DVD cover inspiration 5

This is the DVD cover for the 2009 football hooliganism film 'The Firm'.

If you didnt know already, you could probably guess that it was a football hooligans film that was set in the 1980's because of the main image and the title. The way the characters are standing and what they are wearing on the cover suggests they are hooligans from the 80's as they have branded clothing such as 'Fila' to make them look from that era. They have purposely put the main hooligan at the front in bold red to suggest hes the leader and boss of 'The Firm'.

Also they have included vicuous weapons in to all the characters' hands onto the DVD cover to show the audience that they are very violent people. Also because of their stance that they have their arms out shows they are looking for a fight and that the film will be packed with violence start to finish.

The background of the cover looks very plain but the use of bright, bold colours for the characters makes them stand out and makes it look unusual, yet interesting. Also the fact that there are 7 people makes the audience think that they come in numbers which is very daunting.

Planning - Current Update

Where i am at the moment, i need to think seriously about what my film will include. I have come to a conclusion that i am going to create a Crime/ Thriller themed film and i now need to put ideas together to come up with an interesting storyline.

Once i have thought of the basic ideas for the film and i know what i am going to include, i can then come up with names for the film. Obviously i cannot come up with a film title yet because I'm am so far unaware of what exactly will be in the film.

I am thinking that i am going to use one young male as the main character and somehow he gets lead into crime by either people or events in his life. This is my initial idea and i am looking to advance on this soon.

Planning - Dialogue/ voiceover

Im my final trailer i think im going to go against the idea to use a voiceover and just use a soundtrack for sound. I am doing this because i think it will sound a little unprofessional and cheesy to have a voice over from myself.

I will use dialogue to describe the film whilst the trailer is running. I will be using very short secenes around 3 seconds each shot then they will either skip to another shot or have dialogue describing what is happening. Also i will have the film title appear at the end as this in my opinion looks aesthetically pleasing and proffessional.

DVD cover inspiration 4

This is the DVD cover for crime/thriller based film 'Shifty'. The main colour on this cover is yellow, and throughout all the advertising projects including the official poster, yellow is used as the theme colour. This is a good idea as it gives the film its own colour tone and style.

They have used the 2 main characters in the middle of the cover who are surrounded by hooded people with weapons. This suggests that they may be in danger and causes the audience to be suspicious and anxious. Also it says the name of the main character 'Shifty' behind the 2 characters and it is wrote in graffiti writing. This maybe shows that this is his town because he has his name written over it.

Also at the top it has a quote which starts with the word 'Cracking' which is then cut off by the 'I' in the title shifty which links in together well.

Planning - Trailer length

I have looked at some professional trailers and here are the times that they are on for:

Green Street - 1 Minutes 54 Secs

Doghouse - 1 Minutes 26 Secs

This is England - 2 Minutes 26 Secs

Shifty - 1 Minute 49 Secs

Harry Brown - 1 Minute 46 Secs

The average trailer length from all these films is just over 112 seconds, which is 1 minute 52 seconds. I think this time is about right and i am aiming my trailer to be around 1 minute 30 seconds - 2 minutes.

I believe it is better to have your trailer too short than long because i think that if your trailer is too long then it may start to bore the audience, whereas if it is short it may leave the audience wanting to see more.

Planning - Ideas for Filming the Trailer

Time of Filming
If i go ahead with a Crime/ Thriller based film, i will most probably use the majority of the time filming in the day with some filming at night, maybe when an important scene needs to be shot. For instance when a crime or significant moment of the trailer needs to be filmed, i would consider doing it at night for effect if it was neccesary.

Actors/ Actresses
Although i am unaware at the moment to whom will appear in my trailer, i am thinking about how many males and females i may need to act in my trailer. I am going to use 1 main character, probably male so i now need to ask for actors to get this problem sorted. Apart from the main character, which i am bound to use whatever the storyline, i am unsure of how many actors/ actresses i will need so i will ask people just incase they are needed.

Camera Shots
Because of the small amount of knowledge about what my film will be like, i am still unsure about the camera angles i will use for the trailer. If possible though i will try to get as good of an establishing shot as i can for each important setting in the film to set the scene.

Planning - Background Music and General Ideas

As i am not 100% committed to any genre yet for my film, i cannot yet say exactly what music i will be using for my film trailer.


Although my insticts are to produce either a crime, thriller or maybe even a combination of the 2. Therefore i would want to add anxiety and suspense to my trailer which leaves the audience on the edge of their seats and wanting more. So i would probably use a non-diagetic soundtrack which starts rather quiet with low tempo and then for it to finish loud and with fast tempo. I would also like the name of the film to be shown right at the end when the audience are intrigued and possibly have the title of the film enlarge in the few seconds it is on screen.

Jumper Poster

This is the official poster of 'Jumper'. This is a film based on a man with the special ability to go anywhere he wants in the world in an instant.

A technique they have used is to use a page size image of the main character (jumper) and have different destinations in the world, such as Big Ben (London) and the Sydney Opera House located at the bottom of his body. They have also positioned his head and eyes facing these destinations to give the impression that he is about to choose where to go. This works very well as it sums up the story that he can jump to anywhere he likes.

They use the tagline of the film centrally on the poster just above the title. It says ANYWHERE. ANYTHING. INSTANTLY. This is clever as it shows the audience the power that this man has and they then become intrigued. Also like many other posters they have used previous successful films made by the director and the release date to encourage the potential viewers to see this film.

Blood Diamond Poster

Blood Diamond is a 2006 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. As Leonardo Dicaprio is a big name in film and acting, his name is very cleverly printed above the film title to show people the potential class of this film because this star is in it. Also he is the biggest thing on the poster covering half the page with his face.



I think the reason that the characters faces are hidden behind a plant slightly is because it suggests they are in trouble and in the film hiding is what they have to do to protect themselves. Also hiding precious diamonds that they find they swallow to hide so they can provide for their families. This may be the reason why the film is called 'Blood Diamond', because they have to risk their health and survival to hide these diamonds from guards. There are running people in the background which signals danger as they are probably running awat from something. Also there are helicopters which may show that people are always looking over you and they have no privacy.

A good technique they have used is the quote 'From the director of "Glory" and "The Last Samorai". This shows previous successes in film from the director of this film and shows that the director is very capable of fantastic films.

21 Poster

This is the poster of the card counting based film '21'. It is based on these characters above who scam their way to winning thousands of dollars by counting cards in blackjack. All the characters above are looking away from the camera and the front 2 are both looking over their shoulders to suggest they are worried or to see if anyone is looking at what they have done. Also a clever technique that has been made on this poster is that flashes, maybe from a camera are pointed towards the main character which may suggest people are onto his tricks and are capturing his movements on camera. I think that the way they have used a jack and Ace (playing cards) to surround the characters is clever and makes it look authentic.

This poster doesnt show an exact date of release but instead has 'SPRING 2008' which i think looks much more presentable and i am very tempted to use something along these lines when printing a release date on my poster. Also the Film title is printed in the middle of the poster which drags you to it straight away which then shows you that the card game they will play is blackjack (21).

Harry Potter Poster

This is the official poster for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. In my opinion this is made very cleverly as they know that everyone already knows about the previous films so they have put the Harry Potter logo in the background with only half, if that, of the letters showing. They are able to do this because it is simply that well known and people know it spells out Harry Potter. Obviously i couldn't use this technique but its a great idea. Also all the characters apart from Harry are wearing dark clothing which suggests Harry is the hero of the film and he is the most important by putting him in red to stand out. Apart from the colour of his clothing, Harry is also the biggest thing on the poster by far which signals the importance of him. The poster also uses the tagline 'dark secrets revealed' which brings optimism for the audience of the poster.

Also with the use of an official website advertised at the bottom, it makes the poster look professional and official to the people that view it. I may well use this technique on my poster to give it a more authentic look. I think that they have used slanted writing on the page to suggest that something is not quite right and that Harry standing out on the page, suggests he will be the one to sort it out.

The Final Destination Poster

This is the poster for the last movie in the sequel of the Final Destination's. The final Destination poster above links to death and you imaediately know that the film will be gory. At the top of the poster they have very cleverly used the quote 'Rest in Pieces' which can be related to 2 things within the film. Firstly it links to the girl on the poster that is surrounded by broken glass 'pieces', and secondly, it could be saying rest in peace (goodbye) to the sequel as this is the last film it will make.

Half way down the girls face where the glass pieces shatter, a skull appears and the rest of the girls face appears to be that of a skull. This suggests that the creator of this poster was trying to cause anxiety through the use of this technique and it also suggests that this girl may suffer death somewhere throughout the film. Also to use such dark and depressing colours on the poster, shows the audience immaediately that this will be a film that includes alot of unfortunate events and killings.

I like that fact that the only colourful thing on the page is the release date of the film. This drags your attention to it and encourages you to think about going to see it. Im unsure yet to what i will use but this has given me great ideas for my poster.

Planning - Important Factors i will need to address

These are several issues i need to figure out to make my trailer as much of a success as possible:

• Location(s) of filming
• What time of day when filming
• Who will appear in my trailer. (actors/ actresses)
• Background music
• Target Audience
• Genre
• Camera Angles
• Mise-en-Scene
• Trailer length

DVD cover inspiration 3

This image above is the DVD cover for the comedy 'Superbad'. This cover is actually quite simple without much colour to it, but includes all the main characters which are involved in the best scenes. At the top of the cover it tells you that the people who made previous other successful films have made this one, which attracts attention immaediately. Also with it being at the very top of the cover, its often one of the first things people will see which is a good technique to use because if people like the other films, they are likely to purchase this one.

The boldest thing on the cover is the title 'SUPERBAD'. It is been put in bright red, capital letters and in 3D. This suggests that nothing on the cover is more important than the title and the makers want this film to be well-known. The characters are shown on the front to show their personalities of what they are like in the film. Seth the character in the middle, stands tall and infront of the two other characters because he is the more dominant, forceful character. Both Evan and Fogell the characters the the left and right of Seth, are the more quiet and weak characters which is shown through the way they are standing and because they have there arms folded and in there pockets.

DVD cover inspiration 2

The DVD cover shown above is for a horror-comedy themed film called 'Doghouse'. By the way the DVD cover looks, you can instantly tell it has a theme of horror in it because of the dark and gloomy colours that are used. I will also try to use this technique to portray my films genre when i make my DVD cover. Also the fact that there are zombies in the background gives a sense of danger upon the 3 main characters featured in the middle of the cover which entices the audience to see what happens.

If you hadn't seen this film, you may not know that the zombies in the film are all female, which suggests why there woman at the top at the cover with suspenders (suggesting shes a woman) with blood all over her. By using this image at the top of the page, the creator of the cover is trying to attract male attention to the cover because of the sexual nature.

The comic side to this cover is how the man on the left has a water pistol in his hands which suggests he is going to try and fight these deadly zombies with it. I dont think this cover is extremely different from any other, but it tells the story in a sense to the audience. I will be hoping to use similar techniques to make my DVD cover up to a very good standard.

DVD Cover Inspiration

This is the DVD cover of the British film 'This is England'. The idea they have used is to use all the main characters on the cover which shows that they are all very close with each other. They also use the national colours of England (red, white and blue) as the title's colours. This suggests that the DVD will be very passionate about England, especially with title of the film also.

Also a very good technique that drags the attention of customers in a store, is that they have used positive quotes from leading magazines and newspapers and put them at the head of the cover. This leads the customer to believe that it is a good film, especially when 2 five star ratings are shown like the one on this cover.