Ancillary 1 - Poster


DVD Covers/Posters Annotated


To get to grips with the Film Noir and Neo-Noir genres, as in class we are studying various Film Noirs, I decided to look at the artistic Posters and DVD covers and to analyse them as to what conventions/symbolism and notes I could pull for my own in the project. I discovered that most had dark colours with either Red or Black, and most included either a gun or a cigarette. Similarly the characters within the film were portrayed, on a majority being the femme fatale looking seductive and enticing to draw the viewer in. 
We also studied Brick in class, and so I annotated a couple of important stills from the film that could be turned into a poster. I found that the types of shots tended to be middle shots so as not to be too close up and in the viewers face. This helped with my knowledge of how to set up and display my poster.
I then recorded my voice, and put them to a picture. The links are below.

Pulp Fiction Poster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWIy0wLoMk0
Stills from Brick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=makvBglpM_g
The Big Sleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j88CMaeduPM&feature=youtube_gdata
L.A. Confidential: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adt9uk9kfbs&feature=youtube_gdata



 We were also shown the posters created by the last Year 13's Posters for their ancillary task. We criticised and annotated the conventions and connotations of Film Noir. I recorded my notes and made a photo video of them to avoid written word. Link below.

Year 13 Posters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-cE-vG1_ik&feature=youtube_gdata











Ancillary 1 - Poster Initial Ideas



Via this link is my first idea for my ancillary task project where I am going to make a poster. This specific draft is not my photography, however I have edited the picture myself, added text and made note on how I can frame my own pictures for my poster as well as improvements and iconography/conventions etc.
I will also put my final drafts into a format like this and comment on them.

Link: http://prezi.com/3ueub28723bv/poster-idea/





Featured above is my first drawn draft of a poster for our Film Noir. As we haven't yet filmed it or chosen a name, I used the name 'WinWin' (analysis below). I chose Ryan Gosling, Nina Dobrev and John Cusack as my actors for the Noir. Ryan Gosling due to his strikingly chilling perfomance of a small talk criminal within the 2011 Neo-Noir 'Drive'. He would play my 'anti-hero/loner' as he is blonde - implying innocence and being the unassuming and conflicted 'detective' type. John Cusack I chose to be the main gangster within the film due to his dark hair, eyes and serious complexion. I also featured him holding a gun and smoking a cigarette which in terms of iconography is very clear to have a clear detective element within it which is important when trying to link with the audience and to represent the genre of the film clearly. I chose Nina Dobrev to be the 'Femme Fatale' character, and made this obvious by making her 70% (a large majority) of the page. This implies that she has control over the other featured characters.
The fact that there are three characters implies the conflict of  a 'love triangle' which is a classic convention of many Noir films, notably in 'Double Indemnity' we studied in class between Walter Neff, Phyllis Dietrichson and Mr Dietrichson which proves fatal. This leads onto the idea of the narrative theme of 'Fatalism' with the ideal that all events within the film are already predetermined and therefore inevitable.
The iconography of the pearls on the Femme Fatale implies a higher class of woman, and that she has wealth and possibly a rich husband/connections. This could be linked with gangs, crime and corruption. The red lips is also a seductive technique which can be related to love and emotional connections within the film, and between the characters. Her lips are also slightly parted as if inviting the male characters within the film and having a provocative disposition. The Femme Fatale is also looking at the audience, giving a direct mode of address, and a personal inolvement to the audience. John Cusack (featured bottom right) is also wearing a black tie, implying he's wearing a suit with a white shirt, which could possibly represent a conflict in character and that he has a good and bad side to him. However as a tie can be removed, this implies he has control over his dark side and he command his status/power.
Ryan Gosling is also featured looking sharply to the right with narrowed eyes which again implies corruption, and that he is deceptive, as well as perceptive of the situation. He is also wearing glasses which represent a certain knowledge as well as that he has a hidden agenda or is hiding certain things regarding his personality.The fact he has been depicted with stubble as well subverts the 'clean cut' cop/detective impression, and that he is a bit more rough, doesn't always play by the rules and takes the case/crime into his own hands.
There are purposeful strong contrasts of shadow on the Femme Fatales face showing that she is the most conflicted of all the characters, and that she is most in touch with her dark side. This lighting is known as 'Chiaroscuro' lighting and represents strong contrasts in paintings in order to represent hidden meanings. It shows that there isn't all bad within the plot/film, however it does imply that the dark actions of the characters have a stronger presence and effect than the good actions.
The Femme Fatale is also depicted with light - possibly blonde- coloured hair which misleads the audience to think that she is innocent (which is normally a true first impression) similar to 'Drive' directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. This also implies she is 'angelic' and 'pure', two other connotations often related to blonde hair. Alternatively for our Film Noir, we could subvert the Femme Fatale by casting the character with brown hair, creating mystery and enigma.
The writing for the actors involved in the film was arranged in a specific way where Nina Dobrev is in the middle of the two male lead actors, again strongly implying a love triangle as well as the impression that she is the person in the middle of the two men causing the conflict and trouble.
There isn't a specific font I used, but the font is delicate and cursive which implies it's been written by the Femme Fatale, implying she's provocative and further reinforcing the misleading impression of her. The delicate font connotates love and happiness which is ironic in spite of featured implied events.
The black font is a strong contrast from the paler tone of her skin. It forebodes death, doom and bad events within the film. The title is positioned bottom left which is not centered, and therefore giving a disconcerting and unsure impression to the audience. The red tint to the W which is capitalised, not only shows importance as well as varied emotions for example; love, anger, hatred which could link to the representation of characters.
The production company at the top is called 'Streetlight Productions' which could imply that it's 'shedding light on the situation'. This can also link to something being revealed about the characters which is reinforced through the contrast of shadow on the characters faces. Streetlights are also a clear convention of the Noir genre which are often relatable to dark, rain soaked streets and dank conditions. The i has been designed to look like a streetlight, and the shadow has been used as I feel it's another important feature of Film Noirs, to have the shadows present. However, with the shadow included, the i looks more like an L and so as an improvement, I could have the streetlight image as the l rather than the i.




This second poster/dvd cover type creation was one I created using my own resources.

Black and white and grey tones - black and white typical of film noir
cigarette on the side - iconography
strangers criminals lovers - rule of three - really effective - 3 is odd - love triangle - exposing plot
femme fatale featured? exposed back - seductive
cast in shadow - lives life on the edge - daring/dangerous nature
rating - 15 - informs audience of certificate as well as what to expect i.e. violence/unsuitable themes i.e. gambling/drugs/prostitution
font in dark red - fits with darker tones of poster
institution which distributed it featured in bottom right corner
quote from empire - credible magazine that writes film reviews - trustworthy source
pandemonium font uneven - foreboding of bad future events - somethings not right in the society, possible corruption - reflects 'organised madness' of situation
'a billy wilder film' - wilder is an iconic film noir director so i chose to use him as the audience will know what to expect
cast positioned under title - audience eyes lead to who's starring
anne hathaway - after her strikingly emotional performance in les mis - dark eyes, red lips - seductive glance
Ray liotta plays a convincing 'tough guy' and rough and ready cop
Shia labeouf is a young possible love interest
ryan gosling is the main copper/anti hero
josh brolin is the head cop trying to solve the mystery/crime/case


Exploring Past Film Noir Posters






From what I can tell, older dated Film Noir posters had bright colours, with clear connotations of the theme and genre i.e. on The Dark Corner, the Venetian Blinds, a detective in a suit, and a woman who represents that of a Femme Fatale character. Similarly in City that never sleeps, there is a policeman with a gun and two lovers in an embrace. The original posters have been drawn free hand which seems obvious as when this genre first became prominent, there was no computers in which a proper draft could be constructed. The titles were often bold and slanted in strange directions and angles to reflect the corrupt themes within the films.
When creating my individual poster for my Ancillary task, I could try and incorporate this original theme by drawing my poster and using bright colours. Alternatively I could try a few versions in order to get more of a feeling for the style, from how not to do it, to how to create a successful piece which will effectively market and advertise the specific film genre. Something simple would be with little writing and vague pictures that doesn't reveal enough to the audience. On the flip side, a very informative poster would have a simple poster, with enough information for the audience to feel part of the film, and to be informed of the genre.



Font Ideas




For my font ideas, I used the film name; 'Pandemonium' as an example to show and analyse my fonts. I used the site 1001fonts.com to get my font samples.

Long Cool Grandma Font

This first font I chose because it not only looked dated which met with the needed dated impression within our own Film Noir, but it was also bold and stood out, reflecting the nature of the characters in a Film Noir, most notably the Anti-hero and Femme Fatale. The letters were also slightly random in size and arrangement giving a disorientating effect and the impression that the plot is uneven/unfair for the featured characters. I liked this font as with a simple one word title, it looks closely linked - implying all the characters stories are linked together somehow.

Adler Font

This font I felt was very effective in terms of the period that the Film Noir is set in. For example in the Neo-Noir L.A. Confidential, the character played by Danny DeVito uses a typewrite. This font mimics that of a typewriters font, and is not as clear and defined as the previous font. This gives a better impression that something will go wrong within the plot i.e. Crime/Corruption. The way it's presented implies that the title was written in a rush, giving a further impression that it's one of the character's stories that's been written.

Crime Scene After Image Font

This font I found was very bold and outlined very well. However it held no true character and keeps the audience guessing as to what he story could hold. It reveals no obvious connotations or conventions of a Film Noir which is not useful as ideally, the title should have some form of indication as to the genre of film.

Doctor Bob Font

There is one particular thing about this font that I like the most. There is a missing link on the letter A. This I feel is a strong characteristic and implies that there is a 'missing link' within the plot/crime or between characters. The fact that the font is all in capitals looks more professional, despite the letters being rough and 'chipped', gives the impression that there are corrupt characters as the previous 'defined' and 'clean-cut' society has begun to fray at the edges. Furthermore, the A could be contrasted in Red, highlighting its connotations and making it stand out. The red colour however should be a darker almost 'rust' red, rather than a bright scarlet red so that the colour scheme matches more effectively as commonly, other colours used are black, various shades of grey, and white.

Greetings Font

This font was very simplistic in terms of style, however the way the letters flared up at the ends could be interpreted as something out of the ordinary happening. For example; the previous 'straight-laced' detective falling prey to corruption, and furthermore his judgements and actions becoming biased and not as would be expected. Alternatively, this could be in all capitals to show importance or reflect professionalism.

Incognitype Font

This font gives the visual effect of blurred vision as the edges of the shape aren't defined. This not only implies corruption, but also that the line between good and bad (particularly in the police force) is blurred. The font looks again as if it has been typewritten, giving a dated effect and that the story has been written by a character or reported by a journalist perhaps. The capital first letter shows importance and control and looks like the title of a book. 

Kings Gambit Font

This font is very disjointed and looks almost stenciled, giving a more modern impression which could be useful is our plot and story take a more modern turn. The missing links again imply that something doesn't add up within a certain case or crime which leads to one or more of the character's downfalls. The bold black colour makes it bold and stand out which is key with any Film, not just the Noir genre, as this gives the audience an advanced insight to the story. The letters aren't as clear which implies (in terms of plot) that the plan/crime isn't clear as well as a negative foreboding in spite of the outcome.

Techno Overload Break Font

This font isn't as good for the Film Noir genre, more suited to the Neo-Noir genre due to its modern and curved style font and it's 'digital' 20th century. Personally it feels and look like a font that would be used on Top of the Pops back in the day. The e and n look like a power switch again with the lexical field of music/entertainment which isn't the impression wanted for our Film Noir genre.

Santos - Dumont Font

This font looks handwritten and delicate. This isn't quite the inital impression that a Film Noir should have, and seems more 'Western' inclined than Noir. The cursive script implies a personal touch, and the soft rise and fall of letters implied that the story of the character has been very personally written to a specific person. This could be useful in other fonts, but this one isn't quite easily relatable to the Noir genre.

Overall, I feel that from this font research, that the fonts "Long Cool Grandma", "Kings Gambit" and "Adler" are most effective and memorable as well as adaptable and versatile in terms of colour to link with the colour theme and poster as well as genre of film.





Individual Name idea


Whilst researching into fonts and various Film Noir's, in our group we discussed the idea of a character similar to a Kingpin, being the ring leader and controller of the gang. 
From this I took the word "King", meaning having control and power through birthright - which would be ideal for the description of the mastermind behind the gang. Similarly a Gambit is a move in chess which is a 'red herring' which distracts the other person so that they can 'obtain a reasonable position'.
Similarly, this could be represented through the Femme Fatale wearing a chequered dress (black and white), as well as using the line "I've got a chequered past" or something as obvious as "Life is a game of chess".
This is my message on Facebook in which I involved all in my group explaining my idea.







Posters Worldwide




Many films and distribution companies often distribute many various film posters worldwide i.e. there will be differently designed ones in America as opposed to Australia. 
An example of this is with the quoted neo-noir The Dark Knight Rises starring Tom Hardy and Christian Bale. 
Similarly, posters can be different subject to location. This would be dependant on the market research carried out by the research team in order to make the biggest profit by broadening their scope to the widest possible audience. In London, the posters still had the actors names, film title, and distribution/company links that played a part in distributing the film, but the most distinguishable feature was most certainly the background image which changed depending on which region/country the poster was being advertised. 
This also falls into the translations tab, and that some posters would be translated into various different languages for a wider audience. 
















We had to create a first draft of our picture, and so I used basic software i.e. Paint and Photo Gallery to pick and choose pictures. Emma saw our Femme Fatale Emma Coulson on a weekday and so asked her to take pictures in various positions, some of which I asked for specifically. She wore red, and red lipstick and gave us a different variety of viewpoints to pick, edit and choose from.
Here are some of the pictures Emma took in a short film with voice narration discussing angle and effect by me.






In comparison to other posters, previous posters, I looked into the older original Film Noir poster for Detour which consists of bold bright attention seeking colours, and compared it with a more modern Film Noir The Samaritan which was very monochrome with hints of red. The connotations were varied for both and before exploring these, I expected the colours and conventions to be the other way round. Below are my notes, annotations and thoughts on both posters. 



Below is the first draft of my poster. I did it landscape to be featured on billboards and larger advertising models to show my knowledge of the advertising that's required. I re-thought this however, that posters are mostly vertical, and so for my final poster, will definitely feature it as a vertical poster. This way I can also have a look at the way the pictures of the actors are constructed together and in specific ways to meet the codes and conventions. 
This was my draft:





This close up photo I took of the font was to show the cursive, lavish, feminine font I chose. It looks handwritten, as if by the Femme Fatale who is ironically depicted behind the text. The font is in white to contrast with the character and the background and to create a more positive and innocent impression of the character. The title itself leads to many different interpretations, the one we chose as a group was ambiguous as the word 'Siren' can be literal when relating to the visual and sound of a police siren, implying red and blue flashing lights, danger, trouble, the law etc, whereas on the other hand, 'Siren' can be implied in terms of Greek Mythology where a Siren would entice the sailors to their death with just the sound of their voice. This double meaning - ambiguity - creates an initial enigma code as to what the story is going to be about, as well as coinciding with a narrative theme of the Noir genre. 



I highlighted this part from the draft of my poster as it was the order in which the names appeared on the poster. I chose to only have the three out of four main character within our NeoNoir on the top of the poster in a red 'jail' style font almost giving the impression of bars, being trapped etc. The red immediately implies danger and blood and possibly a foreboding of future events within the film. There are three names which show an odd number implying something isn't right about the story and the characters involved. The fact that there are two male names and a female could imply a love triangle, an explicit theme following the Noir genre, similar to that in Drive between Irene, Ryan Goslings characters 'Driver' and Standard Gabriel, as well as Double Indemnity, between Mr and Mrs Dietrichson and Walter Neff, and furthermore within LA Confidential between Ed Exley, Bud White and Lynn Bracken. 



 This large picture of the Femme Fatale shows that she isn't afraid to hide, and would rather be known. Her glance is looking off to the right rather than directly at the viewer (which after looking into the poster for LA Confidential, proved to be a more effective characteristic), however she is glancing at her aggressive boyfriend Kaine. This could be seen as an appeal to the audience and a 'cry for help'. Her lips are red to entice the audience and to imply that she is dangerous, provocative and seductive toward the possible viewer of the film. Her make up is done to keep with the traditional image of the femme fatale to be well kept and pretty. She has a low dip on her dress, revealing her front without actually revealing herself too much. This is a very classic convention of the femme fatale and her portrayal as a character within the Noir genre. I made her face a lot bigger to attract the main attention to her face, rather than to the hidden enigma codes within the poster (read on to find out more).



The image of the clock was from a shot which I created whilst filming our Noir piece. It featured a mid shot which slowly zoomed in toward the clock face until the clock face filled the frame of the shot. I used this on my poster to show time running out, with the clock reaching 6 o clock, implying that they're halfway through their journey. The roman numerals and rough old fashioned style clockface also gave a more authentic feel to the poster and included each of the characters. The silhouette in front of the clock face is of James Madley, our photo journalist. Despite being the main character of whose journey we follow throughout the story, I wanted the viewer of the poster to feel like they want to follow him and so I featured him walking into the distance in his suit. 




Michael - Facing forward
Aggressive stance
Hooded - hiding something
Direct address to the audience
James walking away, Michael walking toward - contrast in character and personality 
Left hand clenched - danger, abusive - possible corruption/domestic violence - convention of Noir - Double Indemnity Dietrichson



Enigma code - who is raymond? 
Hidden darkened font
Maybe too big? rivals the font of the title, but then again he is an important character
cursive font present - feminine, implies related to the femme? blood link, again implication of blood
dark colour - hidden in plain sight? integral to the key of the plotline




Long tall thin font - similar to femme fatale
Looks like venetian blinds thin font - shadows
white - bright - contrast with black - good side to every person - cant have shadow without light
looked into the way fonts are used i.e. when a persons name is mentioned, theyre in capitals
ordered in terms of importance and appearance
centered to keep it clean and orderly


Poster Advertised




This poster is advertised on a bus stop in real life to show how it would be advertised in a real life setting. I did this to show how the poster would be shown and received by an audience and to show my knowledge of advertising. I also would advertise the film on Billboards, Poster slots at the cinema (like my local), as well as as on banners on social networking sites, and on the own website made for the film specifically.

Final Poster



Creative Process





Poster Analysis



No comments:

Post a Comment