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.

(click on the image, then click again to enlarge)

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.

(click on the image to view, then click again to enlarge it)

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.

(click on the image to enlarge, then click again to zoom in)

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.