Film Poster Planning

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Say Your Prayers - Poster Draft process

I wanted the film poster to include the protagonist of Say Your Prayers as the people will recognise that she is important to the story. Since that she is a student, I thought of leaving her uniform along with a jacket which she uses as they film outside in the story's "winter cold". When taking initial pictures, she already owned a pair of round glasses which coincidently matched the character she portrayed conveying intelligence among the other two people.  The positioning of her head to the side looking down as if she is pondering a thought makes people question what she is thinking about. The lack of happiness shows that the situation she is in may not be the best yet she is thinking a way out of it.  I think the photo by itself tells a lot about who she is as a character; from the way she dresses, to the serious facial expression. This is why I chose the picture among others like one below when she doesn't wear a jacket which wouldn't match the main setting of student filming outside.

I decided to give the poster a setting to hint what kind of horror film this is - which includes the themes of religion and mystery. These were represented by the photo we took of St Emmanuels Church. However, the day and time we took this photo did not show what I planned it to be: grey clouds, trees with no leaves, dark shadows (not sunrays on the church). Through editing, I was able to turn the summer-like colours to a colder hue with a stormy sky and added branches from separate pictures onto the tree. I  designed this image of a horror setting to create an eerie atmosphere where churches, dried out trees and a cold, stormy-like weather all are common symbols of the horror film genre.

Main Film Poster Sketch

Teaser Film Poster Sketch

Film Poster Layout Sketch

 I had some ideas on what the film poster should look like by creating a layout with the basic on what should be included. I knew I needed to conform to the basic of having the film's title, actor's names, character's main image, background in a simialr setting to the film, credits, production and social logos.

Next, I decided to sketch out an idea I had been thinking about without any real development to the design and realised it was too complicated to execute. For instance, I needed a high angle shot of a church in a dark, night time background. First, I had no equipment for such an angle and the location which was St. Emmanuel's church was closed off at the times I wished to take the photo.