Inspiration for my documentary poster

Displayed above is the TV constructed poster for the popular American drama show 'The Vampire Diaries' . The main centrefold piece focused upon on this layout is the heavily enlargened face of one of the major characters, Damon, which occupies a large majority of the poster. It can be easily recognised that he is a critical foundation to the programme, hence why the editors have relyed upon him to attract audience attention, they are emphasising his importance to the storyline as he himself is a major element, therefore a hugely major component to the running of the storyline in the show, his appearance will make it easy for regular viewers to identify with whilst also creating a source of interest for new audiences as they may be intrigued to find out more about who this mysterious character is and what relevance he has to the plot. Damon is also an attractive male which would attract the interest of female viewers as they may want to view the show for the 'sex appeal'. This poster minuses any use of a background environment instead incorporating a jet black backdrop instead - this further focuses the attention on Damon as the editors desire all focus to be trained on him so lacking a scene behind him ensures the audience will not be distracted by anything else. I feel this element in particular relates directly to my own poster publication as I am intending on using an enlarged image of one of the anorexic girls of the documentary as the main focus point in gaining the audience's attention, therefore my idea is reinforced significantly by identifying with this specific television advertisement. The title for the programme 'The Vampire Diaries' is included in large font besides Damon to indicate the name of the show but also referencing that the character beside it will be witnessed within the content of the drama itself, reassuring the audience that they will be making an appearance. The font of the text is white illuminating it against the black of the background, this enables it to be extremely noticable to the target audience and not easily overlooked - it is essentially one of the major components their eyeline will be drawn to on first glance of this poster so they will be immeditelly be informed of the name of the programme.  This conventional element of this production reinforces the assumption it would be in my own best interests to make my documentary title as visually intriguing and appealing to my target audience as possible - hence I will obtain greater generated interest and the potential rise in viewing numbers. It seems to be a conventional theme of red and white linking all the text together, this literates the message that all the words are related to the same topic conveying coninuity throughout the product giving it a professional edge. Red bloodstains are included under 'The Vampire Diaries' masthead, suggesting there is a condition of horror in this drama and that it is guaranteed to be focused upon the supernatural vampire side of existence. When constructing my own poster for my documentary I feel it is essential I must choose an appropriate colour for the text style, it would be unecessary for the background palette and lettering to clash in colours, so using one as a vantage point (e.g the background in white) to illuminate the title of the show (e.g which is encased in black) would aid me heavily as it is effective in this 'Vampire Diaries' advert. Also included is the name of the television broadcasting network allowing the viewers to be informed of which channel station they must tune into to see the show and the date the premiere episode is about to be screened to alert the audience when it is due to be transmitted therfore the likelhood of them missing out on the episode is slim. Moreover I think it would be beneficial to me to include the distributor of my documentary (The multi award winning BBC station) as this will provide extra information to my viewers about which channel they can engage with the programme on, reducing the chances of them forgetting to view it as they could not remember the network it was on, this significant amount of reinforcement of the BBC logo will prevent this from happening

After deconstructing this particular poster I believe the use of a black backdrop would be most effective in emphasisng the importance of one particular section on the layout - this would be useful to highlight one individual over the rest of the page, moreover I want people to recognise the severities of eating disorders so if i included someone in remission for one against nothing in their immediate surroundings then this will convey the seriousness of the illness more severely to the viewer, that way it cannot be overlooked easily. The red in this piece is excellent in re- affirming the programme is detailing the lives of vampires connotating this message well, therfore the idea of including red in the title on my own poster will help distirbute my idea that anorexia is a life threatening illness that destroys and removes lives - red suggests the danger of the consequences of the illness.

I deconstructed the poster for the most reknowned wild life documentary of this century 'Planet Earth' as it fitted the criteria for my brief - it may not have been of the medical/health genre I am focusing upon yet fitted the style of filming as a 'professional' documentary. The critical aspect that is overall the most noticable foundation is the overwhelming brightness of the sun as it appear in view whilst it is orbiting the earth, the contrast of the illuminous orange and yellow tones works extremely well with the darkness used to represent space - it isntantly draws the eyeline towards the colours as it is virtually unmissible, understandbly it is the first element the audience will be drawn to on intial observation of the product. Through this technique it ensure the secondary convention that will be noticed by the viewer is the title of the documentary itself (i.e Th 'Planet Earth' masthead), the use of bright colours aids in attracting the intentional audience to the more vital components of the poster (such as the title) which will prevent them from being easily overlooked, as essentially these are the elements the creator is desiring their viewers to focus upon the most as a way of remembering the name of the documentary so they are not not miss viewing it.. The creator of the poster has included the broadcasting network (Discovery Channel) pretty much centrefold upon the document, this is essentially a marketing strategy which is used to inform the audience which station the programme can be found within, therefore there is a reduced chance of them missing it if they have been informed as to where to watch it. This critical aspect is vital in brining numbers of viewing audiences up for the profit of the network company and also the distributors of the film themselves. The use of the sun rising over the horizon brings the attention to a number of wildlife that are scattered on the ground of the Earth itself, essentially it is acting as a primary base to draw the audience into more interesting sections of the poster. By noticing the animals (wildebeast and birds) they can assume this documentary will revolve around the nature on Earth (if they had no already deciphered that from the title), however this brings undued emphasis upon the types of organisms that will be focused on within the content. Wildebeast are not an average encountered animal in our every day lives so this gives a preview to the viewers that they will be observing fascinating and interesting creatures they may normally get the opportunity to witness, it emits a nostalgic effect, almost dreamlike, in the sense that yes it is probable that most members of the audience will never have the privledge of seeing these beasts up close in the wild yet it personifies a imaginary world where they can emerse with these creatures as if they were actually there in the wild with them, brining an almost child like fantasy to light. Through the images of the wildlife it can be presumed the target audience will orientate around individuals who are highly interested in nature, possibly children or others who work in this field (for example biologists, ecologists etc). The main background is almost entirely black, with exception of the sun which illuminates the centre image of the Earth to us, not only does this dark shade help highlight the more important features of this poster (the title, animals) but it represents the universe and how Earth is situated in space. In a sense it creates the illusion as if the audience is looking down at the planet from a distance, maybe a satellite or space station and allows them the Earth to appear more glorious and spectacular to what we would normally expect. This illustrates the beauty of our planet and can be used to entice the viewers, the use of these sharp bright colours brings about the concept this programme will be visually appealing to delve into.

I complied with the running theme of deconstructing TV programmes in my final deconstruction which was of an advertisement for 'The Walking Dead'. The most primary noticeable aspect of this production is how simple it has been constructed, there is no major detail displayed with the editor relying solely on using the main character (Rick) to generate the widest amount of audience interest. Noticeably this is due to him being the central character of the show so even if an individual has not viewed the  programme personally it is most likely they will be able to connect with this poster as ultimately he is employed as the major source of marketing strategy for the distributors so they may have seen him in various forms of other media. The main dominancy factor in this is of Rick himself who occupies nearly all of the space on the poster, this is to emphasise his importance within the plot and how central he is to the storyline, not only that but he is in direct eye-line with the audience. I feel as if this is a reference to the show as if we were looking at him through the eyes of an enemy (a zombie or another human being) and he is about to end their life as they are seen as a threat. Moreover it could indicate that there will be a new threat in the programme when it returns to television in the fall so its preparing the audience for more action and excitement, which can be generated further by the notion he is holding a gun implying his life may be at risk. The further use of a single character to advertise the show (which can be seen above in my 'Vampire Diaries' deconstruction) greatly convinces me that it would be extremely beneficial to me if I incorporate just one of the anorexic girls into the main image of the poster, this will prevent the audiences attention being diverted to some other aspect of the production but will greatly emphasise the relevance of her to my documentary, signifying a strong link between the girls relevance to the content of the programme itself. The title of the show 'The Walking Dead' is in the largest sizing of font as it is the name and therefore emphasises what is being advertised here, the size imprints on the viewers mind so they will remember it as it is not easily forgotten about or discarded as significantly smaller words might. Noticeably it is encased further in a bold font allowing it to dramatisise its importance on the page so its significance stands out amongst the other wording besides it. I am further convinced by this concept to display the title for my documentary in exceedingly large eye- catching font, this will greatly allow me to capture the immediate interest of my target audience and will reduce the factor of them simply dismissing my product as 'simple' or 'boring'. The date and time of when the programme will be broadcasted is included as a further element to ensure the audience does not miss viewing it and aids in reminding them the specific day to tune in, this is a clever strategy in allowing the maximum number of audience members to view the programme, who will be able to publisize it further by hearsay to other individuals after they have watched it. The use of colour is very specific in this product with the artist relying on dismal dark tones such as black,brown and green to create a sombre yet serious effect in the finished production. This reflects the target audience - it can be clearly identified from the actual image in regards to the weapon the character is holding that this is a show that requires a mature mindset, therefore an adult audience as there will be a possibility of violence and mature themes, which can be identified through the use of the colour scheme. It could also reference to danger as the name of the show suggests 'The Walking Dead' where zombies will be witnessed on many occasions, it contrasts with the brightness on the poster creating a false sense of perception that matters in this show can be addressed and sorted as in reality there is no hope, with the dark colours identifying the death and destruction faced in a apocolyptic world. I get a sense of juxtaposition here with the use of dark and light colours to emphasise the constant struggle of good and evil forces in the plot of the show (the humans and zombies respectively) This colour palette relates well to the mature mindset I am attempting to create in both my documentary poster as I would like the audience to identify through the use of black and white tones that the chosen topic being discussed is one that is not required for the faint hearted and that a serious issue will be dealt with. The use of different font styles is extremely beneficial for this poster in particular, the title of the show 'The Walking Dead'