Conventions of a film magazine cover

In order for our magazine cover to look realistic and suitable there are many conventions in which are apart of making a magazine. 

 Pugs    These are usually located at the top or at the bottom corners of the page. These include; the logo, the date, the barcode and where the price is usually located. 

Second lead    This is a preview of whats inside the articles or the pictures which are within that magazine edition to intrigue audiences and to entice them into reading it. 


Tag     These are words and phrases which are used to real the reading in to the magazine. 


Kicker     This is the text which has the function to stand out from the rest of the magazine cover, this can be done by it being a different colour, text size and font. 


Strap line     This is a subheading which can be located either under the heading or above the heading. 


Caption       This is the text that is under an image to explain to the audience what the picture is showing. 


Masthead      The masthead is the title block for the magazine which is usually the main and most eye catching convention of the entire magazine cover, and this text should be better than all of the other text which is present on the magazine cover. 


Banner       A banner is a miniature notification that some readers might be interested in. 


Lure       The lure can be used when trying to market the magazine, this is because the lure is usually words or phrases that persuade the reader into buying the magazine. 


Main image       This is the most important part, this is becuase the main image is what catches most audiences eyes when they walk past a magazine. The main image is also meant to take up a very large space on the front cover usually over 80%. In some cases the main image can lapse with the title of the magazine , although a negative to this is that the title is how the audience would recognise the magazine that they would have wanted to buy. 


Splash      The splash is the main 'story' on the front page which is usually linked or inspired by the main image on the magazine cover. An example of this would be top 10 scariest thrillers of 2013 with an image of a few of the scariest thriller movies in 2013. 


Left side third    This shows a brief over view about what content is included within the magazine. 

Differential Decoding.

This is where the different target audiences have the different perceptions. For example between our target audiences from a niche and a mass audience.

  Due to differential decoding both of my target audiences will have different perceptions on the trailer and the plot of the film. This is because of the differences between the active, passive, niche audience and mass audience.

   The 20 year olds will percept a film such as kidulthood with no possible reaction because its what is stereotyped by that generation, so they will percept is as normal and sterotypical. Whereas 60-80 year olds might percept the film as repulsive and that its the way that they see all youth at that stage in life. This is because the generation that is in kidulthood seems to have that edgy effect that all teenagers within london give this ora and perception about them.

   For example linking this to a war genre film such as pearl harbour, this is a generic film. This is because within the film you have all elements of a great film for all ages. This is because within the film you have love, hate, comedy, and plenty of action. Which means that their target audience is both males and females because of the elements within the film.

   The niche audience will have a different perception of our film compared to the mass audience. This is because of their different intentions and their perceptions which is due to their minds and their age; Their age affects this because it will show different ways in which a person can percept to a certain film or situation.

   With the 60-80 year old males we predict that they could have two possible perceptions of the film which could affect the outcome of this. This is because they could have a positive reaction to the film and the situation by being interested to the storyline as well as the plot of the film- Which could be because of their interests to the war or that they wanted to re-experience the thrills of the war and what devastation it left our country in. They could also have a positive effect to the film because they will be happy that they got to experience one of the biggest pieces of history for our country. This positive effect can be portrayed within the audience’s reaction and holistically reviews after the film.  This is because they could have a positive effect to the film by being so moved by this piece that they want to come and see the film again and again. Holistically they will be affected emotionally, physically, intellectually and socially. They will be affected emotionally by being so moved by the piece that the film will be remembered in their minds and the audience will be overwhelmed by such emotions as there is a combination within the film. The audience will be affected physically by having a positive body language by sitting on the edge of their chair leaning closer to the film as they are being more attached to the plot and the film. They will be affected intellectually because; if they were not educated about what was going on when they were younger then this film should give them the basis about what went on within WWI and WWII and this should expand on their knowledge about what the war involved. Finally the audience will be affected socially because they would want to go see the film with their other friends who have the same interests as this will also create an atmosphere for socializing with other people.

    However they could have a negative effect to the film this is because they could be distraught about the thought of going to go see a film which means re-living their worst nightmare, which would have a negative effect upon the emotional side of our target audience. They could have a negative reaction by the film bringing up previous bad experiences which will have a negative holistic outcome on the audience. Holistically the audience can be affected physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. The audience can be affected physically by being so distraught by the sight of the experience that they will have a physical emotion on their face, which is commonly known as tears of sadness. This outcome on the audience is a negative for us as well as this means that they are not likely to come back and watch the film so this means that the film would not sell so it did not reach the films purpose.The audience will be affected intellectually because our film might include some parts of the war which they were not told about so that they were protected from excruciating pain and distress from what happened. Which would have a negative affect upon the audience which will cause them distress causing negativity towards the film. The audience will be affected emotionally because they will be distraught by the fact that they have just watched a film of their own nightmare which could cause disturbances within the brain creating new fears. Finally the audience would be socially negative towards this film because they will not want to go out with their friends to go and find that this film has distraught them, so they will not be socially included with this film because of their perception to the film.

Title ideas

The title ideas that we came up with as a group were;

• World War III
• Undone
• Disengaged
• Camping revulsion

To find out which ones are more appealing to the target audience we decided that we should do a miniature questionnaire about what titles they find are more appealing.

If I look at the data which i collected it was clear to see that the most favourite name was 'World War III'. One of the reasons why we also liked this name as a group is because this was the title which suited the plot of the film as well as accompanying the story line perfectly. This is because the storyline is all about having a war on the verge which females will be fighting for.

 I collected this information from a social networking site called Facebook, on this social networking site I was able to  ask the audience what name they preferred as well as giving a brief summary about what the plot is and so they responded with their answers.

 We asked a variety of males and females within our target audience range to see what they preferred about the name and what the reason for this was, as well as why would it attract them as an audience.

Target audience feedback;

    Female aged 20-- " I like the name World War III, my reasons for picking this name is because it sounds like a more modernised war film which is the kinds of films which i enjoy to watch and be entertained by. The other possible film titles are okay but none of them really appeal to my self as I am a university student who is currently studying the history of todays society through media and i feel like World War III will be a great impact upon todays society to show remorse and to be grateful for the world we have today."

   Male aged 72-- " Im unsure about weather the title could be misleading about a film. This is because many people find that i am a very prestigious character and I tend to judge a book by its cover, so it depends on how i perceive a title is how i will perceive the film and I am the individual who tends to judge a book by its cover. By looking at the title ideas above I can thoroughly say that i would not want to go and see a film called any of the above because it simply does not appeal to me because it is pure bore."

From this research we have decided to call our film World War III. The titles for films are usually chosen for a specific reason or possibly multiple reasons. Some of the factors which influence the choice of a title could be;

• Named after a character
• Named after the location
• Named with a link by a metaphor for something in which is going on within the film.

Some examples of these influences are;

Names;

• Aladdin
• Snow White
• Forrest Gump
• Harry Potter
• Puss In Boots
• Iron Man
• Spider Man
• Finding Nemo
• Racing Stripes

Location

• Eden Lake
• Jurassic Park
• Silent Hill
• Troy
• Amityville horror
• Jersey Girl
• The Bridge on the River Kwai

magazine questionnaire

As part of our research and planning we decided to do a questionnaire for our poster and magazine cover which will help support our choices when developing them according to audience feedback. These are the answers from the questionnaire;

Age and Employment status;
The first question which was situated on the questionnaire was to find out about the people who were taking the questionnaire, which will tell us if they fit into our target audience whether it is mass or niche depending on their age. The result from this question was that over 70% of the people who answered the questionnaire were under the age of 30. This suits are target audience because our target audience is people between the ages of 20-30. The results for employment status cam be back that 50% were employed and 50% were not which could affect how often they would buy a magazine or how often they would go to the cinema.

Branding

The brand of the most commonly bought magazine is important to our development and research for our magazine cover, this is because we would want to have one of the largest recognized brands as well as one of the most sold as well as then sales would increase on the trailer as well as the magazine. By looking at the results in which I have collected it is clear to see that Total Film was the most popular magazine with the target audience. This audience feedback is also supported by the magazine mood-board as it is better suited for our genre of war. Total Film magazine covers are not usually as flamboyant and as computer generated as Empire and its more materialistic and in relation to the film advertising. 

What catches the audience's attention when looking at a magazine cover?

This question was included within our questionnaire as we wanted to know what interests and attracts the target audience. By looking at the results in which i have recorded it is clear to see that the most popular feature of a magazine cover is if it consists of something in which is free. So this is something in which we will include within our magazine cover. The second thing is the cover image this is probably because they would want the most interesting picture on the front as most people judge a book by its cover so this would also attract the target audience.

Price and frequency of purchase

 The frequency of the buying of the magazine is weekly as there will be issues out every fortnight. The price in which some of the people are willing to pay for the magazine is £4.99, however looking at Empire and Total Film the price is £3.99.

What catches your eye?
By looking at my results I can come to the conclusion that people are more influenced to buy a magazine if they can see the magazine cover.

Does a poster convince you to watch the film?

"No because it doesn't show enough information"

"Maybe if I have already seen the trailer or something to help me understand it then I will be intrigued to see the full film"

"Yes if it shows some of my favorite actors!"

FILM Vs Entertainment Vs EMPIRE

This is my collage of Total Film, Entertainment and Empire magazine covers which cover a few genres which can be linked to a horror in their own way through their conventions. By researching into film magazine covers, it has revealed the fact that this themed magazine is very different from fashion and clothing magazines such as Cosmopolitan. Although they all have their very diverse differences some of the examples that i have below share very common features.

 Some of the common features that were shared within the three branded magazines were;

• Bar code
• Strap line (which can be located at the top of the covers).
• The characters are in front of the title but the character is not covering the title.
• A gradient or solid filled background.

Props

The props in which we used within our film trailer are;

• equipment within the park
• liquid latex scars and cuts

 The reason why we chose to use the equipment in the park is because it went with the part of the film in which we was filming. For example within the section where the girl is training in her army uniform we decided to use the equipment which was around us to show the character doing more excises to make it look like a training program. The equipment which we used within the park was;

• The zip wire where the mother and the child are playing which is the opening scene to our trailer. The reason why we chose the use the zip wire is because we decided to use the camera in a different angle and this was a good position to get some different camera shots as well as getting  some shots which will fit in with the trailer. 
• The tyre swing where the mother and her son are playing on it. We decided to use this because it was a great place where we can use props, editing and our camera skills all within one clip, this is because we wanted to show how diverse our skills were as well as how we can sue them collectively to have a great clip. We also managed to amalgamate the music into this clip by slowing down the clip to have a slow motion moment within the film to show how effective a movie and the music can be as well as how well they compliment one another.
•  The climbing frame - which we used within the training scenes because we thought that by having in an actual activity will make the trailer seem more realistic as well as the costumes which complimented one another in the way in which we expected.

We intended to use matches to burn the Joker card, however the card had such a waxy surface that this seemed to not be as easy as we under estimated. Also the weather at this moment in time made it very hard to complete this task as a part of out filming, so we decided that we should leave this element of our trailer out because when we did achieve this, it did not look very professional nor did it look realistic and it did not fit in with the trailer.

We managed to use the liquid latex to re-create multiple scars within the character throughout the filming. This came effective and the outcome of the liquid latex can be found upon the liquid latex blog.

Location research

For our setting of the trailer we decided as a group what the setting has to include. These were;

• path that has trees either side as well as it not being too narrow for the characters to walk along.
• it must have woods- because our plot is where teenagers go camping in the woods
• the location must be easy to get too for all of the group members

Some of the possible locations that we have previously discussed were;

• Wigmore woods
• Hillyfields
• The school orchard
• Jacksons park
• And a small wood area by Mid Kent college

The school orchard is only a location option if we realise that we didn't get a specific shot or if we needed to re-film a short clip then this would be an ideal location for all of the group members. The positives of using the school orchard is that the location is easy to access whenever we need too as well as it being close enough for all members to reach. The setting also includes some of the important features in which we require for the setting such as; woods, and imperfect scenery which fits in perfectly with the atmosphere and vibe that we are trying to create with the trailer.

Below are some videos of some of the locations which I have taken my self.

small woods by mid kent college; which we used a paranormal

Target audience questionnaire results.

By looking at the pie chart above it shows that more females wanted to go and see the film, this is because we plan to challenge the conventions of a trailer so by having over 50% of the audience females then this means that by challenging the conventions of a war film then we would be in touch with our target audience. This is because the characters will all be females and so would partially the target audience. However this cannot be conclusive because I could have given the questionnaire to more females than males, although within todays society males are typically not the type of person in which you could stop in the street to go and ask about what they think about a questionnaire. So the male's attitudes could have an influence upon the reasons why the target audience results from this question show mainly females.

This graph shows that the most people that are likely to enjoy a scary movie are those between the ages of 17-34. This also shows that our target audience can rand from 17-55. Although our target audience is based upon the age ranges of 20 and 60-80 these results are still valid for evidence upon the reasons of why we chose to have these age ranges as our target audience is because, both different age ranges will have different opinions as well as how they would percept the trailer through different minds and experiences.

By looking at the pie chart above it is clear to see that 83% of my questionnaire recipients like scary movies which is a positive, this is because we are doing a war trailer so we needed over 60% of our target audience to like war movies otherwise our trailer would not get the response that we need. By having over 60% of our audience liking our genre then this gives us positivity of the outcome and the feedback of the audiences response, although this could also mean that they would have a higher expectations of our trailer.

by looking at the results from this question it is clear to see that most if the target audience in which i asked, watches films two to three times a week. This could mean that they like to watch a range of films as well as looking for new ones to watch on a weekly basis.

What interests you to watch a war film?

Some of the answers in which i got back regarding this questions were pretty much the same thing because within a war film, there is only certain elements which can be included, some of these are;

• I like to watch war films because of the adrenaline rush in which I get, I love the fact that every time I watch a film I barely sit in my seat because I am constantly sitting on the edge of my seat because of the plot of the story - 64 Year old Ruth
• I do not have a very strong passion for grouse war films where they show people being blown up but I do like a film where you get to learn about a bit where the characters are telling the audience in a narrative form about what happened, so sort of like a history lesson but in the most enjoyable way possible :) -   22 year old Ferguson
• I like war films where they show todays generation what I have been through as this shows them that should not take things for granted but take the things that they do have as grateful, rather than wanting more. - 86 Year old Greg

By looking at the results in which I have collected it is clear to see that by looking at this graph that most of the target audience who i asked were single, so this is possibly also the answer when they would want to come and see a war film. By them being single this shows that they want stability and closure within their lives which they usually seek entertainment and attention through films.

By looking at this pie chart it is clear to see that most of the target audience is unemployed, which means that they will not be looking forward to be spending redicioulus amounts of money to buy a film which has been expensively made, so our film fits this criteria well because we done it all in-house.

Movie production logo's

A production logo is compulsory to have within any film weather it is a small independent company or a Hollywood film. The company in which we need is something which will tie in with the film its self for example New line cinema and Pixar. I have already researched some institutions which are likely to be our chosen ones which can be found by following this link;Institution research .

In our AS film opening we used Paramount Pictures, the reason why we chose Paramount is because it fits in with our psychological thriller we then used Limestone Productions which is the company that we created as a group. One thing in which we noticed last year on film productions is that it was uncommon that two major companies such as Paramount and Universal were to work together. It usually has the common combination of a famous main company with a smaller company.

Considering that there are a lot of production companies we needed to find one which can be fitted and suited for our genre, so as a group we decided that we would brainstorm possible companies that we can use within our trailer.

After researching the different possible institutions and movie production companies we decided to go with Paramount pictures and Touchstone. This is because these movie productions were commonly used for our choice of genre. 

Magazine cover layout

 This is the layout of the magazine cover, well this is the typical layout of a magazine cover. We will try to follow this as this is what i came up with to try and create a sort of plan for the magazine cover. Although it seems that this did not go to plan because ,we decided to add in different components into the magazine cover to make it more attractive to the target audience.

The magazine cover has to be;

• consistent throughout, this includes text, pictures and the colour consistency throughout.
• Guide lines according to what is allowed within our magazine such as; Magazine title, Date line, Bar code, Main cover line, 

Conventions of a film poster

Some of conventions of a film poster are;

• The poster has got to be eye catching so that when a person walks past it they feel intrigued to go  and look at the poster.
• The background and main image must be the main focus of the entire poster and this must attract the audience.
• A very large and clear title must be easy to read from a distance and this must also become one of the main focuses.
• Although we are trying to attract as many people as possible with the poster it must attract a specific audience as this would then also attract our target audience.
• A famous actor or character within the film industry will help to sell the product
• The release date or coming soon written on the poster also intrigues the audience.
• The poster could possibly have the director being displayed on the poster.
• The poster must have the production company displayed as then audiences could look up the production company and see what films they have produced and whether they like them or if they are interested in them.
• The poster must clearly define the genre of the film for the audiences curiosity and demands.
• The poster may include the reviews and ratings from news papers and famous people.
• A caption to lure the audience in.
• A billing block is also one of the other conventions of a film poster.

At a first glance this film poster does not have some of the conventions of a film poster. the conventions of a film poster that this film poster does have is that the main background image is intriguing and it is aesthetically attractive to the audience who are interested in a horror film. Another convention that this poster has is that the director is on the front of the poster. The poster does have the convention of having attractive aesthetics for an eye catching film poster. The poster does have a caption which is luring the audience in. By using the caption which they have used on the poster it helps to lure the audience in, this is because they would want to find out why shouldn't he have been born. This poster clearly displays which genre this film poster is for, which is a horror/thriller. This poster does not however have a release date so this might not intrigue the audience. What is interesting about this film poster is that this film clearly challenges the conventions of a horror in a completely different way than what most people would expect. In this case they have challenged the conventions through the title, this is because when most people think of Humpty Dumpty they think about a child's nursey rhyme  which is an egg who falls off of a wall.

This poster is eye catching because in the middle of the poster it has an attracting image of a shark about to devour a girl. The background is also a main image of what the film is all about and so by giving away what the film includes this then lures the audience in as they would be intrigued about the plot and the storyline. The main image will attract the audience this is because it includes a dangerous predator which is known for harming and killing humans and by seeing this picture the audience might also want to know what happens as the story line as well as what a shark has to do with the film. The title of the film is clear and large enough to read from a fair distance.  The title its self draws in an audience 'JAWS' indicates that there would be teeth involved and with the image this begins to unravel a story of a shark and their stereotypical behaviour. I think that this poster attracted a certain target audience this is because it is a horror film. This poster is aesthetically presentable to a certain target audience of 16 to 35, although it does state that this film is a PG this film might be disturbing and cause distress for younger children as this film might manipulate their minds. Some famous actors which feature in the film are shown on the poster, so this will attract audiences who know about the actors and who like the actors. The poster also includes the production company, although at the size it is right now it is hard to see but it is in the second or third line.