The process of developing my magazine cover

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This is the process involved in completing my final magazine cover.

poster layout

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update :)

Videoed interviews for my film trailer.

This video is 5 different people answering questions from my questionnaire about my film trailer. The answers are all really good, and i will go back to them when making my trailer.

That was the main reason for making a questionnaire, but also for me to practice editing. You can see that i have faded each answer and instead of my voice asking them, i have put writing on screen. I learnt several new skills doing this. The shots where Sam answers, the audio isn't the best, for some reason the original audio was quieter, so i increased it, but this also increased the 'tinny' background you can hear. I will make sure when filming my trailer that when shooting, i check the audio levels to begin with.

Hopefully, when you see my final trailer, the editing will be a lot better than here.

film posters

I have looked in depth at film posters, i looked on a website that told me what the top psychological thriller were - it was http://listverse.com/2008/06/23/top-15-psychological-thrillers/

This is the poster from the film Hand That Rocks The Cradle, and i like this poster because there is a happy scene of the family and 'ripped' down the middle is the killer. She is a completly different colour and this is really sinister and works well. I could incorporate this into my poster by using an image of the girl looking perfectly happy, and have the stalker with this effect on the other side of the poster.

I do however want the image of the man slightly concealed, so i want to make sure he has a lot of shadow.

This is a poster for the film Scream. I really like this poster because it is all focused on one character in the film, we don't necessarily know who because we can only see a extreme close up. I think the black and white works well because it makes it look creepier - to reflect the genre of the film.

The reason i like the close up is because it shows the importance of using a image to explain to the reader what the film will be about. The expression also adds to this. This relates to my film poster because the facial expression is also important on mine.

I like the simplicity of the poster and that they have focused on the image, its basic but really effective.

This film poster is from the film American Psycho, this film poster focuses on the killer instead of any victims. I know the reason for this is because the killer is obviously the main character, but i would like to highlight that i could potentially focus on my antagonist, instead of all of the focus on the victim.

This picture is also good in my research because he has shadow on his face to make him look sinister. I also have had people think it would be a good idea to use a weapon on the poster.

This has widened my ideas for what my film poster will include.

more actual pictures.

First photo_________________________ Second photo

Third photo

The first photo is for my film poster, on the parallel wall will be the male actor. I like her facial expression here and it's a good angle because you can see enough of her without her being too far away. The second and third photos are for my film magazine cover. The girl will be on her own and she is gripping on to a brick wall 'looking' for her stalker, looking scared or worried. The brick wall will be blacked out but so you can still see the shape of the wall. On the black bit will be writing down the side. The second photo differs from the third because in the third i placed her hand near her face, to see what it would look like. I still don't know which i prefer.

pictures on location.

I have also taken some pictures on location of shots in my trailer, here they are..



This is the location where the stalker will be sitting on that bench and hiding in the dark in the bushes. This is also where he'll rustle the bushes.
In the dark this place gets a bit creepy so i thought it would be perfect.








For my trailer i want a pub or restaurant in it, i want the restaurant to be fairly modern looking, and i want there to be enough space across from it so that my actors aren't that clear. This will be my establishing shot. This is in fact a café and isn't open in the evening which is when i would like to shoot it, so i would have to use another one. It is just to show my ideal pub.

This again is a modern pub and fits into my specification. It is open around the time i would be filming, so not only will it be darker but also most of the cars will have disappeared.

My only trouble is that you can't get far enough away from it, this is as far as i can go and you would probably still be able to see the actors faces...however it might be different when it's dark. It's one to consider.

I want to look for pubs/restaurants like this one. If you guys have any you know of, either in villages aurrounding hunstanton or in kings lynn, please comment :)

update on my decisions.

I have decided that for my film magazine cover i shall have the main actress on the front. She will be standing looking forward past the camera with a scared look on her face. She will be alone, the male character will not be on the front of the magazine cover.
Included on the front will be in big writing 'Ever wonder what it's like to be stalked? Eliss Andrews tells all!' - there will be an interview inside with the actress on filming, getting into character and her co-stars.
Other puffs will be 'Interview with top director..(name)' , ' Top 10 releases this year' , 'Free posters' , 'Reviews of latest films' , 'Actual drafts of script from new film in the making'.
There will also be a barcode, price, issue date and a website for the magazine cover.

For my film poster, there will be both the characters on the front. The actress will be in a slightly different pose and an even more scared look on her face. She will be standing next to a brick wall, holding on to the edge and looking out past the camera. Behind her, in the shadows (so he is disguised) will be the stalker, the male character, he will be looking down towards the floor so you cannot see his face.
The poster will have the tagline - "Don't you hate it when she never calls?" (referring to the fact that in my film there is a man who has been on endless dates and none of them ever call, he basically has a mental problem of some sort and goes out of proportion and kills each one that does that. The film focuses on one woman.)
It will also have the release date, the production company, the website, credits, and some reviews.

writing..

For my magazine cover i need to decide what font i shall use for my title. I want to have something that reflects the genre of my film - thriller.

I think it needs to be bold but also something a little different and out of convention...this will link to the fact that my film is a bit out of the ordinary (because it's a psychological thriller, not many people can relate to the events happening in the film).

I have found some that i like...

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The first font i like because it has a creepy look about it, i think this would reflect the 'creepy-ness' of my film.

The second font looks like the style of writing you'd have on an old parchment, that you see in old horror films, this could work well.

I picked the third font because it occurred to me that i wanted a font that was bold so it stood out, and this one had elements of both boldness, and creepy looking.

pictures are important..

I like this poster because it matches the theme of the film, throughout the film Hannibal is hiding, and by having him half shaded, if reflects this. I want to use this kind of idea for my film poster. My idea is a stalker film, so to have the stalker shaded so you can't properly see them would fit perfectly..this poster is a good example of that.

This poster which is promoting the psychological thriller, Hard Candy is a really good example of a poster with the genre thriller. The main focus is of the girl in the middle, and there are 3 things to notice; she has her hood up which shows that she cannot see clearly what could potentially come up behind her. She is portrayed as little red riding hood, who is a vulnerable character and she is wearing red which symbolises horror, or blood. The fact that she is standing on a trap obviously indicates that she is trapped, which reflects the plot of the film (she is subject to a paedophile). Overall, i really like this poster.

audience i'm targeting.

My film trailer will be aimed at people who tend to watch thriller films so they know the conventions that are portrayed, i will specifically pay attention to their views about what should be included in the trailer. I will also aim the trailer at those who are above the age of 15 because people above that age will be able to understand the concept and most films that are thrillers (particularly psychological thrillers) are certificate 15 or above in most cases. The age range will be 15-45.

facial expressions.

I like this cover because of Sweeney Todd's facial expression..from the results of my questionniare, facial epxression's are important so i am going to look at some and see which ones i want to incorporate. I will also take pictures of my own.

His face in this is pure sinister, it matches the film perfectly beacuse of the character he plays.

At first i thought of using my main character on the front, but not in character, just as the actor. But due to 'popular demand' for facial expressions to be clear, i've decided the character will be on the front, like you would see them in the film trailer i am making.

film magazine cover results.

Today i finished getting all my questionnaires filled in, i focused first on the questionnaire for the film magazine cover.

I asked;

• age
  
• gender


• how often you buy film magazines


• what you'd expect to find in a film magazine


• important aspects of a thriller film magazine front cover


• price you'd pay

I asked a range of ages, my age ranges were from 15 to over 37, and i asked people that filled each of the age ranges. This helps me get a wider response when i come to producing my film magazine cover. I also evened it out so that i asked 5 boys and 5 girls to get a variated response.

When asked how often they buy film magazines, 9 of them responded with never and only one person bought them once a month. Despite the majority of people answering that they didn't buy film magazines, they still have knowledge on what goes in a film magazine. I gave a choice of interviews, pictures, countdowns to new releases, list of top 10's, talks with directors, posters, reviews and other. The top favourites that everyone picked were; interviews, reviews and list of top 10's. The least favourite's were talks with directors, posters and countdown to new releases. 8 people picked all the choices and 2 people left a few. Some people wrote on the 'other' line and they would like to see freebies/competitions, talks with actors (informal) and possiby a script (screenplay). From these responses i will use the posters on the front and make it so they are freebies that come with the magazine, so i'm incorporating people's freebie idea.

I am doing a thriller film trailer, so will be incorporating that theme on to my magazine cover, i then asked people what aspects were important. The majority of people thought the font was important...i used this font as an example...


Along with this people also picked the facial expressions of actors on the front cover, i personally think this is important because if they look scared you get an idea of what the film is going to be about, it matches the genre. Other people picked the dark background as being important. One person wrote that colour coding is an important aspect, like red=blood..

This Fangoria magazine cover uses red as its font colour to match the horror theme..

This magazine not only uses red as it's font colour but the blood coming from Megan Fox's mouth is central on the cover.

The final question i asked was the price preference, 4 people want the price at £1 - £2 and 4 people wanted the price £2 - £3 and 2 people picked £3 - £4.. from this i will price my magazine somewhere between £1 and £4, probably £3.50.

I am now going to work on asking more people questions for my film trailer..

cut outs of magazine covers.

Here are some cut outs i have found from magazines that i'd want to incorporate into my magazine cover.

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film magazine cover questionnaire.

This is a questionnaire that is more specific to asking people what they would see on the front cover of a magazine promoting a thriller film. I will after posting this go and ask 20 people and then post the results.

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film magazine cover.

I have come up with some ideas that i would like to include on the front cover of my film magazine, to promote my film (well, the trailer), that i am making.
These include:

• free posters (one of which will be my actual film poster)
• interview with top director
• reviews of latest films
• top 10 films of all time (judged by readers)
• pictures of film festivals
• sneak preview of new film in the making
• lead actress ditches the dirt on new film (my film)

questionnaire for film trailer.

This questionnaire asks about what i should include in my trailer. I will ask 20 people and take their comments in to consideration when planning and constructing my trailer.

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I am going to ask people this questionnaire a little later on in my reasearch and planning, first i am going to plan and produce both my magazine cover, and my poster.

This is Total Film promoting Sherlock Holmes on the front cover. The background seems to be of an actual place, but it looks as though it is very foggy as you cannot see most of it, it just looks like a shady blue colour. The writing talking about the film is on the picture and is right in the centre of the cover. The colour of all the writing is either blue, white or black so they aren't very strong, bold colours. The main feature of this cover is the picture, that is what will get the attention of the readers.

This magazine cover is promoting the film X-Men. The image is bang in the centre of the cover, and it almost looks as if he is coming out of the page because the writing is almost behind the image. The magazine is obviously so well known that the picture is able to cover up part of the title.
The background colouring is really bold and grabs your attention, the colour could be considered quite creepy looking, so you know a bit about the film genre from this. The words 'X-Men' and 'Wolverine' are either in big font, or are positioned at the top of the magazine so you read it first. This is going to help promote the film.

This film trailer is for Hannibal, a man who eats his victims. In this film he is in hiding, and throughout the trailer you only see him for a few seconds each time, a lot of the time he is out of focus or hiding behind something. His true self is left a mystery, making the audience want to watch the film to properly see him. It starts with the female character (Clarisse) talking, and she basically explains that he is wanted by the FBI and has killed 14 people that they know of. Writing appears during this, it first says "his genius undeniable", then.."his evil unspeakable" then as Clarisse answers the phone to Hannibal, writing says "his name..Hannibal" right at the point where we hear his voice. There are then snippets of shots from the film and you see the gradual build up to trying to find him. More writing appears, this time in smaller font saying "how long can a man stay silent" we then see sped up images of action as the music intensifies, then writing says "before he returns". Then there is more action and the writing continues to say "to the thing he does best". With a final quick shot of Hannibal you see in writing the award winning Anthony Hopkins and award nominee Julianne Moore, it then says "in a Ridely Scott film" and finally you see the title again Hannibal. This means the name will stick in your head to make sure you go and watch it. Then right at the end is the date of release so you now know when to go watch it.

Trailers produced from potential competitors I would face

This film trailer is for the film One Hour Photo. The film is about a man who works in a supermarket and is in charge of taking the pictures. He becomes fascinates with this one family who he eventually stalks. At the beginning the voice over is provided by dialogue from the movie and while the mother and the son are speaking you see shots of the character 'Sy's' life. You also see the production company (fox searchlight). Sy then introduces what he does for a living, another snippet of dialogue from the film, the screen goes black and then writing appears saying "he knows your name", this will give you a sense of the kind of person Sy is, so it will keep the audience interested. Another shot from the film and more writing saying "he knows your life", then another shot and more writing saying "he knows where you live", this will have hooked the audience. Some reviews then appear with more shots from the film, it then starts to speed up as the action of the film begins, the music also begins to sound orchestral to add to the intensity. A voice-over then introduces Robin Williams as acedemy award winning, and then the last line names the title of the film.

Over summer I started looking at films I have watched in the past that I liked. One was Hard Candy, this film is about a paedophile that takes pictures of young women then meets up with them and presumably rapes them. He meets up with the character played by Ellen Page and things hit off. Throughout this trailer there is no voice over, only quotes from the film. The pace is slow at the beginning so you get the story a little bit. It then speeds up as the film starts to get more intense, there are then snapshots of images of the film so you only see little bits of the action that takes place. When these are being shown you sound of a camera shutter can be heard, this reflects the theme of the movie. It then slows down so you hear Ellen Page say "play time is over, now its time to wake up". It leaves you gripped.

Conventions of a film trailer.

There are many film trailers out there now in the industry, and they all follow a similar pattern, these are conventions. Some of course challenge these conventions, but here are what to include:

• title
• release date
• could include actors involved
• some snippets of dialogue or action
• production company
• director could be shown

The objective of a film trailer is to get the audience wanting to watch the film, in order to do this it needs to catch your attention. This could be achieved in many ways, you could pay attention to the actors and include clippets of dialogue to leave you wanting to hear more. If it's a comedy the last line could be one particularly funny one so that it makes you want to watch it. If it's a horror film the trailer could leave you wanting to know who the killer or villian is. It could introduce the film by saying something like "from the director that brought you..such and such". These are all ways that can make you watch a certain film, basically a trailer has to keep you gripped throughout and keep you wanting to see more.

This film poster challenged conventions because it gave less information, this film was 2012.


This film poster is a good example of one that challenges the conventions. There are no actors names, what's important is the huge picture that covers the background, with its bold colours and intensity, it is very eye catching. What it also has is a tagline, this is important, it says "We were warned" - this will get the audience thinking what they were warned about. The colour of the title is sort of metallic, which could reflect the futuristic nature of the film. One definate thing this poster does is leave a lot for the imagination, this is the main feature which attracts audience attention.

Here is another film poster i have looked at called High School Musical 3.

This film poster still follows conventions, but it mixes the positions of them around, the picture and the title are on the slant to give it that edgy look, this could reflect the jumpy, up tempo style of the film. The picture is the main part of the poster, and the colours are all very bright. There are also bright colours in the title, so you pay attention to both the picture and the title. The picture is important because they are all jumping so you know it's a happy up beat film.

Here i have pointed out what's in this film poster, which is horror movie; Hannibal.

This film again has the same coventions as below (title, picture, production company, information) but it also what i believe is the directors name above the title. This poster reflects the dark sinister role of Hannibal Lector in the film, ironically in the film Hannibal is hiding from inspectors, and the poster indicates a black shadow on his face as if he is hiding. The close up of the face makes it cover the complete background, so you can see the genre being horror. Again, the title isn't as important as such because it's at the bottom, they pay attention to the picture. The writing of the title is in Times New Roman so it's a serious font to reflect the seriousness of the film.

Analysing film posters (continuing upwards)

Here I have pointed out what's in this film poster for the film Ugly Truth.
This film poster follows conventions because it has the title, a picture, information of everyone involved in the film, release date, website, actors names. This particular film poster pays attention to the picture of the very well known actors who star in the film. The majority of rom-com films tend to have very well known actors in them, to sell their film, this poster follows the convention of the film by making the picture the only thing in colour, and making it the largest thing on the page, it is what the audience will look at first.

conventions of a film poster.

There are many conventions to a film poster. Some follow these strictly, or some challenge them by not including some, or using them in different ways. You could include:

• title
• picture
• slogan
• actors that attract attention
• awards
• release date
• directors
• information (normally in small print)
• production company
• website
• reviews

It is important to make film posters grab attention, so you could emphasise well known actors, use bold colours, large font for the title or a catchy, pursuasive slogan.

genres of films.

Film genres and their examples:

There a bit small to see, but from top left to right they read; Open Bounds - Western, War of the Worlds - Sci-Fi, Mean Girls - Chick Flick, Matrix - Thriller, 2012 - Apocalyptic, Saving Private Ryan - War, High School Musical - Musical, Scary Movie - Parody, Hannibal - Horror, Toy Story 3 - Family, Meet the Fockers - Comedy, Tigger Movie - Children's, The Ugly Truth - Rom-Com.




After looking at these types of film genres, I have decided to go with the genre 'pyschological thriller'. I will try and use stinger sounds, classical music, dark images and atmosphere to create the conventional thriller trailer.

Plot
The basic plot of my 'film' will be a stalker theme, the stalker will follow girls and kill them, based on the reason that he has been on dates with them and they never call (they don't even remember him). His insignificance to society drives him mad and makes him act the way he does.

responding to the brief

Produce a viral marketing campaign for a new film, aiming to attract an audience primarily through social networking sites and youtube. The trailer and website will be the primary marketing tools to be disseminated via the internet. The poster and magazine cover will be the secondary phrase, adopting mainstream 'above and below the line' marketing techniques after the viral marketing campaign has secured media interest.

I will follow this criteria to produce a film trailer for my A2 Media Coursework, this will be my primary marketing tool as i will also use a film magazine cover and poster when campaigning my new film. I will post my progress on this Blog, and i will put links to my Face Book so people can comment on my posts.