Poster Development

1) Starter Images:  First of all for my poster I had to decide what my main images would be and what my U.S.P would be. I centered my poster on two images of my main male characters, seen above. The U.S.P will be the addressing of the audience with the stare by my main character which will grab the audiences attention and look rather dramatic. Then my secondary image will be the supporting actor representing a separate character and separate personality with his expression.

2) Background image: I had my main images, now I needed a background. For the background I decided to have dramatic grey clouds, representing the dark, gritty nature of my film and also the audience are then able to establish the Drama genre that is being exemplified.The image itself is an image that I took of clouds on a relatively bright day, then the effects that I applied to it on Photoshop meant that I could have a much darker and moodier background.

3) Text: A vital part of a poster is the text and the titles. I wanted the title for my poster to stand out in the street and therefore, I used bold colours such as red and black with white text. I also wanted the title to split up my poster into 4 parts so people could distinguish characters, text, reviews and taglines. The images seen above are key for the marketing campaign of my film; the star is to symbolise the rating of my film from well known sources and the social network logos such as twitter, facebook and youtube show the audience a place where they can become an active audience and discuss their opinions on the up and coming film with others.

4) The final product: I put the parts together and I was left with a poster that I was pleased with as I believe it is clear what genre of film my film is and the tagline really helps to establish what my film is about. Reviews and critics are key to people deciding on whether they are going to go see a film at the cinema and that is why I have placed them clearly in the top right hand corner of my poster. Finally, the inclusion of the film's website on the poster is another important convention of film posters which encourage the audience to look at the film in further detail and become active.

Adulthood and Kidulthood Posters

"Kidulthood" and "Adulthood" are urban dramas with strong violence, drug use and sexual scenes, they try to exemplify what it is like to live on the streets. With my film I am showing what it is like to come out of prison with no prospects, no family and nowhere to go except back to the old life which got my main character into prison in the first place. The thing which most stands out to me in both these images is the use of a dramatic skyline in the background over the high rising flats in the urban city of London. This is something which I am intrigued to use in the background of my film poster. Also the characters address the audience with strong stares at the camera which look menacing especially with the inclusion of weapons such as baseball bats. With the life of the youths in these two films being similar to that of my main character, I will perhaps try and use this effect of addressing the audience with bold facial expressions and try to convey the theme of my film with use of props and costume.

Shifty Film Poster

Shifty is a low-budget British urban drama which holds a number of similarities in the narrative, focussing on the life of young men and their struggles. This poster above shows a number of techniques which I may be interested in to use in my film poster. The bright yellow and the contrasted black title gives this poster a simplicity and also helps it to stand out and draw attention from walkers on the street. The main photo of the two young males seated is an image that I am hoping to use with my main character posing on the left side and right side of the poster symbolising his change from "bad" to "good" and also enlightening the audience to my narrative, especially as this image will be accompanied by the title of the film in bold saying, "Redemption". The title vividly stands out but the thing that I am most interested in is the use of the 'I' in "Shifty"dividing the two characters up, I believe I can use this with my film to symbolise the change in lifestyle for my main character and the divide between the past and the future without giving too much of the narrative away. "24 Hours To Deal Yourself Out" - This tagline seen above is very dramatic and would certainly encourage people to go see this film if they are interested in the lives of those who grow up on the streets and are less privileged and therefore must resolve to drug dealing to pay off debts or stay alive.

Poster Drawing Drafts

This was the first idea for my film poster with two close ups on my main character with two different expressions, one where he looks menacing and the other where he looks peaceful. The secondary images are there to support the main images and the different sides of this one person that they represent. The idea of the title splitting two characters was something that I liked from other film posters such as 'Shifty' as I believe it help the audience distinguish between the two and the different personalities that they represent.

An idea that I also enjoyed is visible in the poster for 'Shifty', the main image is of two males sitting against a wall of some sort. This strong urban look is something that I want to portray in my film poster and therefore, having my main image in front of an urban backdrop of some sort would really exemplify the mood and themes of my film.