Post 16: Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards Part 1

Film posters are a way of advertising and promoting films, in order to entice and attract people into watching them. Film posters have a number of conventions, including the following...

-Title
-Release date
-Distribution/Production company                    
-Tag line
- Image
-Ratings
-Actors names
-Colour scheme
-Unique selling point
-Endorsement
-Film company logo
-Genre

It is evident that film posters posses a number of conventions, however it is clear to see that there is a large difference between posters for high budget Hollywood films in contrast to low budget British films. Film companies with extravagant budgets are able to produce mass advertisement through the use of billboards, posters, television trailers and so on. As well as this they can attract a mass audience through the use of their unique selling point, for example using a well know star such as Cameron Diaz will entice both male and female audiences as well as her already established fan base. In contrast to this, low budget British films have to adopt a more stylistic individual use of advertising as a lack of funds does not allow the to advertise on a mass scale.

These images show the film posters for Avatar, this film was a high budget Hollywood blockbuster. This poster is simple yet striking, the poster includes the films unique selling point, which is the director James Cameron, it also displays the title of the film and an image of a planet. The second poster shows a similar background with a different image, the image on an Avavtar. The poster is striking and would appeal to a mass audience because of the renowned director, both poster encompass a dark mysterious looking background with the directors name and the films release date. The film also had a reputation of being one of the most expensive films ever made and thus audiences were quick to go and see it not only for the director but also out of pure curiosity. Finally, the poster quotes 'From the director of the Titanic, this immediately draws in an already established audience, the fans of Titanic, these people will have no room for questioning whether or not to see the film because as with a sequel they are already fans so feel they have the need to see the next film.

In contrast to this, Trainspotting is a Small scale British independent film. There budget was a lot smaller than that of Avatar, thus the producers of Trainspotting had to think of a creative advertising campaign to entice an audience as they had no famous actors or directors to do it for them. The film poster is bright, eye catching and doesn't conform to the usual 'safe' style of Hollywood posters. It shows five characters all of whom are far from the stereotype of Brutishness's, ones smoking another is pointing a gun and the rest are people who you feel you want to find out more about. The overall feel of the poster is intriguing, it has no explanation of what the film is about, and for that reason entices audiences. This poster presents a real sense of originality and its bright bold statements and orange colour scheme i feel create an extraordinary poster.

Although a poster is possibly the most popular and common way of promoting a new film, short film makers choose a cheaper alternative to advertise there films, and this comes in the form of a postcard. It proves to be a much cheaper and effective way of promoting short films, poster are generally used by big budget films meaning its not possible for smaller budget and independent film producer to produce posters. Postcards, in contrast to posters tend to have less information on them, however, the lack of information draws the attention in leaving them wanting to know more about the film. Similarly to posters, a picture is still the dominant focus. The main difference between a poster and a postcard is the that you can personalize the back of of your postcard, this blank space at the back can be used when trying to promote your short films at festivals it can be handed out with times of viewings and screenings. Finally, it’s important that on the postcard the directors name is shown and well as who it is written by as the aim of a short film is to promote yourself to get funding for further projects.

This Is England is another example of a successful advertising campaign. This poster differs from that of Trainspotting as it uses brighter colours and backdrop of what may be described as a working class estate. This poster prides itself on a working class display of British community, and the poster shows the award winning British director Shane Medows has been at the production line of this film. The poster is covered in ratings by various magazines and newspapers all giving five stars and describing it as 'Brilliant'. The cluttered feel of the poster i believe works very well, the poster seems to conform to all the conventions. This i feel is a successful poster and really brings to life the aims and intentions of the film.

Postcards

Divine is a short film produced by Becky Knapp, Becky has been involved in film and television production for the past eleven years, working across Europe, Africa, Canada and the USA. She initially came in and helped us with our script ideas and pre-production work. This postcard for Divine encompasses the conventions of a film poster however just in postcard form. A large picture dominates the postcard and thus this draws in the audiences attention. The use of white dresses against a black background really stands out and this use of stylistic photography i personally think proves to be very effective.The title of the film is clearly displayed at the top of the postcard, this combined with the quote on the bottom i feel is a enough information, but still allowing the image to stand out. The back of the postcards displays information about the director, actors, the producer, costume designer, who edited the film and finally the sound crew. As well as all the technical details the postcard also displays an email address for any questions or further information people may need and space is left spare to fill in screening times when the postcard it used to support a film at a festival.

This postcard produced for the film On a Life's Edge is designed somewhat differently to Divine. This postcard has a bright and bold background running throughout the whole postcard, in contrast to Divine which chose to have one side blank. The dominant image of a block of flats is continued with three smaller images running down the side. The use of design and photography have been used heavily on this postcard, where as Divine chose to create a more simplistic overall effect. The date '2001' is quite prominent on the poster, giving everyone a chance to see the films release date. On the back side of the poster the yellow theme continues and this side also shows the date '2001'. The back side of this postcard shows the production logo and production house name as well as featuring the cast , credits and synopsis. The back of this postcard contrast greatly with that of Divine, its has a lot less information however does include the synopsis. I personally feel that this postcard proves more effective than Divines, the continuation of the yellow theme throughout the back and the front i feel is eye catching and the synopsis helps people to understand more about the films intended message.

My Postcard Designs

Following on from looking at various posters and postcards for short films i went on to design my own for our short film 'Fleeting'. I initially sketched out four key ideas as shown in the picture on the right, as well as this i also sketched out ideas for the different fonts that i may want to use for the title 'Fleeting'. The bench is a key part of our film and thus i tried to include it in every design, i wanted my designs to be simplistic, yet effective and i feel that i have achieved this. The title on each of the postcards is quite prominent, as after analysing short film postcard i personally preferred the ones with a large title, such a 'Divine'. After drawing up my initial ideas i then went on to annotate them to give me a better idea of what i liked, and didn't like.

After doing my initial sketches i then annotated them, to explain and justify my decisions and reasons for designing them as i did. In the annotations i stated what i felt worked well, and what i felt didn't work as well. I tried to use a variety of images and fonts when sketching the four ideas. Design one shows a large park, with trees on either side, there are two benches and on one bench sits Jonathan, the main character in our film. The title appears in the centre of the postcard and is the most dominant feature in this particular design.

Both postcard design one and two are very similar, postcard two however uses the tree as its dominant image, where as postcard one uses the title. Our film is set in a park and thus that's why i have included trees and green land in both my designs, however personally i feel that postcard one looks more like a park than the second design, the second design looks more like a wood, or forest. The font for 'Fleeting' on the first design is somewhat Gothic and creates a spooky feel to the postcard, whereas the second design looks more elegant and calm. I feel both designs are not an obvious giveaway to the plot of the film, however i like this aspect, i believe it leaves the audience curios to know more. The film shows Jonathan's loneliness and this is a key part of the plot, and i feel the bench being so small in comparison with everything else of the poster portrays a sense of loneliness in the first poster you can hardly even see the character of Jonathan on the bench.

Postcard design 3 and 4 differ greatly from the first two designs. Both these designs are a lot more simplistic. Postcard design three shows an image of a bench with the title 'Fleeting' at the top, this design i feel it simple yet effective, in contrast to the previous designs it has no background scenery however i think the use of just the title and the image of the bench creates a bold statement, as well as this the simplistic nature of the design will leave the audience curious to know more about the film. The design for postcard four is also a simplistic, although the apple features in the film it is not a key aspect however i chose to put it as the main feature of the postcard as when i come to photograph it i want to do it in a stylistic manor making the whole postcard look very modern and edgy. The font for 'Fleeting' in this design i a lot more modern than any of the others, however i feel overall i prefer the more traditional look.

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