DESIGN REPORT

DESIGN REPORT FOR CREATING A HORROR FILM POSTER

Lianne Winter

Type:

I first started researching type by looking at current horror film titles such as Psycho and Saw to see what font types they were using to portray the horror genre and their movie type. I also used a font type website called www.dafont.com to look at different styles of horror fonts. As the brief required a Saul Bass style I included the type font used in his work called 'Hitchcock'.

After this we did an activity which required us to add an appropriate font to a phrase. For example, 'The good, the bad and the ugly.' For that phrase I choose to use a western/cowboy font as that phrase was commonly used in western movies. This activity allowed us to gain the skill of adding appropriately styled fonts to specific phrases.

To begin my development I watched my chosen movie; Cloverfield and decided what type of horror film it was. As it's a military based film I wanted my font to be in that style. I then went onto doing some rough hand drawn type font ideas for my movie title. Next I went onto www.dafont.com and collected appropriate fonts which matched the style of my chosen film. I then went onto annotating each font by saying what i liked and didn't like about it and how well it would suit my film. All the fonts i picked out were similar in the way that they were square-like and blocky.

For my development i wanted to play around with different ideas so I did a few experiments with the scanner. I printed out a few title ideas and then put them in the scanner but instead of keeping the paper still for a sharp scan i moved it about to create a hand rendered warp. I had to do this a couple of times to get a finishing outcome which i was happy with because it was a bit trail and error. The finishing outcomes are displayed on my blog.

The final outcome for my type font was to be done digitally using www.dafont.com as i saw some really great fonts on their which suited my film perfectly. I decided to use two different fonts for my poster. The first one; Cargo Bay which is used for 'Cloverfield' and the second one called BigNoodleTilting for the movie quote and release date. The reason why i used two different fonts was because i wanted the film title; Cloverfield to stand out and be the first thing you read when looking at my poster. I also used two different type font sizes as again i wanted the title to be the first thing read by the viewer.

Colour:

For my colour research i created a mood board showing all the colours used in the film Cloverfield. These colours included turquoises, dark greens and black. This film is good to relate to Saul Bass's style because there is a small colour palette used. Although Bass uses mainly primary colours. To show influence to Bass i experimented with six different colour choices which included primary colours and colours relating to the film. These colours were; orange, turquoise, red, dark blue, yellow and pink. I only wanted to use one colour in my poster to portray Bass's minimalistic style.

To pick out the chosen colour for my final poster i asked my family and friends to take part in a tally chart to help me choose the colour which most suited my film and looked good within my poster. The colour chosen was dark green/turquoise. 

Visuals

Before even exploring ideas to do for my poster i watched the film and did a few rough pencil sketches throughout the duration of the film. I then went onto doing a few mood-boards. I did one mood board based on the location; New York and some main settings for example Manhattan bridge and the Statue of Liberty. I also did another mood board showing key props with in the film such as the camcorder and helicopters etc. I didn't do a mood board for a monster because i wanted to keep that unknown because you don't actually know or see the monster in the movie.

After getting an idea of some visuals for my poster i started to do a few thumbnail ideas for my poster. These are displayed on my blog. I wanted to keep the poster minimalistic as i wanted to show influences of Bass's work. I wanted to use the idea of silhouettes.

I picked the idea of having the New York Skyline and an image of a parasite which gets portrayed in the film as they come of the monster/unknown creature. I choose this idea as it does not give too much away and is minimalistic. I then went 

onto Illustrator and played around with different layouts for my visuals. I decided to have the parasite cut into the skyline. 

Layout

After choosing my poster design i already knew which layout to have as it looked best and i didn't explore any more ways. I wanted to viewers eye to go down the page. So the viewer would learn from looking at the poster that the film takes place in New York and involved parasites in some way. Not portraying much in the poster i think attracts the viewer to watch and find out what the films about.

I put the film title before the film quote and release date because i want the title to be read first then the quote next etc.

Style

As the brief asked us to use Saul Bass's style i tried to keep everything on this poster very minimalistic and simple.

I used the fact that Bass's used a small colour palette in his work. 

Although i looked at using Bass's style i don't think it would be suitable for my film and the horror genre in general. I feel like my type font is suitable and simple enough to relate to Bass.

Effectiveness & Other

I feel that my poster is very effective responding to the brief as i have created a Saul Bass inspired horror poster using Adobe Illustrator. 

Overall, i am very happy with the finishing results. 

At the beginning of this small project i did not know many skills in Abode Illustrator but have come out with small techniques i can use in future projects. 

FINAL HORROR POSTER

Here is my final horror film poster.
I choose this colour because this is the most preferred colour chosen by my family and friends. The type font for Cloverfield is: Cargo Bay. The type font for the other pieces of text on my film poster is BigNoodleTilting.
I choose this design because it is the most unique idea which portrays Saul Bass's style well. The skyline represents New York and the parasite silhouette portrays the creature which destroys the city.
I am happy with my final design as I believe it portrays the film well and intrigues the viewer to watch the film. I have shown small influences of Saul Bass's work. I have used the fact he uses a limited colour palette and uses minimalistic imagery such as silhouettes.

CREATING MY HORROR POSTER FOR CLOVERFIELD

The above image is an A3 sheet of ideas for my movie poster. I did quick rough sketches to allow myself to explore different layouts and different ideas. From this I am going to go on and try to development one of my idea's.

The above shows the end results from my experiments for one of my poster ideas for Cloverfield with Illustrator. I prefer the parasite to the right. The reason why I have chose to include parasites on my poster is because in the film there a human sized parasites which fall off the monster/creature are go round attacking people which leads them to die. As we have to portray Saul Bass's style into our posters I have included silhouettes and a colour palette of 1-3 primary colours. Saul Bass's style is simplistic.

The above are some more copies of my poster. I am now experimenting with colour.

The above is a quick tally chart of which colour design my family/friends preferred. The most votes I got was for the green design. I like this design because the colour links into the films colour palette. 

RESEARCHING TYPEFACES

The above shows my brief research into horror typefaces. I looked at current film typefaces, Saul Bass's font 'Hitchcock' and some typical horror themed fonts from www.dafont.com.

The above shows an activity we did in class. We were given the list below and had to go onto dafont.com and pick a suitable font, size and colour to suit the saying.

• The good, the bad and the ugly
• Beware wet paint
• Knock, knock? Who's there?
• Class in a glass
• Retro fashion
• Shock of the new
• Long live the king
• A pinch of sea salt
• That's wicked
• Mind the gap

The above is my research into finding a suitable typeface for my chosen film title; Cloverfield. Cloverfield is a horror film but it involves the military so thats why I have decided to pick something in that style. 

The above are 2 experimentations. I printed off a few type fonts of my movie title. I then scanned them whilst moving them about to create a manual warp effect. The above are my outcomes. I am happy with them but I don't think they are suitable for my film.

Here are a few of my quick drawings and hand experimentations for my type font title; Cloverfield.

RESEARCHING HORROR POSTERS

What is Horror? This genre of film seeks a negative emotional reaction from the viewer. Horror films often deal with the views nightmares, hidden fears and terror of the unknown. Prevalent elements include ghosts, aliens, vampires, werewolves, demons, vicious animals, monsters, zombies, cannibals and serial killers.

The above are my original film posters for the following films; Dracula, Cloverfield, Jaws, Signs, The Night of the Living Dead and Shaun of the Dead. I tried to vary between different time periods to show the development over horror film posters over the years.

The above are my Saul Bass inspired film posters for the following films; The Cabin in the Woods, Jaws, Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Psycho and The Shining. The similarities between all these Saul Bass film posters are that they have a colour palette of 2 colours. Most of these horror film posters use the colour red and black frequently to portray the gore in the film.

Here is my mind-map for my chosen film; Cloverfield. I choose Cloverfield because I like horror films where the fear of the unknown is present.  The viewer does not actually understand what the creature is and how things are happening. I also choose this film because I liked the idea of experimenting with the city scape of New York in Saul Bass's style. 

I have carried out research into this film and it is clever how they have put together this non-fictional story which seems to the viewer to be completely true. For example I discovered that the oil tank which was capsized in the sea at the beginning of the film leads the tragic event to happen. I also like how the film is done by what seems a portable camcorder - this shows differences to this and other horror films.

The above is an A3 page full of my sketches from key aspects of the film. For example, for the camcorder, Statue of Liberty, Manhattan bright and the city scape. Whilst doing these sketches I watched the entire film for inspiration.

The above are my 3 mood-boards. The first one is relating to New York itself. Looking at the main scenery such as the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Bridge which takes place in the film. I have collected quite a few city scape photos because I want to try experiment which a city scape on my horror poster.

The second mood-board is for props such as; guns, military, helicopters, planes, taxis, cars, explosions and ruined streets. Most importantly I have included a photo of the camcorder as I could experiment with this idea.

My last mood-board is the colours. The colours in this film are quite dark as the film is supposed to be shot at night. Green is used quite a lot in different shades also. The colours above are the palette I want to mainly use for my horror poster for Cloverfield.

Evaluation

I chose Alice in Wonderland because I thought I could explore lots of ideas and refer to either Lewis Carroll or/and Tim Burton’s version.

I like Saul Bass’s style because I think it is clever how he captures the mood of the film with simple shapes and images. Saul Bass used simple geometric shapes. For my interpretations of Bass’s work I decided to create my storyboard by hand because Bass’s work was drawn by hand. As Bass only used a small colour palette in his work – for example primary colours such as orange, red, yellow and blue I carefully picked out four colours appropriate for my chosen film; Alice in Wonderland. To create a Saul Bass theme to my storyboard I picked out the main scenes in the film and simplified them into simple shapes and silhouettes. I feel I have overall created a Saul Bass feel to my storyboard.

Overall, I have learnt who and what Saul Bass is about. I feel like I could recognise Bass’s work from the research I have carried out. Also, another thing I have learnt is to run Illustrator. For example managing the pen tool and learning how to warp type etc.

If I could change or do something differently I would scan my line drawings in and digitally enhance my storyboard on either Illustrator or Photoshop as I hand drew my storyboard and used water colours paints. Another thing would be to consider more when creating a movie title and maybe try to portray Bass’s style in the title. Overall, I enjoyed this project and think I showed appropriate references to the chosen artist- Saul Bass.

Final Storyboard

These is my final story-board.

I decided to create it by hand to portray Bass's style as he creates and draw's by hand.

I used water-colours for the background but if i could change one aspect of it i would scan my drawings in and then add the colours on photoshop or either illustrator. 

1. The first scene is of the movie title and the director. I want it to spin and shrink into the next slide.

2. The next scene is of Alice first spotting the White Rabbit and following it to the hole she falls down.  This is a medium shot as it does not show Alice's whole body.

3. This next scene is meant to interpret Alice falling down the hole. I want this scene to portray the action of moving. This is a long shot.

4. This scene represents the scene where Alice shrinks/grows after eating/drinking the 'drink me' potion and 'eat me' cake. This is a long shot.

5. This scene is showing the blue caterpillar smoking. This is a long shot as it shows the whole body of the caterpillar. The actors name who plays the voice at the caterpillar is floating in the smoke.

6. This is the cheshire cat and i have displayed the actors name who plays the cats voice in his teeth. I think this is quite affective. This is a close up and i want it to become an extreme close up as the cameras zooms into the actors name/cat's teeth.

7.This scene represents the mad hatter's tea party hence the tea cups and top hats. Long shot.

8. This scene is to represent the Queen of hearts. Medium shot.

On the whole, I am pleased with my final storyboard.