"Dreams of a life" Film Poster Analysis

"Dreams of a life" is a low budget British film,
The overall colour of the film poster is very dark. It is mainly dark grey, with the only light being what is coming through the window. The dark colour theme really co insides with the tag line "If you went missing...would anyone come looking" as this is a pretty dark sentence and a representation about what is coming in the film.The main image features a woman standing up in what looks like a flat, looking out of a window. The camera is shooting from behind and with the lighting coming from the front the woman is pretty much just a silhouette. Through the props we can see that the inside of the flat, presumably hers, is quite dismal.The only things we can see lying round are some house plants, it has a very clinical feel to it. The woman is standing looking out the window down onto what looks vaguely like a town/city. The way the bright light is coming through the window signals how much better life outside is. It is much happier and maybe the woman is idealising it. This may give some clues about what is to come in the narrative. However the main give away is the news paper clipping inserted at the bottom left hand corner. It has a headline stating "Woman dead in flat for 3 years". This really gives away what the film is about as you can link the woman in the main image to the newspaper clipping. 

The layout of the poster is very simple, with the main image taking up the whole of the background. There are some reviews on the left hand side but they are fairly small and don't disrupt the main picture. The title takes the centre is a very plain font, I would say it looks like a font you would typically see on a "Rom-Com". However from having the newspaper clipping on the poster it reminds me of what you would see in a news paper, sort of a "Times New Roman" type font.

The genre of the film is represented by the title, tag line and main image. To me it say that it is a thriller documentary. This is because the thriller part coming from the newspaper clipping and dark colours. The fact that it is about a death instantly tells us the genre. The documentary comes again from the newspaper clipping, it is a real clipping and that tells us that it has actually happened in real life. 

"The story of Ginger and Snapper" Short film Poster analysis

The layout of this film poster is very organised and symmetrical. The title is in the centre toward the top. The font is very simple and it is all in capital letters. The names "Ginger" and "Snapper" are much larger than the rest of the title. This is probably because they are the main characters who also feature in the main image. Also is kind of at a bend outwards making the two names stand out even more. The title is orange just like the rest of the poster but slightly lighter so it is easier to read. It doesn't give much away as much as the main image does, as the only thing its telling us is that we are going to find out the story of the two main characters. It could be something like how they met or what they do in the apocalypse.
The other text on the page is a tag line saying "Friendship is all you need in a zombie apocalypse..." This along with the main image is very telling of what the narrative is going to be. It gives of a very and light heated vibe and tells us that the overall feel of the film is going to be about something positive in a bad situation.

The main image is 2 cartoon characters one being a normal girl and the other, being what looks from the behind, a zombie. They are sat on the edge of a rooftop looking out over the distance at the skyline with the sun setting. Although we know the short film is about an apocalyptic world their body language and the overall colour tells us that it is not horror it is some sort of comedy. The zombie and human are holding hands which shows unity, they are friends and the zombie means no harm (unlike a lot of zombie themed films). The overall colour is very orangey toned. They are very warm and inviting colours, particularly the yellow in the sun. Yellows and oranges are usually conventional in a romance film, so although the tag line talks about friendship there may be something more but you have to watch the film to find out. The setting, looking out across the skyline, is also very romantic and very typical of what you would see on a normal non-animated film poster. There is nothing in the image that tells us anything bad is going to happen.

On this film poster there is the stars of the films names, this is unconventional for a short film as the actors are not well known and as the main point of a movie poster is to sell the film and entice people to watch them, therefore putting a random actors name would not serve the purpose of the product.

"Ghost Tour" Short film poster analysis

The layout of this poster is very distorted. The main image covers the whole of the film poster, it is a birds eye view of a room as if the ceiling has been taken off and someone is looking in. This image is at an angle and a shadow of a human is featured in the middle. All of the text is pushed to the top and bottom of the poster. The image definitely gives away what the short film is about. The dark candle-lit room partnered with the shadow tells us it is either a thriller or horror. Another feature which hints at the genre and plot is the tag line which says "We all have to go sometime." This tells us that death is involved, the fact that it is all in capital letters adds that extra sinister edge. The tag line matches the main title of the short film "Ghost Tour". The font of the title is quite and old fashioned looking font, it is fairly skinny but still look is bold on the page. It is a slightly off white -yellowy colour, it is the same colours as where the light hits the tiles on the floor in the main image.

There is the institutional block at the bottom just above the logo of the production company and the release date, all in the same font as all the other text. Having a release date it very unusual for a short film poster as they usually are released at a film festival and public viewing is staggered. 

The overall colours of the film poster are very dark, the outer edge is all black and dark browns and gets lighter towards the middle so its clear to see the shadow. All the furniture in the room is dark mahogany which is slightly red. The mixture of all the dark colours mixed with the red connoted death and evil. The colours on this poster are very important as you instantly know what genre the film is without reading the title or looking at the main image.

Due to the main image being a room with a shadow it is impossible to tell who the main characters are or what happens due to there being no body language or facial expressions to analyse. However this does create enigma, which is typical of a horror. We don't know who the shadow is off or where the room is, which leaves the audience asking questions and in turn hopefully making them watch the film. The mise en scene of the whole poster works really well to display the themes and genre of the movie with out giving too much away. The props used are all old fashioned looking, there is a chair and sofa set with a large lamp on a wooden unit. All the same reddish colour and look like they have come from an old gothic mansion. The composition of the shadow is very clever as it is the main thing you look at with out actually being that big.

Survey Results

Survey

This is our survey template, we made it then gave it out to 15 of our friends who are our target audience.

Filming Day Two

We started to film the ending on a different day as unfortunately the camera battery died on the first day of filming.

We were filming in the same location as before in the Toll House. For the ending we needed a shopkeeper who was older looking and not around our age, fortunately we got Christine a worker there to play the Shopkeeper.

Kate played the part of the Final girl buying the mirror. 
This is Ed filming the shot of the final girl walking in. 

Our Equipment

Canon Tribal T2I








Tripod








Umbrella Lights

Zoom Sound recorder

Filming Day 1

On the first day of filming we were at the setting of the shop. It was dark outside so we had to make sure we got the lighting right. We used an umbrella light as we had to have it quite bright but it was softened. We also used a Canon Tribal t2i to film with on a tripod. 


As we were in quite a small place we had to make special care not to break anything as there were lots of glass objects on the shelves. Another problem we had to keep making special effort for was reflections. There were 4 people in the small shop so we had to make sure you couldn't see anyone as well as the equipment.  

 
The picture below is one of the many different angles we used.

 The video shows us filming one shot as Aidan walks through the door.

Animatic

Dolly Shot

This was a quick run through of a dolly zoom we did this to get a better idea and practice for what we need to do on set. A dolly zoom is where the camera moves backwards as the camera zooms in at the same speed meaning the object remains constant and doesn't change in scale, however the background moves in a way similar to parallax. We intend to use this shot before one of our characters looks into the mirror to see her future, hopefully it will give the effect that the world around her is closing in on her, we intend to use this shot to add emphasis to the emotions she would be feeling at the time, nervous anxiety.

This shot is used in la haine a french film, the two boys are seen leaning against a rail as the camera moves back and zooms in the boys appear to get closer however the background seems to get further away.

Heath & Safety Considerations

When filming there are some heath and safety risks which we need to be aware of and avoid.

• The lights: When filming with lights they can get very hot and can sometimes inflict burns because of this we need to take care when handling them.
• Tripod: Although sounding silly we are using a tripod at all times which is a tripping hazard.
• Location: In both our settings we are not in a place owned by us. Firstly it is a shop then it is someone's house, because of this we need to be very careful not to make a mess or break anything. 
• Camera: Cameras are expensive, therefore we must handle it with care and make sure we don't break or damage it.
• Props: Our main prop is a mirror, it is very big and is owned by Ed's Mum. If smashed or damaged we will be in big trouble as well as it being dangerous as it is glass. Because of this we will handle with care and make sure it is in a safe place to film with. 

Shooting Schedule

We are planing to film our short film in two parts. The first being the beginning and end scenes, then a few days later we will film the middle. This is as we have two different settings so it is easier this way. We will begin filming on the 10th November and finish on the 12th November. We are aware this is after the filming deadline but due to some unforeseen issues in our group we had to postpone it to week later than originally planned. 

Sound and Script

We are making a real effort regarding sound in this project. This is because last year we really messed it up. We forgot to record the dialogue and Foley effects separately and when it came to editing we really struggled to make it sound good and realistic, because of this we made an attempt at re-recording the sound after and editing it in but it didn't have the right effect and we were very annoyed.

We are recording the dialogue through a microphone connected to the camera, this will enable us to have all the scripted stuff sounding realistic and clear for the audience. We are also going to record the Foley's separately although we don't have that many.  

Audience

Our target audience is 15-19 year olds both genders. We decided on this for 3 different reasons.

1. We like the film, both Ed and I are really enthusiastic about the plot itself, we are biased but we had researched similar films and both really liked them and it inspired us to make a similar film. 
2. We wanted to make a film which would appeal to this age group as it is easier for us to get audience feedback as we are always around this age group.
3. Thirdly, we think our film would be shown on platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. These websites main audience is this age group so they would be the type of people to watch it if they came across our short film.

 

Location

Setting 1: Cafe/Shop-
We are filming the beginning and end in Eds workplace, the Toll House Cafe in Lindfield. All the scenes when the main character buys and returns the mirror we are using this location. The setting suits our needs and as Ed works there we got permission easily.

 

Setting 2: Mickys House-
For the scenes when we are filming all the mirror bits we are using a bedroom which is big enough for us to use a variety of shots. We are using a friends house as both mine and Ed's bedroom are not suitable.

Title - First Draft

 

• Our title is very simple with just a plain font with capital letters just with one "R" reflected, this matches with what the title is and with the plot of the short film. 
• We like that their is a contrast between the black and white. This represents the mirror as in our plot it has the good side as well as the bad. The bad side of the mirror leaves a bigger impact on the character who experienced it so the fact that it is bigger represents that.

Our Title Ideas

When both Ed and I researched Short Films we both found a lot of them had a black background with white writing. Originally that is what we were going to use. Also we wanted to reflect an "R" We found the font we were going to do and reflected the R. Then we added and effect of a dirty mirror and reflected it to get our first draft of what we want our titles to look like. 

The Mirror Effect

Regarding the mirror scenes we are planning to add an effect on it to make it look older. We are either going to do this by physically making the mirror look old or by adding a filter during the editing process. This clip from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone shows an antique mirror with the same effect we want ours to have. They also have possible filming techniques we want to use to make our mirror scenes look realistic and believable.