Editing Poster Images

In order to edit our images effectively and professionally we used the software Photoshop. We started editing our photos by simply cutting areas out of the background that we didn’t want- for example in the original photo (image 1) we noticed that there was an orange light behind our model, and so we

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needed to cut this out of the image. We did this by using a brush tool on Photoshop, and we gradually blacked out the area. After doing this we then increased the contrast of the image so that a greater difference was created between the glowing of our models face and the dark background, ultimately making the image more striking. We also decreased the brightness of the image slightly, so that the makeup we’d placed around our models eyes appeared darker, and also so that it faded certain areas of the image out- for example our model had a shirt on underneath the dress, and by decreasing the brightness we were able to fade out the line of the shirt.

2 appears darker and connotes more of a sense of menace. By decreasing the brightness our models hair is also less light, whereas in the original image her hair appears quite bright and natural, which doesn’t link in with the idea or an evil supernatural entity. We also increased the contrast in order to make the image sharper, as a result the entity appears more eerie and quite striking. We were quite pleased with the original image due to the effort we’d put into it in terms of getting the positioning of our model right and the lighting affective- by getting our model to stand outside of the window with Alice shining a light across the side of our models face, I was able to take the photo from slightly behind a certain in the window, to signify the idea that the entity is looking in on you.

1 2 We discovered from our survey results that one of the most popular images that we’d taken for our poster was image 2. The original image doesn’t appear overly different from image 2, however we did decrease the brightness slightly so that, as a result, image

The reason why we decided to edit the original image in two separate ways is because we were pleased with the photo, therefore we edited it once by sharpening the image and adjusting the contrast, but then we also changed the image

completely by making the photo black and white. By making the image black and white this connotes that the entity is not only dark and therefore mysterious and threatening, but it also conveys the idea that this supernatural force is ancient and powerful (due to black and white images usually suggesting that it’s from a time before photos could be taken and printed in colour) and this links in with the plot of our film. After deciding that we definitely wanted this to be our poster image, we then experimented with different tools on Photoshop- one being a tool where you can adjust the colour of the photo…

From deconstructing other supernatural horror posters, we knew that the conventional colours to use are red and black- these colours are effective as they connote pain and terror- however we wanted to challenge conventions by using a completely different colour. By watching our trailer and considering the prime location in which our film is set we decided that green would be an appropriate colour to use as it not only connotes the idea of envy and evil, but it also links in with the forest setting of our trailer. By gradually increasing the green colour through the tool we were able to pinpoint different shades of green that we thought were effective. Image 1 is the weakest tone of green, which we thought wasn’t strong enough for a poster image, as it’s going to be seen from a distance. Image 3 on the other hand is the strongest use of green, which we thought might be too sickly. As a result we decided to go for a halfway point between the two- image 2 is still quite a striking green but not so much that its sickly.

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