The Final Copy for Review

The final copy for Little White Lie's review

Joanna White captures an original and believable hormonal teenaged romance, but concentrates on the depressing side of life. So much for reminiscing the celebration of being young! Whilst the tagline ‘The Boy. The Girl. The Letter’ doesn’t leave much to the imagination; this film is filled with ambition, creativity and authenticity. White displays an impressive array of ideas, which is somehow matched by All my love’s visual beauty and narrative ingenuity.

The story is based on a teenaged girl (Amie Nelms) who reads a letter from ex-boyfriend (Richard Franklin). She’s overwhelmed by latent grief, anguish and betrayal whilst accompanied by his haunting presence. As the film unfolds, Amie moves through poignant moments of anger, frustration and sadness to ponder on her demise. She finally breaks through the emotional trauma and decides to move on from their failed relationship.

Despite the Jeremy Kyle inspired plot, some painstakingly long takes dwell on Amie’s fragility and solitary nature. Her sullen facial expressions reflect the disappointment of her sudden ‘singledom’ status. Whereas, Nelms’ performance is overshadowed by Franklins’, she still manages to maintain her ground, allowing her taciturnity to contribute towards this affectionate slow paced drama. The iconic extreme long shot of Amie walking into the far distance symbolises the triumphs of female empowerment. Whilst writing the film’s script, White declared her desire to break the stereotypical conceptions of femininity. So, a genuine sense of achievement is certainly portrayed through Nelms’ character- making all the single ladies beam with ecstasy.

Franklin’s performance is mainly reflected through his emotive dialogue, expressing his regret and misfortune. However, this vague narrative device creates some confusion over his unnoticed identity at the beginning of the film. “I know that my death will have done this,” sulks Rich whilst trying to comfort his girl- hard task when you’re a ghost! The unknown causes of their deteriorated relationship and Rich’s death remain a complete mystery, but no need to bother Sherlock Holmes, Amie seems content with her loss.

The real and the unreal are here integrated as never before, White’s use of green screen appears slightly erratic as ambitious visuals create poor quality. Clear distinctions of the characters and the background cause a bit of a let down to the human eye. Nonetheless, the power of inventiveness and willingness allow you to overlook this minor blip.

The rich black and white cinematography seems partly clichéd in its symbolic pessimistic values, but an expressionistic aura allows the baffling enjoyment of certain glumness. Finally, the resolution is best described as the dramatic climax. The gradual fading in of colour breaths sudden life into All my love’s visuals and satisfies the audience with some sort of closure.

White believes ‘All my love’ introduces a ‘wonderful breath of fresh air’ into social realism as it intertwines romance, realism and fantasy into a spellbinding short film. The five minute drama seems to glamorise depression as certain sequences involving the young couple are plagued with unnecessary moodiness. So in the words of Amie, I think we ‘need to move on.’

Emma Robertson

Review Draft- Emma Robertson

Here is a rough draft of the review! Only a couple of hundred words to go!

Joanna White captures an original and believable hormonal teenaged romance, but concentrates on the depressing side of life. So much for reminiscing the celebration of being young! Whilst the tagline ‘The Boy. The Girl. The Letter’ doesn’t leave much to the imagination, this film is filled with ambition, creativity and authenticity. White displays an impressive array of ideas, which is somehow matched by All my love’s visual beauty and narrative ingenuity.

The story is based on a teenaged girl (Amie Nelms) who reads a letter from ex-boyfriend (Richard Franklin). She’s overwhelmed by latent grief and emotional distress whilst accompanied by his haunting presence. As the film unfolds, Amie moves through poignant moments of anger, frustration and sadness to reflect on her loss. We see Amie finally break through these emotional strains and decides to move on from their failed relationship.

Despite the Jeremy Kyle inspired plot, some painstakingly long takes dwell on Amie’s fragility of being alone and accepting her single status. The rich black and white cinematography seems partly clichéd in its symbolic pessimistic values, but an expressionistic aura allows the mysterious enjoyment of certain glumness.

Franklin’s performance is mainly reflected through his emotive dialogue, expressing his regret and misfortune. However, this vague narrative device creates confusion on his unnoticed identity. “I know that my death will have done this,” sulks Rich whilst trying to comfort his girl- hard task when you’re a ghost! His cause of death remains a mystery, but no need to bother Sherlock Holmes, Amie seems content by her loss.

Whereas, Nelms’ performance gets overshadowed by Franklins’, she stands on her ground and contributes this affectionate slow paced drama. The iconic extreme long shot of Amie walking into the far distance symbolises the triumphs of female empowerment. All of the single ladies would proud of this wise move.

The fading in of colour breaths life into All my love’s visuals and satisfies the audience with some sort of closure.

White describes her film as a ‘wonderful breath of fresh air,’ we have to agree as

Emma Robertson

Little White Lies Review,Draft 2-Amie Nelms

I've been working on the review, here's the progress I have made.

Aspects I still need to work on...

• Deciding colour scheme/film theme of review
• Add copy
• Find page number font, add
• Change colour of boxes to fit theme

Amie Nelms

Poster Jo White

Audience Feedback-Amie Nelms

Here's some of my audience feedback from facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/?sk=messages&tid=401833396004

Lisa Williamson March 22, 2010 at 2:55pm
Re: A2 Media Feedback :)
Hi my love, just watched the film thought it was really good i liked how you were reading the letter and rich was there saying it. I also liked how it was in black and white to show how you were upset? and then it became all colourful when you were walking away as though you were moving on. well done guys xx

More to come!


Amie Nelms

Auidence Feedback Jo White

Elizabeth David21 March 2010 at 20:10
Re: Media Evaulation auidence response please :)
I think that "All My Love" is a really touching film. It had great music to go with it and the storyline is great. I couldn't really tell if Rich was gone because he left her... Or if it was because of other circumstances that he was gone, but I would love to watch more of this film.

Auidence Feedback Jo White

Maiken Davidson 21 March at 18:32
I like the opening shot, it's very well framed and how you bring the credits together with that shot to show that time has passed worked really well. I liked the way you experimented with the camera using different shots and different camera techniques, though at some points it was a bit 'bumpy' where it would have been better for a straight zoom and tilt of camera. The camera behind the female character as she walked towards the bench. I liked the reverese shot between both the characters as the letter was read, and that she was mouthing the words along, however i think it would have been best when the guy spoke to make it slightly echo-y to show that he isn't really there - giving it maybe a more emotional effect.

The green screen was good, though it was a bit fuzzy round the characters. The scene when they are lying together in the field is really good, it's really sweet as you show there pov of the sky and then we get a birds eye view of them which I really liked! I liked the bit when he was hugging her too, but felt like that scene was dragged out a little too long. When he disappears reading the last bit of the letter is emotional! I liked as she walked away you went from black and white to colour, this was a really good effect as it showed her moving on.

The music was really good, it made it different to other films as it was unique and suited the film, though it may have been an idea to have it playing when they were both lying in the field.

Overall I think it's really good! Well framed and you used a variety of camera angles that were really effective! Only cons or things you could of improved on was when he was speaking making it a bit echo-y and shorten some of the scenes!

Audience feedback part 3- Emma Robertson

Sophie Rae Denton March 23 at 11:47pm
hey doll! i shall try my best to get it from a media perspective and give criticism constructively!

Non Diegetic sound - good choice of music

Diegetic sound - okay if you want top marks, it needs to be balanced - it's pretty difficult to get the dialogue the same volume level as you've filmed it from different angles but if you can balance them out then that would be more professional.
The part where the girl goes "you're such an idiot"...maybe emphasise that a little bit more because it's too quiet - get her to re-record that particular line in a similar atmosphere, then overdub the sound so it's more clear.
(This is HARD so don't worry if you don't get it perfect).

Camera techniques: Not sure about the random shot of the area at 1.34! lol because none of the characters are looking that way so it can't be described as a point of view shot :S so I don't understand it

Mise-en-scene: pretty good so far!

FX: fade out of the guy is really effective. And the colour change at the end is great, so keep that :)

I don't have a mark scheme on me and this is just off the top of my head from the AQA syllabus. But I hope it works, and you all get As :) xxx

Chloe Thomson March 22 at 8:48pm
this is really good !!
i love the way the girl walks in extreme long shot and drops the paper and falls down! also the match on action with the hands is really good!
only negative thing i would say about this is when they are lying down on the grass, it kind of confussed me with like the opacity? but it's a good idea to show that he's a ghost (if that's the storyline lol)
But all together i think it's soooo good!! well done :)
hope you get a good grade aswell :) xx

Emma Robertson

Audience feedback part 2- Emma Robertson

Sally Piner20 March 2010 at 12:35

Re: Audience feedback

Hey Emma!!
I've just watched your media alevel film, i've also got a male view aswell... just incase you wanted some different feedback(:

I think this was clearly very thought about.. and very well planned. i like the way u suggested Rich being there whilst shes reading the letter, it makes the audience understand the relationship alot more, and how he would of acted if maybe he was there telling face to face. Good use of close ups when needed. its abit cliche using black and white, but towards the end i like how u turn it into colour, as if it was her moving away from the situation. I really like the scene in which shes sitting on the grass whilst Rich is behind her faded, though to make it less stiff mayb have him move a little bit more rather than sit there until she leaves, to show how maybe how she wanted him to comfort her.
The green screen scene was good though not sure whether it was nessicary as we already know that rich is not there.
Music fitted with the plot, it was placed when needed and the pace made it feel very relastic to the situation revealed another level of emotion so audiences can relate to the girl who's being left.
editing was well done, a good range of different cuts to fit with the plot. it helped tell the story without being to ambitous.
The only bad thing i would say is i don't understand the setting that much, why did she have to go to park/field/ to read the letter? it might of fitted better maybe at home when she recieved the letter through the door and then Rich appearing on her bed.. like the scene on the bench, then her moving to her back garden.. to look at the clouds?
But Over all Emma this is Pretty Dang good, you obviously thought alot about what you wanted to put across without going over the top. Simple but Creative(: Hope that helps(:

Now Bryns View...
Well sally pretty much summed it up but like I though it was made really well. It was ambitious but not over the top didnt distract from the story or anything. The emotion was felt throughout using many different effects such as music and editing (with the faded effect) all none of which took away from the story. The only things I felt you could have improved were perhaps the setting as I feel if it was set in a place special to them it would have made more sense. Or if that field was special to them perhaps make it more obvious. With the colour it was perhaps a bit cliche but I understand you havent got a lot of technology to work with. Overall really well made with lots of ambitious ideas most of which are successful.

Emma Robertson

Audience feedback part 1- Emma Robertson

Tracey PenfoldMarch 19, 2010 at 5:18pm

Re: Audience feeback

hiya hun.............

well i watched it and i thought it was good. The story from the start wasnt clear that she was reading a letter from a dead boyfriend,and that he was sitting next to her reading the letter as a ghost,untill she was sitting on her own and he had disappeared but was still reading. I supose if the story was a bit longer u could have had more time to express what is was about. It was good,i liked the way u broke up the begining and ending with picture and words.

hope i have been of help hun

Tahsina 'Weeny' Rahman19 March 2010 at 17:21

Re: Audience feedback

Likes: The storyline.
The fade after the first shot her Amie reading the letter was used well, it felt quite sad.
Great technique of Amie miming the letter whilst Richard reading outloud.
How her 'moving on' was illustrated through colour.
Good close ups (such as the hands, the mouth)
How the audience are unrestricted to the narrative.

Minus the problems with the green screen, the sound could have been adjusted a bit more, some bits of Franklin's voice was loud then quiet.

Charlotte Green-Davis19 March 2010 at 18:38

Re: Audience feedback

Emma i loved it it so entertaining.

Kirsty Diane19 March 2010 at 18:16

Re: Audience feedback

Hello Emma!
Just watched your film, overall, very good. The sound is a bit patchy in parts and some of the camera work is a bit shaky. If that was tidied up a bit it would be better. Also some of the film was silent, was it supposed to be like that? If so, then maybe having that guitar music during those periods would make it more engaging.
Well Done though, hope this helps xxx

Danielle 'Alfred Jones' McCaughan19 March 2010 at 18:01

Re: Audience feedback

Hey~

Wow, that was really pretty. I like the use of black and white instead of a colour film (til the end) that really set the mood. The only thing I was abit iffy on was the actress, I wasn't really sure how she was feeling while reading the letter because she wasn't showing much emotion, the same with her voice, it was rather bored sounding until she shouted.
I also liked the bit where there was a close-up on her mouth while she was reading and you could hear the guys voice, that was really well done. No worries about the quality though, it was still good :)

Well done and good luck with the rest of your project~!
xxx

squiditch has made a comment on All my love:

Hey guys, first of all well done! (Its Nicole btw)

points i noticed.. I'm not sure if this was on purpose but the first shots of Rich, from what I can see was handheld yeah? Might have been nice to see it completely stationary with a tripod possibly?
Really liked the show of time passing by intergrating the start credits with the picture :)
Dissolves were used very well, specially matching Amies look to POV.

Dont worry about the green screen.. didnt look too bad at all!
The shot with Rich being all ghost like and hugging Amie is so lvoely.. but possibly held for a tad too long,
Rich fading out was so very nice too.
Hope my comments help :)

P.S.. loved the music ;D

Anita da SilvaMarch 19, 2010 at 5:43pm

Re: Audience feedback

think its brilliant well done i got goose bumps wen she was reading the letter but the green screen with richard is obvious but the one with amy was fab i couldnt eventell....im asuming she laid on green screen too=/ but i love it the story is really moving loved how all of the sudden he wasnt next to her on the bench anymore made it more real and emotional
Xx

Emma Robertson

Our Film 'All My Love'

Here is our film, which I managed to upload onto YouTube to allow me to contact our target audience via Facebook and other network sites. The film is public so people can comment on YouTube as well.

I will be gathering personal responses as soon as possible.

Emma Robertson

Review Blocked Draft 1-Amie Nelms

I have made a rough draft of our review for 'Little White Lies' magazine using InDesign, just to show the general layout. Fonts, colours, pictures and other info to come on the next draft.

Amie Nelms

Final Poster Photograph Jo White

This is the new photograph that we took on Tuesday. At the moment i have only edited the background. I used the clone tool in photo shop and changed the background so that the previous background couldnt be seen, as the photo wasnt taken on location.

Posted By Jo White.

Poster Ideas, New Sketches-Amie Nelms

After looking at our pictures, we decided to sketch some new ideas for our poster as the pictures we were using for the poster weren't of good quality. So we decided to take more pictures on Tuesday which we are alot happier with. We composed the following poses...

• Laying down looking at the sky (straight on and heads top to tail)
• Amie laying down looking at sky, Rich laying down looking at Amie
• Rich laying ontop of Amie at side, looking at her

Amie Nelms

'Little White Lies' Magazine, Review-Amie Nelms

'Little White Lies' magazine

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/

Design and editorial content inspiration

• Themed around one influential film featured on the cover from the past 2 months
  
• Illustratation of lead actor/character/iconic role on cover from choosen film
  
• Magazine bases chapter headings and custom typeface from choosen film theme

Magazine about

• Films-new, of all kind; independant and mainstream films
  
• Music, art, politics, popular culture also

Publisher

• Church of London

Target Audience/demographic

• Age-16 to 25
  
• Gender-Mostly male, established through adverts and films mentioned
  
• Class-ABC1 class C1 C2, middle/upper class
  
• Other-Film literate, well educated

House style in layout

• Title-capitals, either white on black or black on white font colour, boxed
  
• 'Starring' and 'director'-'starring' and 'directed by' in bold, capitals, boxed orange
  
• Release date-'released' in bold, capitals, boxed yellow
  
• 4 columns
  
• 3 rating system/evaluative rating out of 5: anticipation (before film), enjoyment (during film), in retrospective (after film)
  
• Picture-if article is full page, image takes over all 4 columns; if half page article image takes up 3 columns; top of article
  
• Writer/reviewers name in bold at end of copy on same line as other text
  
• Standfirst in bold with a name (whether it be well known actor, director or character in film)

House style in copy

• Reference to film sources/origins
  
• Evaluative comments, suggesting reviewer's opinion of the film
  
• Use of complex language eg. complex sentences, complex nouns, adjectives, metaphor
  
• Academic referencing or theory referencing (eg. gender thoery or analysis of representations)
  
• Plot description
  
• Genre reference
  
• References to film techniques, use of film language terms

Here's the annotations I made regarding the language used in a film review, from the 'Little White Lies' online magazine.

Amie Nelms

Green Screen & Possible Poster Backgrounds- Emma Robertson

Here are some photographs on the mise en scene, which may be useful for our poster. We used photographs as our background for the green screen!

Emma Robertson

New Photos for the poster Jo White

Today we all met up and decided to take some new photographs for the poster, as we were all unhappy with the photo's that we had taken originally. We have taken three new photo's that we have taken idea's from, from looking further into the poster research. We have included similar conventions to other posters to encouperate into our own poster. The unedited photo's will be uploaded soon with comments about each one.

Jo White.

Music Editing-Amie Nelms

As my role is to organise the musical content, I finished editing the ambient sound and soundtrack. I decided to use a piece composed by an ensemble of fellow musicians which they have given me permission to use, as I felt it fitted the tone of our short film.

I've constructed a letter stating that they give permission in writing for the song to be used, which they've signed.

I choose this piece of music because...

• Social Realism films tend to have a repeated motif/theme
• It was easy for me to access this music
• Instrumentation, guitar slide mimicks the ghost theme
• Acoustic guitar is simple, didn't want to use complex instruments or for the music to distract from the story

There was many discussions and debates on what parts of the soundtrack to use, as Jo and Emma wanted the drums to come in at the end of our short film, as Amie is walking away. I disagreed with this as I felt that the drums were too dramatic for the theme of our short film, and felt it didn't fit. However, I found a compromise which I introduced the drums much later in the piece, to keep both camps happy.

Amie Nelms

2nd Poster idea (Draft) Jo Whitte

This is our second draft of our poster. As this is just an idea, final dessions on font and the image are only ideas. We are also thinking of changing the image of Rich and Aime so that they are facing the same way.

Jo White.

2nd Poster idea Jo White

Emma and I also liked the composition of this film poster. It has the main image in the middle and the title is nice and clear in the top right hand corner. An idea similar to this could work for our own poster. Further poster information and ideas will be posted later on.

Jo White.

Poster idea- Emma Robertson

Jo and I discussed poster ideas after posting our first draft. We aren't satisfied with the font and composition of the main image. We wish to achieve the some composition shown in this poster. Jo said we will need a new photograph taken or we will have to screen grab a different picture on our film on the Mac.

We need to decide on a colour as the poster is very bland.

Emma Robertson

Poster idea 1 so far

This was our first draft for our poster. However on reflection we decided that this font would'nt work, as from looking at other film posters, our font would be compleatly different from tradional film posters.

Jo White, Emma Robertson

Similar Poster research Jo White.

We are going to use the age certificate rating on the corner of our film poster. In the right hand corner of the poster. The age may change on the actual final film poster though, as being a 15 may be too high for our short film, so it might change to a 12A.

We have decided to go with a similar idea to this for our film poster. Although the type of image is different we're going to incorporate the same simple theme. The type of font we are going to use is Type of font : Lucinda Calligraphy.

The Title: All My Love will be font size 48pt so that it can be easily read.

Jo White.

Draft images for the Poster Jo White

This image is the background for our poster. I'm going to move the images of Aime and Rich layered over the top of this background using Photo shop.

This is the image of Rich that we have decided to use for our poster. We decided to have him in black and white and Aime in colour because we thought it would be more effective, and make the image more powerful. Also it will give audiences the chance to realise the storyline of the film and ask questions.

This is the image of Aime that we are going to use for a poster, at the moment we have a first draft of the poster.

Jo White.

Extra Footage Jo White

When we were editing on Friday 5th, we realised that having some extra shots of the sky would work really well with the shots that we did when green-screening. So that when we add the shots of Aime and Rich lying on the screen, we can then use the shots of the sky from their POV. So today i have filmed some scenes of the sky at a worms eye view angle. This should be at the right angle so that it looks like it is from their point of view. On Monday 8th these extra shots will be fitted into the sequence so that our film flows and maintains continuity.

Jo White.

This is England Film Poster Research- Emma Robertson

Representation

• Misfits of British society- backed against a fence
  
• Low working class area/ deprived area
• Mixture of ages, gender and ethinic groups
  
• The women in the poster seem very independent and 'not very glamourized'- social realism quality showing through
• Some males look quite violent from their skinheads and body language- criminals? deviants?
  

Genre

• Social realism quality purely shown by title THIS IS ENGLAND.
• Represents England as the colours suggest this as well red, white and blue
• The flats in the background suggest these characters are from an estate
  
• Very concrete and metal suggesting these characters have no escape from reality
  

Narrative

• Escapism
  
• Criminal activity
  
• Relationships
  
• Racism?
• Betrayal
  
• Hurt
  
• Loneliness
  
• Community
  
• Teen life

Audience

• Would appeal to the 16-24 yr old male audience due to violence, drugs etc
  
• Looks very gritty and violent film
  
• Maybe mature grown men would enjoy this film as it has an 18 certificate
  
• due to low budget film, it is recognized from winning awards due to its realism and authenicity.

Emma Robertson

Fish Tank Poster Research- Emma Robertson

Representation

• Teen girl
• Low working class girl due to gel hair, necklace chains and big earrings
• The wall looks run-dwon due to the scribbles, graffiti and wallpaper rippings, suggesting she is trapped within this deprived environment and her sense of escape is suggested through her body language (looking out of the window)

Genre

• Social realism
• Looks very gritty and unpolished- expectations of drama and roughness
• This poster looks like a still iconic frame from the film itself
• The mise en scene of the area is deliberate as it suggests a struggle through life

Narrative

• Struggles
• Escapism
• Trying to achieve- chasing the dream
• Upset
• Love/Hate
• Relationships
• Family issues
• Suggested through her facial expressios and the heart scribble on the wall.
• Also through the tag line 'LIVE, LOVE, GIVE AS GOOD AS YOU GET'

Target audience
From the poster alone, I would say the 16-24 year old female audience. Also when I went onto the offical website (www.fishtankmovie.com), I felt the website was aiming for this audience due to many pictures of the main female character. Also, it is supported through the pink coloured font.

However, the festival awards e.g. Edinburgh and Cannes suggest that an adult audience would enjoy this film as well.

• Educated,
• experimental,
• low budget,
• challanges issues in Britian today
• Ideas about parenting.
  
• Political issues perhaps?
• Raises awareness about deprived families?

Emma Robertson

Draft sketches for film poster- Emma Robertson

We have some shots whilst filming and editing, in which we had in mind for the film poster so this is the reason why all our sketches are very similiar. We have been concentrating on editing the film due to the final deadline approaching causing us to not come up with a final decision as yet.

I prefer the image of Amie and Rich lying on the grass as it does suggest a social realism/romance feel towards the movie. Plus it would give us enough room to add some reviews, credits etc.

My idea for a tagline: "The Boy. The Girl. The Letter" I thought this desribes perfectly what the film is about, without giving the whole story away of Rich being a ghost.

The romantic image would appeal to our target 16-24 year old female audience due to the couple and probably want to find out what happens to their relationship. However, I wanted to give our film a 12A certificate ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/) because it does not mention about sudicide and there is no rude behaviour in our film.

Ideas for font
Title- handwriting, with a loopy effect.
Arial font for the credits and maybe for the stars' name have their surnames bigger than their first name gives it a professional quality.

Emma Robertson

Conventions of layout in posters- Emma Robertson

Content on poster:

1. Title
2. Actors
3. Director
4. Awards
5. Review quotes
6. Star rating
7. Certificate
8. Tagline
9. Logos of distibution and funding
10. Website address
11. Main image
12. Variety of Font size
13. Three main colours
14. Credits

The distributers are responsible for film promotion in the film industry. Distributor is the highly competitive business of launching and sustaining films in the market place. They try and create a 'want to see' buzz through the poster.

Marketing plan

Who? What? Where? When? How?

TO

Strategies to motivate audience's awareness/interest in the film

TO

Creative methods regarding Media, Publicity, Promotions, Online and Partnerships.= their interest should peak as it opens in the cinema.

Extra notes

The main image sgould distil the appeal of the film

Research into festival logos which could be placed onto our poster such as Festival de Cannes, AFI Fest 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_knowledge_of_all_fonts/html/6.stm This is an interesting link. It talks about font on film posters

Emma Robertson

Film Poster Research- Emma Robertson

Sorry for the late posts from myself- due to illness! Anyway....

As our Film poster is part of our coursework, I decided to research on a few websites to gain some understanding on what a film poster is, what's its purpose and what should be included.

Websites

http://www.launchingfilms.tv/

• Poster should have main image
  
• should reveal the theme and genre of the film- iconography
• include credits and tagline
• should stand out from the other film posters- make it appealing!
• some posters contain a build-in audience such as the big star or because the film belongs to a franchise such as Harry Potter or Fast and Furious

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_poster

• 'advertise a film'
• 'contains an image with text'
• 'also include a tag line, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date'
• 'featuring an individual character from the film'

http://www.impawards.com/index.html

• this was a handy website as it allowed me to browse through many collections of posters and i also could read some responses to certain films.
  

Emma Robertson

Film Poster Analysis 2 This Is England-Amie Nelms

This is England, Meadows (2006)

Audience

• Awards-European and British-film literate audience, persuade to go and see film.
• Media review quotes-specialised film magazine eg. Empire, Total Film, high brow, for well educated/intelligent, film literate audience.
• 18+-film certificate
• "By Shane Meadows"-suggests film literate people will recognise name, 'one up' on others.

Genre

• Social Realism

Why?

• Setting-flats, iron background suggests urban setting
• Costumes-appropriate to time in society (set in 1983)
• Font-in style of graffiti on corrigated iron, in style with setting-red, white and blue font, union jack colours, patriotic, skin heads, immigration, BNP
• Director Shane Meadows, acknowledged for his social realism films-he's political, likes to portray realistic world and make films which inform and educate.

Representation

• Skin heads-male costume suggest violence, hard-drain pipes, denim, braces-symbolism, Dr Martins high boots-1st for working class men, 2nd skin heads, 3rd feminists, short trousers, bomber/denim jackets/harrington
• 1 black male-trilby hat, cromby jacket suggests difference, importance?
• 5 females-challenging and radical clothing
• 11 young teen people (one very young)-serious facial expressions, communicates violence
• Extreme long shot-almost like a line up, emphasis on group/gang
• 1983, society-'standing out from others'-different in sub-culture they follow.

Narrative

• Fashion reflecting society at time-1983
• Characters in line up-young male seems significant due to age
• Setting-suggests urban setting-corrigated iron suggests area in decline, possible demolishing?
• Title-'This is England'-patriotic, set in England

Amie Nelms

Film Poster Analysis 1 Fish Tank-Amie Nelms

Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold (2009)

Poster 1

Audience

• 15+-film certificate


• References/media quotes-ELLE magazine, older/up market/female audience;
  broadsheets eg. The Guardian, educate audience, middle class, suggest intelligence; specialised film magazines, Total Film suggests film literate.


• Festival awards-Film literate audience, impressive european 'Cannes' award suggest a must see film.


• "Jarvis and Fassbender"- film literate audience, know who they are, not common to other people, 'one up' on others

Genre

• Social Realism


• Realistic hair, make up and costume, casual


• Shows setting-ripped wallpaper, plain, simple, rough, grimey area, suggests flats

Representation

• Image on right hand side reveals mise en scene


• Body language, facial expression-not smiling, looking out of window, preoccupied, thinking, in world of her own, watching world go by?


• Costume-black t shirt, colour suggests unhappiness, blandness or life, not sexualised; gold hoop earrings and necklace-cheap style; straight hair and make up-eye liner, 'chav' stereotype.


• Young female trapped?

Narrative

• Setting-Pink graffiti, feminin, heart drawn on wall, girl


• Female character-sad, isolated, uncomfortable


• Title 'Fish Tank'-metaphor, you can see outside and people can see in; about coming out of safe environment/comfort zone.
  

Other

• "Powerful and Poignant"-alliteration, grabs attention, suggest strong


• "Live, love and give as good as you get"-tagline, alliteration, reflects personality of lead female character: strong, assertive, tryer.
  

In comparision...

Poster 2

• Image is more airbrushed-makes image more false looking/fake, not in keeping with social realism genre-simple, realistic (as is first poster)
• Setting, get more idea in this poster-Urban flats-could suggest she's leaving the 'fish tank'
• Colours saturated, however still brighter than the first poster, again more false looking
• Clothes-suggest more attitude to character-hoodie, hood up, 'cheap' jewellery, tracksuit bottoms, midriff showing-more sexualised?
• Lighting-dark, more attitude as half of her face is in darkness
• Camera angle-low angle shot-'hard', powerful but also vunerable against urban setting
  

Amie Nelms

Common Themes Within Social Realism Posters Jo White.

• Looking at some Social Realism Promotion posters, has got me thinking, and it seems to be that they all maintain a similar theme to them compared to other film posters.
• One outstanding theme seems to be the main character in the frame, taking up nearly all of or at least half of the size of the poster.
• Secondly the image isn't over done in anyway, meaning the image isn't overly manipulated using editing software such as Photo shop.
• Also the text used needs to relate to the film or be kept really simple, as not too over complicate the poster.
• Awards or festivals need to be mentioned somewhere on the poster, such as Fish Tank has the UK film council, and funded by the nation lottery.
• Also a tag line to invite the audience in needs to be somewhere eye catching for the audience.
• Who's in it needs to be written clearly so audience's can see it.
• And also the location needs to be somewhere real, this not only helps with social realism it also creates realism as by using an actual place, audiences can relate to it, as well as the character.

Jo White.

Poster Research: This Is England Jo White.

The main theme i noticed with this poster is the title, and the use of effects with the title,

Firstly, that the title is in the colours of the England flag. Red, White, and Blue.

• This seems patriotic and also the font is similar to the font used in propaganda posters in the war, when they read: 'Your country needs you' which is linked with the storyline. Also a good use of font is the line: Stunning and Unforgettable A work of art" which is along the fence, as it looks like graffiti.

This poster has a definite theme of social realism, as the poster conveys reality, by using real locations, and a realistic setting for the cast to stand along in a line. Also this use of placement, seems to be like a line up. This might suggest crime.

The flats in the background also suggest that this film is dealing with working class themes and issues. Also there clothes, as at the time of the film, these types of clothing were known for skin heads to wear, to be threatening towards others.

Jo White.

Poster Research: Fish Tank (2nd poster) Jo White

• The second poster for 'Fish Tank' could even be a totally different film, as everything about it seems different, even the main character looks different from the first poster.


• Firstly her character is in the center of the frame this time, this gives the auidence a chance to see more of what she looks like.


• Being positioned like this in the frame we get a more 'in your face' feeling about her character, its as if she's walking right up into the auidence's face.


• However her facial expression still doesnt give too much about her character away, she looks as if she has other things on her mind.


• The image looks very photoshopped as the clouds don't seem to look real.
• Also in this image we can see blocks of flats which might suggest a working class background.
• In comparism to the other Fish Tank poster i think the first poster definatly suggests a social realism film, as the image used is simple, and nothing dramatic has been used to make the film seem more than it is, where as with this poster it seems as if there trying to focus all the auidences attention just on how the female character looks.

Jo White.

Poster Research: Fish Tank Jo White

1. The first poster we've been looking at is Fish Tank. From the poster shown their is a lot of analysis that the poster uses, firstly mise en scene allows us the audience to see that this is probably a low budget film, this is shown through:
   
2. 1) The use of natural lighting (all the light on the characters face is from the window)

2) The characters clothes and hair/make-up all of which are kept really plain and simple, this shows that the film isn't focusing on how the characters looks.

3) The title/text 'Fish Tank' is a very simple and plain font.

4) The photograph used for the main poster image doesn't give anything away to the storyline, if anything it makes the audience ask questions, such as who is she? where is she? what's she looking at?

(this technique might also work with our film as if an audience is asking questions about the image and the use of text there more likely to want to watch the film.)

5) The camera angle suggests that the main point of this shot is to show the audience her facial expression and body language, as she is gazing out of the window she looks like a venerable character, that audience's might feel sorry for. Also as she is looking out the window against the glass, the title 'Fish Tank' might be linking, as we're meant to think about her being like a fish in a tank, being able to see the outside world around you, but never actually being able to reach/get out.

6) The genre of the film isn't quite clear, as from the poster it might be about her life and who she is, it could be a drama, touching on crime also, as her location with the graffiti on the wall might suggest.

7) The audience for 'Fish Tank' i would say would be an older audience as some of the ratings on the poster suggest a more dynamic approach, for example, newspapers such as The Times, The Independent, Daily Times, The Guardian, this type of audience suggests a middle class, Educated audience that the poster is targeting.

8) At a first glance at the poster it isn't clear that this is in fact the target audience as it seems very simple, but through a closer look at the poster it does seem more of a middle class film.

9) The use of soft colours, and the white background suggests a soft side to the film, it doesn't seem to give much away, the use of pale pink suggests that the females character might have a valuable side, that the audience needs to take time to understand her.

10) However the tag line for the film reads "Live Love and give as good as you get" this suggests a completely different side the film which keeps the audience asking questions.

Jo White.

Film Poster Sketches-Amie Nelms

Here are my 2 film poster sketches for 'All My Love'

Features to incorporate in film poster...

• Film title-'All My Love'-suggests love story/romance, end of letter
  
• Font-handwritten, suggests letter
  
• Actors
  
• Director
  
• Awards eg. festivals
  
• Star ratings
  
• Funding
  
• Institutional information
  
• Certificate
  
• Tagline
  
• Production labels, logo
  
• Web address
  
• Image
  

Target Audience

• Female-genre of film appeal, romance/relationships
  
• Young couple-people that age can relate to relationship side of things
  
• 16-24 blockbuster audience, could be as young as 12 (relationship theme, mature)-reflected in film certificate 12A.
  
• Awards:Edinburgh/Cannes-opens up film literate market, would watch a film as it has film awards.
  
• Media review quotes-from a range of different sources eg. broadsheets like The Times, The Guardian etc-more sophisticated/intelligent audience; female magazines eg. ELLE, Vogue etc for female market; specialised film magazines eg. Total Film, Empire etc, to persuade film literate audience to view as has been recommended by a film magazines.
  

Genre

• Social Realism/Romance

Why?

• Naturalistsic casual costumes
  
• Realistic make up and hair
  
• Urban outside setting, recognisable setting, park-bench sketch.
  
• Letter in image and font style reflect romantic content in letter.
  
• Body language-young couple in image reaching out for each other in laying sketch.
  
• Naturalistic lighting.
  

Narrative

• Letter in image-content of story
  
• Young couple-characters in story


• Body language-two character in relationship, Rich reaching out for Amie, Amie reaching out for letter, only thing that connects her to Rich.
  
• Image-Rich is a ghost/dead-ghostly, transparent image-see grass/bench through him.
  
• Setting in park-bench setting, laying on grass-outside setting.
  

Representation

• Costume-Amie grieving: black clothing; Rich-white t shirt and shoes, ghost, purity
  


• Camera angle, laying image-birds eye view could suggest Rich looking down on Amie from heaven, Rich joining her, longing; bench image extreme long shot-shows characters are equal.

I also visited the website below and found information on how films are marketed through posters.

http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php

Amie Nelms

Research for the poster Jo White

I visited http://www.launchingfilms.tv/ and found information about distribution and the posters themselves. It's obvious that the poster needs to be good as this is one of the main key ways to attract an audience. The poster needs to be eye catching, and make people want to know more about it and to go and see the film. Word of mouth is another importance for the success of a film, so if the poster looks good, people are going to tell their family and most importantly their friends, as our target audience is 16-24 so if we can attract the attention of this audience by incorporating themes that they like we can hopefully also attract more word of mouth about our film.

Jo White.

Poster Idea One Jo White

This is Poster idea number one. I've drawn the couple slightly bigger in the frame so that they take up more of the poster which may be a better idea. In my last post and written on this sketch i wrote that the tag line could be 'Love Lasts Forever' but now I'm thinking that 'Love Never Ends' might be a better idea, but I'll have to talk to Emma and Aime and see what they think. Other information and idea's will be posted as the develop.

Jo White.

Poster Sketch- Idea 1 Jo White

When we starting filming we all knew what sort of image that we'd like to have for our poster, this image seems to work well but obviously its just a rough sketch at this stage. One idea that i had was to have the couple in the center of the poster and have Aime and Rich in black and white but intensify the black and white so that the background of the poster showed up better in contrast. Other ideas so far are show above in the sketch, but I've drawn another one with the same idea just taking up more of the page so that the poster would be more eye catching to attract our target audience.

• Target Audience: 16-24 (mainly a female audience) as our storyline would appeal more to young females. Because of this i think the second idea of couple taking up the whole of the poster maybe a better idea.
• One idea is that the Tag line could be: Love Lasts Forever
• Font ideas : could be plain and almost look handwritten, (this would relate to the storyline) and a lot of film posters keep there theme throughout the poster. The font could be black.
• Possibly a border around the outside (however this may look too much like a DVD case or front of a book)
• Certificate rating should be present on the poster somewhere. (bottom corner maybe)

Cloud Images Jo White

We decided in our last editing session that we needed some sky/cloud images to add to our film, so that when Aime and Rich are looking up, it looks as if they are looking up at the sky. At first we thought that images would work as we didn't film any sky or cloud images when we were filming, so i took some images of the sky, changed the colour of them so that they are in black and white to match the rest of the film.

However we soon realised that images wouldn't work, as it would look odd to the audience that they weren't moving, so the next step is too film the sky/clouds and add the sequence to our film.

Jo White.

Photo's of Green-screening - Jo White

These are the photo's from our green screening session. All the details about it are written below by Aime.

Jo White.