After having some of my target audience hand fill in my poster survey I am going to look at the results in order to help me make final decisions on creating my poster.
My first question was:
'What colour scheme would best suit a horror thriller poster?'
All answers mentioned dark colours specifically blacks and reds, a few answers included greys and a dark purple. From this result I will base the colour scheme of my poster on dark colours incorporating mainly blacks, greys and reds.
My second question was:
'Would you like the poster to be simple and basic or loud and busy?'
100% of the answers were simple and basic. From this result I will try my best to keep my poster simple and basic - meaning not lots of text or an overbearing amount of images.
My third question was:
'Which would be most effective as a main image? A close up of the main character, Location shot, Full body shot of main character, All characters shown'
Everyone chose answer A which was a close up of the main character whilst one also opted for a full body shot of the main character. As a close up of the main character was most popular this is the image shot I am going to use for my posters main image.
My fourth question was:
'What information would you like to find on the poster? Production Company, Actors/Actresses name, Tagline, Certificate, Release date'
All of the answers were chosen at least once however the most popular included Production Company, Tagline, Certificate and Release Date. These are therefore what I am going to include on my poster.
Having collected this feedback I have decided to take my original design ideas and redo them including the ideas and opinions received from feedback. I had already decided to use darker colours within my poster as this is a typical convention found in many horror posters however having looked at the feedback I will specifically look into including black, greys and reds. Due to the design and pathetic fallacy I will most likely not include the colour red on my poster as I feel it would not blend in well with this particular poster and film. I feel as though this is a good enough reason to challenge the convention of using red/blood colours as I do not want to take away the effect of the poster. I had planned to keep my poster relatively simple and basic before retaining feedback however from now receiving feedback I am completely comfortable in deciding to do this. By making the poster simple and basic it gives an eerier effect whilst a busy poster filled with images and information will reduce the effect and take the focus away from the actual film, people will be more focused upon the information and company names. Originally I had planned to use a location photo but the most popular answer from feedback was a close up on the main character. This is also a popular convention within the horror genre and therefore is suitable for use. I have now taken some photos and will gather some feedback as to what the best image to use for the poster will be. By using a close up of the main character the poster does not give the films storyline away. I also found that popular actors and actresses attract a lot of fans to seeing the film, by using a close up of the main character this will also draw attention to the actress and therefore draw fans into looking at the poster. This will then cause them to find the trailer of the film to see the actor/actress in their new film. A close up image of a character also allows the chance to show emotion. The face tends to give away how someone is really feeling and allows you to see whether the character looks frightend, scared and vulnerable or whether the character looks confident and in control, this then allows the audience a chance to guess which character the victim or the unsub. For my poster I will be using the victim as my main character as I do not want to give away the identity of the unsub to anyone who has not viewed the film. I have decided to do this because this will cause the audience to want to view the film more as they would want to find out the storyline, how the storyline ends, who the unsub is, what they are capable of and why they have become the 'evil character'. As the main image is focused upon the main character (victim) I have decided not to include any other images within the poster, this also links in with keeping the poster simple and basic. If other images were to be included then too much of the storyline could be given away and the focus will be taken away from the main characters facial emotions. One audience member, in the feedback, did opt for a full body shot of the character. I decided to opt against this for the reasons already mentioned above and the fact that the poster will not have as good as an effect I think. As for the information featured on the poster there are certain features that must be included in order for the poster to be effective in what it is supposed to do. The most popular answers from the feedback were the production company, tagline, certificate, and release date. The title will be the largest featured text on the page as this is most important with the tagline located underneath in a slightly smaller font. The certificate of the film and production company will be the smallest text featured on the poster as this is the least important feature that will draw in attention. The release date will need to be clearly stated on the poster but should not have a too large font so that it draws attention away from the actual poster main image and title. I will create and upload a draft as to where I plan on placing each of this features.
