Posters Prop Practical

For our film trailer, we originally planned on having the ending as a point of view shot of the protagonist looking over a bridge and down to train tracks, as this would suggest suicide but would not definitely suggest it, and so kept a sense of enigma. However, after taking the shot using a GoPro, we reviewed the footage we obtained and discovered that it was canted, and so would not be usable.

However, rather than reshooting the footage, we discussed the ending scene and unanimously decided that it had too much finality to its tone, and so we chose to change it.
After various discussions and searching other social realist film trailers for inspiration, we decided that the final scene should be more positive and suggest hope for the protagonist, and so chose to film a scene in a nurse's office, which has implications that the protagonist is looking for help from professionals.

For this scene, we needed posters which focused on eating disorders for the mise-en-sene so as to confirm that the protagonist is at a specialist clinic. I opted to create one such poster, which would be used along with preexisting posters from real companies which help people with eating disorders.

Firstly, I used a drawing I had previously completed which featured a shackled girl wearing rags, and took a photo of it using my phone.  Using my preexisting knowledge of poster conventions, I chose to use the Golden Rule, and so photographed the image so as the place the main drawing not in the centre of the post, but on the right hand side. Then, using the editing effects already available on my phone, I changed the filter of the image to Noir Black and White, as the photo was uncoloured and the lighting made the image purple. Therefore, by changing the image to black and white I parallel the tone of the film.

 Following this, I then chose to change the lighting of the piece, particularly darkening it so as to sharpen the image and erase some of the lighter pencil strokes.

Next, I used an app titled  Color Effects, a free app which allows the user to 'recolour' any image of their choosing. This app has a variable brush size, which consists of pixels, meaning that the smallest brush size is one pixel, whereas the largest is various pixels.
Also, the app offers a rainbow spectrum of colours, and so at a glance the user can choose a simple solid colour such as red, pink, blue, orange, green, etc, and then after choosing a colour a larger screen appears which allows the user to lighten or darken the colour, with black at one end and white on the other.

Firstly, I chose a colour between orange and pink, and lightened it by a significant amount so as to get a suitable 'fleshy' colour. The app offers the user the opportunity to adjust the opacity of the recolouring, and for this I chose zero opacity, meaning the colour was non transparent, and chose a 'hard edge' brush to ensure that the lines are sharp and clear rather than blurred.
The app allows the user to zoom in significantly in order to see the individual pixels, which makes colouring the image more precise, and I coloured the skin of the character portrayed in my drawing.
The drawing I had done included lines to signify where shadows and light patches should be seen, and so I used these for guidance and alternatively darkened and lightened the colour i was using ever so slightly to show blended colour, particularly using the lighter colour on the tops of my character's arm and legs.
I then chose a generic brunette colour to colour the character's hair and coloured the clothing of the character in a light blue colour as this connotes depression but also hope.

Once this was complete, I opened up an alternative app, which was also free to purchase, and is called Photo Editor. This app allowed me to add text to the image, with the option of choosing font type, font colour, and font size.

Hence, using a traditional Times New Roman font I chose the headline 'Don't be a Slave to Your Eating Disorder' in order to convey how people often feel constricted by their eating disorders.
Then, at the footer of the page I added smaller sans serif text in white which included a phone number which would lead to a help line. This shows how the sufferer is not alone and that there are options available to them. Also, by using a white text it contrasts the black header and the dark colours of the poster, drawing attention to it and implying a semantic field of hope and positivity.

Evaluation 
Using this same technique, I took three more of my own drawings and manipulated them into posters, each with a small amount of text which aimed to inspire the reader to get help, as well as a helpline attached. However, we decided that these posters were quite harsh as they used fairly brutally honest pictures, and so may not have been used in an eating disorder clinic as they may negate any helpfulness. Therefore, we will only be using the poster above, and will pair it with some pre-existing eating disorder help posters.