Poster Mock-Up: The Massacre

The first step I took when editing this photo was to change and alter the levels setting. I did this by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels.

When changing the levels, I decided to make the shadows darker as most horror films have a strong contrasted and dark appearance relating to the fear of the dark and the fear the unknown. 

The next step I took in editing the photo was creating a gradient tool around the knife to create a border. I did this by first selecting the gradient tool and then applying it around the edge of the photo. When doing this, I made sure to leave a large gap at the bottom of the photo because I plan to place blood stains in this area using the blood effect brush.

I felt that the colour of the wood was too bright and the overall feel of a typical horror poster is usually more desaturated. To change this, I used the Hue/Saturation tool and I did this by going to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.

I wanted to only concentrate on decreasing the saturation of the table at first as this is the main part of the photo. To do this I used the drop down menu on the 'Hue/Saturation' window to select the 'yellow' colour of the photo. This will allow me to only decrease the yellow colours in the photo, such as the colour of table.

In the screenshot above you can see the photo after the decrease in saturation.

The next step I took in editing was to create a blood stain on the table and knife. I did this by using the blood effect from the brush tool drop down menu and using various blood effects.

The screenshot above shows the photo after I have applied the blood effects  As you can see I also used some blood effects to make it look like it was dripping off the edge of the knife.

I felt that the table looked too clean and I had planned to give this poster a more dirty and aged effect, often conventional of the horror genre. To do so, I used various brushes like the charcoal and scratch effects to create this effect.

This is the image after I have applied some of the dirt type effects onto the table. In this screenshot you can also see that I have applied a crack effect brush. I think that it helped increase the slasher appearance of the photo.

This is the final edited photo with the typography implemented at the top creating the poster. My idea for using the knife as the main subject in the poster was because the knife is probably one of the most iconic objects from the slasher horror subgenre being used in many films such as Halloween. The fact that it is lying on the floor or table covered in blood implies that the knife has recently been used to hurt or murder someone which, if I choose to continue using this poster idea, would be part of my narrative. This also relates to the title of 'The Massacre' as it implies that this is not only one murder but a mass murder.

Typography: The Massacre

I chose to use a font called 'Hollywood Hills' for this poster because I felt that it looked quite conevtional of the slasher genre which is the subgenre that I plan on basing this poster on. What also attracted me to this font was the up and down effect of the font where some letters are higher or lower than others which gives a kind of crazed and messy feel to the text. 

I decided to make the colour of the text red because the colour is very typical of the slasher subgenre as it relates to the blood often seen in films of the subgenre. I decided to not use an extremely bold colour of red because I thought that it looked more aesthetically pleasing than using a more blood red and also because I wanted it to be separate from the blood red that I plan on using in the poster.

The next thing I did was select the entirety of the text using the 'Magic Wand' tool. This is because the next stage involves some editing that I only want to appear on the text and not the background.

As I have now selected the text, I wanted to use the crack effect brush tool using the drop down menu to create a crack effect on the text. The crack effect gives the text a more aged and Gothic feel to the text.

This is what the text looked like after I had applied the crack brush. The next thing that I wanted to do was use the blood effect brush which applies blood type effects, again relating to the slasher subgenre. I did this by selecting the blood effect brush from the brush tool drop down menu.

Here you can see the final edit of my typography with the dripping blood effect on some parts of the text. 

Poster Mock-Up: The Unexpected

This is the original image that I took opened up in Photoshop. The main idea for using the girl in the photo comes from supernatural horror films like Orphan and The Ring which both use a female child, that is usually possessed or deranged, as the main part of their narrative. I thought that positioning the girl in the middle of photo was a good idea because she is then the main focus of the poster. The teddy implies that she is a young child. I thought I would get the girl to have her hair hanging over her face because it hides her identity and creates an enigma code as we do not know who she is.

The first step I took was to change the levels of the photo to correct the lighting using shadows, mid-tones and highlights in the 'Levels' window. I thought I would slightly increase the darkness of the shadows and decrease the highlights to give the poster a more darker and eerie effect.

The next step I took was, using the gradient tool, I created a black gradient around the photo. This put the focus more so on the girl in the photo and also gives the photo a border which is typical of all film posters. 

What I did next was select the crack effect from the brushes drop down menu. Cracks are often used on horror posters and was even used on the Sinister poster that I researched. 

The screenshot above shows the photo after I used the crack effect on the photo. I chose to only use the effect on the wall behind the bed because it looks more realistic when used on the wall. I also positioned the cracks so that it appears as if the cracks are surrounding the girl which makes her the central focus and also may suggest that it is her that has caused the cracks to appear. 

 I felt that the photo appeared to be slightly too bright for a supernatural poster. As a result I very slightly decreased the saturation of the photo to create a slightly more darker and cold atmosphere.

This is the final mock-up of the poster with the inclusion of the typography. I chose to use the title 'The Unexpected' because I thought that it would create an enigma code, making the audience ask questions like what is unexpected? The real reason for the title was to suggest that something supernatural happens to the girl, for example she gets possessed, and this is the unexpected event in the narrative, hence the title. 

I also included the teddy as a cultural code to help the audience understand that the girl is young. I also included it so that, if I were to continue using this poster idea in my coursework, I could use the teddy in the narrative. It could maybe be something that the girl gets attached to, for example, because she has been told to by a poltergeist. 

I also took the photo in low-light conditions because it relates to the setting that most horror films are set in due to the common fear of the dark and the fear of the unknown.

Typography: The Unexpected

The first step in creating this particular typography was by typing the title. I wanted this particular typography to relate to the 'supernatural' horror subgenre and so I thought using the "Plantagenet Cherokee" font worked quite well because it was the formal type of font that is often used in the supernatural subgenre but had more rigid edging which made it look a little more like horror. I also wanted to use a white font to relate to ghosts and poltergeist etc. which are associated with the subgenre. I decided to make the 'The' smaller than the word 'Unexpected' because I want this word to be the main focus.

I thought that the pure white colour of the font was a bit too plain to be used on a horror poster, so I decided to use a dotted type brush to make the text look a little more dirty.

Here you can see how the text looks after I have used the brush tool on it. As you can see I have used the tool sparingly because I thought that if I overused the tool it may not still relate to the supernatural subgenre.

The next thing I did to the typography was to create a blur on the text. I did this by going to Filter > Blur... > Gaussian Blur. I thought that this made the text, again, relate to the theme of ghosts and poltergeist in the supernatural subgenre and also because it made the text look slightly mysterious.

In this screnshot you can see me choosing the strength of the br on the text using the slider in the 'Gaussian Blur' window.

After applying the Gaussian Blur effect I felt that it had caused the brush effect that I had applied before it to blur and become less visible. As a result, I thought it would be good to reapply this brush to retain the dirty look whilst still keeping the blur effect.

The last thing that I did to the text was use the eraser tool to erase parts of the text as you can see above. I felt that was quite conventional of posters of the supernatural subgenre as it, again, gives a ghostly appearance but because it helps the text fade into the background it could also give the appearance of fog which is often used in some horror film settings.

The above screenshot is the final edit of the typography for 'The Unexpected'. I think that I have successfully achieved typography that could belong to the supernatural subgenre with it's relation to ghosts/poltergeists and also fog, all conventions of the supernatural subgenre.

Data Analysis

Photo Manipulation 2

This is the original image that I used before editing. I thought that this kind of shot would relate to horror firstly because I made it look like it was a POV shot which is used quite often in horror films because it puts the audience in the position of the character. I also made sure it was completely dark behind the door so that it would look like it was at night and to relate to the fear of the unknown which is used in horror films.

The first step I took was to decrease the saturation of the image. I did this because I thought the image was slightly too colourful for a horror film and a desaturated effect would be quite conventional of a horror poster/film, like the Sinister poster that I researched.

I then used the levels tool to increase the 'shadows' of the image. What this does is makes the darker shades of the image darker and deeper. Without knowing, doing this also intensified the dirt marks on the door which, from researching horror posters, is and effect that is often used where there is a grungy/dirty effect.

The next step that I took was to crop the image to make it more widescreen. I did this to make it look more like the image was from someone's POV instead of just a photo.

Next I wanted to create some noise in the image. This would create more of a texture on image, similar to how I used the tree bark when editing the image of the house. The noise would also make the image appear as if it was filmed on a handheld camera, this again reassures the audience that the image is take from someone's POV. This could be similar to the found-footage type films like 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Paranormal Activity'. To do this I went to Filter > Noise > Add Noise... as seen above.

In the screenshot above, you can see me increasing the amount of noise in the image using the slider. I did not use too much noise because I thought that this would make the image look amateur and unrealistic.

This is the final edited image. 

Photo Manipulation 3

This is the original image that I used to edit. I thought I would use a close-up of an eye for one image because eyes are often used in horror posters. I think that the focus on the eye is used to create an enigma code where the audience are unable to see what's actually going on around the character and makes them want to fine out more. An eye could also be used because many people become squeamish when they focus on an eye, and this emotional response is the type of thing that horror films set out to create. 

The first step I took was to decrease the saturation. Again, this image was too brightly coloured to be used in a horror poster and I thought that a more desaturated feel would be more appropriate for a horror image.

In the screenshot above I used the gradient tool again to bring the focus more so onto the eye rather than the background. It was also to bring in the darkness and black colour into the poster again, similar to my other images.

Having already decreased the saturation earlier in the editing process, I still felt that image appeared too brightly coloured, especially against the the black gradient.

In this screenshot I used he quick select tool to select the eye as I wanted to create a red overlay on the eye.

In this screenshot you can see that I have selected the overlay effect which after I chose to apply as red as I thought that it would give the eye a possessed kind of appearance.

To make the eye more visible over the overlay I decreased the opacity so the eye was more visible.

As I did with my other photo manipulation, I chose to use the photo I had taken of the tree bark to create the cracked effect again. I did this by overlaying the tree bark then decreasing the opacity.

Here is the final edit of the photo.