Poster: Second Draft

I received some feedback from my peers, some external media students and Miss Piggott; through this I found that one of the most recurring comments was on the effectiveness of the black and white.

"It reflects the reality of what you're trying to portray as it's harsh yet goes unnoticed."

"The dark tones really work as it suits the genre and overall message of your short film."

"I think it's clever that the colours in your film are very vibrant and stand out in order to reflect the life of London but your poster does the complete opposite- it really made me think about the little things."

I used a similar colour scheme within my first draft however the image was not my own and therefore copyrighted. When presenting my first draft to the class they suggested that I take my own image however keep the black and white theme throughout.

I used some of the typical conventions associated with the film Noir genre by creating the allusion of two overlapping silhouettes; when I applied the first image I put it in grey scale to achieve the dreary tones of black and white. I then adjusted the contrast and brightness in order to emphasise certain facial features and physical attributes. In order to add in the second image I had to insert a new layer onto the photoshop software and make them slightly opaque so that they did not appear as block images. I then went on to use the erase tool on the second layer in order to make the first layer appear more prominent in certain areas, e.g. the hands and the eyes.

Both Miss Piggott and Mr Michie agreed that the typography was ineffective and too basic; the font choice looks very amateur and inexperienced. I plan to use the same font within my poster that is featured in my short film and am liking the contrast of the white against the greyscale. It was also pointed out that my film title was not featured within this draft; this was not a deliberate action as I had not realised that my title layer had been deleted. Another weakness pointed out by one of my peers was the fact that the text did not stand out nor catch the direct attention of the audience; this helped me to develop my choice of typography to be used for my title- not only am I going to challenge the typical film noir conventions by presenting my film title in colour, but I also plan to add in a background layer (crack effect) which will interlink with my chosen title (Beneath the Cracks).

Although parts of the image appear blurry or out of focus, I am hesitant to go out and re-take the pictures as I feel that my documentary style piece appears more raw and unrehearsed through the use of this real-life action image. Capturing a more natural, realistic and honest tone is of high importance to me if I want to achieve my desired audience response. The framing of these images are effective (in my opinion) as it creates the allusion of a cyclical lifestyle which I learnt through my interview process was a common thought shared by those on the streets.