PRODUCT: Film Magazine Cover

This is my film magazine cover. I decided to go with the idea that my film magazine cover would be based on my leading actor promoting my film on a press tour. So, instead of using a shot of my actors in costume as if they were in a scene, I went for a posed picture of my main actress. I think it looks very professional and clean which is what I like about a film poster.

Due to my lack of knowledge on how to use photo editing software, I had to result to using the very basic software Picasa to edit my photo. I edited Hannah's skin just like they would do in a film magazine to remove any obvious blemishes, I changed the levels to make her features more dark, added a very faint dark shadow at the top of the magazine cover and changed the picture from bright and colourful to black and white. I decided to go for black and white as it looked more professional. I wasn't going for the eye catching side of the film magazine cover, I wanted professionalism and perfection.

The red and white text theme matches with my film trailer and film poster. The red for all the gore and horror in the film and white for the purity and holiness surrounded with Christianity.

*ONE THING MY FILM POSTER IS LACKING IS A BAR CODE. THIS IS BECAUSE UNFORTUNATELY I LACK THE SOFTWARE AVAILABLE TO ADD ADDITIONAL IMAGES OVER THE TOP OF AN EXISTING IMAGE. IF I HAD THE SOFTWARE AVAILABLE, UNDERNEATH THE TEXT WITH THE ISSUE NUMBER AND DATE, THERE WOULD BE A BARCODE THERE WITH THE PRICE*

PRODUCT: Film Poster

This is my final film trailer poster. I am now going to go into great detail into how I decided to create this exact poster.

1) The Title -  I decided it would be more professional if I used the same font for the title on the film poster as I used in the film trailer itself. The look of the blood pouring down through the words hints to the audience that this film also has a lot of blood and gore etc which shows the horror genre/thriller genre elements within the film poster. I used the colour red for the title as again, this is what I used in the film trailer but it also the colour red has connotations of blood, horror, gore etc.

2) The Tagline - The tagline I decided to use was "ARE YOU A SINNER?". This is a very personal, direct tagline which will attract audiences as it makes them think about whether they may have sinned and if they were to be a character in this film, would they go to Heaven or Hell? I used the colour white to contradict what the tagline is implying. White is seen as a very pure, holy colour and full of innocence. If you were a sinner, you wouldn't be innocent. Or maybe you think you aren't a sinner but really you are?

3) The Release Date - The release date of my film was one that I just chose at random whilst creating my film trailer. I was considering choosing a date that may have meaning to the film as this tends to boost audiences. For example, 50 Shades of Grey was released on Valentine's Day. It was bound to be a massive hit film anyway but the fact it was released on Valentine's Day, i'm sure, had a huge impact on ticket sales, boosting them dramatically! However, I could not think of a particular date I could use to release my film on.. I was trying to work out a date that would include the number 666 in it because that is obviously related to the Devil but I gave up after looking at my calendar for a good twenty minutes.

4) Colouring - The original picture I took of Hannah standing in this field was very bright in comparison. It was not a sunny day when I took the photo but when it came down to editing, it looked too "happy" in terms of my lighting. So I went onto iPhoto and played around with the levels on the picture and took away any bright colouring and made it quite a dark and dingy photo which makes it look solemn, moody and mysterious. I also very slightly blended the edges of the photo to create a small "fog" effect. It's not that obvious but when you look at the photo, it does look quite blurry on the edges which is an effect I quite liked as it's not sharp and defined.


This film poster is very different from the one I had planned out. I had planned that I would use a person to stand on top of a multi-story car park looking over a city with a box on their head but after recently having hip surgery, I was unable to drive to the car park and had no way of getting there and have been on bed rest! Luckily, whilst filming my film trailer, I decided to take a few test shots to make sure my lighting was all correct for the trailer and this was one of the test photos that I used. I thought it would be very fitting and suitable for my film poster as the character in the film poster is a key character in my film trailer as well. So, if people have seen my film trailer and they see the film poster they're going to know exactly what film it is advertising even  before seeing the title and vice versa!

EVALUATION

EVALUATION: 

G324 - Marked out of 100 marks; 20 marks for planning and research and its presentational 60 marks for the construction; 20 marks for the evaluation.

Will evaluate and reflect upon the creative process and their experience of it. Will evaluate their work digitally, this evaluation being guided by the set of key questions below. The evaluation may be done collectively for a group production or individually. Suitable formats for the evaluation are: 

• A blog
• DVD extras
• Podcast
• Powerpoint
• A website
• Combination of two or more of the above

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
• How effective is the combination of your main product (film trailer) and ancillary texts (poster and magazine cover)? 
• What have you learned from your audience feedback? 
• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

RESEARCH: Target Audience Review

After creating my film trailer, I decided to show my media trailer to a member of my target audience. My target audience is aimed at mostly at young adults, between the ages of 15 and 25. So, I spoke to 18 year old Liam Hughes after making him watch my trailer to find out what he liked and disliked about the trailer and what improvements he would make if he were to remake the same trailer.

Me: What did you think about the trailer in general? 

Liam: I really liked the whole concept of 'The Rapture'. It doesn't seem like your average "horror film based on religion" where the Devil 'haunts' a family and tries to kill everyone. I'm assuming that the Devil is the person with the box on his head. This is really different as the Devil is usually seen as a monster which doesn't look like a human entity whereas this Devil does. It was a good length for a trailer and it had the crucial information that you need in a trailer such as the title of it, the date it's released etc. It didn't have any actors names which I normally like as I like to know if my favourite actors or actresses are in a film and I usually base my film choice on who's in the film but as you are trying to conceal the true identity of who the Devil is, this is a good marketing tactic.

Me: Did the music fit the trailer? 

Liam: Yes definitely. It slowly built up in terms of texture, pitch and how loud it was which matched the trailer itself. It suited it very well and was also a very professional piece of music, it wasn't tacky or completely unsuited to the trailer.

Me: What genre would you classify this film? 

Liam: I would probably class this film as either a horror or a thriller? To be honest it could be both! It has lots of signs to suggest which genre it is such as the use of music, making it very dramatic, the use of the gun which obviously tells us this isn't a comedy and the voice-over! The voice-over is the main giveaway because it roughly tells us the plot of the film and it sounds very dark and graphic.

Me: What was the most effective part of the trailer? 

Liam: The most effective part of the trailer was when it was a close up of the girl in the hoods face and the music was just about to "drop" if thats what you could call it and she did that evil, small smirk of a smile? I thought that was really effective as it was subtle yet powerful. It made me feel really tense!

Me: What would you improve on the trailer? 

Liam: I wouldn't improve much at all! Maybe include the actors names but I think thats just a preference of mine. Some people like not knowing who is in a film because when they do see an actor they like they're like "Oh hey I know them from so and so". I guess if I made this trailer I would do that. Other than that, I really liked everything about it. It was really, really effective and I would definitely watch this film if it were to be made into a real film!

PLANNING: Planning the Film Poster

I have been thinking a lot about how I can make my film poster as effective and dramatic as possible without having it look overcrowded or complicated. In my personal opinion, I think that the film trailers that have the best effect are the simplistic, dramatic ones. 

So, as a rough idea for what I want my film poster to look like, I've decided I am going to have "box-man" stand with his back to the audience, looking over at a city or looking towards a house in a field (just like the hooded girl does in my film trailer). It'll be a long shot and it'll be in black and white to make it seem more ominous and make the audience realise that it is a horror/thriller genre film. I'll also make sure that "box-man" is holding a gun to enforce the violent themes in the film. The title will be written in the same font as it is in the trailer and it will be written in red to symbolise blood and gore etc. 

The film poster will have directors billing in very small print at the bottom of the film poster which will have actors names, directors name, the production company name etc. This will help audiences get an understanding of who is in the film. I don't want to put actors names obviously on the film poster as I want it to look as realistic as possible so putting the actors names at the bottom still fills in the audience but not obviously. 

FINAL FILM TRAILER

This is my final film trailer for my A2 Media Coursework! FINISHED ON THE 17TH DECEMBER 2014.

RESEARCH: Conventions of a Film Magazine Cover

Similar to a film poster, film magazine covers follow certain conventions which will help the magazine boost sales and make it look more appealing and interesting compared to their fellow competitors: 

1) The title is almost always at the top of the page in bold writing, and this writing is almost always generic to that film magazine cover. For example, Empire always follow the same layout for their magazine title with it being red, in capitals, bold and using the same font. However, whenever there is a special edition magazine out such as the Skyfall edition of the magazine, they changed the colour of the title to gold which attracted a wider audience as it was different. 

2) The main image in the middle of the film magazine cover is usually a mid shot of one of the lead characters/actors in the film it's promoting. 

3) Magazines use things called 'buzz words' that will attract audiences to buy the magazine such as "free", "exclusive", "shocking" etc. People are always looking for gossip or free stuff so this is part of a marketing scheme to make people buy the magazine and boost publicity for the film it's promoting. 

4) Barcode, issue date and the date. All magazines have them. All magazines need then. 

5) Magazines also have information around the sides of the magazines with snippets of what else is in the magazine without the reader having to pick it up and read through to find out. For example, it could be something small like "Angelina Jolie sits down with Empire for an exclusive interview", or it could be a gossipy title such as "Can Katie Price ever control her weight gain" or something to that degree. 

RESEARCH: Conventions of a Film Poster

Film posters are seen everywhere; in cinemas, in magazines, bus stops, on buses.. So, for a person to take notice of your particular film poster over others that may be around,  film posters have to have to: 

1) Be eye-catching! If you're going to have a boring film poster with no creativity or flare about it then people aren't going to pay attention to it whatsoever. 

2) There's got to be a main picture in the centre. This picture is usually called the 'focal picture' and it is the main thing people see first when they look at your film posters. Mostly, the focal picture will be of a main character in the film or a few characters in posed positions. 

3) The font on the film poster must be bold, eye-catching and large! If a person has seen a film poster on the side of a bus, they'll want to be able to see the title from wherever they are standing because otherwise they'll miss it! 

4) Sometimes, film posters have reviews on them. Nothing huge, just words like "Fantastic!" along with the reviewer's name and how many stars they have given the film. This lets people know that other people have seen this film and have liked it and it reassures the audience that they won't be wasting their money by watching this film. 

5) Film posters will either have the date that the film will be released or it will have a caption saying "Coming Soon". Again, this is for the audiences to gain as much information on the film as possible in a short space of time. 

6) The genre should be obvious to the audience whilst looking at the film poster. Most horror film posters are quite dark and ominous and some even have a gory scene being depicted on the front or they'll have a character looking as if they are screaming or running away from something.