When we were thinking of a name for the film, we wanted to find a name that can represent the story line and the tag line of the film in just one word. A short summary of the film is that killer is getting pay – back for what the bullies put him through. So with that information we were thinking of calling the film ‘pay-back’, however this was too Cliche and we felt that it wouldn’t attract viewers to gain interest in the film if there saw that title. So we looked at different words that has the same meaning of ‘pay – back’ and then Robert pitched the name ‘Retribution’, which means a punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved. We went with Retribution as it representation the story-line perfectly. From our research, we notice that the title of the film is one of the key selling points in attracting people to watch the film and we need to let the audience know that this film is a thriller just by looking at the title. With that in mind, Muyiwa was enthusiastic in calling the film ‘Red Dead Retribution’ as both ‘Red’ and ‘Dead’ are key conventions to a thriller film and this will automatically alert the audience that this is a thriller that will involve bloody, nasty revenge.
The Title ‘Red Dead redemption’ has a lot of significance towards the synopsis of the film, so we illustrated the title in large font to make it distinctive towards the viewers. We added our own effect towards the font in order to make it creative. At the end of each letter of the title we created an effect where the edge looks sharp which illustrates that the film will involve sharp objects such as Knives, axes and other sharp props. This will explain to the audience that this film will have a lot of gore and bloody scene as the anti – hero will be occupied with sharp objects. However, the effect that we used for the Title can be interpreted another way as being a fade which represent a ghost that can be contrasted to the anti – hero.
The tag-line to this poster is ‘your Reap what you Sow’. The reason why we used this tag line is because it is a biblical reference which relates to the synopsis of the trailer. Having this tag-line is a quick way to gives a strong idea to the audience about what the film is about. By laying out the tag-line in this unique and creative way, we are creating a sense of suspense. Most film poster has their tag – line is one line or in one font, however in order to make the poster stand out, we separated the tag – line to emphasis the point.
As we analyze different film poster, we recognized that the main character is usually the main, middle figure in the poster. As we acknowledged that, we decided to put the main character to our film, the anti – hero, as the main, middle figure In our film poster, in order to We have the killer holding the college in his hands to show that he will have full control over the events of this college and also gives the idea to the audience of where the film will mostly take place. The blood on his hands indicates that he will be doing a lot of violence during the film which will be bloody. Also, since blood is one of the main conventions of a thriller film we thought it will be ideal to show this in the film poster and this is why we used dark red font because the colour symbolizes blood.
To make this film poster unique we decided to have shots of the victims in the film and use that as the poster’s background. We used six screen shots and use the negative effect in order to make it effective. This effect is similar to a camera flash which is known to be quick and what we are trying to illustrate to the viewers is that when the anti - hero strikes it will be fast. This gives an idea to viewers that the film’s tempo itself is at a fast pace which will attract people who enjoy fast paced thriller films such as ‘SAW’ or ‘Paranormal Activity.’ Each of the six pictures has its own story that is explained in the film and for that reason; the audience will be put in suspense as they will want to know the outcome of these characters in the shot. The top left picture is one of the victim’s hands being pressed on the window to portray suffering and this will make the audience curious of why or how this victim is suffering.
The top right picture shows one of the victim’s mouth being cellar taped to indicate that she has been kidnapped. We wanted this to create a sense of claustrophobia as this has been used effectively in other film teaser trailers that we have analyzed. The middle left picture shows one of the victims looking at something in fear which will make the audience seem inquisitive in what the victim is looking out for. The middle right picture is a portrait shot of one of the victims looking petrified and the bottom left picture is another portrait shot of the anti - hero before when he was a college student. The bottom right shot shows one of the victims peeking behind him to see what is happening in the room. With this shot, we wanted to create anxiety towards the audience as they wonder what is in the room.
As we analyzed our chosen poster, we noticed the writing below which tells us who are involved in the making of the film. The information that the writing provides includes the film production that made the film, the producers, director and other information. We decide to copy this aspect of the poster as it makes it look professional and shows the audience that this is a real horror film.
Other ways to make this poster look more professional we added the certificate sticker so that the audience will know what the age requirement is. What inspired us to decide what the age certificate will be for our film was the research we gathered. From the pearl and dean website, we found out that the majority of the audience that watch thriller films like ‘SAW’, ‘Paranormal activity’ and clover field are from 15 – 24.
