Film Magazines Title Edits

Here I have chosen to experiment with editing different titles to see which I think will give the best effect for my film magazine. The first title displayed is the original empire title, and I think this plain red text is effective for a mast head as it is conventional of a magazine and it stands out clearly. The one underneath this is one in which I have created. I chose to use black text with a red out line as I thought these colours would fit well with my genre. I like this edit however it depends on the colour of the background to weather I am going to use it for my final front cover. The next two edits are similar as I have used a black and red gradient on both. I feel the gradient helps to add depth to the mast head making it look appealing and stand out. Again, with these titles it would depend on the colour of the background behind it to weather I would use them or be able to use them on my final magazine. The final mast head I have created has been blended on Photoshop with a dust and scratches effect. I like how this title looks similar to the original Empire title but however I like how the effect has helped it link to my horror genre more closely. There is a high possibility I will use this title for my final magazine as I think it will work well on most coloured backgrounds.

Film Magazines

These are some front covers which I came across on the internet when I typed in ‘film magazines. My AS coursework of making the front cover of a music magazine really helped me when analysing these magazines as I know what the main features are to look for and I not know what works well. I believe ‘Empire’ is the film magazine which will most closely relate to my genre of film. I think this because on the Empire front covers displayed above, they advertise films that are of a similar genre to mine. They also have a spooky and surreal look about the design and I feel this will also suit my genre well. The Empire mast head is more commonly red and of a bold type. A red masthead is conventional of many magazines and I feel the fierce and prominent colour makes it instantly stand out to any type of audience. The main image displayed on the front of Empire magazines is usually a medium closeup. This allows the audience to see the clothes of the actor/actress displayed on the front whilst also being able to see there facial expressions clearly. I feel this would be a good framing to use for the front of my magazine as I need the photograph of the antagonist to look scary and to intrigue the audience into watching the film. The cover stories or cover films in this case are usually coloured white or sometimes black. I think this is so there is a constant house style throughout all of the Empire magazine and also because black and white are clear colours which will stand out on mostly any coloured background chosen. In my selection of example film magazines there are only 2 magazines which include a secondary image. I don’t think I am going to include a second image on my front cover as I think it draws the attention away from the main image and this is not the effect I want my front cover to have on the audience. Overall when creating my front cover I am going to refer back to Empire magazines and use similar features and conventions to it, as I feel this will work best with my film genre chosen.

These are my poster edits with photographs included in them. I believe the second and the last are the most effective because of the scary red texture across the front of Francesca’s face. I am going to continue editing these posters until I active the best outcome I can.

Poster Drafts

Analysis of a collection of horror film posters

From these horror film posters I have found that there is a very dark tone throughout them all. The dark and often black back ground helps to communicate the genre well. I feel the most effective colour for the title on these posters is red. I think this because the colour red connotes evil and danger again relating to the genre of the film. The red colour also helps to look prominent on the black background of the poster. The scratched and often ‘dripping’ or ‘elongated’ effect of some of the letters in some titles help to create a spooky effect to promote the film.

I believe every image on these images used has been edited to create a surreal or spooky effect. I plan to edit my image on Photoshop, however I am going to use a screen grab from my trailer to do this so the two products relate directly.

The text in these posters often includes come text or a quote that helps to incise and tease the public to tease the film. The also include important information such as the release date, which is often in a different colour, the actors included in the film, and the name of the film. Along the bottom of the posters there are small logos of the production company, I plan to include my production logo which I have created myself.

Plot Synopsis

Before I could continue in the making of my media product I had to distinguish a synopsis to help me story board my trailer. The plot synopsis for The Terror is as followed:

Isobella is a girl who never had the chance to grow up. Her paranormal spirit lives in envy of her older sister Francesca who survived the fatal car crash. Ever since her death, Isobella has wanted revenge on her sister, as she feels she has been forgotten. On Francesca’s 18^th birthday, she celebrates with a group of friends by having a camping trip. Isobella follows and plans to take her revenge whilst alone in the forest.

I didn’t want to give too much away in my plot synopsis because I wanted to keep ambiguity within my project, as I found through my research that many horror films use ambiguity in their marketing strategies and sometimes in promotional material to do well as the potential audience for the film are not aware what the film is about, this could mean that they will see the film because they are curious about what happens.

Logo size and background

Here I have captured the film production logos whilst being show in horror film trailers. I have decided to look closely at the text size and how big the logo is in relation to the trailer screen size as a whole. I feel this research will help create a professional looking beginning to my trailer.

In relation to size in these screen grabs, the production logo is always centred, and it is also the only thing featured on the screen at that time so that all the focus is on it.

Looking at all of these production logos I have found that my favourite,  in terms of how it looks , are the Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema logos. I like the effect of the black and white clouds behind the logo as I think this looks spooky and is conventional of my genre.

Below is two mock up of how I want my film production logo to look in my trailer.