The Documentary Movie Poster.

As the production is a historically based case including a reconstruction. I thought that an illustration may suit the role of the main image in the poster better than a photo. My brother is an illustrator, and although we have worked together creatively many times, we have never worked together in this capacity before.

After speaking to him, Darren was right up for the job. We discussed the brief at length and I forwarded information regarding Mary and my thoughts and ideas regarding elements of the image construction, to help fire up his imagination regarding the project. included were images of Mary, Victorian Poster designs and fonts, Gallows constructions and Arsenic. I thought that green (the pigment that Arsenic provided for the Victorians) should be prominent within the image.

It would also be good if the duality of the case within the documentary could be represented in the poster...innocent, or guilty?

 

The image will need to be multi-functional and fit a number of canvas formats other than that of a poster. It will also be used in the production header/titles sequence, DVD cover image and promotionally within the Press pack etc. Darren forwarded sketches during the development of his ideas that we discussed by mail. When he came to visit at Easter with his family we formally decided upon a scheme incorporating a number of element’s from his sketches. 

The production title had a couple of incarnations following its introductory working title. I really liked the reference to 'Arsenic and Old Lace' Staring Cary Grant and the word play in the title 'Arsenic in Old Lace and Cotton' as i wished to discuss the American serial murder case of Amt Archer-Gilligan in the documentary which has some striking similarities to that of Marys which the stage play was based on. 

 This title however was just too long to be catchy and it was shortened to 'Arsenic in Old Lace' for the production.

I think the final art work is a strong image. The last stage to format the image into the finished poster in Photoshop, was performed with the help of my brother Jamie who is a graphics whizz.

I am really pleased with the finished poster design. 

It is striking visually as an original art work and fulfills the requests that I made within the brief.

The finished poster design.

I have included a British Board of Film Classification age rating in the poster design.  Following research both the infomercial and the documentary may well require a BBFC rating for distribution.
The symbol is included into the poster design so that certification is not an afterthought to it. Should it not be required removal will not affect the layout of the poster. 

Video Distribution
The BBFC assigns age ratings to video works that are released on physical media (i.e. DVD/Blu-ray) under the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) which came into effect due to the unregulated video nasties (list) of the early eighties and popularity of the increasingly affordable home VCR. This exposed children most concerningly to subject matter that they previously would not have been . 

The BBFC assigns age ratings to all video works supplied in the United Kingdom unless they fall into one of the two exempt areas:

Such as works that when, ‘taken as a whole, are designed to inform, educate or instruct;’
or works when, ‘taken as a whole, are concerned with sport, religion or music;’

However conditions do apply that are dependent upon the subject matter content within the production. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/industry-services/video/exemption

Theatrical Release
All features, shorts and trailers which are to be shown theatrically must be submitted to the BBFC .

unless; ’ permission has been granted by the local authority in the area that the production is being shown’.

Online Distribution
The infomercial (at least) will probably aim for exclusive online distribution. The BBFC Watch & Rate service can be used for works exclusive to digital platforms or for online distribution prior to a DVD/Blu-ray release. If it has already received a rating for DVD, Blu-ray or Video Cassette it does not require re-rating and its video rating will apply. 

If the production has been rated only for the cinema, it will need a BBFC digital rating in order to be sold on many digital video services.

BBFC Rating Rates.

BBFC	Student Theatrical	Theatrical	Online Distribution	Physical Media
10mins	Flat rate up to	£206.88	£59.40	£164.16
15mins	Flat rate up to	£249.42	£75.90	£200.64
20mins	£50.75 +VAT	£291.96	£92.40	£237.12
40mins	£101.50 +VAT	£462.12	£158.40	£383.04

Student films can be submitted for a theatrical release rating up to two academic years following the end of the  course (conditions apply). The maximum film length of a Student Short is 40mins, this just falls short of the standard one hour slot for broadcast (with advertising). http://www.bbfc.co.uk/industry-services/theatrical-ratings/student-films