Magazine covers, Empire and Total Film

To supplement our film trailer Becka and I are also producing a magazine cover and film poster in order to promote our film, imitating real films produced. Initial research has been carried out on all three products, we will rely on these to guide us on how to create the most effective and successful trailer, film poster and magazine cover. It’s evident that Becka and I needed to reflect on posters that had recently caught our eye and the reason for this; we had to discuss what it was that made the poster or magazine cover so effective and memorable. When analyzing our favourite film posters we had to review what made the poster/cover stand out, what’s the purpose of the person/people/mise-en-scene used and what age would it generally be targeted at. 

Becka and I felt it was an important feature to discuss what film magazine company we would use in order to promote our magazine cover which essentially advertises our film. Primary research was a crucial task that needed to be carried out to ensure that we had chosen the correct institution, and which appears to be most successful in popularity. The biggest magazine companies who had the greatest success in the media magazine industry for film promotion was: Empire and Total Film. Both industries were fairly similar with almost the same content and same reason for publishing (to promote new films), however each had their own individual appearance and layout of how they presented and promoted new films. It was obvious that these were the largest; most successful companies so we ultimately narrowed our options to these choices, using either one of these would give our media production a sense of greater professionalism as opposed to creating our own. I don’t feel that creating our own magazine would have been beneficial to our media productions, the existing magazine are easily recognised because of their great success so it would give viewers the impression that our film we’ve created was big and worth the watch. We decided against creating our own magazine because it would mean we didn’t have direct inspiration from existing magazines which I personally heavily rely on as it shows what layouts we should use. If we’d have used our own magazine brand it meant we would have a greater work load as this meant questionnaires on titling, a further decision, feedback on the titling and how visually and verbally our magazine was. Using a real film magazine seemed much simpler however it meant we needed to use similar fonts to create the company name, this was retrieved using a font website as there was greater choice. By using an already established magazine people would directly understand what the media production was and that the film we’d created was good enough to headline the magazine.

Using an existing published magazine directs us into having foremost similarities to a used layout, again as stated previously proving us with some inspiration. This would make us a step closer than if we were creating our own magazine, it put us at an advantage as we already had sent fonts and titling that we simply had to follow. We could either work from a template or simply replicate the entire text using font website Dafont.com. However disadvantages rose from using an existing magazine as, if we did decide to choose our own magazine logo it could mean we would subvert conventions if necessary. With a real magazine cover we couldn’t do this as we had direct magazine front covers that could be easily followed.

It was difficult to decide on which successful magazine we should use because they both had good features that we’d combine together, both were equally appealing yet do have similar conventions. Both magazines covered the entire issue with the film image that’s been advertised, both mast heads of the magazine title were large, bold and positioned on the top centre of the magazine, which seems to be the typical convention of any magazine. In the images presented above I’d personally open for the Total Film logo, this is because of the wording of the title, it’s obviously related to the film and keeps the theme of the promoted film consistent. However from primary research I’m fully aware it’s not always like this. Empire is highly engaging because of how bold the magazine title is, especially with the bright red colouring. As the title of Empire is placed over the image and the Total Films logo is under the image could suggest the success of each magazine. Total Film may be more publically recognised and therefore the title doesn’t have to be completely exposed, where Empire has layered over their image creating the sense that the title has to be exposed for viewer interest.

Becka and I decided upon Total Film due to the sharpness of the lettering, being more precise and straight could slightly expose the thriller film our magazine will eventually be promoting. A strong feature of the Total Film logo is that the word ‘Total’ is within the other film; this may be harder to do however with the gained Photoshop skills I’m sure it’s achievable. This could suggest that the word ‘film’ is significantly more important and captivates the audience immediately by showing the content of the magazine will be.

Becka and I are aware that producing and presenting our magazine correctly and accurately will be difficult however we’re determined to achieve the same looks as Total Film presents in their magazines. If all goes well then the outcome should be successful and effective, our aim is to create a professional and appealing looking cover with all the appropriate conventions that entices the audience to read it.

Trailer Research

The first stage was to commit time into researching the general conventions of film trailers, the exploration into film trailers (whether that's international, teaser, feature or cinematic trailers) is vital and ensures that my partner and I complete a successful trailer that will meet up to viewer prospects. Without primary research collected to analyse and evaluate each convention used in similar film genres that we wish to compete with we would struggle in creating an effective film trailer, without it we’d have to simply rely on already learned film trailers and the outcome would obviously be less successful. Reviewing different film trailers used for different purposes ignited the idea into creating a simple TV trailer that lasts around 2:30 minutes long, when analysing trailers categorized in the thriller genre it seemed that most fitted into this time bracket, thus suggesting that we had to follow the convention. It became evident that the genre we wished to produce was a thriller as this genre was the most frequently viewed when we were simply researching what we wanted to do. Thriller films have the greatest impact on viewers and I feel to provide more suspense, viewer pleasure and greater thought processes. For a beneficial result we ensured that we had reviewed more than one genre of film during research, to broaden our ideas, develop existing concepts and choose a definite genre that we wished to proceed with; this ranged from; romantic comedy, spoofs to horrors.

After research had took place as stated before it became evident that our mind-set was completely focused on thriller genres as we found the trailers most gripping creating a sense of excitement, stimulation and pleasure. We concluded that the research had been deeply beneficial and was a significant source to provide a deeper understanding in trailer research. The typical thriller genre includes the beginning, which reveals the storyline of the film, the suspense just before the end that acts as the cliff-hanger that essentially makes the viewer want to watch the film. From researching established film trailers I have picked up the common features that appear in them as usually thriller films ensure they create the same viewer emotion which is to create suspense, tension and excitement.

Additionally each trailer that I’ve viewed, especially in terms of the thriller genre show the different characters who pan out to fit the protagonist/antagonist role where usually the protagonist generically becomes the hero. Through research it has developed our awareness of what conventions are genuinely needed within a trailer; we gathered that we will have to carefully pan out a sequential storyline to ensure it makes sense and that the viewers are on board. The limited time provided for a trailer (usually around 2:30 minutes) suggests that dialogue from characters will have to be clear, concise and relevant to again ensure that the viewers are on board about what our film is about.

Furthermore, research has allowed Becka and I to have a deeper insight in how a successful film trailer is created and all the conventions used throughout. Without taking time to research we’d have limited knowledge on how a trailer is thoroughly developed for viewer pleasure, we will now apply our learned knowledge when producing our own movie trailer. 

Billing block

This billing-block was taken from a real life film; ROCK OF AGES, Becka and I wish to produce a similar billing block to go alongside our media products (trailer, film poster, magazine cover) in order to increase the professionalism of our productions. In order to create a realistic billing block using all the conventions used in a real life film, Becka and I decided to follow the same structure and similar text to this one, however obviously altering the names, producers, and overall material such as the PG rating. To begin we checked that NEW LINE CINEMA featured on thriller films as Rock Of Ages isn't in the thriller genre, when checking New Line Cinema was featured in a variety of films including thriller so it was acceptable to use.

To create a billing block I thought that it would be complicated so as the easiest alternative I simply used an internet source to find a template, once a template was found I had to download it and open it onto Photoshop. Fortunately I already have knowledge of using Photoshop due to taking A-Level photography, putting me at a slight advantage to those who don't because it can seem very complicated to a beginner. In order to change the text I had to click various layers and simply type in what I needed to alter the text, the template however did not include logos such as; Warner Bro's or New Line Cinema so I had to copy and paste them into another layer on the document and simply erase the previous background using the Magic Wand tool so that they would blend into the black background.
Once titles were changed (the film title still remains blank because we're still unsure of what we want to call our movie, this will be altered so that the title is included on the final products) I was able to then alter the text so that it looked more professional. On the Rock Of Ages billing block the smaller text within the text were columned so that each word was under one another, I couldn't change this using Photoshop as the template didn't allow it, so I had to transfer everything onto Microsoft PowerPoint and alter it from there.





This isn't our final billing-block, this was as far as I could go using Photoshop, in the final billing-block I have made the smaller text within the text to fit underneath one another, like the Rock Of Ages billing block.

various film magazine covers

It's an essential task to carry out both primary and secondary research in order to produce a successful and effective magazine cover, poster and film opening to create a higher level of understanding of what our target audience want. To complete some secondary research I have been looking at different magazine covers in order to provide guidance and knowledge of the type of magazine cover Becka and I would like to achieve. 

Here is a magazine cover that has been developed by a real student who has previously taken media, it becomes obvious that this is an unofficial cover for Empire as the titling of the mast head isn't the same as what it usually is on the professional, official covers for the magazine. The reason why I've decided to include this unofficial magazine cover is because I like the look of the image displayed and feel this would fit into our thriller genre of our film. I believe the cover to be quite quite effective and suggests the genre it's attempting to sell immediately. The model is directly gazing at the audience and has been taken at a fairly close up shot in order to entice and intrigue the audience into wanting to see the film they're promoting. The dark backgrounds adds to the suggestion that the film fits into the thriller genre as this is when most individuals become more fearful in any situation, the expression the model pulls shows us she is in some type of danger and is essentially being grabbed from her feet. In our opening film our storyline consists of a girl who is essentially kidnapped so reproducing a magazine cover like the person who has produced 'Captured' could make our magazine cover quite effective and enticing. The shot has been taken from a close up shot as the models facial details are present and 'in your face' however it could be suggested as a mid shot as the models upper limbs and upper body is present in the image. I love the image that's used because of the danger it immediately presents, I feel that the image quality it fairly good as well as the narrow depth of field has meant that her face is completely in focus whilst her hand and the background which is nearer to the camera is slightly off focus. I believe the magazine image has a more professional approach than the texts surrounding it, in order to create a better approach for the whole of it Becka and I wish to replicate a film magazine cover by using the exact same ordering, font styles and sizes in our own magazine cover.

Here is another that seems obviously produced by someone studying A level media, I am able to suggest this because it doesn't have the quality to look official. Although it's a good attempt I don't feel the people who've made the covers have grasped onto a real professional feel of a magazine cover and the emptiness of it proves this further. The image displayed is of a good quality with all members gazing towards the camera to entice and intrigue the audience, I feel the image reveals the genre of the film straight away as I'm immediately persuaded into believing the film consists thriller or action features due to the costumes and appearance of the characters. It doesn't look professional because the titling of the magazine they're supposed to be replicating isn't the same at all, this has a negative impact on the professionalism of the magazine appearance.

Ideas that could feature in our final film trailer

Becka and I are very keen on the idea of using the thriller genre to produce the three media products (film trailer, film poster and magazine cover), we brainstormed ideas that could feature within our film trailer and the sequence our trailer could possibly play by, however this is only a rough idea. I initially thought of the idea after viewing a warning precaution from Facebook and other social sources; when reviewing social networking sites I picked up on a precaution from the Police warning people of a scam a group of youths are doing in order to rape and kidnap people. The warning message stated that people are putting prams, baby carriers or car seats on the edge of roads in order to confuse people into stopping and mistaking the pram for an abandoned baby, essentially luring the victims into a trap. After the person has stopped, the gang would then kidnap the person in order to rape, abuse or kill their victim, this precaution noticed on the social networking websites I use created the idea of using a storyline along the same lines however changing it slightly to a more interesting, gripping and emotional story.

• begin with happy scene of father and young child
• pendant is significant as it was passed down from late wife who died 
• the fathers baby is then either kidnapped, missing or died and the father longs to find her, or replace her
• father goes mental
• newspaper
• victim driving through a road (possibly country road) 
• playing music as normal
• 1 second shot of her being tied up (as a sort of flash-forward)
• notices a baby in their car seat, immediately concerned and breaks instantly 
• she looks in the car seat, looks within the white blanket and nothing is there
• she is then grabbed and forced into the wood
• see small slow motioned clips of her being violently attacked 
• fast and concise shots of her being dragged up the stairs (like the unleashed)
• search party
• her hands and feet are tied together so she is unable to escape

• at the end we are presented with the females eye 
• zooms in fast but small shots getting closer each time  (like trailer: The Unleashed)
• plot twist.... the mother wasn't really dead she took her little girl 

possible reason for abduction:

He had only but his little girl who mysteriously got taken after letting herself out from the open door, after not finding her years on he develops an unstable and psychopathic behaviour resulting into the longing for parenthood of a young, blonde girl that resembles his daughter

He then takes a girl he's observed by using the 'baby trick' on a small country lane and kidnaps her

As his little girl willingly left him he ties the kidnapped girl so she is unable to ever escape from him (like his little girl did) 

It makes him feel like he has his little girl back, the sense of fatherhood returns to him and completes him however stirs him into a higher mental level

"A father is supposed to be the one man who will never give up on you, and Jason never did"  

Quote we wish to add to our finalised film trailer to provide the viewers with a visual explanation of what's happening in our trailer... the creepy feel of the added music, visual video and this quote will hopefully create a thrill to the viewer and make them want to watch which is the aim for all film trailers.

Choosing the genre

In our AS project we were instructed to create a film opening of our choice lasting only 2 minutes using the conventions of a true film opening of the same genre, alternatively this year the task is to construct a film trailer. My hope is for my film trailer to be a greater success than the previous years coursework task, I believe it will be because we have a heightened level of editing skills with a greater knowledge of media concepts and conventions. One may argue that Becka and I failed to achieve the best quality of work in our last coursework task as we weren't always focused and believe we work better under time pressure, therefore our aim is to strive to achieve in our A2 project. 
Secondary research has been a significant factor into choosing the correct genre of film for our A2 project, the greatest source of research is through the Internet, Trailer Addict and YouTube in particular. Our last coursework task was based on the thriller genre, we had completed the same sort of research in order to obtain what conventions were used within, therefore we already have a basic knowledge of.
Becka and I are swaying to the idea of incorporating our trailer into the thriller genre, we had previously completed a thriller themed film opening in AS media which allowed us to gain skills around the subject meaning that we should be furthering our understanding using the previous knowledge and skills we’d used combined with the fresh skills we’d gain from researching the same sort of genre in our A2 project. 
We have therefore concluded on the target audience we wish to pursue within our project of a 15 rating however specifically targeted at ages 15-20, the age gap isn’t very large so applying the specific needs to our target audience shouldn’t be too hard to achieve as opposed to a larger target audience such as 15-45. To ensure we cater for our chosen target audiences’ needs Becka and I will have to carry out our own primary research involving questionnaires and interviews from individuals who fit in the category and we’ll also be researching through secondary data from looking at thriller genre target audiences’, how extreme they go with trailer content and what features to make it appropriate for our target audience.