on the film. The date of release is perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the films promotion. This gives the audience details on when the film will be released and showing in mainstream cinemas so they can go to watch it.

Overall, I was pleased with the final result of my films poster. I had received positive feedback on it and made final changes after receiving suggestions on what I should change from my media class.

A2: Editing

Editing the trailer took more time than expected. I received feedback on what I had already done and this was effective as I was able to make proper changes to the trailer. 
I edited my trailer on imovie using the mac and I soon became used to the software and using the tools on the programme to help me edit the trailer. 

I had already gathered footage and had to work on putting this together effectively to make it look like a professional trailer as part of a promotion package for a real film.

I received suggestions on my trailer on how I should make it look good. Some of the suggestions I received were:

• Include various cuts and increase the pace of the trailer
• Make sure the pace of the music also increases whilst the cuts and editing is increasing
• Use the imovie text and transitions tools to include cuts to a screen with text on it to tell the audience more about what is happening in the trailer making it more effective and clear for them
• Use a mix of both diagetic and non diagetic sounds in your trailer that make the link to the psychological genre much more clear