The Poster Editing

Step 1: Background

Before we started filming, we went out and took

photos of the area which the film would be set in. We thought this would help inspire our plot. After looking through these photos for one which would be suitable for a background we found one. It shows a long path leading into the darkness and is framed by trees and overgrown shrubbery. (This photo can be found on the setting section earlier in this blog)

We decided that the general colour

scheme of our poster should be predominantly blue and white to create an eerie moonlit feel.

To make the photograph more suitable I adjusted the hue and saturation of the photo and tinted it blue. At this stage the photo seemed too light so I made a black background and adjusted the opacity to about 26% then added a dark vignette border which is common in a lot of horror film posters and can give the effect of something emerging from the darkness. This will also help the main image of the protagonist stand out.

Step 2: Protagonist and intruder photos

In the last day of filming

we took photos of the two main people in this film. The main protagonist who is played by Helen Palmer and the intruder portrayed by Joe Phipps. We took a lot of different photos and out of about 20 we decided this one was best for Helen's character. Her face is serious and looks directly into the camera, her hair is messy but is kept out of her face so it stands out more. The eye make-up is smudged and uneven to give the impression she has been crying or panicking. Firstly, I used the magic wand tool to remove as much of the background as possible which was easy because of the contrast of dark hair on a yellow wall. I then cut around more precisely with the lasso tool with a high feather so her hair blends into the dark background and looks as realistic as possible.

These three images show the stages of development from the original cut out of Helen to the one which we used on the poster. In the second image I used the clarify tool and set the maximum number of 20.0 which emphasises the shadows which were already there making her face look slightly more sunken. I then duplicated the layer, added a blue hue then altered the opacity to very low so the skin seems pale and cold. In the final image I have used the warp brush to make her head narrower and a darkening brush under the eyes and on the cheek bones to give a gaunt almost skeletal look. The corners of her mouth have been altered to remove any hint of smile that might have been in the photo and her lips have been made pale and thin.