Poster for Film

For the poster of my movie, "The Dark Side to Disney", I have decided to use the base image as a picture of a foggy forest, which is very hard to see through due to the fog. I photoshopped the edges of the poster to disappear into blackness. I chose this picture as the fog makes the forest seem frightening, as the viewers cannot see anything through the forest. I made the poster disappear into darkness, as it makes the poster display the genre of horror more, as dark colours are mostly associated with horror. I made the title, "The Dark Side to Disney" in red, to display the scary side of the movie, as red is the colour of blood.

Task 5: Website and poster self-reflection and evaluation

Year 10 Creative Media Short Film Production 

Part One: Discuss your feelings about the website, poster and promotional materials task:

1. Are you satisfied with the final result?

I am satisfied with the final result of the website and poster. I believe the poster is very interesting, as I used Photoshop to put the faces of all the Princesses and Prince in the foggy forest, found on the internet. The faces are faded and look very natural within the forest. I like the idea of red writing on the poster, to show it was a horror and the dark lighting. I also like the sentence in quotations, as most posters do this. I am also very pleased with the website, as it displays the to genre of horror and drama within the movie. The character page is very professional in the sense that you can navigate through the characters by clicking the Princesses name. 

1. Did the website require more/less time than you originally thought?

The website actually required less time than I thought it did, however this was most likely because I had thought it would take a very long time to make in the beginning. If you worked hard at the website for a good hour, you could probably make around two - three good  quality pages. 

1. Would like to change any aspects of your final project (layout, links, images, colour scheme etc)?

I think there are definitely some aspects of my final project that I would like to change. I would like to make the website more interesting if I had more time, by changing the background picture throughout the different pages. I would also like to include some more pictures and hyperlinks to perhaps a mini-game, which would make the site more adventurous. I would have also liked to spice-up the colour scheme, as red, black and grey become quite repetitive within the website.

1. If you could start the project again what would you do differently?

I would include more pictures, change the background colour from black to perhaps a picture from the movie. I would also include hyperlinks to different sites, perhaps the movie theatre site to book the movie. 

Part Two: Respond to each of the following dot points (using complete sentences or paragraphs). You should include as much detail as possible in your responses.

1. Discuss whether your website and poster have turned out the way you pictured them?

To be honest, I really did not picture the website and poster - I didn’t have a plan. However, I  am very much liking the website and poster I made. I think the website is so interesting at the beginning, as I really love the home page and having to click “enter” to enter the website. I also love the poster as I believe the faces of the Prince and Princess fit very well within the picture of the forest. 

1. Describe whether your site and poster clearly depicts the intended genre and describe some specific design techniques you have used to achieve this;

I believe that the poster and website I created, clearly depicts the intended genre of horror within the film, “Dark Side to Disney”. In order to have created this, I made the colour scheme a combination of red, black and grey. These colours are often associated with horror, as red symbolizes the colour of blood, and black and grey can be thought of the “night”, which can be frightening. I made most of the titles within the website red, and I made the background black as, once again, the colours symbolize the genre of horror. For the poster, I also had the main title in red. I made the background picture of a foggy forest which seems frightening, as a foggy forest is somewhere you can’t see what is happening and is often though of as being scary. The faces within the picture also appear dark, and teh corners of the poster blend into darkness. 

1. Did you have all of the necessary resources to complete your site and poster or did you create new materials? 

I did not have all the necessary resources to complete the site, as I forgot to complete the document on pre-making the materials for the website. Because of this, I had to make new material on the poster, but I am happy I did as I feel satisfied with the end materials within the website. However, for the poster all I needed was to find a picture, and use photoshop. But that was all for the poster. 

1. Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during the process. These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the iWeb software, problems exporting files, sound or video etc;

I encountered only a few difficulties whilst creating my website and poster. For the website, the whole class discovered that we could not use different computers to create the website, and had to remember the computer we used and use that each lesson. This was a little frustrating, as it meant we were not able to do it at home from our own computer, but was solved by borrowing the computer we used during school over the weekend. A problem during the process of making the poster was that the paint brushes did not work, so I could not mask. However, to solve this I just used the eraser and ended up looking very good!

1. Clarify how you made use of planning, content-lists and the flowchart during the authoring process;

The planning was very useful for me, in making mainly just the website, as the poster was not to difficult to create. By making a list of what pages were needed within the website, it gave me a direction to follow, and basically gave me instructions on what page to use next. 

1. Clarify any time-management issues you encountered during the creative process and describe the steps you took to improve in this area;

I encountered many time-management issues during the creative process, but did improve in this area towards the end. I believe I spent to long on the poster during class, where I should have been working on planning documents, and the website. I believe I did not use my time effectively towards the poster, but I ended up spending a bit of time on it on the weekend, as I did not spend enough time on it during class. To improve on this area, I decided to stop making my poster, and begin my website as I may have needed help from the teacher. 

1. Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection throughout your project. 

I believe i did not take adequate reflection throughout the project. I am very angry with myself that I didn’t, but this was probably due to my lack of time-management skills. I spent so much time on the actual project that I forgot to keep updating my blog. 

1. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs/journals and think about whether it looks like a whole terms worth of work);

I feel that I have provided enough evidence to support my work, but I believe I have probably not done enough and could have done much more if my time-management skills were improved.  It doesn’t truly look like a terms worth of work, but I do feel that what I have put on my blog, supports the materials and projects I have made.

Format of the Website

The format of the website will vary from each page, such as one having writing at the bottom, one at the top, one at the left, and one on the right. Having a varying amount of formats will make the website much more interesting to explore, and will also make the website seem more professional and complete, as most websites vary between styles and formats.

Pages for Website

Within my website, I plan to use a page for;

• Home page
• Character Page
• Poster Page
• "The Movie" page
• Picture page

The home page will be of a relatively "scary" looking forest, which is very cloudy and foggy. This will be a large image, with the words "Dark Side to Disney" on it written in red. The red will display the horror within the forest, as it is most commonly associated with blood.  There is also an "Enter" below the title, which when you press it, it will lead you into the main site.

The character page will have a picture of all the four princesses, and their name will be below the picture. To get information on the Princesses, the viewers have to click their name, which is hyper-linked to their information page. The Prince, however, is at the bottom of the "characters page".

The poster page will be very simple, with a black background. It will have the picture of the poster of the film within it.

The Movie page will have the synopsis of the movie on it, stating the main points of the movie, but having a question at the end which will make viewers want to watch the movie. Above the synopsis, will be the full movie for viewers to enjoy if they wish.

Lastly, the picture page will also be very simple. It will have a black background, and have an image gallery of main focus points of the movie, such as "the chase", the wedding and the killing of the Prince.

Colour Scheme for Website

I have decided to use a black, red and grey colour scheme for the website I am producing. I have chosen these colours to display a certain mood which is portrayed without the film, and also led the viewers understand what genre it will be. The colours of red, grey, and red are usually thought of as horror, and scary colours, displaying red as blood, and black and grey as darkness and scariness. The titles will mainly be in red, the text will be in grey, and the background will be black.

Pan's Labyrinth

1. Describe each film including the genre, the style of film, the actors, the storyline (include synopsis if you can find one).

The film I chose was Pan’s Labyrinth, which is a film of many genres, including: Fantasy; Horror; Drama; War film; Supernatural; and Fairy tale. All these genre’s show how diverse this film is. There are 6 main actors in this movie, who take the characters of Ofelia, Fauno, Mercedes, Carmen, Vidal and The Doctor. Ofelia is played by Ivana Baquero, Fauno by Doug Jones, Mercedes by Maribel Verdu, Carmen by Ariadna Gil, Vidal by Sergi Lopez and The Doctor by Alex Angulo.  

The plot of this movie is that In 1944, in the post-Civil War in Spain, rebels still fight in the mountains against the fascist troops. The young and imaginative Ofelia travels with her pregnant and sick mother Carmen Vidal to the country to meet and live with her stepfather, the sadistic and cruel Captain Vidal, in an old mill. During the night, Ofelia meets a fairy and together they go to a pit in the center of a maze where they meet a faun that tells that she is a princess from a kingdom in the underground. He also tells that her father is waiting for her, but she needs to accomplish three gruesome, tough and dangerous assignments first. Meanwhile, she becomes friend of the servant Mercedes, who is the sister of one of the rebels and actually is giving support to the group. In a dark, harsh and violent world, Ofelia lives her magical world trying to survive her tasks and sees her father and king again.

1. Separately discuss the overall feel developed for each film’s promotional materials (is it clean, crisp and bright or dark, moody and grungy etc.)? Be as descriptive as possible, you could discuss the colours, textures, tone and use of movement in the website to create interest in the film.

The home screen, when first entering the website of Pan’s Labyrinth feels very magical and unreal, with a hint of fantasy included. The screen is dark around the edges, but the centre is dimly lighten with blue lighting. This home screen is animated, with sparkles and beaming light from the title. As you enter the site, you are led to the synopsis page, where the trailer plays in the upper right hand corner.  The middle of this page is filled with bright white light, but the edges are still dark. The mood is still dark, however on this page it has a feeling of happiness and hope. The movement flows very well, as when you scroll your cursor over a button, a drop down menu pops up, leading you to several different pages. It has a very natural movement and makes looking at different pages very enjoyable and simple. “The Film” is a very information-packed pages, with a clean crisp look and feel. On the upper left hand corner is a production video, which can help viewers understand the film

1. For each film reflect on how the film’s website is laid out. Look at the links, font and how the information or promotional materials are presented.

This films website  is set out very well, and makes it interesting for the viewers to look at and explore. Each page is different and amazing in its own way; with different animations, set-outs, pictures and videos. The materials are presented very uniquley, with a dark mood to give the audience an idea of the genre of the film.

1. Identify the Target Audience for each site (who are they? what age, interests, etc.) and discuss whether you feel the website is effective in appealing to this intended audience.

I believe the target audience for this site is for adults, as it seems to have much too horror for children. I also think this is an adult-fantasy, rather than a fantasy for children. The ages would be around 18-35, as it seems to fantasy-based for older people, but too horror and violence-stricken for people younger than 18, unless very mature. The interests would include fantasy films, and would have a large imagination and are very intrigued and outgoing in trying to new things. I believe the website would appeal to this audience as it seems very interesting, and I feel the people watching this film would be wanting to explore a unique website. The website is also different in each page and has a fantasy colour scheme, pictures and animations. 

1. Talk about what you like/dislike about the promotional material for each film. Why?

I like the promotional material for Pan’s Labyrinth, as it seems very unique from other posters, and has a very magical and fantasy theme to it. The poster draws your attention in, and almost takes you to another world as it it so different and luring. However, I believe the final poster could have made the main section of the poster larger, as it seems as though it is smaller than the side pictures of the poster. This distracts the viewers eyes from the centre, but overall still has a very magical feeling to the poster. 

1. Find a poster or advertisement for each film, save the images in to your folder and insert here. In as much detail as possible discuss the following:

The colour scheme is very cool, including blues, browns, blacks and greens. It is crisp and very fantasy-like, which makes the poster identify the genre of the film. It makes me feel as though I am entering a parallel universe, due to the magic feel the poster has. My eyes focus at the centre of the poster, which is of Pan entering a tree-like object. This is because it is at the centre of the game, and it a different colour from the background. The centre is mainly blue and brown, however the sides and background is more blacks and blues. In the sense of Balance, the advertisement seems to be balenced, as the focus point is in the centre, and the side pictures seem to be in proportion, and centre the middle object nicely. The tone is also balanced, and is the same on each side (mostly). I believe the elements work well together, as the colour, lines, shapes and font all contribute to make the poster have the feeling of fantasy. All these elements also unite to make this effect, and makes it more effective as the colour scheme of blue and greens make the crisp and magic feelings. The overall message being communcated about the film, through the visual language in the poster, is that this a film for adults, not children. Also that this is not a happy film, and more a crisp, new, thrilling adventure of fantasy and magic. 

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