Evaluation
Introduction
For this project, I have created a film poster and a DVD sleeve. In order to accomplish this, I had to improve my skills, particularly in the areas of fonts, colour, light and shade.
Film Poster
I began this assignment by firstly analysing four film posters of my choice and typed up what I could deduce from them by simply looking at them on a PowerPoint presentation, which I then uploaded onto my blog. I then started thinking about what film and genre that I wanted to base my poster around. I decided on the genre of comedy and I began to think about what film my poster should be based around.
After careful consideration, I decided to base my film around upon an non-canonical sequel to the
Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa movie. I then began to sketch out a series of posters featuring different ideas of what the poster should look like. I based them around the two key features of the Alan Partridge series: slapstick and somewhat surreal humour. I copied the posters onto my blog and annotated as to why I like and why they could work as my final design.
As it tuned out, I chose a completely different design featuring one of my tutors in a standing outside the front door of my college, wearing a jacket and posing in traditional humorous pose. With this idea in mind, I went outside with a camera and took a photo of my tutor outside the college front door in the aforementioned interpretation.
I then uploaded the photo onto Adobe PhotoShop and began editing it. Firstly, I changed the colour of my tutor's hair, jacket and shirt to make him look more like Alan Partridge using the Paint Brush tool. I also used the same tool to alter the colour of the bin and used the Vertical Text tool to type on the bin.
Secondly, I used a Text Box and created another layer so that the Text Box would overlap the Hyde Clarendon sign and put in it's place a North Norfolk Digital sign that I had uploaded from the internet and put a 'Closing Down!' sign below it using the Text tool and a Text Box.
Thirdly, I went onto Learning Box and uploaded a poster blurb and I edited it so that it would be more suitable for my specific film. I then used the Text tool to type the title, main actors and tagline of my poster. I then created a shadow by tracing around the character using the Pen tool and colouring it faintly using the Paintbrush tool.
DVD Sleeve
I began this assignment by analysing the features and attributes of the DVD sleeve with my class in a class-based assignment. We discussed the three sides of the DVD sleeve: the front, back and the spine, the size of the sleeve, the measurement ratio and the detail on the sleeve.
Then I created a post on my blog wherein I typed the differences and similarities between posters and DVD sleeves. I later found this to be quite helpful in creating my DVD sleeve. I then created the DVD sleeve. I did this by firstly going onto Photoshop and using the Ruler tool to measure the length and width of the spine of the DVD sleeve. I then uploaded the finished poster image and used it as the front of my DVD sleeve.
Then I created a brief synopsis of my plot of the film and created a transparent box around it to make it easier to read. In order to make my DVD sleeve look more like a genuine version, I shifted the poster blurb to the back of the sleeve and used the Eyedropper tool and coloured the tagline the same yellow as "Alan's" shirt to make it stand out more.
I then went onto the BBFC website and uploaded a 15 certificate age rating and I researched what categories a film needs to fall into to be classed as 15 before implementing it onto my sleeve. I then went onto the internet and obtained several white boxes and used them to deliver more detail. I also implemented a VPRC logo, Dolby Digital logo and a genuine movie barcode to make the sleeve more appealing.
I also created a fake movie company, 'Fame Propel', as the "producers" of my movie. I even went as far as to create Fame Propel's logo via gathering cartoon internet images and then merging them all together on a white box. I cloned the logo twice and placed them on the spine and the front. I then created a white Text Box around the back plot synopsis and altered the opacity to 50% so that it would look like a genuine DVD sleeve.
As for the spine, I vertically altered the type position and typed the title in the very same font as the front title, only in black, as you normally find altered titles in DVD sleeve snipes.
Further Analysis
Finally, I uploaded a DVD logo from the internet in black and I placed it onto the spine. I then cloned the logo and placed it onto the front. But because the logo was black, it was not visible due to the road. So I used the Paintbrush tool to paint it white.
I chose to change the jacket green and the shirt yellow because they are very bright and vibrant colours that really emphasise the hilarity of the series and lets you instantly know that the film will be funny.
I chose to create my own fake movie company because I noticed that a lot of DVD sleeves have film companies on them and I could not think of another film company at the time.
The skills that I have picked up during this assignment are: improved skills on PhotoShop, improved knowledge on where to ascertain information (e.g.: the BBFC website for information on age certification), how to manipulate colours, how to hide objects, how to create vertical type, learning the basics of green screen and learning more about creating shadows.
In my proposal, I wrote about how I would create a poster of a movie of my choice with all of the makings
I have also covered all of the legal requirements and elements involved in making a DVD sleeve, e.g.: clear showing of age restriction and why it is at that age rating, clear showing that the DVD is a DVD, not a Blu-Ray, and the special features, showing what Region that the disc will play in, and the names of the involved in the film.
Primary Research
The primary research task that stands out the most to me is the lesson where we began creating our posters. I began by taking a photo of my tutor on green screen and then uploading it onto PhotoShop and merged it with another picture and began to add many various attributes (shadow, hue and saturation, text, poster blurb, etc) to make it seem more like a poster. What I liked about this was the fact that I was actually creating something media-based on the computer for the first time.
I also liked the part of the project where I went outside of the front door of the college and took photos of of the front door and the wall of the backwards section of the college. What I liked about this assignment is that I was actively determining the direction of where my poster was going to go.
Secondary Research
The secondary research task that stands the most to me is the lesson where we were assigned to analyse at least five film posters in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. I began to think about what film posters that I like and which I could write the most about. I steadily formed a clear, carefully placed and organised plethora of film posters with information regarding: colour, tone, title, what the characters on the posters are doing, and why it is similar to my poster plan. What I liked about this was that I was exploring the various different features that posters contain and how each one attracts the reader to the film.
Analysing Finished Products
In my proposal, I aimed to create a poster and a DVD sleeve about a sequel to the comedy film 'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa' and to give it all the attributes that you would expect to find on a genuine movie poster. This has been achieved through the amount of detail that I have placed onto the various layers as well as a genuine 15 age rating from the BBFC website. How this is effective and how it has worked is due to the close observations that I conducted with real film posters relating to my chosen genre and began to draw some inspiration from them.
In my poster and DVD sleeve, the layout of the poster lends a certain amount of emphasis to the fact that Alan Partridge is in the centre of the poster, indicating that he is the film's main protagonist and if you look at Alan's size, he is bigger than the building in the background, reflecting the comically large size of Alan's ego. The poster/DVD sleeve's font is in bright and vibrant colours, indicating that this is a comedy film, it is obvious to people who have never even heard of the Alan Partridge franchise.
The colours of the poster/DVD sleeve are intended to emphasise cheer and joy to make the viewer feel like they are in the mood to watch the film, even though they might not be. The light on the poster/DVD sleeve is very bright to the extent that it could be misinterpreted as natural sunlight and the only part of shade in the entire picture is Alan's shadow. This has been done to emphasise the fact that this film is based the genre of comedy.
There is only one person in the entire image and that is Alan Partridge. This is implemented to show Alan's important status in the film itself. The setting in the film poster/DVD sleeve is Hyde Clarendon. With a change of signage and the change of colour applied to the college's front door, I changed the college into North Norfolk Digital radio station.
The objects in the poster/DVD sleeve are a North Norfolk Digital sign complete with insignia, the black "donations" bin and a white 'Closing Down!' sign. The body language of Alan Partridge is that of the traditional Alan Partridge stance, suggesting that he is saying "A-ha!" at the top of his voice. This suggests the genre of comedy that the Alan Partridge series has always been attempting to portray.
The facial expression in the poster/DVD sleeve is that joy and euphoria, and hints that the film will be filled with priceless gags, both visual and verbal. The tone is very bright and emphasises the comedic style of the series, but also the extraordinarily large ego of the titular character.
The work that I have researched is very similar to my own work. For example, the PowerPoint presentation on the film posters. (e.g.: The Lego Movie, Anchorman 2, The Simpsons Movie, etc) have very similar features to my own, such as: The title being at the top of the poster, the blurb at the bottom, a short tagline in the middle, and the main characters in the poster foreground. I also researched explored in-depth what different styles of film posters.
Near the end of the project, I decided to create a questionnaire and ask other students from around my classroom. What I found was that my poster and DVD sleeve looked very realistic and professional, and that it would be mistaken for genuine film material. What I also found was that the people who took my part in my questionnaire found my poster to be very funny and would, therefore, fit in with the film's desired genre.
