Harry Potter Film Poster Analysis

As one of the most popular global franchises, I wanted to analyse the final Harry Potter movie poster as it depicts the typical codes and conventions of a film poster. This was the official movie poster for the final film however it is also notable the amount of teaser posters that were also created. This is a common promotional technique to keep up the hype about the film and as this was so popular it acts as a constant reminder for the audience as to the films release soon. For big franchises or blockbuster films, this is probably a beneficial advertising technique, however I won't be doing this for our trailer because it is a much smaller scale film and as it is a low budget film, companies who create similar ones like this tend to stick to social media to promote their product due to insufficient funds.


From the film posters to the left, these were just a few from the masses of film posters created for the final film. Many teaser posters were created with different characters on the poster but all had the same vital inforamtion: the release date and available in IMAX and 3D with the same tag line 'It All Ends'. Although my partner and I won't be creating teaser posters we found this is becoming a much more common technique to advertise a film and create an ongoing interest with the audience.

The official poster follows the typical conventions of a film poster for example the main image. The protagonist is placed in the centre of the poster making it clear what film is being advertised. Either side of the protagonist are his two main friends and important characters in the film whom are also easily recognisable. In the background of the poster is the outline of Hogwarts castle indicating the recurring setting for all of the films and other students although these aren't distinguishable facially, it creates the idea of chaos combined with the rubble in which they are standing on and giving the sense of a big battle at the end of this film. The main colours in the poster tend to be quite dark; there is a mixture of blue and green creating an idea of fantasy linking to the genre however these are tinted with black and grey darkening the poster. Contrastingly, there is a tint of yellow and white in the background by the castle as if the sun were rising suggesting an element of hope. The characters clothing are fairly neutral colours however muddied and stained reinforcing the chaotic atmosphere and idea of a battle. One of the characters is also wearing a muted red which could connote danger.

The title of the film is included in the bottom centre of the page and is written across the main protagonist linking the character with the name of the film. The typography of this is the same font as all of the other films have used with the jagged edged writing making it clearly identifiable. Underneath 'Harry Potter' is the name of what film it is in smaller writing conforming to the layout of all the other movies and reminding the audience of the franchise. Underneath the title is the billing information. This is in a much smaller font and a darker colour making it harder to see therefore showing it isn't of much relevance in this instance in order to promote the film. However, underneath this, the tag line used in the teaser posters is also repeated 'It All Ends' followed by the released date. The tag line has already been seen numerous times on the teaser posters so audiences are familiar with this already and the release date being repeated acts as a constant reminder for audiences to not miss out. The text is in a bold font, place in the bottom centre of the poster and a slightly different font to the title making it stand out showing this is important information for audiences. Also on the poster, the fact that the film will be available at IMAX and in 3D is also stated in a small font as it isn't the most essential information but it may create more hype for the film as audiences can now experience the movie in more immerse ways.

At the bottom of the poster, red dots seem to accumulate. This has also been used on the teaser posters therefore coincides with this theme. The red could connote danger and the red seems to resemble fire, as if the sparks are flying off an explosion. This reinforces the idea of chaos and destruction creating more anticipation for the film by evoking a sense of lack of safety and fast paced thrill that will be present in the film. This also hints to the genre of the film, showing it will be dramatic and there will be a lot of action included in the film.

Movie Poster Research

Looking at Film Posters

Second Cut Feedback

This is the second cut for our trailer. This time we used Adobe After Effects instead of Serif MoviePlus x6 as it is a more complex editing software and we wanted to challenge ourselves with our editing skills to try and create a more professional looking trailer. As I was getting used to the editing software, this is cut is not completely finished however we wanted to show this to our target audience to get more improvements to add to the ones I had already set myself as to make sure we could aim to make the trailer more professional and appealing to our target audience. This was useful as we showed the rest of our media class this trailer and they identified that this had progressed from our first cut however there were still some minor errors that we needed to work on.

Positives:

1. Good use of a variety of locations
2. Good use of camera work and including different types of shots such as high angle, close-ups etc.
3. The movement of the purple glow behind the text was more creative
4. Colour and lighting was more consistent 

Improvements:

1. Some of the text was on screen for too long therefore this needs to be cut down
2. Need to add sound 
3. Some of the fades were choppy therefore need to go back and edit these to create a smoother transition
4. Need to add production logo at the beginning
5. Need to add another slide at the end with text on screen with the billing information, production logos and date of release. 

Updated Script

This is the updated script for the voicemail message at the beginning of our trailer that Alexia leaves for Arby. We intend to use this at the beginning of the trailer then edit lines so they are used as a voiceover throughout the rest of the trailer but will played in a random order:

"Hey...umm look I don't really know what to say...I have to leave. I have to go because...because everything I know is a lie. There are others...others like me. But we're not safe. I have to find them. I wish you could understand...I can't put you in danger anymore. I don't even know what's real...I don't know who I can trust but I need to find them. I need to find the others.

Day 2 Filming

Our second day of filming was slightly easier because the location we were filming in was closer to home. We filmed near our school so it was an easy meeting point for us and our actors. The first shots we filmed were in the woods by our school. As the weather hadn't been good throughout the day, we found a relatively dry area in the woods because we needed to film Mia running. We decided we wanted this as a long shot to include some of the setting showing a clear change in location, necessary in a trailer. As Mia wasn't wearing a coat in these shots we needed to film quickly because it was cold but this also meant that we could then move on to our next location fairly quickly.

The next shots we filmed on this day were at the viewpoint which were the scenes between Mia and Beth (playing Alexia and Kaya). We had originally intended to film this on the swings in the local park by our school however as there were other people in this location at the time we decided to film at viewpoint. We filmed the scene where Beth is talking to Mia however we also managed to get a few other shots of Mia, Beth and Bryn walking. We added these in to show the 'others' as this is important to our storyline. We also used Bryn because we felt it looked better by having another character to show there are more 'others' than simply Alexia and Kaya. 

First Cut Feedback

                                          

After showing our target audience the first cut of our trailer, we gathered some valuable information about what worked well and what we needed to improve.

What worked well:

• Nice camera work - we had included a variety of shots such as high angle shot when we see the silhouette of feet walking over the glass. 
• Contrast in lighting - some shots such as the close -up of Mia as the camera rotates 360 around her was bright with high key lighting, contrasting to darker shots such as the high angle of the feet over glass and the use of colour with the yellow wash in the long shot in the tunnel.
• The text on screen also worked well and the purple glow effect made the writing more interesting. 

Need to improve:

• The opening shot was too long therefore we need to cut this down
• The lighting in some shots didn't work well as it was to bright therefore affected the colours 
• Add a zoom on Mia and Rasharn dancing with the 360 shot faded over so the shots fit better together
• Work on the effects we've used such as fades and cuts to make sure it looks more like a trailer than opening sequence whilst still keeping continuity. 

When editing our next cut we will take these points into consideration to make sure we can develop our work well. We also know that we need to add sound, and we have planned to film a voice over with Mia and we need to find a soundtrack that would work well in the background. As we also found it difficult to schedule time to film the rest of our shots with our actors, we now need to add these to the first cut which will also help portray the narrative slightly better and the genre of our film. Whilst editing we also need to experiment with different lighting effects as some of the shots we weren't happy with as they came out too bright when we uploaded them.