Dead Men Running from Jordan Bell on Vimeo.
Archive for December, 2012
After the experimentation I carried out using Adobe photoshop with the different effects and font colours/styles I could use to create the desired effect on my audience which, in this case, is the building of tension, darkness and excitement, all effects common to my film genre.
Finally, I took effects from the magazine covers I had analysed from ‘Empire magazine’ such as the lighting in the background image in order to create a film magazine cover which creates the feeling of tension and connotes hostility and conflict using the influence of the colour red, this colour represents bloodshed and violence alongside the darkness of the suit and the left half of the main character’s face.
I used dark text which is an exact colour match of a part of the background image to keep consistency throughout the cover. I included a picture of an ‘Exclusive interview’ with some of the main characters who starred in the film as this creates a realistic feel to the magazine cover. With this image I also added a red effect as without this effect the image looked to real in contrast to the background image and simply did not look very professional. As you can see the shadow effect behind the name of the magazine is also an exact colour match to the background photograph which adds to the realism of the cover whilst also maintaining consistency.
Lastly, I added a ‘Sky box office’ logo onto the cover just to add to the professionally and realism of the magazine cover, this also is a trusted organisation which gives the impression that the reader can trust any statistics or reviews within the magazine surrounding the film.
Similar to the production of my magazine cover used Adobe photoshop as it would allow me to introduce effects and edit my original images to transfer influences from film posters I had deconstructed earlier in my blog.
Above is my final film poster which in many ways adopts some techniques I believed to be very interesting and influential with regards to how they make the audience feel. For example, the flame technique I used was adopted from the ‘Harry Brown’ film poster as it connotes anarchy and chaos which is very representitive of the theme of my film trailer. As you can see it is a charcter portrait. The character appears to have have his hood up, this connotes vulnerability and that the character is scared of something, again giving subtle hints as to his position within the film. It is important that the promotional package for the film reveals enough information surrounding the plot of the film to interest the viewer and leave them with the question: what happens next?. It is also vital that the promotional package keeps enough of the plot away from the viewer so that they are influenced to go and watch the film.
Within my genre props are a major part the identification of the film, they provide the mood of the film, for example, weapons mean violence, which connotes a dark mood within the film, cars represent speed and a high tempo.
A knife (weapon): in every film tariler I have deconstructed from my genre there are weapoms present, the convey panic within the viewers, which produces adrenaline and excites the viewers. Scientific research shows that the presence of a weapon in a piece of footage raises the viewers heart rate making them more aware and alert to what they are watching. Therefore, many producers choose to include weapons as significant props in their films as they provide excitement and allow the easy identification of the genre in the promotional process. It allows viewers to decide whether they would like to watch a film the full film based on what they have seen in the trailer and ancillary texts.
Although a religious symbol or symbol of faith was not present in every film trailer I analysed, I saw it to be a good prop to include as it could be viewed as a juxtaposition. This idea stems from the fact that the character holding the object is seemingly about to go and commit a very non-religious act shortly after this point in the trailer as the scene shortly after this shows him withdraw a knife,this connotes the idea that he is about to commit murder, an act strictly condemned by any religion. It also shows that the character may have two different personalities, the loving religious side and the violent, murderous side, similar to the father from the existing film Taken.
Vehicles play a massive role in establishing the genre of a film, the sight of a vehivle speeding off is very common to any film looking to create tension or excitement. Vehicles speeding off connote the feeling of panic, the idea that something is about to happen once the vehicle arrives at its destination. Cars were present in all of the film trailers I watched during my research and I believed this to be a good convention to set the fast pace of the film trailer.
As I had chosen the photograph I was going to use for my magazine cover I used Adobe Photoshop to begin experimenting with effects and other image editing techniques which may connote the theme and mood of the film, this will also aid the natural lighting involved in my magazine cover.
This is the initial effect testing I did, I used the black and white effect in order to make the shadow and darkness produced by the natural lighting more pronounced in order to create a dark mood, this allows the audience to also identify the type of film this is due to the conventions such as the suit the main character is wearing.
During the process of testing different effects and fonts I decided to use the name ‘Watch magazine’. On the left draft I was in the in the initial stage of experimenting with the different image effects available to me on Adobe photoshop including the different fonts available to me. I later decided that the black and white cartoon effect removes the tension created in the image as it removes details such as facial features which indicate the mood of the characters. I also decided that the font I used on the left draft did not match the genre of my film, it was a font similar to those used on magazine covers promoting sci-fi films.The orange font was also too much of a contrast to the background image which is mainly solid black.
Taking the original image, I began experimenting with effects which will convey darkness and tension and will also give the impression of hostility. On the right hand draft I edited the colouring to increase the red, giving the impression of hostility, it represents bloodshed. However, I wanted to keep the darkness of the costumes such as the suit, as these are vital conventions to this genre and allow my audience to identify exactly which genre it belongs to. I chose the font as it has quite a sinister, serious feel to it, caused by the background shadow behind the font. I also matched the colour of the font with a colour from the background image to keep a consistent theme whilst making it eye catching to the audience.
The research into film magazine covers I have done and the construction which I have performed have equipped me with a number of potential effects I could use in order to influence the feelings of my viewers whilst giving them a small taster of what they can expect from the film, this then encourages them to watch the film if it appeals to them.
In order to represent the mood of my film and use common conventions from this genre I carefully chose an image which I believe does this.
Above is the original image which I took for my film magazine cover, I carefully considered the positioning of myself and the actor behind me and decided that, in order to represent the relationship between the two characters I would be positioned in front of him to show that I am his ‘protector’ and he would be positioned behing to show vulnerability, he is almost hiding behind someone else.
The natural lighting in this photograph is also of great importance in relation to the effect it has on the audience, I, being the actor in front , have half of my face in darkness whilst the other is in light, this connotes that their are two sides to my character’s personality, a dark side and a light side. In the same way, the left side of the photograph is in complete darkness and the right side has high levels of natural lighting to show two sides of the situation they are in.
One main convention I used in this photograph was what I was wearing, a suit, commonly used in films such as ‘Man On Fire’ to represent authority and being in a position of power, the dark colour of the suit also reinforces the mood of the film. However, the suit could also mean that he has a working life outside the criminal world which he finds himself involved in within the film.
This is another interesting film magazine cover which falls into the action category, this is made obvious by the presence of weapons in the photograph, a common convention of this film genre. Never mind the fact that this film belongs to one of the biggest British film franchises to ever exist, the James Bond series, the audience are automatically able to identify the genre and style of film based on its conventions.
The character also appears to be wearing dark clothing in a, what appears to be, coastal area, a commonly happy place where it is rare to see someone wearing such dark colours, these areas are normally associated with bright coloured clothing, this shows a ‘trouble in paradise’ scenario, this may represent the theme of the film and help the audience to identify the theme of the film.
A film which does fall into the action category similar to mine is ‘Bourne Legacy’, it holds the same conventions as my film idea such as the use of weapons and violence. Although it does not fall into the revenge thriller category, many features can be transferred from this magazine to mine when it comes to production.
The immediate effect which can be noticed is the way in which the character is positioned, he is seen crouching down holding a pistol, this positioning gives the idea that he is hiding from something or in danger. The crack along the floor underneath him also gives the idea of danger as it appears the floor is cracking beneath him.
Taking this danger into consideration the expression on his face shows determination rather than fear showing that he may be used to the circumstances he has found himself in. The lighting used is very interesting, instead of being completely dark the area behind him has heavy lighting whilst the area the other side of the crack in the ground is very dark. This lighting connotes that the character is crossing the crack between light and darkness, it appears that he is protecting the light behind him as he enters the darkness armed and wearing dark clothing.
Jordan Bell's media blog 