George Feast

In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media
products? Film poster
For my film poster I have decided to conform to the majority of
conventions that real media products utilise when presenting a film
through this medium. This is due to the fact that I wanted to make it
intrinsically clear that my poster was in fact advertising a film and not any
other form of product. However, this wasnt the only reason why I chose to
conform to various elements of film posters and these will be individually
touched upon throughout the course of this evaluation. For this reason I
will divide my poster into sections that correlate with a prominent
convention that I have used within the product. However, I have also
made several choices to not conform to conventions which I deemed as
unnecessary to my final product.

Short tagline:

I incorporated the convention of a short tagline onto my film poster.

Taglines are generally succinct phrases or statements which are linked to
the narrative of the film presented. They give subtle implications into what
the films narrative will consist of or themes and ideologies within the film.
This distinctive convention is utilised in a plethora of film posters, making
an appearance on the majority of them. My decision to incorporate a short
tagline onto my film poster was influenced by the effect it would have
upon my audience and its ability to implicitly present themes and
ideologies of the narrative. Through situating the sentence DONT GROW
UP at the head of my product I hoped to prick their interest intensely. This
would cause them to question a statement that contradicts growing up; a
fundamental part of life and existence. However, this wasnt the only
function that the tagline served. My taglines main purpose was to allude
to events within the narrative. By having such a controversial statement it
directly links into the ideology and context of my short film. Due to

George Feast
immense food shortages and an overwhelming boom in human population
the government has deemed it necessary to promote cannibalism through
an initiative called the project. This is due to the fact that the processing
and consumption of humans on their 18th birthdays would combat both of
these intense societal issues simultaneously. Thus, my short tagline
immerses the audience within the context of the story and advises them
to futilely stop growing up to avoid forced consumption. I believe that by
adhering to this convention I am effectively presenting these themes
within my story in a stylish manner whilst also using a common film poster
convention.

Focus on the protagonist:

George Feast

My film poster developed the convention of having the main protagonist

of the film at the centre of the poster. This is a common aspect of film
posters as it allows the audience to establish who is the main character of
the product and promotes them to relate with them. I have developed this
convention by exhibiting my antagonist in the centre of the poster and not
my alternate character of the heroine protagonist. This was not a mistake
and has clear intentions behind it. An aspect of my short film is fluctuating
the audiences perception of my main antagonists morality. During the
opening shots, the audience identify him as evil due to his fallible pursuit
of my main protagonist denoted through camera angles and sound effects
correlating with his actions. However, during the course of the narrative
the audience are convinced he is acting in a moral way. His promotion of
sacrificing his and the protagonists lives for the greater good of the
project could be interpreted as courageous. Nevertheless, this
representation of his character is crumbled once again as he betrays the
main protagonist of the short film and allows her to die for the project in
solidarity. Therefore, by presenting the antagonists face in the centre of
the poster I would allude to my audience that he is a protagonist. This
relates to him feigning his immoral intentions and attempting to befriend
the protagonist, only to deceive her. To not overcomplicate this notion of
deceit I have also included text situated around the contorts of his face.
The text reveals the objectives of the project and forebode the deception
he instigates into attempting to food process the protagonist of my short
film.

Actors names:

Within the film industry actors are continually promoted on film posters.
This is to have an expansive target audience and to make the film
accessible to as many people as possible. I have made the decision to
incorporate this convention onto the front of my film poster. Through

George Feast
compositing the actors names above the title of the film the audience will
make a conscious link between the two and identify them with the
product. I have utilised this convention to effective use. The fact that my
final product is heavily oriented on two characters; an antagonist and
protagonist this seemed like an intelligible decision to make. Although my
actors are not well renowned and will add to the overall popularity of my
final product this is still a useful convention to utilise. Without
incorporating the actors names I would leave my audience oblivious to
who instigated in the dramatized actions within the film. This could result
in them unable to pursue the information of the actors after witnessing
their dramatic skill within the product and therefore would be unaware of
them. Nevertheless, I did not want to labour this convention of
incorporating actors names onto the poster and therefore did not have
them appear in a large predominant font.

The title of The Project:

The title of a film poster is significantly one of the most important aspects
of the poster itself. A film title is essential for a film poster as it allows the
audience to directly identify the name of the film that is being promoted. I
chose to conform to this convention for the obvious reason of presenting
my product to my target audience. Through utilising the advanced photo
manipulating software Photoshop I was able to present the title in a
visually aesthetically manner consisting of a colour gradient with etchings.
These etchings represent the prominent dystopian themes of my short
film and my title emphasizes this.

Credits:

George Feast

Credits play a crucial role within the creation of a film poster. By

conforming to the miniscule size of the lettering, I hoped to mimic the
visual convention within the film industry. This informs my audience that I
am the main architect of my product and that I had a crucial role in its
creation. Due to the fact that I only operated with another individual in the
production process of the short film, I have mentioned his creative role in
this process of developing the product. I have also referenced the original
author of the short novella which first influenced the creation of my short
film. His contribution in devising the short story was imperative with
giving me a creative springboard from which I could channel my vision
into a short film production.