FILM POSTER: Old Poster Analysis

FILM POSTER - Old Version

OLD VERSION 

This is the old version of our film poster. We decided to make a few minor changes to it to add to the effectiveness of it, and to make it more appealing to our target audience.

WHY WE CHOSE THE EYE

Un Chien Andalou

When creating our poster we thought about the opening scene from Un Chien Andalou in which Simone Mareuil's eye is held open by the director Luis Bunuel as it was a very famous and disturbing scene from a formative film from the 1920's. We felt that referencing the shocking surrealism of this short film would set the scene for our psychological horror film.

Although these two pictures are similar and an onlooker may recognize a reference to the iconic image from our poster. The key difference between the two is the absence of the eye in our poster as the main part of the eye has been backed out to suggests the devil within. The quote by Shakespeare 'eyes are the windows to your soul' makes this picture all the more scary as one can infer that this character doesn't have a soul and therefore has been taken over by the 'villain' in the film. The use of the finger holding the eye open also demonstrates the loss of control in which the person has.

MAGAZINE COVER - Old Magazine Analysis

MAGAZINE COVER - OLD VERSION

OLD VERSION OF OUR MAGAZINE

This is the old edition of our magazine poster. We had originally decided to use this one, as we thought it was effective, but on further inspection, we decided it had far too much negative space, and there was not enough information on it for it to be an authentic. Our new EMPIRE magazine cover is under the post MAGAZINE COVER - NEW EMPIRE COVER.

FILM POSTER - Experiments

• Contrast on eye image changed
• Changed levels on eye
• Shape of mask copied from other picture we took
• Contrast of mask changed so that whites contrasted with black
• Changed hue and saturation of eye
• Desaturated eye
• Used brush tool to make whole pupil and white of eye blacked out
• Cropped eye image so that nothing else was in the image
• Layered mask image onto eye image and changed opacity and fill

This film poster experiment was one of our favourites. We had a few slight issues that made it unsuitable for our poster which include

1) Landscape instead of portrait

2) Writing would not have looked right (only looked professional at the top, no room to write anything else)

3) Not enough shown in the poster

The things we liked about it included -

1) The mask fit in the eye nicely

2) Links to the storyline (masked murderers)

3) Novel idea

4) Colours look dark and spooky - almost demon like. 

Although there are more positives than negatives, the poster was just not suitable due to the shape and size of it. 

 MASK IMAGE 

• Levels changed to increase contrast
• Lasso tool to draw around mask, then lasso tool to select background
• Background contrast changed dramatically so that only black is visible
• Cropped so that there is nothing else around the mask except darkness

FACE IMAGE

• Hue and saturation changed
• Levels changed
• Image copied onto mask image
• Opacity changed
• Face layer duplicated and desaturated to give 'sepia' look
• Face image moved so that only one half is visible 

We debated for ages about this film poster experiment. There were aspects to it that we loved, and aspects that we were very uncertain of. Personally we could not find any negatives to it, but had a gut feeling that it was not suitable. We will still consider it for our final film poster, but if we can create something better we will probably use it. Some of the positives to it included -

1) It messes with your mind. On first glance you do not fully understand what it is

2) The hair over the face looks like cuts or something of a similar nature 

3) The sepia colour against the white mask stands out and appears old and neglected
4) The images blend together perfectly

• Changed the levels 
• Changed the hue and saturation
• Used the brush tool to blacken eye
• Changed the hue again to give the blue effect
• Sharpened the eye lashes
• Cloned the eye lashes and made them longer
• Darkened the shadows on right hand side of the image

We really like this image as we thought it was different and eye catching. We liked the bluey grey effect as it makes the image look eerie and sinister.

The negative:

1) The fingers were not exactly how we wanted them

2) The white in the eye is not very clear

The positives:

1) The blacked out eye looks demon like 

2) Leads the viewer questioning the relevance of the eye

3) Shadows are engaging 

4) Clear and sharp image

MASK IMAGE

• Change the saturation
• Desaturate the image
• Change the brightness and the contrast 
• Cropped slightly

FACE IMAGE

• Change the saturation 
• Desaturate the image
• Select the background and change the brightness and contrast

We were not very keen on this final image as we felt that it did not portray our film to the best of its ability. The negatives:

1) Too dark

2) Too busy

3) They don't look in proportion to each other

4) Its not very scary

5) Not eye catching enough

The positives:

1) The mask is clear

2) The black areas would create an ideal space for the writing

Poster Comparison

 

When creating our film poster we were not sure which edited picture we preferred. This is because in the first picture we have used the brush tool lightly over the pupil of the eye which makes it look dark and concealed at first glance but when the viewer looks closer they can see the eye hidden behind the blackness. However in the other picture the eye is completely black which looks sinister and mysterious but might not draw the eye into to the image. In the picture on the right we have also sharpened the eye lashes around the eye; we are not sure whether this improves the picture or not as although it makes them looks bold and creepy like the film 'The Grudge' it may look unnatural and unrealistic.