Teaser Poster

We decided to create a variation of different posters to promote our film as much as possible. We took several images during a filming session that could be used as a poster. We came up with the idea of releasing more than one teaser poster, as we took a few pictures of the main 'ghost' Elsie stood directly in front of the camera, gradually getting closer (see images below). We decided to use these images as a teaser as they show the feared Elsie getting closer to the camera, and therefore closer to the audience, if we were to actually release the film and all promotion media then we would release each teaser poster as the time got closer to the date of the film screening. 

The idea of a teaser poster is to subtly present and attract the target audience with the film, without giving full information to the audience that would be shown in the film trailer. So we decided to play on this and withdraw as much information from the audience as possible, as the idea of not knowing would entice and create a curious effect on our audience, hopefully convincing them to watch the film trailer (and eventually the film). Also the plot of our Horror film plays on the fear of the unknown, therefore a subtle yet effective approach to a teaser poster would be appropriate. 

These images show the character Elsie getting closer to the camera, we will edit and adjust these to create the desired effect suitable for a subtle teaser poster.

 Basing our ideas on The Conjuring poster, where a scratched effect was used, we decided to overlay a texture on top of the main image of our poster. The plot of our story mentions that the feared (Elsie) used to scratch the walls of the attic, therefore using a scratched texture seemed appropriate and keeping within the theme of our Horror story. Scratches also connote fear and pain, reflecting the atmosphere of our storyline.

 We overlaid the scratch texture in Microsoft Word by placing the texture image on top of the main image, then making the texture transparent to achieve the desired effect.

We then inserted the image into Photoshop where we adjusted the exposure and contrast of the image to tone down any saturation colours and to define the scratches and make them more noticeable.

Due to our chosen font (De Walpergen Pica) only being available on www.picmonkey.com we had to insert the text on the website used for editing photos. We added the title of the film, Durlock plus a subtle hint to the audience 'It is coming'. This can be interpreted in many different ways, 'it' as in Elsie, the main feared ghost of our plot, this hints to the audience that she is not referred to as a person but as a mysterious non human, playing on the fear of the unknown. This also references the plot of our story as Elsie was not treated as a person but as a thing that no one knew about, therefore addressing her again as the unknown. 'It is coming' also means that the actual film is coming out soon, therefore capturing the attention of our target audience. The small teaser catchphrase also keeps the theme of this poster as it suggests that 'it' (Elsie) is slowly moving closer to the camera and the audience, creating an illusion of fear which is our desired effect for the audience. We also blurred and faded the text on the poster to give off a sense of mystery and withdrawing information, making the general image seem distorted and subtle, which is what our target audience said appealed to them in a Horror genre.