{Film poster task

By Erin Harper

Stanley Kubrick was an American director, screenwriter and producer/cinematographer who utilised British film studios to make his films. His motion pictures are generally adaptations of novels and are praised for his use in cinematography and his attention to realism. His films cover a very wide range of genres including horror, war, crime, drama, science fiction and romance; so he has proved himself as a very versatile director.

The shining 1980Genre: horror

2001: A space oddesy 1968Genre: sci-fi

Barry Lyndon 1975Genre: period drama

Killers Kiss 1955Genre: film noir

Spartacus 1960Genre: epic historical drama

His main achievements:

• He frequently used a steadicam to give a stabilised shot, which was rare at the time, he added extra springs and supports to it to achieve different angles and effects, the steadicam was first utilised for the film ‘The Shining’ to achieve a sense of fluidity

• Kubrick was a photographer before he entered the world of filmmaking, so he put extra care and attention into the framing of the shots, Kubrick developed the one-point perspective term which leads the viewer's eye towards a central vanishing point, this has an almost hypnotic/thrilling effect and emphasized the genre it was used in, in this case it was mostly his horror/thriller films.

• Kubrick was among the first directors to use video assist during filming, this was considered cutting edge technology as it required him to build his own system, it was used in ‘2001 a space oddesy’ and enabled him to view the take directly after filming. Also in ‘2001 a space oddesy’ he showed innovations in special effects including slit-scan photography and front-screen projection, this earned him a special effects Academy Award.

From ‘The Paths of Glory’

Key themes in his films:• Kubrick chooses to portray themes and

stories in the form of an individual’s struggle; he wanted to leave the films meaning open to interpretations.

• He frequently surprised his audiences by changing the types and genres he filmed, this made him original as a filmmaker, examples include “The Killing”, a film noir based upon a heist, “Spartacus”, the epic historical drama about a rebellious roman slave, “LOLITA” a black comedy about a middle aged professor infatuated with a 12 year old girl and “2001 a space oddesy”, a sci-fi depicting human evolution being affected by mysterious Mars dwelling creatures.

• He prefers to adapt unusual texts and novels and filming them with unique realism, at the time this was uncommon and often frowned upon.

Genre: dystopian thriller/ drama Director: Stanley KubrickDistributors: Columbia warner Date: 1971Budget: $2.2 millionBox office: $26,589,355Nominated for four academy awards

Key Motifs/ themes/ locations• Korova milk bar • False eyelashes• Bowler hat• Communist style council estate• Violence• Gang culture• Beethoven/classical music• Nadsat/ Slavic youth speak• Psychological conditioning

Background: • It was adapted from the original book by Anthony

Burgess published in 1962.• It was most controversial in the uk after the films

‘violence of youths’ theme was linked to a number of murders and crimes committed by teenagers in the mid 70’s after the films release, consequently it was withdrawn from release by Kubrick himself.

• The film is set in the dystopian future and deploys key themes of youth violence, juvenile delinquency, gangs and psychiatry, a controversial topic at the time. The film follows the main character Alex, who is a charismatic youth whose interests are ultra-violence and classical music, in the novel he is said to be about 15, but to avoid a large audience loss, the character in the film was portrayed as about 18/19 to seem less shocking.

• He leads a gang of delinquents who pursue the pastime of violence; they are portrayed as thugs in the film. Alex narrates a lot of the film in ‘nadsat’ , a youth slang language with Slavic/Russian origins.

Synopsis: • The films plot involves Alex committing

terrible crimes with his gang, including rape, beating up a homeless man and murdering an elderly woman; he is captured and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison psychiatrist wants test subjects for the Ludovico technique, an experimental aversion therapy for rehabilitating criminals within two weeks, Alex volunteers and is forced to watch violent images whilst being give drugs to make him feel extremely ill, the idea being that if he tries to commit a crime he will feel extreme pain. The rest of the film chronicles his attempted rehabilitation via this controversial psychological conditioning and how he us shunned by his former victims and society once he leaves.

The films message: • The film deploys a key message about society, for

example the theme of morality is really prominent as it questions the idea of goodness and should aversion therapy be used to stop Alex’s immoral behaviour. The aversion therapy makes Alex behave like a decent member of this ‘so called society’, but not by choice, therefore his new ‘goodness’ is involuntary and he has become the clockwork orange, meaning organic on the inside but mechanical on the outside. The prison chaplain witnesses this technique and claims that true ‘goodness’ should come from inside. The technique takes away his evil nature so he becomes less of a threat to society, but it makes him less human. This infers he is not rightfully good as he didn’t have a choice, and choice is vital to being a human being.

Current horror/thriller/dystopian posters:

Here I have done some preliminary research into modern films with a similar genre to ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Most of the films have a dystopian theme, they are set in an alternate future, usually after some sort of apocalypse. Examples of this modern day genre are, The Hunger Games which is set after an uprising of the people against the government and District 9 which is set after an alien spacecraft landing on earth. Another genre my chosen film has is ‘horror/ crime’, typical horror/ crime films of the modern day include, shutter island, prisoners and under the skin. A typical occurrence in these posters is the colour red or orange to infer either horror or danger. Black and grey is frequently used to contrast the red/ orange and top provide a sense of mystery.

It is hard to pinpoint a similar film with a similar genre to ‘A Clockwork Orange; as it is so unique and combines different themes and genres, as it is such a classic no director has dared to touch it.

Original sketches and plans:

Idea 1: Idea 2: Close up of face

Bowler hat showing slightly Tagline

Masthead, modern sans-serif font, the word ‘clockwork’ will be in orange (link to the title/ establish a colour theme.

Orange edited on to the pupil, or the iris coloured orange using the colour replacement tool on Photoshop and the rest of the image black and white.

Masthead, modern sans-serif font, the word ‘clockwork’ will be in orange (link to the title/ establish a colour theme. Will be more condensed to allow the fairly long image to take up most of the page.

Main image covers some of the key motifs in the film, for example the knife represents violence, the orange obviously links to the title and the puddle of milk (or blood) represents the Korova milk bar and the substance abuse the gang partakes in.

The billing list remains fairly traditional to allow the image to be the main focal point, it will be located in the bottom third.

The photo-shoot

I wanted to use a background that had a prison/ medical like feel, to the tiled in my kitchen worked well as they linked to the main characters extensive psychological conditioning period where he was kept in a medical institution. I used a male hand to hold the knife, representing the male lead character and as he is holding the knife we can infer he is violent. The knife obviously represents violence and the orange relates to the title and the message of the film. The spilt milk links to the key location of the korova milk bar where the gang spend most of their time. I have used high key lighting from the top of the image to cast a shadow under the orange, this was achieved by shooting the image under the kitchen extractor fan light.

First attempt: I decided to make the whole image black and white using the colour replacement tool and then using the ‘art history’ brush to make the orange its original colour, reinforcing the films title and to create a central focal point. I then used the burn tool to add a dark, burnt effect to the image and then I used the dodge tool to highlight the milk to create a luminous feel.

The font is sans-serif to give a modern, clean feel. As it is compressed the ‘masthead’ can fit on one line so the poster doesn't look cluttered, the font is black to contrast the image and to infer it is a dark film, the most important elements of text are in orange as it makes the title of the film instantly recognisable and provides the audience with a clear view of the release date. The orange in the title, colour of the font and orange in the image all anchor to each other to create continuity.

I tested my initial design with two images, one with a hand and one without.

Second attempt:

I changed the font to orange and white as it contrasted better on the dark background. To add tone and a more sinister element I used the burn tool to create a graduated effect on the text. Adding the creators name and a tagline filled some of the spaces on the poster and also provides more information on the film, the tagline also related to a quote from the film so audiences can recognise it.

Third attempt:

To achieve a retro ‘pin hole camera’ effect, I created a dark border using the burn, blur and brush tool . This also reinforced the ‘dark’ element of the film and makes the poster look more sinister.

I chose the image with he hand in the end as I felt the top third was missing something, the hand fills the space well and complies with the rule of thirds.

Final Poster:

Aesthetic :The white, orange and black in the colour scheme all contrast to make everything stand out. I have used the orange colour on the most important aspects such as the orange itself, release date and parts of the masthead. The unusual and highly symbolic draws the viewers attention as it creates interest, Also the colour orange is unconventional for a film poster, therefore it will stand out from other posters. Focused: The orange in the font anchors to the title and the orange, knife and milk show key motifs of the film. The ‘pinhole’ effect creates a sense of mystery and darkness, it also pulls and focuses the viewers attention on the orange in the middle. This means the audience want to see the film to see what will happenOrdered:The image is stretched across the background to leave no gaps and the text is sans-serif to give a modern and formal feel, creating the idea that the film is set in the future, The text is at the top and bottom to emphasise the image as it reinforces the viewers eye line. The key elements of the images also follow he rule of thirds to keep the poster ordered. The key parts of the poster are in orange to give a hierarchy of information.