Main film poster sketch

Looking at horror film posters such as Final Destination, I liked the simplicity of an image of a skull broken into pieces. However, as Final Destination has built such an iconic franchise it is incomparable to a film such as Say Your Prayers. This is because my film has not yet established a fanbase in which a simple symbol like Final Destination's poster on my poster would not be as recognisable. Instead I wanted to feature the main characters or even just one character on the poster as a way of introducing thier personalities.

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.

Survey Monkey

Below are the results I got from a survey I shared on social media platforms regarding horror films.

Majority of people who answered my survey were females.

Most of these people were aged 16-19; close to the target audience of 16-30 years olds.

 People were fairly regular in consuming films of the horror genre. It was expected to have people watch films more often than when horror films out meaning many people had a great interest in films.

Many people liked the idea of a supernatural film with gothic second most popular followed by gore. I found out people liked a less extreme subgenre of horror than those with explicit clips like gore. Due to the age group, not many liked an animated horror film. One person never watched films so they could not chose an option except for other.

Most liked it when there was a twist in the ending of a horror film. I expected to see more liking an original plot however some have commented that an original plot sometimes meant to them a less popular style of film; some that might be eccentric.

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.

Production Logos Mock Ups

Film Teaser Poster Sketch

Film Magazine Cover sketch

The magazine cover shows the three main characters. Like in the film, they carry about a camcorder that films both their project and what they encounter. The are dressed in school uniform with the exception of the boy in costume to have ripped shirt and blood all over him because he was used as an actor.

All three have serious and cautious faces as they look forward into a reader. The camera's flashlight will blur some of their faces and will connote that they are looking at something in the dark; a place where everything is unknown based on their emotions shown on their faces. The light also reflects a part of the horror genre in that no one knows what is about to happen yet the characters look forward to find out.

The film's title say your prayers will be written in a sharp font and coloured like wood. This will relate to a cross which is associated with the title as crosses are made of wood.

In comaparison with Woman in Black, instead of featuring only one main character I needed to introduce all characters since Say Your Prayers is a new film and possibly unheard of. However, Woman in Black uses a face of a actor able to promote film due to his popularity with the audience. I conformed to the basics of a film magazine having a main image, cover lines, masthead, sell lines, buttons, barcodes, issue and price lines.