Planning for Marketing

Having consulted with producers from the short film industry, we have been advised to replace the conventional film poster with more direct marketing in the form of a Postcard. Miss Becky Knapp has given us examples which we have analysed.

The image for this postcard was taken whilst filming our project. It is from scene 2, where Leon is picking up the items before heading out. I added sharpness to the knife in photoshop, also trying to make it the key focus in the picture. This suggests that Leon has resorted to a life of gangs and possibly crime. This postcard could be used in a set which is presenting the short films message from a number of different perspectives, including Lily's, the Mum's and Police Inspector Armstrong's.

This postcard design is based around the style of a Marlboro Red cigarette packet, due to being a well known design representing cigarettes. This focuses on an aspect of Leon's life. I decided to make this one of my designs, considering that the imagined stereotype of a gang member would also be a smoker. I chose not to persue this design as it does not fully relate to the film's message and it could also be considered as promoting smoking to our audience.

An advantage of this poster is that it does not show a face of an unknown actor/actress, like Hollywood posters which use a star to draw in an audience. On each of my posters I have made sure I have included, the title of the film, the directors name and the fact that it is a short film production.

The next design was drawn up around the idea of perspectives in scene 2. This, I feel, would be a potential shot if we were filming from Leon's point of view, as he is careful and observant of the knife as he puts it away into his pocket. Being able to see his reflection in the knife and not his actual face may suggest that he is distant and no longer 'there', with reality.

Here I moved my concept into an actual postcard. By taking a photo on set during a day of filming. There is an issue with this photo as it has come out overly dark and grainy, leaving it difficult to recognise Leon's face in the knife. Another probem with this photo is that is it not in the scale of a postcard.

This is the first concept I designed. The idea came from one of the shots I wanted included in our short film production - Scene 13 shot 3, which is Lily sitting in the living room, drawing up a game of Hangman evolving around the word 'brother'. I decided to make a postcard design based on this shot as I feel it should be considered as one of the more important shots in the film; as it is, in a sense, showing how her brother's life with his family is deteriorating letter by letter.

This postcard was influenced by The Machinist poster, as our short film includes no main characters and I did not feel it necessary to include unfamiliar faces. This photograph was taken on the day of filming and the photo was sharpened and the text was added on Adobe Photoshop.

When thinking of more designs for postcards, I came across the album cover for Senses Fail's 'Let it Enfold you' and this gave me an idea for a potential design. On the album cover the man is looking at himself in a mirror but seeing himself screaming back - Similar to this, I wanted either Lily looking in the mirror and seeing Leon's aggressive expression, or Leon looking into the mirror and seeing Lily's expression, which would be one of desperation and longing for her brother back. I feel that the concept of mirrors shows the split between brother and sister, as if they've been put in parallel worlds. Unlike my other designs it would show a clear face of one of the actors. Even though they are not well know actors, I would have hoped that that strength of the emotion that one of the characters would be presenting, along with the concept of having a 'wall' separating the family could fit in with the theme of the short film.

I have decided against using this as my final postcard design due to after taking the photos, Josh's (Leon) body took up the space where Steph's (Lily) body and expression would be. This made the concept harder to edit leaving the design incorrect and out of proportion.

My final design I took whilst setting up filming for Scene 10. It is of Leon's beaten up face, in the clothes he is seen wearing most commonly throughout the short film. Having the hood up adds, stereotypically, to the idea of what a gang member would look like. This stereotype is played on throughout the film with speech, clothing and props including cigarettes and a knife.

I felt that this postcard design would be effective. This is because the audience may question the image and be curious to find out how and why Leon has a swollen eye. Associating the title with the image may also lead the audience to believe that the antics causing his bruised face may be effecting his family.

This has been inspired more by Hollywood film posters as it has the main actor of the film taking up the majority of the poster. Although Josh (Leon) is not a well known or famous actor, I feel this would make a good postcard as it keeps enough curiousity for the audience.

Design for Back of Postcard:

Here is the design for the back of my postcard, I used ideas from both the postcard for 'Divine' and from 'A Hero's Journey'. From Divine, I used the traditional postcard layout, using my credit to the design as a divider between the two parts of the postcard and used the same font from the front of the card's title. I also put my credits in a similar place to a traditional postcard in the way it would credit and give information about the photo on the front of the card.

From A Hero's Journey, I used the idea of having the face on the place of the stamp as I felt it made the back feel more personal to the project itself. I also overlayed the photo of Leon as the stamp with the same colour red as in the title: As red it associated with danger, I felt that having this use of colour not only added to the potentially dull back, but it added a sense of idea about the story.