Final Font

The final font I've chosen is not any of the examples shown below, as I've found a new font in a different font library. The new font is in a similar style to those shown before in the sense that it is not very modern, and has a slight feel of entertainment about it. It is a similar font to those found on old entertainment posters for performers such as magicians.

Linking the Items

With the different products all needing to be interlinked, i've decided to take a common theme from all of them and use it to create a common theme within the print work.

I've created a logo for the film title, which contains bold colours and an outline, meaning it can be placed within any piece and not look out of place.

This logo also continues with the common 'Cards' theme which I've chosen to use, and therefore all 4 card suits appear within the logo itself, with clubs acting as marks at each end, a spade and heart make up the background, and the diamond is incorporated within the second 'I' of illusion.

Poster Font Feedback

Upon showing people my font choices with an explanation as to why I've chosen them, i got mixed thoughts on which one should be used. The fonts I've chosen were used because they all easily readable, will stand out on a poster, and look like they would be used to advertise something important or serious. The two lower versions of the poster were not well received, even though the font chosen was meant to look like it was promoting an important event (the release of the film). The top two versions were much more preferred because they were much easier to read and were far more interesting. The handwriting font was very popular, due to its simplicity and the personal nature of it, with one person saying 'you can imagine that the character is asking you a personal question.'

I shall now search for a better font, which is more the style I am looking for, which looks like a 1960's style font.

Poster Font

I've mocked up numerous versions of my poster, each with a different style of font, as it is only after i can see them all together and compare them that i can choose the appropriate font to use on my final poster. The original ideas for my poster font are shown below.

Poster Image

I've found an image on the stock image website which would be useful when it comes to creating my film poster. The image contains a stack of cards, with a number of corners showing that could be used to spell out the letters of the movie poster. There are a number of the corners towards the back of the image which are out of focus, which allows the card corners towards the front of the image to be focused on. The original and edited images are as shown below.

Poster Ideas

For my poster I've decided to use the theme of cards to imply the magical theme of the film, and it also interlinks with the film by linking to the cards within the teaser trailer. But because the film is about magic, illusions and misdirection, I will try to integrate the title of the film into the cards in some way, which isn't immediately noticeable. My first idea is to use a fan of cards to spell out the word in the corners of the cards where the numbers would usually be seen.

Final Magazine cover

This is the final version of the magazine cover to accompany my film. I've made it to fit with the common conventions of most magazine covers and adhering to the Z pattern rule and the rule of thirds.

Preliminary Magazine Cover Ideas

The above images are the ones I considered for use in my magazine cover, due to their relevance to the 'Magic' genre within my film. The decision is wether to use the curtains as a background or the burnt out cards, under my own image. I think it would be best to use the image containing the cards, due to the ability to manipulate it, the more subtle background colour and the fact that I used cards in my poster campaign.

Costume - Female

In contrast to the plain black and white nature of the performer, his reluctant assistant is dressed in much more colour and appears to be a far more vibrant person. This is typical in all the films that i've seen which include an assistant, and it appears that they often wear very expensive looking dresses, which would also fit in with high society the magicians appear to represent. On the top is an image of Scarlett Johansson from 'The Prestige', and below is my own actress, dressed in what i believe to be a similar standard of costume.

Costume - Male

As there are only two characters within the piece, the costumes wont have to be expansive and I've decided they should conform to certain stereotypes. It is also important to realise that this is a scenario trailer and not a montage of clips, where there are a range of costumes and looks to convey a change over time. This means that there in only one costume required for each character.

In terms of the magician, my research has come up with a common theme throughout everything i've seen.

The above images are all from film set in the early 20th century, but the common theme throughout them all is the smartness and class portrayed by the male leads. All three images show the characters in dark suits as worn by people who at the time would be seen as high class society. Although this is set in a much earlier time than my own trailer, the theme of performers dressing smartly has continued throughout time. This is shown in the stage performances of Derren Brown in his productions such as 'Enigma' and 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. He often comes out on stage in a suit complete with waistcoat, and has been known to change into a dinner jacket suit for certain sections of his shows as seen below.

Special Effects

A range of effects were used in the completion of the tricks performed in the piece, most commonly used were the removal of frames to make it look like the item had completely disappeared from my hands. This involved staying incredibly still as an item (either the coin or the pen) dropped to the floor, before the hand action resumed. Cutting out the frames where the item was visibly dropping meant that it appears like the hands had not moved and the item had just vanished. This was used on two occasions within the teaser trailer as the performer takes you through tricks progression as it moves from the small coin to the significantly larger pen.

The trick where the hand slammed down onto the nail was significantly harder to achieve due to certain complexities with the position of the light and shadows cast by the nail. With the camera placed in a fixed position, the nail was placed on the table, removed, and then the hand came down onto the point that the nail previously occupied. Due to the body staying very still, the middle sequence of the nail being removed could be taken out, and a still image of the nail on the table could be created. This still image of the nail was then put on a different layer within the project, and the nail was made into a matte which was placed over the moving clip. The difficulty came when the shadow appeared on the jacket of the performer and the table, so in all there were three different mattes. Then, frame by frame, they were edited to match the movement within the scene, and appear as realistic as possible. As the hand came down to the table, the matte was removed, making it appear as if the hand had passed all the way through the table and made the nail disappear.