Stages of editing for the film poster

After deciding on the picture we was going to use for our film poster we decided unlike the conventional horror film posters the picture was not dark and scary enough therefore our first step was editing the background picture by making it black and white and decreasing the brightness of the picture. This gave the background a darker scarier look and fitted perfectly with the horror genre, it transformed the picture into making the poster immediately look like one advertising a horror film and therefore would draw in our target audience. We also added a plain black box to the top of the page where we was certain we would put the header. We done this as the picture wasn't quite A4 size and there were several problems with making it fit the page therefore the gap at the top was filled with a blak box for the header.

The next stage was to add the quote of the film as it had to be clearly visible and the picture was not very clear after darkening it. Therefore we put the quote of the film which is 'Those forced to sleep will one day awaken' which we felt was very affective as it fits with the title of the film and also obtains very chilling words, which connotes a typical horror film immediately; forced to sleep meaning dying. Putting a phrase onto the poster as well is a typical convention of all the posters i analysed, it allows the poster and film to be distinguished from all the other horror films and is a way of teasing the viewers of what it may be about. We used a different font for the quote as we used previously in our trailer for the title as it was essential the quote stood out and therefore would successfully draw in the target audience. We then added the release date, another important feature of a film poster as it informs the target audience of when the film is available to be seen. We put this also in a clear font which again makes it clear and visible to see.

The next stage was to add the title for the film onto the page. We unconventionally put the title at the top of the page as being so vibrant and standing out it wouldn't have looked appropriate in any other positioning. We decided to produce a more creative unique title, which is inspired by 'The RING' poster which features the victim screaming in the title. This allows the poster to be distinguished from other film posters as well as standing out due to the contrast in the bold title and the black and white picture, yet it also portrays fear and panic and allows the poster to be immediately recognised as one of the horror genre.

The final stage included adding a quote at the top of the poster which is also a typical convention of existing film posters. We decided to add a quote from EMPIRE magazine which says 'The best horror of the year' due to the fact this shows the audience that if an established magazine such as EMPIRE think it's good they will too and therefore is a very good selling point. Also we added the actresses names to the poster and positioned them under the title. This completed the page providing a professional feel to it.