Tesfah Watkins-Scott created a production log to document the process of designing a poster for their silent film. They researched conventions of silent film posters and captions to design a background. Images from the film were edited to black and white and placed on the poster. The logo, title, and credits were designed using fonts matching the genre. Changes were made to improve elements like character images and the production logo. The final poster effectively portrayed the film's story and genre within the constraints of a silent film aesthetic.
2. Introduction
While I am creating my ancillary film poster, I have
decided to actually create a production log so that I can
present the steps I have taken to reach the final
outcome for my silent film poster.
The software that I will need to use to produce this
ancillary product will be Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 and
also Adobe Photoshop CS6. The reason I will be using
two types of Photoshop software's is because I will also
be developing my film poster from home some days
which means I will have to use the downgrade of the
software.
3. Stage 1
During the beginning of developing my very own silent comedy poster I had a few issues with designing a
background that would stand out towards my target audience. I knew that due to the fact that it will be a
silent movie poster, I would have to stick to the original conventions that are used in silent comedy movies. I
then began to research some backgrounds that have been used in particular silent movie film posters but
due to the lack of images that I could find I then came across a background that I could actually use for my
silent comedy film poster.
That’s when I thought of the idea to research captions that have
been used in many silent movies over the years. The reason why I
had done this was because, I liked the background design that was
used for these particular captions. I felt that the white lining that
was used around the border of the caption was quite appealing, and
also due to the fact that the background is used in silent movies if I
incorporate it into my very own poster it will present conventions of
a silent movie to my target audience which will make my poster a
success.
As I was researching many different caption backgrounds I had found
one with an appealing boarder design that would go around my
poster. To allow this image to be the background of my poster I had
to save the image and then open it in Photoshop and then drag it to
the actual page I was creating my actual poster on.
4. Stage 2
The next stage that I had decided to pursue was to create a logo for the
production company that Marcus & I have created. As you can see the logo
that I have created is only a first draft for my logo as I am unfamiliar with the
logo design site that I will be using which is cooltext.com . I will design the
logo again in the future so that it looks much more appealing.
Creating a new Logo
Step 1: The first step I had to take for creating a better
logo was to go onto the same site www.cooltext.com.
However, instead of using the same font I have decided to
use a different font instead.
Step 2: Once on the site a selection of different
logo styles had appeared so I tested a few of the
logo designs to see what they would look like.
Then I came across a font that I really enjoyed
the look of and thought would look appealing
with my poster so I chose that specific style
(highlighted with a yellow ring).
5. Stage 2 Continued…
Step 3: Once I had chosen the particular style that I had wanted to use, I then wrote in the actual name of our
company to see how it would look. However, I felt as if the font wasn’t that appealing to me so I had decided to
change the font.
This is what the font would look like with the
original font that the particular logo design had.
This is the area where I had to type in
Marcus & I’s film production name which
is “2Film”.
This is where you can change the font style that is
used for the logo if you are not happy with the font
that is currently being used.
Once I had decided to change the font style for my logo I
clicked the “Fonts” area and then was transported to
this page which presented many different fonts that I
could choose from. After looking around at the many
fonts I then found the font I was looking for which was
“YellaBelly”.
Once I found the font I want to use for my logo I then
changed some of the settings so that the logo would
have a glow effect, and also so that the logo colour
would be black & white to support the colour scheme
of my particular silent movie poster.
6. Stage 2 Continued…
Step 4: Once all the settings were completed, this was
the outcome for my logo design which I am quite happy
with. I have saved the image, however I have not yet
found a suitable area for the logo to actually go on my
poster.
Stage 3
The next stage that I had to take to create my poster was to create
an appealing masthead to present the actual title of Marcus & I’s
film “Patty Take”.
This image presents the masthead that I have created for my
poster. As you can see I have stuck to the conventions of a silent
movie and kept the masthead black & white which will also
support the colour scheme that I will be using for my poster.
Furthermore, I decided to incorporate some sort of burglar into
the masthead so that it linked in well with the actual film
scenario. I felt that this would work well as it would make the
masthead look much more humorous to my target audience The font that I have used for my masthead is
which would show them that the silent film will involve the “African” which I had downloaded from
silent comedy sub genre. Marcus & I decided on this particular www.dafont.com. I feel that this font looks
title “Patty Take” due to the fact that the whole chase that will similar to the font used in the “Laurel &
occur during the film will all revolve around the patties that are Hardy” film poster which I have used for my
meant to be received by the Grandmother in the silent comedy. poster ancillary research.
7. The next step that I had to take was to actually
Stage 3
turn each image that I would be using for the
film poster into a black & white image. The
reason why I have changed each image is because
our short film must actually link in with the
conventions of an original silent movie.
Steps to turn images
black & white
• The first step that I had to do was to actually
upload the screen print image from the Final
Cut software on to Adobe Photoshop.
• Once the image has been
uploaded to Photoshop I had to
then select the image button on
the toolbar. After this a menu
will appear ash shown in the
screen print which then showed
an option called adjustments. I
had to select this option which
opened up another menu
showing the option of turning
the image black & white.
• When I selected the black &
white tool another menu
appeared presenting
different colours and blends
on the screen, but from here
all I needed to do was click
the “Ok” button and the
black & white was then
implemented onto the image.
8. The next stage that I had to follow was to actually crop and edit each image to erase the
Stage 4 background from the image as I only want to use the main characters in each image. I
thought of many ways to do this in Photoshop such as the Lasso Tool or the Eraser Tool
however, I know from previous experience that these two tools are quite difficult to use
as you need to have a steady hand when using either of the two tools.
So instead of using either of those two
tools I decided to use the Magic Wand
Tool as this selects sections of the image
that are not needed depending on the
tolerance level of the tool. I felt that
using this tool would make erasing the
background much easier due to the fact
that the selection is automatic.
When using the magic wand tool I had to be very
careful as sometimes I found it quite hard to use
due to the fact that sometimes the tool would
select the actual image I needed instead of the
unimportant areas so I had to be quite patient when
using this tool.
Once I had finished erasing the background from each image,
I then dragged the images one by one to the actual film
poster and placed them in the areas where I thought they
would look the best. This is because I am not sure where to
actually place the images due to the layout of the page as I
still need a strapline or a selling line which may need some
of the space on the poster page.
9. Stage 5
The next stage that I had to undertake was that I had to include some sort of text on the poster
like a strapline or a selling line so that my poster will give my target audience a small insight
into the details about the short film. Doing this meant that the font that I would be using would
have to link in with the genre of film I am creating but also it would need to link with the
conventions of a silent movie.
As you can see I have decided to use the same font as the masthead for
the opening date that I have decided to incorporate into my film poster.
I have done this because, I have decided that I will only use two different
types of fonts for my poster and know that using the boldest font for the
masthead and other important pieces of information about the film will
be very effective once my target audience view my film poster.
This particular font that I have used
which is called “African” from
www.dafont.com links in well as the
text itself is black &n white which For the text about the characters names and the creators
automatically links in well with the of the actual silent film I have decided to use quite a
genre of film that Marcus & I will formal and appealing font than involves lots of curls so
produce. that it looks as if the words are flowing. The reason why I
have done this is because from previous research I have
seen that in silent movies the credits that present the
cast of the film are conventionally shown in an italic
style type of font so I done this to give the same effect to
my audience.
10. Changes I have made 1
Production Name Logo
This image is of the final logo design I was using for my
ancillary product poster. However, instead of using this logo
for my poster I have decided to actually incorporate this logo
into Marcus & I’s silent comedy to present the film with our
production name showing which will appeal to the audience.
This is because this logo will be different to the fonts used in
each caption which uses the font “Adobe Garamond Pro”.
Instead, I have decided to use the font “Vivaldii” for our
production name on my silent comedy poster as it will link in
with the cast names that have been placed on the poster
above each image. This is because the Production Logo that I
had used before didn’t really fit in with the rest of the poster
as it was quite Bold compared to the other aspects of the
poster.
11. Changes I have made 2
The change that I have made from my previous poster is that I have actually
decided to make the two images of “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Grandma”
on the outskirts of the poster slightly larger. I done this due to the fact that they
are the main characters of Marcus & I’s fairy tale adaptation so they should be seen
automatically by our target audience as they are promoting our silent comedy.
Furthermore, I also figured that as “The Wolf” is the villain in our short film I will
make him the largest out of the three images to portray the characters role to the
audience.
12. Changes I have made 3
I then decided to change the logo of Marcus &
I’s production company again as I felt like the
current logo was quite bland and boring. My
partner in this project Marcus designed a logo
for our production company which we
incorporated into the beginning of our silent
comedy which was quite appealing so we both
decided to use this logo for our actual
ancillary poster so that it would link in with
the actual film which would make are poster
look much more realistic and professional. The
site that was used for making the new logo
was www.cooltext.com.
13. Final Outcome
This is the final outcome of what my silent comedy
film poster looks like. I am quite relieved with how
this film poster has turned out due to the fact that
this is my first time ever creating a film poster that
is restricted to being black & white to keep in with
the conventions of the sub genre.
I began to feel like I would begin struggling with keeping
the conventions of an actual silent movie, however
compared to last year I felt like creating this poster
caused less issues due to the fact that because it’s a
silent movie the elements for the poster are restricted.
Overall, I feel that my short film poster will be quite
appealing to my target audience through the variety of
fonts that I have picked out especially. Also, the images
that I have used for my poster have been chosen for a
reason, as they come from the actual film that Marcus &
I will be making. These images will tell the audience a
little bit about the storyline of the silent comedy as soon
as they glance at each image due to the distinctive
facial expressions that are presented on each of the
characters faces.
