Magazine Cover Research Followed by our Magazine Cover

Magazine Research

Empire is a well known movie magazine and as it is so popular we thought we would look at there cover to see what makes it so appealing. To begin with they have filled the page with a variety of topics, the big bold statements they use to do this draws the audience in, and hopefully they find the magority of the topics worth reading, they have also used a variety of topics on the front page to appeal to as big an audience as possible.

                                            

It uses one large image of the green light actor from the film Harry Potter films, as a block buster mega movie, they automaticallly know that it has a very large audience they can target. They also know as the Harry Potter films have developed, the age catergory that are watching the films has varied also, from children catching up on the first films, to fifteen-adults watching the newest ones out. This also creates a big targer audience for the magazine to targer.

Empire has also used a few exclamatives such as the word MASSIVE and BLOODY HELL to attract the audience and create a imagery and get the audience excited, the audience will know be throughly intrigued and will want to dive into the magazine to see what these topics are about.

As we think they have used these key concepts to create a top selling magazine, we will also be basing out magazine cover on these concepts, using a large intriguing main image to attract the audience, which will have short exciting snip-its of information around it. Having a big bold title, to grab the audience attention as they browse over the mazines I think this is going to be the best recipe for our magazine cover.

Our Magazine

First Attempt

This is our first attempt of a magazine cover, as you can see it looks very unrealistic. The attention has been taken away from the main image which is a problem, the attention has been taken away because of the big dark boxes, which are very bold and look out of place for a film magazine cover.

This is our film magazine, its is called "TOTALLY HOLLYWOOD", we called it this as it all about film and the industry. We used a big bold font, which stand out as quite fancy, the colouring is slightly different to grab the audiences attention as the look for a film magazine.

We used the red and black faded colour all over the magazine to keep the continuity flowing, we didn't want to overload the the cover with too many different font colours so we just stuck with a few simple colours which contrasted with there surrounding. We triend to use the space as best as possible, we did this by using the bite size topics the fill some space and to grab the audience attention. We used some much smaller images aswell to attract an audience the main image might not to appeal to. This way we are reaching out to as many people as possible.

As the main image is the one we are trying to really grab the audiences attention with we stuck it bang in the middle. We also placed a large black box at the bottom of the image which stands out, with big bold writing which draws you straight in, giving a small bit of information about the image, this hopefully makes the audience finallise there decision a buy the magazine.



Final Piece

Poster Research

I looked into poster research to help produce and expand on my ideas for our trailers poster. So i looked at similar posters, which also have a horror/thriller genre and are based at the same audience and conventions.

This is the poster which advertises the film FRIDAY the 13th, I choose this on as I think that I could use some its designs and incoperate to suit my poster. I think it shows more then clearly the dark, gloomy  personer behind the narrative. I also like the way they have editing the poster so you have drawn into the centre of the light which concertates on one of the lead characters, but as its dark it doesn't give away to much about him and leaves a mystery behind for the audience to imagine what he looks like and will be intrigued to go and watch it. I also like the two main pieces of text on the poster. The quote which says "WELCOME TO CYRSTAL LAKE" has been well places at the top of the poster, it's front is not to bold and big to draw you away from the main image, and its white contrast against the black background works very well and doesn't brighten up the image. I also like the film title, the red font blends in well and also inter links the genre with the symbolism of blood and danger.

This film poster is advertising "THE EXORCIST", I also like this post as I could also use some of its designs and incoperate them to suit my poster. The biggest attraction is the way they have used the lighting so that it shows the siloutte of a mystery character, which straight away gets you involved with the film by making you think about his back ground, the poster is very dark and looks very secretive, with not alot on show it leaves it up to your imagination to furfull what you dont see which is getting you further involved with the film. The quote which says "THE MOST TERRIFYING MOVE OF ALL TIME - In a Version You've Never Seem", this grabs the audience attention as its proclaiming that its a must see horror movie, and telling the audience that they would not have seen anything like it before, this is clever as it  not giving the audience a choice, its saying that it is completely unique, so worth watching. I also like the film title, it's bold and red which usually symbolised danger and blood and you even though you know its the title, it doesn't take your attention away to much from the main image which is what i think is the posters selling point.

 

Here is our poster we created. It is based at the forest where we film the trailer. We did not have the technology to cut the villan out of our trailer, so we got a royalty free image of the net of a black figure, and used paint shop pro to clone him across.

Final Trailer with Evaluation

FATE

Please click the link to view our finished trailer.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55HqOH_Vaa0

Evaluation

Please click the link to view my evaluation.

http://www.slideshare.net/jacko_lynd/evaluation-7674392

Pre-production planning

Genres


There are many different genres we could of chose from, but we have decided to that a horror/thriller would be the best genre for us to use. Here are my thoughts on our chosen genres.


Thriller - This is one of our favorites this is because we personally think we would easily be able to connect with a mass audience around our own age when we create this trailer. We would be able to use the typical mise en scene and narrative but with our own twist and personality. We would be able to reach out to the modern audience which watch thrillers and with what is available to us we think we have the right base to create a great thriller trailer.


Horror - The horror genre is also a ideal genre for us to use in our trailer. This is because over the last year we have been taught many different camera angles and the use of computer editing. We would be able to use our own personal skills to be able to create great camera angles whilst filming and then use our editing skills to mix up the filming to create intense tension and atmosphere so the mass audience will be caught up in our trailer hopefully creating a big audience group.


Why we chose not to use they other genres.


Comedy - We chose not use this genre because we thought it would be increasingly difficult for amateur film producers, to write and create a comedy script. We would not be able to use the use of our editing skills to create tension and it will limit our creativity and we personally don't think we would be able to reach the top marks.


Sci-Fi - Sci-Fi would be rather difficult for a us. There are a few reasons, the main one would be that we do not have they technology or facilities to create such a genre, we are not trained in the use of csi (computer imagery), therefor we would not be able to create suitable images. Also I am more of a action/thriller producer therefor I personally would not know what a Sci-Fi enthusiast would be looking for in a Sci-Fi trailer, we would not be able to create they right mood which a enthusiast would be looking for in a trailer. 


Rom-com - A romantic comedy would also be very difficult to create. This is because it is one of those film which you can easily get wrong. I think it is another film which an amateur would struggle to create. I also think it would limit our editing skills which we have been taught over the year, as we want to be achieving those higher marks.


Action - I do like this genre. I think it would be easy to create a trailer with an action genre. So I have no real faults with this genre. As I have a connection with this genre I think we will able to integrate features from an action into our thriller/horror such as the use of many different camera angles and they use of using our editing skills to create tension and a high tempo atmosphere.


Setting

Our trailer is going to be filmed in several locations which are going to be relative to the plot and  the story line. This will hopefully tease those watching the trailer by giving information about the narrative but not giving away the key details, other than the victim and locations. It is important that you don’t give away the narrative and the villain as it will ruin the mystery of the film and will not attract as many views.

The three locations we will be using are, the victims house to create narrative. We fill introduce the victim in the location of his town and there will be a forest where there will be a chase were we introduce the villain and a insight of what the trailers plot.  


Music


We will be using music to help produce the tempo, to create an atmosphere and to concrete the narrative. The music will be created on a program called Garage Band which is on a IMac. We will make the music dark and fast to create the tempo and atmosphere, and most likely create a beat which represents the heart which will be slow like a person heart rate to begin with and at times in the trailer where we wish to up the tempo we will increase this beat as it may subconsciously increase they audiences heart rate and get adrenaline flowing.

Characters

There will be two actors in our trailer, character 1 will be playing the victim and character 2 will be playing the villain.   

Character One - Smart Educated Man

Character 1 - Character one will be White british, with brown eyes and brown hair. Smartly dressed as we want the character to look well educated with a job which endures there education and dress style.  

Character 2 - Character two is a well tanned British. With a scruffy, intimidating look to back up there increasing psychotic back ground. We want this character to look mysterious so that the audience will not know who he is to easily.

Character Two - Scruffy Villian

Audience

Audience

Target Audience Profile

Our group’s film is a horror so we think we should base our film around the elder generation of teenager.

I have created a viewer profile which you we are going to aim our film at, although we are aiming it at a particular group there will always be some interest from other audiences.

Our film will be suitable for both genders male and female; there is a frequent amount of gore to get the males intrigued.

As younger teenagers will always be interested in movies which are aimed and an audience who are a couple of years older so we are going to target an audience from about 14-25 year olds. Although our film is based upon a horror there is a victim so this may appeal to another audience group along with the mysterious plot which may attract another audience.

As we are basing our movie to the elder generation of teenagers and early adults we thought we dress our characters in a more modern look and we will have the killer in clothes with the 21^st century can associate with.

As there is a characteristic of mystery in the plot then we would expect our audience to be educated of some kind to follow the movie and enjoy it to its full expectation.

Our Trailers Classification 

We wanted our trailer to be a 12 classification so that it can be screened on TV at early time in the day and it grabs a larger target audience base.

I would classify our in any way. There is a feeling of horror but is it in moderate consideration, and there are no frequent trailer as a 12, this is because it does not dwell on discrimination at all. The use of drugs is not shown or glamorised disturbing scenes. Imitable behaviour is also a no show in our trailer, there is also no use of weapons in any context in our trailer. There is no need for swearing in our trailer as we are keep the age barrier down. Sex is also a no show in our trailer as it is not necessary. Violence is using the use of silence as a way to build atmosphere. Nudity will not be shown due to us trying to limited as we wanted to get the audience to use their own imagination and we did not want to give too much away.  

According to the British Board of Film Classifications, our trailer would fall into the 12A/12 year’s classification.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/12a12

Film Classification

There are eight film classifications. They are: Uc,U,PG,12/12A,15,18/18R.

There are five big classifications and these are the ones I will explain: U,PG,12,15,18.

U - A "U" classification is a film which is suitable for an audience of  four plus. It will only bring up positive issues and there is no violence. It will bring up moral issues with an positive outcome every time.

PG - A "PG" classification film should not disturb a child around eight or older. This does not mean parents should let their children watch a movie with this classification. It is still there person choice whether they think there child will be able to handle what they are watching.

12 - A "12" film may be watched by a child with its guardian, if the guardian sees fit. A 12 may contain material which some 12 years old will find disturbing or that a guardian will find unfit. 


15 - A "15" may not been see at cinema by any under the age of 15, even if accompanied by an adult. Also any one younger than 15 may not rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work. It is illegal for a cinema let any one younger then fifteen watch a 15 movie also it is illegal for shopkeepers to sell or rent out the videos to minors.


18 - A '18' may only be see by people aged 18 or over in a cinema or if you wish to purchase or rent the DVD. It is also extremely illegal to let an under aged person watch the film and the culprit may have there license taken away.

For further details on classifications please go to..http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines

Different people take in media text in four different ways, these are the four main theories.

Hypodermic Theory


The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive. This theory is still quoted during moral panics by parents, politicians and pressure groups, and is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts for fear that they will watch or read sexual or violent behaviour and will then act them out themselves.

Two-step Flow

Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet analysed the voters' decision-making processes during a 1940 presidential election campaign and published their results in a news paper. Their findings suggested that the information does not flow directly from the source it is found, but from the reporters boss who has power over them, therefore this will make the reporter change the source slightly to please their bosses. The audience then mediate the information received directly from the media with the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being influenced not by a direct process, but by a two step flow. This diminished the power of the media in the eyes of researchers, and caused them to conclude that social factors were also important in the way in which audiences interpreted texts.

Uses and Gratifications

In 1948 Lasswell suggested that audiences use the media for a variety of reasons but each individual has their own personal use for the media. Lasswell theory was that the mass audience chose to interpret the media in four different. They four ways they may interpreted the media was for surveillance, correlation, entertainment and cultural transmission.

• Blulmer and Katz carried on from this theory and produced their own in 1974, there research showed that individuals may you use the text for the following purposes:

-          Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine.

-          Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, e.g. substituting soap operas for family life

-          Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts

-          Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living e.g. weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains

Reception Theory

Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model stated that an audience could interpret the same texts in a variety of ways, as each are individually influenced by several factors. (gender, class, age and ethnicity)

An individual may wish to interpret the text straight, e.g. the code which the producers are trying to convey is recognized subconsciously by the audience. However some may interpret the same text in a entirely different way.

Target Audience

Target Audience

 Our target audience is going to be from 15 to 20. There a few reason for this. It is starting at 15 as this is where we classified the film and then we went to 20 as we don't think we have enough age under our belt to attribute ideas which the elder generation will link to. We are just hope that the elder audience 30+ will enjoy the film just as much as the younger generation. We will be targeting the mass audience which are interested in thrillers/horror hoping we will get a wide range of people. 

I have created a questionnaire for our target audience to see what they personally think about thriller/horror. These are the questions which will be in a hand out form.

 1. Are you male or female?

2. Please indicate your age? 

3. What is your favorite genre?

4.How often do you go to the cinema?

5. Who do you go to the cinema with?
Friends       Boy/girlfriend        Family

6. What is your favorite type of music?
Hip hop   Rock    Classic   Pop   Soul Metal

7.How would you class yourself socially ?
Sports man   Musician  Indie   Emo   Academic

9. Any further information?

The questions have been specifically chosen so that we are able to create the best trailer possible for our target audience. This is what we found out from our research

- 45% choose comedy as their favorite genre as opposed to the 50 percent who chose horror. The other 5 percent was made up of all of the other genres.

I hoped that this would be the chosen genre. This is becasue it allows us to use a wide range of filming techniques and tension building through out the trailer enabling us to show our camera work and show what we have learnt.To enable us to this we have the chance to use the newest media technology such as HD video recorders and iMac's which had software such as Garage Band to create the back track and iMovie to edit the film.

Asking what social group they belonged to help us to establish the audience by more than just their age and gave us an insight into what would appeal to them in our production.

When we asked what music they listed to.

- 55 percent said hip hop and the other main majority was rock at 40 percent.

So we now know it is important to incorporate both aspects into the trailer and our soundtrack will have a strong mix of both with the hip hop drum beat and the edgy heavy melody.  We will use all of this to help us create the best trailer to possible which will bring in the biggest audience.

Story Board and Animatic

This is our story board, we used this to tame our many ideas. We used to decide on the continuity of the shorts and the angles for the shots, as when it came to editing we wanted to build up the tension and create a chilling atmosphere to get the audience intrigued and invloved in the movie with the mysterious vibes. 

Animatic

http://www.slideshare.net/jacko_lynd/animatic-7674695

As you will see the animatic is a lot different to the storyboard, this is because we created a second storyboard after the animatic as we felt the animatic was not strong enough as a trailer and we wanted to change the story. We felt that the animatic was to amuteur and that it would not challenge any forms of hegemony of the 21st centry.