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.