Poster Production

The original image is strong already and could have been left un-cropped, however I feel the image would be stronger if my character was featured in the middle of the image, as this would appear more bleak and add more emphasis on his character.

In order to ensure the character was in the centre of the screen, the use of grid guides were essential. To further add emphasis to the character and to lessen the surroundings, I significantly lowered to opacity of the paint brush and faded black in the sides of the image, thus centralising the character more and darkening the tone of the poster to emphasise the fact that the film is dark and ominous and this is reflected in the poster

To further build on the dark ominous tone of the poster, I added a red hue to the whole image to reflect my main influence of posters - Old Boy. I felt adding a main colour to the image was also necessary as although the natural orange streetlight reflects the gritty tone of the movie, the red colour is far stronger and would attract more attention than that of the original colour.

To prevent the red hue from darkening the character beyond the extent of which he is visible, I cropped him out of the original photo and pasted him on top of the red layer. Obviously having been cut and pasted, I used the eraser tool on a low opacity to blend the pasted image into the image beneath, which proved to be relatively easy due to the characters dark clothing.

Adding a sharper red hue to the image further builds on the blurred effect which was achieved by slowing the shutter speed on the camera, as now more emphasis is placed on the blurred background images such as the streetlamp and bushes which builds on the overall image.

After a tutorial on youtube, I learned how to add in the effect of raindrops, which I felt was a necessary addition to the poster as it builds on the dark tone of the poster as the audience questions what sort of man would stand in the rain without the use of an umbrella??? 

the rain also allows the poster to further resemble my main poster influence - Old Boy

After exploring different fonts on www.Dafont.com - I made the decision to use the same font as I had used in my trailer as I felt it in terms of font, it accurately depicted the tone in which I was trying to bring to the audience as it similarly resembles that of graffiti like letters which audiences would associate with street culture. To add onto the effect of the letters, using the paintbrush tool I drew light grey lines on the letters to make them appear shiny.

I felt the fonts which were provided on Photoshop were not in suiting with the rest of my poster, thus encouraging me to explore further on Dafont.com, where I found Uncle Typewriter font, which I felt would look fitting on my poster. Cutting out the background of the letters proved more difficult than previously due to the extra bits of letters around the letters themselves.

The final product

The main influence.

Poster ideas

Using a single strong image has been my intention throughout the whole process of the production of my poster. After a photoshoot featuring my main character, I have been allowed to develop multiple ideas

Leaving the sense open for slightly longer than usual allowed for a slightly blurred version of the image, producing an interesting effect as this way more was incorporated. Although the central image is strong, blending multiple images together produced an unprofessional result due to my lack of experience on photoshop, thus bolstering my feeling for the need of one strong image. This idea also fails to reflect the work of my influences, and only features one character, therefore I feel this idea is not the one.

Magazine cover

After approximately an hour of attempted use of Photoshop, I have accepted the fact that I will not be able to manufacture a professional looking magazine using multiple images edited together. This has encouraged me to take one strong image for my magazine cover or two maximum. Editing these on photoshop will be easier if taking the picture in the area in which the background is the way I want it, therefore I will not have to crop the pictures which I feel downgrades the quality.

My inspirations are as such

Poster Analysis - Shifty

Top Boy - Poster Analysis

Poster analysis - Infernal Affairs

Style Wars - Poster Analysis

Recce - Herne hill alleyway

Graphics - Title

In order to capture the viewers attention - giving them an image in which will imprint on their minds, associating the title of my film with the style of letters used in the production - the font needs to be suiting with the concept of the film as well as being BOLD and rememberable. Having not come up with the final title with my film, I can only play with ideas, however the title Hightrees is something close to what I would like to call my production, therefore I have used this title to find the correct font.

This font gives an Urban effect, which I like. It stands out and is bold and demonstrates the city life in which the characters are growing up in by incorporating silhouettes of buildings in the letters. The fade and corroded effect are also effective in demonstrating a gritty tone, therefore is suiting to the production.

These fonts are also effective and likeable due to their bold effect and unique style. These are better in capturing the gritty effect due to their faded letters. I especially like the second one as it slices letters such as I and T and S, giving it a broken effect which I feel represents my production better.

I will consider using a style like this as although it is not bold, I enjoy the way it looks sketched and stylised which will be fitting with my low budget production, however it could be interpreted as an indie sort of production, the backdrop will determine if it can be suited to my own.

Recci - Hillside Park / Maytrea estate / Hillside Road

Recci Practice - Gopro

Upon attempting to edit my recci, I discovered several issues with the Gopro camera which I had intended to use to shoot my production - due to its convenient size and chest harness, I would be able to shoot chase scenes more effectively than if using any other camera, as well as it's resolution being great. However, upon attempting to edit the recci, I discovered that the final cut software is not supported by the Gopro camera, therefore the footage has been compressed resulting in a very glitchy and useless piece of film. I attempted to solve this issue by lowering the resolution and the frame rates from 1080 to 720, compromising the quality of footage, but attempting to sort the glitches, however this did not prove effective as the Final Cut software still did not accept the footage. This meant that my recci is relatively useless as its quality is poor, however it will still be used as it does demonstrate the locations I intend to use. This effectively means that the Gopro will not be of any use during my production despite my hopes and practice, and I will be shooting on a standard camera, which in a sense will be easier, but nonetheless disappointing as much of my intended footage revolved around the use of the chest harness and the Gopros manoeuvrability.

Timing Plans

In order to successfully film my production, I have been advised that I should put as much emphasis on shooting times as possible in order to prevent any misconceptions of timings with my actors. In order to ensure that they are all where they should be when they should be, I will be distributing unique call sheets for each of my actors, telling them where to be and when. I have also written up a schedule, formally telling me which days I will be shooting and what equipment / persons I will be needing on Excel.

If for any reason I am unable to shoot on any of these days, I will be able to fill in any gaps after the New Years, however, I would much rather shoot everything successfully in the days proposed above.

STORYBOARD ANIMATIC

Upon editing the storyboard, I found that my lack of experience in photoshop caused a layering in the pictures I uploaded onto the Final Cut software, meaning the images with colouring in them did not also show the changes in contrast and brightness I had made. I added a track which demonstrates the style of music I would want to use in my real production. The edits are also similar to that I intend to use, however I would want to use more graphics in my real production which I will incorporate into shots.

STORYBOARD

Drawing the storyboard took long and proved difficult for me due to my lack of artistic skills and experience in drawing, therefore the outcome of my storyboard does not fully represent what I hope to achieve in my filming, however will provide a good basis of the shots I will use and how I will edit it. Unfortunetally, having to scan my drawings onto a computer has decreased the quality and contrast of the pictures. After doing this, I coloured in the key characters in different colours each and edited the contrast on photoshop which will be shown when the animatic is uploaded.