ANCILLARY PRODUCT RESEARCHFilm poster and magazine article

SHORT FILM PROMOTION

The most popular form of short film is through specialist short film festivals.

Through these, the films can be viewed by a large audience, therefore gaining more popularity and potentially being shown internationally.

Many short film producers have since gone on to make feature length films, or TV series.

FILM FESTIVALS- ANNECY INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL

Founded in 1960, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival is the oldest international film festival dedicated exclusively to animation.

The festival is a competition between cartoon films of various techniques (animated drawings, cut out papers, modelling clay, etc.) classified in various categories:

Feature films Short films Films produced for television and

advertising Student films Films made for the internet (since 2002)

FILM FESTIVALS- BRIEF ENCOUNTERS

UK’s longest running competitive short film and animation festival

Created in 1995, and in 2001, Animated Encounters was created

In December 2010, Encounters International Film Festival became a qualifying festival for Academy Awards Short Film Category.

SHORT FILM- POSTERS

CONVENTIONS OF A FILM POSTER Image- This is the most important feature of attracting the target

audience for the film. The image can help them to decide on whether they want to see the film or not and shows which genre it is. The mise en scene of the images have to show clear signs as to the genre of the film

Narrative- Posters normally give you an idea as to what the narrative to the film is. This can be shown through the facial expressions/ body languages of the characters, props and style of fonts/ compositions

Colours- The colours used are important in reflecting the genre of the film e.g. horror- reds, blacks and dark colours.

Layout- How the layout of the poster is composed is really important in giving off the right impression to the viewer of the film

Written text- This often includes a tag line, title, star ratings. The font types are used to reflect genres such as an italic traditional english font style would be suitable for a period drama film

USP- All forms of advertising must have a unique selling point which will make them stand out from the others.

SHORT FILM POSTERS Through looking on the internet I found that not many short films have

posters to accompany them. The ones that do, their posters are generally displayed at film festivals,

where they will be viewed by a range of people. Short films tend to have advertisements rather than posters, in specialist

magazines. The conventions of film posters are very general. Most will include one

large image of the protagonists, the title in large lettering, a tag line and the small print including the stars and producers etc. As short films do not include big name stars and are often produced by only a few people, their posters do not often include names, release dates, and certificates etc.

Types of Posters: Teaser posters- basic information about the film Main poster- information about the film, stars and distributers etc. DVD release poster- advertises the film when the DVD comes out- often

includes short reviews Character poster- features the main characters

For my short film I will be making a combination of a main and character poster.

KEY FEATURES OF A FEATURE FILM POSTER

Tagline/ catch line

A/B list celebrities

Cast and crew

Website

Key image

Production company

Certificate rating

Title

Release date

Star ratings

Reviews

Colour scheme

Mise en scene

Background image

SHORT ANIMATED FILM POSTERS

I think this poster is really eye-catching sue to the large black border around the edge, framing the image.

The title of the film is shown at the top of the poster, slightly to the left hand side, which is a ‘hot spot’.

This film poster also features a byline (name of the producer), which is shown just below the main title in a slightly smaller, less bold font type.At the bottom

of the poster in the centre is a tagline to accompany the films title. This is shown in the same font style as used in the films name.The colours used are all very dark, which shows that it is perhaps not targeted at a

very young audience as they are drawn to bright colours. Also the body language of the hedgehogs, suggest this as the larger one looks almost threatening. The tagline, suggests that the story is about love which doesn’t seem to fit in with the image shown as it appears to have more of the genre of horror rather than romance. It is also quite unusual to find a poster which is landscape rather than portrait.

The type of font used for the films name is very unique and original.

SHORT FILM POSTERSThe title of the short film has been placed ay the top of the page, taking up about a 1/3rd of the space.

The font style used is very easy to read and eye-catching. The way the characters are drawn are also more modernised and up-to-date, making them appealing to the younger audience.

The producers of the short film have been placed in the bottom right hand corner which is the last thing that you will look at. Each line is in a different font style and size, and due to the colour of some of the letters, is hard to read from a distance.

The black tree frames the poster and is very contrasting to the yellows and oranges of the rest of the page.

The characters of the film are shown in the centre of the page which is a conventional feature.

The target audience for this short film, I think is more obvious as being for the younger audience due to the bright eye-catching colours and fun looking characters.

SHORT FILM POSTERSThis poster is very obvious that is for a hand drawn animation as the colour is not as bright as it would be if it were drawn on a computer, and the texture created, makes it appear to be coloured using pencil.Again there are very limited colours on this poster, mainly just blacks and greys which suggests that it is not targeted at young children.

The way in which the character is drawn also seems to be very detailed and not very friendly looking. This could mean that the genre of the film could be horror.

The name of the short film has been placed in the top left hand side of the page (hot spot). This is quite large and takes up about 1/3rd of the page.

The poster appears to have used the rule of thirds as the films title fills the top third, the character the centre and the floor the bottom.

The poster is quite unconventional in the fact that the character is not centre to the page, but to the right, with part of it missing.