Poster Drafts

After thorough research of generic and specific genre posters, we had a rough idea of what we wanted our poster to look like. We were very keen on the idea of having black and white, which would represent the binary opposition of the two Mandy's. We therefore thought it was better to have the white background and black writing so that it looked striking. Below are a few drafts that we have come up with, and a description of what we like and dislike about them.

 

We tried to incorporate a picture into the writing of the title 'Mandy', however the lettering was not big enough and you could therefore not see the image. We didn't want to change the writing as it is consistent throughout the project, on the website and film trailer as well. We liked the fact that this poster was simplistic, as it contradicts the state of mind that Mandy has, but also representing again binary opposition. 

With this design we thought that we could incorporate some images onto the poster instead of in the wording. We tried out a symmetrical design, however we thought it looked too 'neat' for the concept that we were going for. Also, we didn't like the positioning of the awards, and it took away the simplicity of the poster before which is what we are going for.

 

With this poster, it was our first draft and we looked at merging two images to put as the background. Although we liked the idea, we could not present the poster in the way that we wanted to. For example, the title would be on the right and wouldn't be immediately noticeable, and also the awards are in a very secluded area of the poster. We also thought that there was too much going on, again taking away the simplicity of the poster.

 

Another idea was to put images behind the letters or to have the pictures as the letters. At first we thought this would be a good idea, however we were unable to see the letters, and the only way to see them would be to change the colour, which we didn't want to do. As well as this, there were members of our group that did not like this design. We are also looking to incorporate a third award into the poster so that it is symmetrical and looks more professional.

Lastly, like the previous poster, we were trying to incorporate an image to only one of the letters of the title. However like the previous time, it didn't look right and there were members of our group that did not want this as the poster.

 

At the moment, we are still making progress with the poster and trying to conclude on an idea that we all like. Our aim is to keep the poster fairly simplistic and to make it clear and memorable for the audience to see.

Tagline Research

Once we moved onto the post-production for our film trailer, we started to think about a tagline for 'Mandy'. We wanted it to relate to children, as our trailer was heavily child-orientated as well as abuse. We then thought we could incorporate children and parents/guardians into one tagline. As well as this, we looked at other films to see what their taglines were, and how they related to the film. The following films are the ones we researched:

This Is England: 'Run with the crowd, stand alone, you decide.'

 12 Years A Slave: 'The extraordinary true story of Solomon Northup '

 

Hunger Games - Catching Fire: 'Remember who the enemy is.'

 

 

Looking for Eric: 'To win back the love of his life, Eric's going to need a little training.'

 



 

After looking at the research, we realised that all of the taglines were related to the film, yet only some used a play on words. For example, Looking for Eric uses a play on words with football by saying 'Eric's going to need a little training'. We therefore decided it would be best to incorporate the child and adult theme into our tagline. In conclusion, the tagline we came up with was:

 

'They don't stay children forever.'

'Mandy' - Film Trailer First Draft

Website Content

When creating our website, we decided to have a slideshow of images on the homepage which would give the audience a view of what would be in the trailer/film. We thought it would be a good idea to show all the characters (younger Mandy, older Mandy and the older man figure). As well as this we incorporated action shots. The following images are the ones we decided to include in the slideshow.

Questionnaire Feedback

On Friday 7th February we attended a Media Studies screening where we showed our film trailer to the rest of the year. We created questionnaires so that we could gain feedback from other people containing both negative and positive responses. Below is the feedback that we received and we have included specific responses that we felt were the most useful.

• Edit the music - needs to be better quality
• Make the storyline clearer
• Potential new characters
• Too repetitive - edit structure of trailer
• Edit length of cuts between each shot

Website Ideas

Endless Love:

This website portrays a very simplistic theme, which outlines and emphasises the tag line of the film 'Say goodbye to innocence'. It has the title clearly displayed in the top right hand corner of the website, and features the two main characters in the centre of the screen. Also, throughout the website, the trailer is featured on the homepage. The website also includes the production name and logo of the film, which portrays how good the film could be due the productions reputation of films. For this film, the production company is Universal Studios.

Twelve Years A Slave:

This website is unique to others as it consists of a lot of content, inviting the audience to read more about the film which is also a true story. The content describes conditions of slavery, and how it affected millions of people. The background of the website is ever changing as it features footage from the film and main characters involved with the film. The website features awards that the film has been given and an option to buy the DVD for the film. It is a very interactive website.

The Hunger Games:

The website is different to others as it is a more promotional website which entices the audience to purchase the products. Despite this, it still has typical conventions of a website such as highlighting and emphasising the main characters and producing the title in a clear manner. As well as this, the trailer is featured on the home page.

Voiceovers

When reviewing our film trailer after our first draft and iMovie issues/problems, we decided that an addition of a voiceover would be an affective and successful idea. This voiceover would be non-diegetic sound, however there would be diegetic sound throughout the trailer. The characters that we wanted to feature on the website would be the younger Mandy and two older men. The older men would represent the abusers.

When thinking about what we could include in the voiceover, we thought that storytelling would be an effective attribute, especially as we have a younger character and a lot of the film/film trailer is focussed on flashbacks of Mandy. We then researched several and simple conventions of stories, and incorporated these into a script for the younger Mandy (Violet Manser) to say.
We also created a script for the abusers, played by Ollie and James Dickens and Rob and James Burton.

We then used Garageband to merge the two voice memos together, and structured them so that would cause effect and to coincide with the voice memo by Violet Manser. Some examples of the scripts are:

• Violet: 'Please mummy', 'Mummy help'
• James: 'It'll be our little secret', 'Sit down', 'Shut up'.
• Rob: 'What do you think you're doing'