Institutions and Target Audiences
For my Film Noir poster, I chose Paramount as the producing institution as this was one of the main film companies that made Noir films in the 1940's. My target audience are 25-40 year old men because I think older males would be more interested in this genre due to attractive features such as guns, cigars, attractive females and detectives. I included these things in my poster so that it would appeal to my target audience. For my Modern Hollywood poster, I chose Warner Brothers as the producing institution because my film genre was Romance and Warner Brothers have produced famous modern romantic films such as 'Crazy, Stupid Love' and 'New Year's Eve'. My target audience are 16-25 year old women because I think the genre and themes of my film would appeal mainly to young females. I made my poster appeal to my target audience by including a couple holding each other as my main image and I used a dramatic but romantic tagline to attract the viewer.
Research and Planning
Before I started creating my final Film Noir poster, I had to plan what I wanted to do. In order to do this, I watched Film Noir trailers, documentaries and extracts from famous Noir movies such as 'The Killers' and 'Double Indemnity'. After this, I analysed the codes and conventions used, researched famous Noir actors and looked through Noir magazines for ideas. From the documentary, I learnt more about the inspiration for the film genre and the type of target audiences in the 1940's. I then created a draft on paper, so I had a rough idea of how I wanted to set my poster out and what I wanted it to look like. In order to do the photography needed for my poster, I had to plan the costume, hair and make up I wanted to use. I also planned for my Modern Hollywood poster. We watched a modern film in class called 'Elysium' which was an Action film but I had watched many modern Hollywood films previously and had more knowledge about the conventions of the film posters than I had with Film Noir. After I chose my genre, I looked up existing posters from that genre to get an idea of what mine should look like. Finally, I created a rough draft with the things I wanted to include in my real poster.
Codes and Conventions
In my Film Noir poster, I used the colour scheme of black, white and red which is one of the main codes/conventions in the Noir genre. I also included the conventional characters of a Film Noir movie. The sexy, powerful femme fatale is standing provocatively with a cigar in her hand, wearing a short black dress. The weak-willed, doomed hero is also standing but he is smaller, and he is admiring the femme fatale as he, too, smokes a cigar. As well as the colour scheme and characters, I used the conventional objects and effects such as shadows, dark lighting, smoke, and cigars. However, for my Modern Hollywood, the conventions varied as there were many different genres to choose from. I chose Romance, and the codes and conventions are usually bright colours, the main image of a couple in love, bright lights and a modern layout. I think I used these conventions effectively as the main colour I used was rose gold, my main image was a couple standing intimately with bright lights on them and my overall layout was similar to the one of the best Romantic films; The Notebook.
Media Language
A big part of making my Film Noir poster was the photography. I had to consider how I'm going to use mise-en-scene to communicate particular representations. I chose a black, tight dress as the costume for my femme fatale and drastic, evening make up with a red lip. I also wore long gloves and held a cigarette in my hand. I used mise-en-scene to show the female as a strong, eye catching and seductive woman and to hint that she is the main character of the film. I used the cigar as a symbol of danger and to show rebellion against the stereotype of what a normal woman should look like and do. When taking the picture, I organised the lighting so it was bright on my face, to draw attention to myself and to contrast with the darkness of the doomed hero. I wanted to use a full body shot because my dress was fairly short and I wanted to show my legs. I chose this type of shot because it is inviting and seductive. When I took my Modern Hollywood pictures, I also had to consider how I was going to use media language to show specific representations. I made my models wear matching white shirts because I liked the idea of his and hers outfits and thought this would show that they are romantically involved. I wanted the picture to look natural and not forced and I felt like the white helped portray this. My female model was wearing everyday make up to also emphasise this. I kept the hair, props and general aspects of mise-en-scene fairly minimal because I wanted the main focus to be on the raw relationship and love between them. When taking my picture, I used a 2 shot to show the relationship and to the capture the intimacy. I used medium lighting overall but I focused most of it on the female in the relationship to portray her as almost angelic and to highlight the attraction.
Strengths and Weaknesses
For my Film Noir, I think my strengths were use of media language and codes and conventions to show the genre and representations of the characters. My photography was planned through in detail and I spent a lot more time on it. I also did a lot more research before making my final poster and I feel like this helped me to understand the genre and inspired me to create my own visual representation. However, there were also a couple of weaknesses in the process. The pictures I originally took were lost and I had to start most of my poster from scratch. This meant my poster wasn't as good as the original one which was a lot better. Also, I could have made my own billing block. Another thing I could have improved was getting a full body picture including my feet so it doesn't look like I'm floating in mid air. For my Modern Hollywood, my strengths were similar to my Film Noir. I was happy with the way my photography looked and liked the overall layout of my poster. I think that the research was very helpful as I modelled my poster to 'The Notebook'. However, my weaknesses were that I did not make my own billing block, I did not include a background and the use of black didn't really support my theme. Generally, I think my posters turned out alright but next time, I would make them look more professional and spend more time on specific details.