Planning for photo shoot

The use of inspiring products

Finding inspiring products was useful to my research as it helped to illustrate if any initial ideas which I had would fulfil conventions and therefore helped to develop my ideas. It also meant that I would be able to decide if certain features would work for my own products or could be changed to suit my own.
Similarly, I chose some products which were not in my own genre, this meant that I was able to find features that could be used for my own genre. This allowed me to create and develop ideas which stretched the boundaries and meant it was not limited to conventions that was already used in existing products.

Inspiring print products - Film magazines

This magazine front cover does not use direct address in the image, which is a convention of most front covers. This has given me the idea of changing the use of direct address as well as considering other conventions which my magazine could subvert from, making it more unique. Similarly, it has the effect of movement with background seeming to get smaller in the background and the use of italics for the texts. When considering my own product it is the use of making the main image stand out from the background through the use of different effects.

In the magazine, the image demonstrates how the main image does not always need to have the actors dressed as their characters, with the focus more being on what the actors have to say then what characters they portray. When considering my own products, it could be beneficial to create a mock-up which illustrates the actors out of character. Similarly, the use of dark colours and clothing draws the audiences attention to the images used and the text placed. This would be good to use for my own products as darker colours would draw attention as well as fit with the conventions of a psychological thriller.

When previously planning for my own products, I had only considered using one character as I believed that using multiple characters would make the front cover seem too busy and confusing when then surrounded by the text. However, this magazine illustrates how placing multiple character images into the middle third and one side third, prevents it from seeming too busy and leaves enough room for other pieces of information.

Inspiring print products - Billboards

Through overlapping the title over the image, it draws the attention of the audience to the name. When considering my own film, it has given me the idea of having the main image being an extreme close-up of the characters face, it would be more of a focus on the characters eyes rather than their whole face. Due to the image being more of a close up than seen above, it means that the title would need to be lower and may need to be a smaller size.

The use of the emojis is quite different from most film poster billboards, this makes it more memorable to the audience. This has given me the idea having a black screen, and rather than using a photo, putting one text message that the victim has received from the stalker across the billboard. To make it the most effective, there would need to be little other information to avoid attention being taken away from the text message.

The use of having the back to the audience gave me the idea of having the victim standing across from the stalker. It would be similar to this, in that the victim would have their back to the audience with only being able to seen from their hand down which would be closest to the audience. It would only take up about the first third of the billboard with the rest showing a smaller figure which I standing away from the protagonist. The stalker would be wearing dark clothes meaning that their identity would not be revealed.

When considering my own products, instead of using a white background, a plain black broad would fit more with a darker psychological thriller plot. Having quite a long title of The Unexpected means that I could use an image with a much larger close-up. Similar to one of the posters, I would use an extreme close up of a pair of eyes across the title.

Inspring print products - Film Posters

When researching into existing film posters, there was a common convention of half of the characters face being unseen to the audience. As seen in the poster for the Silver Linings Playbook, part of both of the characters face is hidden by a block of text. This gave me the idea of having my main character, the victim, on half or two thirds of the poster with the rest of her face being blocked by an image showing all of the different anonymous text messages which she has received.

This poster for the lobster does not reveal much about the film, which can build suspense and enigma questions for the audience. My film poster would need to create a similar effect in the audience, through the use of the unknown. This gave me the idea of, similar to this photo, the character seen not fully being shown to the audience. However, it does differ as my poster would only show the characters hands holding a phone and facing the audience. Their face wouldn't be seen with only part of the body being revealed from the glare of the screen, not showing the characters face creates a larger level of uncertainty and tension. 

This film poster for Disturbia gave the idea of using the same concept of binoculars, however, with face of the person would not be visible with only their hands being shown. It prevents the identity of the stalker being revealed and can create unease in the audience as it seems they are being watched by an unknown person.

This poster uses the idea of the audience seeing through another characters eyes, in the use of a point-of-view shot, where the character is either helpless or unaware. This gave me the idea of using a photo from when the protagonist is lying in bed with the audience seeing through the eyes of the stalker. It has the effect of causing the audience to feel uneasy as they are shown the extreme lengths that the stalker will go to, as well as illustrating the level of action, danger and suspense created in the film.

When considering this idea in adapting for my own film, it gave me the idea of using a similar effect of having a prop separating the two characters. But instead have the protagonist lying in her bed showing her to be asleep, and the stalker lying beneath looking up at her. It has the similar symbolism of the victim being unaware and frustrating the audience as they can see the danger which is the character is in.