Deconstruction of typography in posters

• The font is bold like teen urban dramas
• The colours aren't opaque and have a faded effect so you can see the brick wall behind
• Billings block is below the title of the film
• Consistent colour scheme - white and a faded brown
• Main actors/actress' at the top; Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts
• No tagline

• The title is yellow and bold to make it eye catching
• The tagline is below the title in white and a smaller font 'we are infinite'
• 2 colours - yellow and white
• The O is filled in unlike other posters
• Main actors/actress' names at the top of the poster

• Just like the above posters, basic colour scheme with blue and black
• Main actor/actress' names at the top of the poster
• Title of the film is placed in the middle, with some words bigger than others
• Billings block is below the film name in a colour which doesn't stand out so it doesn't draw attention
• Billings block is smaller, in non capitals, unlike The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Deconstruction of social realism posters

Kidulthood
- The colour scheme is very simplistic yet effective, colours such as grey, black and misty blue are used to create a dark atmosphere.
- The females are wearing tones of pink to represent their femininity.
- The white title is bold and stands out from the contrasting background.
- The baseball bat in the character's hand conveys the idea of violence.
- The use of 'powerful, moving and unforgettable' attracts the audience's attention and makes them interested in the film.
- The clothes represents stereotypes of todays youths, with the characters wearing hoodies and tracksuits. The mise-en-scene therefore makes the genre obvious to be a teen urban film.
- The lighting has a mixture of low-key and high-key, the low-key represents the darkness in the lives of the characters.

Fish Tank
- The orange font contrasts with the blue background which makes it stand out to the audience. The size of the font also draws the audiences attention as it takes up half of the poster.
- The tagline 'live, love and give as good as you get' stands out as well as the white contrasts with the black from her trousers.
- The low angle shot represents Mia as a powerful character. The low angle also portrays her as imitating as she looks as though she is looking down on the audience.
- The images of the buildings in the background suggests that it could be an urban drama.
- Mia's clothing suggests that she is working class and the use of the hoodie conveys that there could be crime and violence involved.
- The use of the clouds in the background and the bight orange title suggests the idea of freedom.
- The lighting on her face is half in the shadows and half in the light which shows that she has had a difficult past and is moving in to a positive future.

Bullet Boy
- The lighting is dark behind the boys head and bright on his face which suggests that he has had a difficult pst but is moving on to a brighter future.
- The colour of the image in his head connotes the idea of danger.
- The image of the young boy is holding a gun which suggests the film battles the social issues of gun crime and violence which working class youths.
- The tagline 'you only get one shot at life' is enigmatic which makes the audience want to know more on the narrative.
- The reviews contrast with the green and black background which make them stand out and the one worded reviews such as 'striking' catches the audiences attention quickly.
- The fact that the character is the only person on the poster porters the idea of loneliness.
- The background image is a eerie muggy green colour which creates mystery about the main character.

Poster Production

I used the image I manipulated on Photoshop to create a draft poster shown below. 

• The first thing I did was upload the image I had manipulated on Photoshop and opened all of the reviews, awards and billings block as new layers.
• I then dragged the components onto the background image and set the layer mode to lighten so that the text was visible without a black background.
• I then took a screenshot of our title from the trailer and erased the background to create a house style across all of our production pieces as the website, trailer and poster all use the same typography and colours.

Evaluation

• This poster isn't being used for the final production as it is quite basic and there is a lot of blank space as the composition and positioning of the text and layers don't look placed correctly on the image.
• All of the components look good on the poster - the billings block, title and reviews look professional however the layout is not entirely professional.

Deconstruction of film posters

 

  

• Pastel/neutral colour scheme; blue and pink connotes elements of romance that may occur throughout the film which is commonly used in romance/teen films
• Reviews, star ratings and awards that the film has won stand out to show that it's a film worth seeing
• The main actress is the only one in the poster so this shows that she is the main focus and the film most likely revolves around her and her life
• Effective positioning as the golden rule has been used so your eyes automatically focus on the girl
• Sans serif font which is a contemporary font
• The torn wallpaper in the background could symbolize neglect and the poor lifestyle

•  Unique film poster which incorporates the use of illustrations, shading and black outlines which makes it look quite animated - the illustrations and shading further enhances the idea of a typical diary for a teenage girl as it makes it quite personal
• Again, the same colour scheme as Fishtank and the use of reviews and star ratings, conforming to common conventions in teen urban film posters
• The font is quite messy unlike Fishtank which is looks tidy with sharp edges, the font used in the poster imitates her handwriting since it's a diary
• "Some things are best kept secret" - the tagline is relevant to the film and title since it's about a diary
• This is a social realist film; the mum is holding a cigarette which could show that issues such as smoking/drug-use is covered in this film. Also, the review "finally a film that gets youth" shows that it is a relatable film which covers issues that youths will face

• The gun in the poster is coincidentally pointing to the young girl
• London and Brighton are both very different locations so there is a strong contrast; both London and Brighton are in bold
• Font has a scratched effect to show that it's an urban movie that covers social realism
• "Innocence has nowhere to hide" - although she is an innocent young girl, she still has to face reality and issues such as prostitution, being independent, etc.

• A young boy is laying on the grass which is effective as this film is about a boy growing up and we usually associate grass with childhood, parks and fun.
• The poster is very simple as the quote at the top of the poster tells us what it's about
• The font of 'Boyhood' looks quite messy, almost like a child wrote it; very simple colours - possibly enhancing how simple childhood is? 

Poster practical

Ratings
I used two 5 star ratings, 'incredibly touch, an emotional masterpiece' and 'a gripping storyline' and put them in the middle on the left which follows the golden rule . I created the 5 stars by uploading an image from google images and used the magic wand tool to cut way the background away from the star and duplacated them.


Billings block
I copied a billings block from google images which I wouldn't do for the real poster, as I would make my own one. I pasted it into photoshop and again used the magic wand tool to cut away the white background image and put it at the bottom of the poster which is a common convention of film posters.


Main image
For the background image, I used one of the images taken whilst filming and opened it on photoshop. I reduced the brightness and increased the contrast slightly, then I reduced the saturation of the brick wall to enhance the image of the main character. Next I used the smudge tool using colours black, red and green to create a black eye effect on the left eye. I choose to make a landscape image as it it common convention of teen urban dramas and is evident in past work form media students.


Main title 
I created a simple black and bold font that stands out from the background of the brick wall. The main title stands out from the poster and it has the largest font size. The title is placed to the left of the poster which is effective as titles shouldn't be located in the middle according to the golden rule.


Tagline 
I used the same tagline from the website and the trailer 'life is delicate. life is disposable. life is eighteen' which makes the trailer, poster and website relatable and it will attract audiences as it is memorable.

Realise date 
I put the release date below the billings block, this is so it is out of the way yet is there for the audiences information if they wish to know. It also doesn't say the exact date which keeps the audience guessing.

Deconstruction of film posters

 The fault in our stars

- The #TFIOS is aimed at young people and social media such as Facebook and twitter so the film can receive ratings and reviews.

- The title is very bold and has the colours blue and white. The blue is a friendly colour which shows the relationship between the two characters and the white shows purity.

-  'Based on the new York times #1 best seller' shows that it is an American film and is very popular.

- There is a little amount of text which concentrates the audience's attention on the main image which is the selling point making them want to go watch it.

- The grass it out of focus and the lighting it on the image which puts the audience's attention on the characters.

- The blue and white title contrasts with the background which makes it stand out more.

- The use of celebrity endorsement makes the film more successful as fans will want to go see it.

Love, Rosie

- The orange heart is broken which shows the relationship between the two characters.

- The colour orange is used repeatedly, and this is seen to be a happy colour, indicating that there will be a happy ending.

- The rating is from the ASOS magazine and so will be trusted with the readers.

- Saying that it was made from the writer of ps I love you makes the genre obvious to a romance.

- The white background shows symbolises innocence and purity.
- The date shows when the film is released so that the audience can go watch it.

Transcendence
- The poster contains the normal conventions that a poster should have such as the star crediting, billings block , tagline and title.
- The poster doesn't show the producers name clearly in bold which shows that he my not be well known however the main character Johnny Depp is popular and well known which is why his name is in bold letters at the top which attracts the target audience's attention.
- Johnny Depp also acts as the unique selling point.
- The blue and white mix of colours suggests something is in-human and out of this world which connotes the genre to the audience which is Sci-Fi.
- The poster gives a sense of mystery as it is enigmatic as it doesn't give too much of the narrative away.

Film Poster Design Experiment

Film Poster Design Experiment

I experimented with designs we could use for our film poster. Both of the images below are very rough drafts, using stills from clips that we shot to use in the trailer.

In the first draft I concentrated more on layout and colours. In the second draft, I used the layout of the first draft and worked more on the typography i.e. sizes and fonts.

First Draft

• I chose to use white as the main colour for the typography as it stood out well against the orange/yellow in the background image. This makes it easy for the audience to read in the short time they are looking at the poster.
• I wanted to have ‘pops’ of a bold colour, which is a common convention in film posters. I used an electric blue as this is the colour that clashes with orange in the colour wheel. I used it for the stars on the reviews and brackets around the award. This draws attention to the positive things about the film, making the audience more likely to want to see it.
• The billing’s block is in the conventional position. I used a template for this, but it will be personalised for the film in the final draft of the poster.
• I used transparent logos of production companies, this allowed me to change the colours so that they stood out against the background image. As they are at the bottom of the poster, where the background image is its darkest, it used white so that they are distinguished.
• I placed the reviews on the left hand side of the poster. I only wrote two, but we could use more in the final draft of the poster. They take up the middle half the height and about a quarter of the width of the poster. The review is larger than the critic, this is a common convention as the audience are more interested in what is being said about the film than the critic and who they are representing.
• In the image used, the character is slightly off centred, this conforms to the golden rule, as the audience’s eye falls on one of the four corners. In all of the corners there is something that draws the eye around the rest of the poster.
• The title is the largest text, in the top right corner of the poster. This draws the audience’s attention, and leads the eye to the tagline in the top left corner. The tagline is smaller than the title, a convention of all film posters.

Second Draft

• Again, I chose the main typography to be white. This is the colour that stood out most against the background image used. Although, the colour doesn’t work everywhere i.e. the left hand side of the mage is quite bright, so the white can’t be read very easily. As we are not using this image as the poster, this will not affect our final draft.
• The colour ‘pops’ compliment the background image used. I used a similar red colour to the doorway to the right of the poster for the brackets around the Sundance Award and the stars in the reviews. The light, pastel red attracts the audience’s eye around the poster. I also used the same green/grey colour in the doorway the character is sitting in for the tagline, again complimenting the image.
• The reviews are in the same place as the first draft poster. But I worked more on each review individually. There are certain words that are larger than the others, these words summarise the review and mean that the review can be read in a short amount of time, keeping the audience’s attention for longer i.e. Powerful. Moving. Masterpiece. compared to powerful and moving, an emotional masterpiece.
• The bold, blocky font is common convention for social realism film posters, which I did not use in the first draft. This font is a draft of what we will use in the final poster as I didn’t work on the colour/effect of it.
• In the final draft of the poster, we are likely to add an effect to the typography to incorporate it into the image used i.e. a spray paint effect so that it can be placed on a wall in the image.

First Drafts of Film Posters

The First Drafts of the Film Poster

Below are the sketches that I drew for the first drafts of the film poster. We worked on the designs together i.e. what should be included and colouring etc.
After I drew them out I will develop them further on a computer using proper typography and reviews. 

• The image is at a train station, which we are planning of having a shot of in our final media product.
• The electric blue typography will stand out against the grey and other neutral colours.
• The blue will be used for the title, stars in the reviews and brackets around the awards.
• The billing's block is in the conventional place on the poster.
• The poster has aspects in each of the corners and nothing in the centre which conforms to the golden rule and draws the audience's attention around the poster.

• This image is similar to the shot taken in the subway. I liked the colours of the shot and I thought it would be good to use as a film poster.
• The colour that I chose to pair with the image, on the title, awards and stars again, was the same electric blue. This is due to blue and orange being contrasting colours, which is common convention on social realism posters.
• The figure is slightly off-centre which conforms to the golden rule.

• This image is of the character sitting in a door way with other members o the public walking past her. This creates the sense of her isolation, feeding onto the plot of the trailer.
• I chose to have two colours to pair with the neutral colours of the poster. I believe that violet/lilac and olive green go well together, and will draw the audiences' eye around the poster.

Deconstruction of Landscape Posters

Deconstruction of Landscape Posters

A convention of the social realism genre is having a landscape poster. Before drawing up designs for our own film. I deconstructed a number of other, social realism landscape posters.

 

•  The colour scheme consists of blues, greys and purples. The purple stands out well on the grey background, making the title the main focus of the poster.
• The title is slightly below the centre line, this conforms to the golden rule as the eye is draw from the title to the boy in the foreground, up to the character in the background and then to the pylons.
• The white typography stating the director of the film stands out more than the title of the film, this is a common convention for social realism films, as usually the director is an up and rising star.
• The billing's block is above to conventional place and right below the title. This means that the bottom of the poster is empty, this could be used to represent that the boy in the poster is isolated and has nothing around him.
• The plot of the film is not given away, there is a lot of enigma surrounding the poster. For example, there is no tagline for the audience to understand what the film is about, and the character in the background is unknown.
• The genre is slightly revealed by the tracksuit that the character is wearing and the pylon's in the background. Both of these are common conventions of the working class.

 

• The colour scheme is grayscale with the bold 'pops' of hot pink. This makes certain typography stand out against the image drawing the audience's eye.
• The title is in the centre of the page, which subverts the golden rule, although, the other 'pop' of pink is in the top left hand corner, which is the main area that the eye is drawn to. This text is review from the Independent (a well known newspaper) saying that it is the 'Coolest British Movie of 2007', attracting the target audience.
• The title is surrounded by other grey text. Again, the director is shown above the title, a common convention of social realism films. Below are the main actors, which again, are commonly shown on posters of this genre.
• The plot is not given away by the poster and there is a lot of enigma surrounding the film, for example, who the character is and how he is related to the title. The background is white on one side of the character and black on the other, this is open to many interpretations. Examples are that the character is bad (represented by black) and is moving towards a better life (represented by white). Or that the character has a good and bad side.  
• The billing's block is left aligned, this is unusual for a poster as normally, the billings block is central in the centre bottom of the poster.

 

 

•  The title of the film is the main focus of the poster. It is large, bold, capitalised typography in a slightly gradient off-white. It is slightly above centre, conforming to the golden rule and fills the entire width and a quarter of the poster's height.
• The other colour used throughout the poster is a corally-red. This is used on the 'based on the shocking true story', the reviews and awards. This colour is used on the text that is smaller that the title.
• There is a main character in the centre of the poster, which draws the eye from the title, down the character, to the reviews and back to the top. This means that the audience spend a lot of time looking around the poster.
• Again, the director of the film is shown, although this time is it only small compared to it being a large statement on the other two posters.
• The billing's block of this film is normal (centralised in the centre of the poster), although the size is a lot smaller than the other posters.
• Again, there is a lot of enigma around the film, as to who the character is and what the true story is. The location is not a clue as it is unclear, there is a white fence, but nothing can be seen apart from this.

The inspiration that I will take from these posters for the creation of our poster, is that bright bold colours that are paired with neutral, more pastel colours. I believe that this is a good feature, and could be a factor used to draw the audiences' attention around the poster, conforming to the golden rule.

Teen Movie Poster Deconstructions

The Perks of being a Wallflower

"An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world."


- Yellow-green - sickness (anxiety), safety and growth
       - also the colour of the book cover
- Characters smiling - personality and storyline not evident at all
- Sam's head on Charlie's shoulder - indicates close relationship
- High Key lighting
- Tag line is quote from the book - interesting a specific audience
- 'Based on the critically acclaimed novel' - already an audience interested in the storyline
- Title - typewriter font - links with literature and writing
- Golden rule - a lot of space int he centre of the poster where the tagline is which draws the attention of the viewer to the characters and the title of the film

The Breakfast Club

"Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought."

• All characters in the centre of the poster - there isn't one main character they all have an equal role in the film
• Varied appearance of characters - match them to the text: Brain (centre), Beauty (Bottom), Jock (centre right), Rebel (Top centre), Recluse (Left centre) 
• Text at the top of the poster indicates what the film is about - still restricted narrative even though a lot of the character traits are revealed
• Simple title font - also a logo
• basic poster yet straight to the point with tagline and main image

Juno

• Colours associated with health, safety, youth and fertility
• Main concept obvious due to pregnant teenager in  main image

• For detailed deconstruction of this poster click here

KiDULTHOOD
"A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London."

• Main image background and "Streets of London" indicates the film is set in an urban setting
• Racially diverse character in main image - community and belonging
• Violence and Crime - shadows cast on face make certain characters look dark and the baseball bat suggests violence
• White title contrasts with black background
• body language of actors seems intimidating and closed representing them with a bad attitude - 
• "before adult hood comes..." - adulthood is the sequel of the film, suggests target audience of the film

Cyberbully
A teenager is subjected to a campaign of bullying through a social networking site.

• Main character in centre of the image - isolated, alone, vulnerable - she is the victim of the cyberbullying (preferred reading)
• Title - L's replaced with //, fitting genre and narrative of online bullying
• blue connotes trust and loyalty - ironic in storyline as we know from the title is about bullying
• very basic poster - restricted narrative

Generally, all posters for teen films represent the characters in a stereotypical way with the main character types (jock, geek, outsider...etc) visible. A lot of these films discuss teenage problems and moral panics such as bullying, pregnancy, poverty and social exclusion/anxiety. The posters tend to show these ideas in an obvious way yet do not give too much narrative away.

Deconstruction of film posters

Avatar:
- The audiences eyes are diverted to all the colours on the poster and bold images such as the avatars eyes, the sun and the bold title, this done by using 'The golden rule'.

- The title is different as it doesn't use the stereotypical black font, which makes it stand out. It also reflects the sic-fi genre by giving it a futuristic look. 

- By saying it is available in 3D will draw in a wider range of audiences.

- The antagonist is gown through hi facial expressions as he is portrayed to be heroic and so he'll have an important role in the film.

I am Legend:

- The title is bold and white which makes i stand out from the background.

- The colour scheme is mainly black white ties in to the title, 'the dark knight'

- The title is positioned away from the centre to distant the audiences attention from the image, 'the golden rule'.

- At the bottom it tells you when the film is realised which gets the audience more interested.

- The iconic batman costume is used to increase the fan base as it will attract the attention of older generations.

The dark knight rises: 

- The bold title of the actors name 'Will Smith' draws the audiences attention to the poster as he is well know and has a large fan base.

- Will Smith is the largest figure on the poster and this shows his importance.

- By saying 'he is not alone' draws the audiences attention further s they will be wondering what else is going to be in the film.

- The over-turned and destroyed buildings suggests the films genre is action. Additionally from the mise-en-scene of the gun, this emphasises the edginess for upcoming.

- The background image comprises of a orange/yellow sky which symbolises danger and death.