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Film Poster Artist: Kyle Lambert
Kyle Lambert is a visual artist who produces stills, film and TV posters. His most recent film poster is on the Super 8 film about kids who discover a government cover whilst filming for a homemade movie.
The film poster attracts my attention to the detail drawn by the artist using only a computer software. The pictures shown were taken in person and the artist had to completely recreate the scenery and people. Position and size of the character's face on the poster I think is very purposeful in allowing the audience to recognise who is the main character and who are important to the story.
The colours used are very dark and mysterious due to maps and writings on the wall being quite concealed in the background. While this helps bring characters forward, I also think it helps with the atmosphere the film wants to create. The most noticeable aspect for me however, is the backlight that comes from the upper- middle of the poster with it's light rays spreading from a white to blue line across the main character's face. This light I think represents the discovery of a situation of object that has bewildered the main characters.
The technique and style of the artist overall allow me to be curious about the films he draws for all the while advertising the films theme well. I think this type of poster can be incorporated into the style of my film project as it follows the same mystery to discovery to terror plotline. Even if Super 8 is a mystery/action film, I think the poster could work well for a horror film as well due to the common theme of mystery.
Movie Magazine Analysis 2 - Woman in Black
Woman in Black was a Supernatural/Drama starring Daniel Radcliffe. The front cover of Diabolique magazine presents the era of the film very well by showing the main protagonist wearing 18th century clothing. However the background showing a British townhouse does not show much to entice the audience to watching the film. The movie is a ghost who haunts various characters usually in the house and the place could have looked more distressed and darker in colour.
The fonts made all capital letters make it uniform and stand out. The term "diabolique" is translated from French meaning diabolical. This is associated with demonic, wicked or cruel degrees of action.
Placing Daniel Radcliffe about half of the front cover grabs the public's eye because he is a well-known actor for the classic Harry Potter franchise. The sole image of him will make the audience want to see his latest projects therefor a great advertising technique for Woman in Black to sell.
Conforming to the stereotypical location for supernatural horror films, the cover is framed with dark shadows of trees somewhat adding a depth of mystery to the magazine. Referencing to the title of the film, Woman in Black's magazine cover has a faded shadow of a woman far behind the main character. The size of her compared to the rest of the cover is much smaller to possibly allow some time for people to notice her for an effect of surprise or that the face of the actor is all that's needed for the audience to watch the film.
Movie Magazine Analysis 1 - Batman v Superman
Batman vs Superman movie magazine poster shows the three main characters in the centre of the page with dark skies and light coming form behind. The poster shows the three looking very brave and dignified in their costumes. the colour scheme of dark colours including blue, red and black keep true to the original idea for the superheroes however the picture shows that they have been modernised. They have made the characters look very realistic in what they would look like today since that they originated from comic illustrations.
The fonts used are very bold and all in capital letters thus making a very big statement on the magazine cover. The title of the film Batman v Superman coloured in a steel type colour makes it stand out and for the audience to remember; steel also connotes that they are strong and indestructible.
The stormy, monochromatic background shows that danger is ahead. Since that the title suggest Batman v Superman will fight against each other, the characters are also positioned apart with wonder woman in between.
Poster Analysis 2 - Final Destination 5
Final Destination 5 has the colour scheme of dark blue, grey and black with majority of the poster showing a skull. This immediately tells me that the film's genre is horror as many horror films present the theme of death as represented by the large picture. The skull appears to have bits of the edges breaking off which as a metaphor, connotes that something is falling apart or that something is going wrong since that skulls don't seem to break apart by themselves. The backgroud being dark and blocking anything besides from the skull tells me that this film is mysterious as we dont know what to expect to appear on the film. The poster is a mere symbol of what the film's genre is.
The main target audience of Final Destination would typically be teenagers and young adults who love horror. The poster is successful in enticing fans of the film franchise as it reflects the previous films' poster designs
Poster Analysis 1 - Project Almanac
Project Almanac's poster uses mainly blue, grey, metalic silver and gold to connote that it is a futuristic, sci-fi and action film. There is a group of teenagers huddled amongst each other with light in between and light all around the floor that catches our eye. It is only explthe ained in the trailer that they in fact use a time travel machine which explains the picture. This is however hinted in the tagline "Today is better the second time round.".
A background of a city skyline at night compliments the colour scheme and adds a sense of mystery as it is dark and not mich can be seen pass the teenagers. They seem to all be wearing the typical attire of any other person with jeans, trainers and shorts; however, one of them has a back pack which suggest adventure as he wouldn't need to pack much if the dilemma of the film was quick to overcome.
I think that this poster is aimed for those who enjoy adventurous films against the backdrop of sci-fi. The movie poster does well to refer to the genres using the colour scheme and its features. The USP is that the group of friends discover a time machone and they use it to go back in the past to change small things for the better of them only; this causes the problem in that they change other things for the worst the rest.
Repertoire of Elements
Supernatural Horror Mood Board
Iconography on Supernatural Horror mainly includes visual representations of death, vulnerability and good vs. evil. Death will include skulls, gore and graveyards whereas vulnerability will include being restricted by chains, weapons that could kill and the setting of isolated places with the lack of aid. Themes such as religion can also be included in all but works most especially well with good vs. evil due to the debate of justifying if a person is right or wrong because their religion is their belief. The dangerous aspect to religion within horror is how far a person can carry believing in their religion until it can harm another being.
Supernatural itself is popular with movie fans because although some may be in fear of the unknown, many are curious and would like to see where a fictional story can end up.
Trailer Analysis 2 - Blair Witch Project
The found footage thriller/horror Blair Witch Project starts by a shot on a camera held by someone running in an abandoned building. The sole sound of running out of breath during this clip is effective in immediately informing the audience what type of movie this is. The fact that it is also by point of view allows us to empathise for them as we see what they get into later into the film.
The build up of tension appears both in footage and music put together by synchronised editing. The characters' curiosity lead them to the isolated forest and an abandoned house. The moment things go wrong, the characters' speech become high pitched, shaky and mostly questions such as "What's going on?" implying that they have no idea what will happen; that they are all vulnerable. The music score is intense in building up in volume and higher pitch.
Going back to the beginning footage, the character are running around in the abandoned house or forest and screams can be heard; from this gore and violence is expected. The selling point in the trailer which is exactly the same as the first movie, is that a supernatural, demonic character is killing them off one by one. This concept shown in trailers seem to appear in most thriller/horror or supernatural/horror films.
Trailer Analysis 1 - Chronicle
Chronicle is an unconventional superhero film in that the students who get superpowers weren't born of galactic royalty nor has a mentor to tell them about what they get. The trailer therefor starts with the three main characters in school from the camera the protagonist (Dane DeHaan) films the whole movie with. When they stumble upon a mysterious underground area, they start to panic. Editing uses static transitions from each to the next thus emphasising that something wrong is happening until it blacks out.
When they get back to their normal lives, they start to experiment with what they can do and the main character has killed someone without thought. A tense rise in music is applied to build up the suspense and tension as the audience anticipate what they are going to do about their problem non of them their age can handle. The camera angles and shifts also become much more unstable implying no sense of control of the next events. The footage shows various damaged such as cars being lifted and crushed when the main character turns evil and lets loose with his powers.
The transitions near the end also become much more glitched and some footage is pix elated and static in between shots. Nerve-racking experiences from the whole film is put into a montage beside a crescendo of music. This would include the three flying in the sky through clouds, people crashing in between building floors and the units of army closing in on them. These random set of clips in a montage make the audience question what is happening so that people will watch it in cinemas.
Reviews - NERVE
It’s no coincidence that Nerve, the most successful attempt at melding the virtual world and the real one so far, was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the film-makers behind Catfish, itself a mind-melting “documentary” that unpicked the myth of online identities.
-The Guardian
-New York Times
Like one of its daredevils hanging one-handed from skyscraper scaffolding, Nerve mostly manages to maintain its precarious balance of pulpy suspense and social commentary.
-Rotten Tomatoes
Reviews provide an insight from experts who understand how to analyse a film. It gives the audiences and idea of their own future opinions of the movie after they have watched it. In many ways, it tells the audience whether or not the film is worthy of spending money and time to watch.
The reviews can also help bring up conversations between people in the hopes of making the film a common topic whilst it is in the cinemas. The review may include unbelievable snippets of a film without giving away too much that may cause controversy making the audience want to go the cinema to see it for themselves. For instance, one review mentioned one of the characters hanging off a crane; people who hear this might know of the actor and they might have only heard that they are in the film because of the review.
As the film becomes popular with the public it is possible critics can also praise the movie. The audience's response also affect later reviews as much as the reviews affect the public response.
Website Analysis + Social Media Use - NERVE
Prior to entering the website, a neon sign of an eye appears saying 100% underneath. Automatically, I am getting a sense of the film's theme as technicolored with a bit of mystery to make the whole movie intriguing to audiences targeting those looking for an exciting film; even more so that this is a thriller. The same colour scheme is applied throughout for the texts and lighting for each scene in the movie.
The movie's poster appears at the top making it recognisable from other public places it appears in such as buses, train stations and bus stops. Film posters, movie stills and the storyline follow to introduce the film. Embedded on the website are gifs which are short-time moving images that repeat from the film and phrases from the film inviting the audience to join them such as "We dare you". Other enticing phrases include "You can be famous" and "Play to survive".
From the top of the page to the bottom, icons of social media websites are linked to their official accounts. The use of social media is powerful in reminding the audience and fans of the film that the movie is out in the cinemas. The inside veiw of movie posters, stills and soundtracks invite the public to be intrigued and teased even before release; sales are already predicted to be successful when many people visit the website and many people follow the accounts on social media. This shows that there is already an interest in watching the film within the public. The behind the scenes visuals make the audience feel like they have known the film for a long time which helps in the build of anticipation until the film comes out.
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