Minimalistic vs Traditional poster

Posters attribute promotional and aesthetic value to films. The primary goal of the film poster is to 'sell' the film. They are prominently displayed on billboards, in cinemas and often on public transport such a buses. The location of the film poster is always in correlation to the target audience. 

Traditional posters:

• Will appear to be eye catching and clear as to what the film is.
• The protagonist and sometimes the antagonist will be positioned as the focal point
• Consistent colour palette to make the poster more appealing to look at
• Film title 
• Possibly a tagline
• Release date and promotional information.
• Reviews and ratings 
• Leading actors, director and production company. 

Minimalist poster:

• Very limited colour palette used, often being restricted to two or three colours. 
• Relies on iconography to convey film's title.
• Often simple and easily recognisable.
• Focuses more on the aesthetic value of the film.
• Possibly a tagline 
• Sometimes actors' names 
• Most films don't have a minimalistic poster 

Storyboard Alterations

From our first ideas to our final storyboard we made a lot of alterations as we had to ensure our trailer clearly showed the narrative and got our message across. 

From our first ideas we realised the trailer needed shots to really show the division between teenagers and the rest of the world. 
This was the main alteration we made:

Initially, we put in a scene of a mother handing out pieces of cake to young children at a cake sale. A teenager comes to take a piece and the mother refuses to give it to her. We quickly realised this scene had many flaws, in particular we would not be able to round up lots of children and gain permission for their appearance. We would also have needed easy access to a primary school location which we did not have.

We changed it to a scene in a park where a teenager is skating. A mother and her child are playing on a slide and when the mother sees the teenager tension rises. She hurriedly gets her child and rushes out of the park with her. On the way out she tells the teenager they do not belong in the park. This scene will show the audience that teenagers are being completely isolated from the rest of society and there is fear amongst the citizens.

Iconic Directors

Fritz Lang



Fritz Lang created Metropolis in 1927. This was the first film in the science fiction genre and set the foundation for science fiction films to come.  Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. The film features many of the conventions seen in dystopian films today.






Stanley Kubrick


Kubrick has created many iconic films including The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. However his adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is iconic within the dystopian genre. He created a dystopian future in Britain with artificial lakes and elevated walkways. The film explores free will within humanity. He is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in cinematic history. His films, which are mostly adaptations of novels or short stories, cover a wide range of genres, and are noted for their realism, dark humour and unique cinematography.

Ridley Scott


Ridley Scott has created many iconic science fiction films one of which was Alien. However Blade Runner has set him apart as an iconic dystopian film director. The film examines the impact of technology on human society and existence.  This film was the first to incorporate conventions from film noir, its dark style and futuristic design influenced films, television and video games to come.Scott's work has an atmospheric, highly concentrated visual style. Though his films range widely in setting and period, they frequently showcase memorable imagery of urban environments.

CONTACT- Draft 1

This is the first edit of our trailer which is missing shots and some of the shots need to be re-filmed and edited. 

Iconography

Iconography is an important aspect of genre. We expect to see certain objects on screen when we see a particular genre. For example in a dystopian genre you would expect to see futuristic technology, something that is falling apart with the world or there is something wrong with the world like a disease. It may also make you think of all the different special effects that are used to create the dystopian feel. A lot of the time dystopian films are also sci-fi films so in a lot of dystopian films you could expect to see space elements like aliens and planets.

Iconic sounds

Iconic sounds of the dystopian genre cross over with iconic sounds of the science fiction genre. The first iconic sound comes from the 1951 film 'The Day the Earth Stood Still". The oscillating, high-pitched sound was introduced with this film but has now become familiar to the ear and synonymous with aliens.
The Wilhelm Scream is a recording which has featured in over 300 films. It is iconic to many genres, dystopian being one of them as the films often have war and destruction which results in screaming.

Terminator 2 features some iconic dystopian, cybernetic sounds. However one of the most memorable comes from the scene of a Terminator sliding through prison bars. This sound was created simply by sliding dog food out of a can. 

Audience expectations of genre

Filming day 1

On our first day shooting we filmed the technology shot of the pupils walking into the the hall and the shots of a distressed female in the hospital. To film the hospital shot we asked Rida's dad, who is a doctor at Pembury Hospital, to ask if it would be possible for us to film in one of the hospital rooms. Once we knew we were allowed to film, we arranged a date with Rida's dad and he made sure there was an empty room we could use. As we were filming in the hospital we had to make sure we were quiet and respectful to the people around us. 

The pupils walking into the hall we filmed in our school's hall, we thought this was an ideal place to film as it is easy to access. We found a place that we thought would look good in our film and that wouldn't get any other people in it. At the time we filmed it there was a lesson going on in the hall so we had to make sure that we weren't getting in the way and were being respectful and not making too much noise as a teacher was trying to teach a lesson.

Technology test shots

This is the test shot that I did of the pupils scanning their wrists while walking into assembly. I found a copyright free video of a slow heartbeat that would make it look like when people scanned their wrist a heartbeat came up.

Above is the original video that I found. I edited it so it worked better with what we wanted it to look like. Once it was edited I downloaded it onto the iPad as this is what we wanted to use for the filming. I also bought iPad holders that would be able to hold the iPad up against the wall without it falling. We chose to have them white so that they would match the colour of the iPad and look more futuristic.

Above is the test shot we took. We went into the Sixth Form hub at our school and found 3 people that had Fitbits and were willing to participate. They were wearing clothes that we thought worked. We had to make sure that the people walking were in time with when the heart was beating so that it looked realistic.

Location Recce