Postcard Research

This project consists of several elements.  Apart from making a short film, our team is also responsible for making a social media account to advertise the film, as well as a promotional postcard similar to those passed out at film festivals.  As the resident art kid, we've decided that I'll take on the task of making the postcard, as Clara will work on the social media page (she has experience running CBTV's own Instagram), and Virginia will be writing the bulk of the script.  Of course, it goes without saying that this is a collaborative effort, and we're all just playing to our strengths here.

The postcard seems trivial at first glance, but it really is an important aspect of marketing.  Although the majority of our audience will learn about our film through the social media page (after all, this is a student-made production whose TA are fellow students), the postcard serves a more specific purpose.  Postcards are traditionally handed out at film festivals where the production is being shown, and this creates a sense of intrigue and curiosity for viewers.  Thus, the postcard really needs to stand out to audiences.

Through my research, I discovered that there are several components that all promotional postcards have in common.  Of course, they need to include the movie name and the director's name, but they also mention the film's nominations and awards, screening times, social media accounts, and the creator's contact information.  And, of course, the primary key art that will help "sell" the film.

As it's still the very early days of production, I can't say much about what the movie's title will be, nor about other key elements.  Still, I have a semblance of an idea of what I want the key art to be.  While looking at examples online, I noticed that most of them follow a horizontal layout, and use images as their key art (most of which appear to be screen grabs from the film itself).

My hope is to create something with an illustrated image that will stick out from the others compositionally. While many postcards I saw online have beautiful images, they are overcrowded with text.  For ours, I want to accomplish an effective layout that moves the viewer's eyes seamlessly through the whole postcard, while also building intrigue and silently telling a story.

I'm a fan of the use of chiaroscuro in the "Us. Them. Me." postcard, since I wanted to do something similar using dramatic lighting.  Our protagonist, Diego, is a chronically online incel who spends the duration of the film on his computer.  To reflect this, I wanted to illustrate the light from the computer screen reflecting off his face as the main source of lighting.  And, since our film is a dark comedy, his glasses would be reflecting a picture of a monkey.

It could be difficult to accomplish this illustration due to the composition and lighting, but I'm confident in my abilities as long as I have a reference picture.  Regardless, I'm in the process of drafting a backup plan, as there are several things that could fall through with this idea.