Making My Poster for The Lost Key

For The Lost Key, I knew that I would need to create a poster that could help advertise my film trailer. This form of synergy is used in film and other media texts and it is a way to create excitement for upcoming productions. They are usually released alongside the release of the film's trailer.

At first I had a more basic idea for my poster where I had a few pictures on the black background but not as much information as a poster should. For example I did not include a release date or actor's names. However, I ended up using this as a screensaver on my website.

However, when I had made this I was disappointed because there were many conventions of a poster that I left out, so using the same pictures, and adding another, I managed to create a much more realistic poster that I was happy with.

I was also happy with the fact that I kept with the gold and black colour scheme that I had used in my trailers, as well as the same font of text. I also included things such as my actor's names and changed the layout from landscape to portrait, which is the norm for a film poster.

Feedback on my trailer drafts

After presenting my trailer drafts to the class, I asked for some feedback sheets. These are some of the responses I got: 

What I should keep:	What I should improve:
“the genre is really well presented”	“does not yet have a clear house style”
“Font/title, tree shots, costume aspects worked well”	“lack of action involved”
“camera angles, good ideas, logo, trees aspects worked well”	“Some panning is a bit fast “
“Costume is good”	“Make sure music flows with footage”
“The Fonts are really good”	“Some of the panoramic shots are not smooth, redo the panoramic shots”
“I liked the shot of the woods”	“Rushed panning”
“Better ending (in the Theatrical)”	“needs close up of face at the end”
“very good music”	“Make the contrast and saturation slightly darker, would look very good”
“I like the dragon scene effects”	“Slow down a few shots”
“Liked the genre, title(typography) and clips of woods”	“Make title at end longer”
“Loved the Dragon!”	“Have a bit more action”
“Costume & panning aspects worked well”	“Try and have a look at contrast”
“Liked the costumes & Fonts”	“Shorten blackouts and slow down filming”
“Shot of Ollie (actor for Malus)”	“Fast panning over trees”
“Love the dragon”	“No narrative so far”
“Music is great”	“Needs voiceover”
“Costumes & font titling aspects worked well”	“Leave out the really long black pauses, they took a very long time and were very frequent”
“Great shot of main character in the sun”	“Correct colour balance”
“Fantasy and historical genre are clear”	“Maybe some more action scenes, as there isn’t much to it”
“Title suits the genre alongside the setting and costume”	“Panning shot of trees is confusing, random, too fast and out of focus”
“Good lighting of introduction to antagonist”	“Have it in a letter-box”
“I like the dragon”	“Have a colour palette”
“I Like the title”	“Have some quick shots to show more interesting stuff”
“I like the Symbolic code”	“The voice of the man too loud"
“Costume and fonts give the symbolic codes”	“Not finished, too many cuts”
“Shot of trees from below and costume were nice”	“Add the music and change the fast panning shot”
“Good dragon”	“more mid-shots showing protagonists”
“I like the logo”	“Needs sound”
“Good costume”	“Too bright”
“I like the dragon shot”	“Transition to long”
“I like the font of the title- Typography”	“Black screens too long”
“Dragon added to the last scene”	“the scene where Annie (actress for Juniper) holds up the key- Lower angle”
“Costuming”	“Too many tree shots”
“Costumes great!”	“Too much fast panning”
“Dragon!”	“Be careful with focus”

Special Effects in my trailer (theatrical)

One of the main codes and conventions of the Fantasy genre, is the inclusion of mythical creatures and animals. So I came up with a way to include something like this in my trailer:

Theatrical Trailer Draft 1

I also have made progress on my theatrical trailer and, although it is also incomplete, I feel that I have made more progress with it than with my teaser, However, I feel that the character of Juniper, the main female protagonist of the film, needs more screen-time.

Teaser Trailer Draft 2

After more filming and editing I have uploaded another draft of my teaser trailer, however it is also incomplete and there are still edits I would like to make- More updates to follow