Magazine Draft

This is the draft for our film magazine. We decided to use this font and colour scheme because it is similar to the magazines that we researched. We decided against having lots of text because it would over crowd it and also distract away from the main feature of the magazine, which is our film. This was important as our brief is to promote the film we are creating. Also we thought that it would be better to advertise the actress rather than the character's name because we would be covering an interview with her. However, we are still undecided about whether to have a picture of the character or the actress. Although the interview is with the actress, we could be giving an insight to the film by showing the character on the front and also this does happen on real magazines. We thought that it would be difficult to show whether the actress is in character or not because the film will be contemporary so the character wont really be wearing anything that is out of the norm so even if she was dressed as the character, it would be hard to tell if she actually is the actress or the character.

Production Logo

This is the logo we have created on power point for our production company. We decided that this colour scheme was appropriate because we are making a thriller. This is also why we chose to use a close up image of some cats eyes. The name "Night View" also has a link to the genre of thriller/horror as it suggests something dark and mysterious. Hopefully when we add it to our trailor, we will be able to animate it somehow, but we have not yet decided how we will do this.

Institution Company Research

Paramount Pictures is often associated with films such as "No Strings Attached" which is a rom-com, "I Love You, Man" which is a comedy and the up and coming "Hugo" which is a family film. Although it seems to be associated with quite light hearted films, Paramount also has films such as "Paranormal Activity 3" and "What lies beneath" which is a thriller. Dispite this, if someone was to ask me what kind of films Paramount are associated with, I would have said Rom-coms or comedy films rather than thrillers. Our group will probably not use Paramount as our institution as we would like something more horror/thriller based. Last year in our AS coursework we used Paramount for our Rom-Com film opening so this would not be very appropriate for our coursework this year.

Hammer Films are famous for horror/gothic films and is most recognised for their production of "Dracula" and "The Woman in Black". This could be a good company to consider for our production because we are creating a thriller/horror. However, this institution seem to be more pushed towards the horror genre and we should probably look more towards some thriller based company as this is what our film is mostly. If we was going to be making an old style black and white horror, this company would be ideal.

This company seem to produce more thriller based films and their website opens with a slide show of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" , "Johnny English Reborn" and "Senna". These are all thrillers of some kind which makes this institution will probably be more suitable for our film than the other two.

Target Audience research results

These are the results from our questionnaire in graph form - we allowed our focus group to select more than just one answer on several of the questions: 

 This graph is useful because we planned to create a thriller in the first place, so these results were pleasing to see because it means now that we are targeting the right audience. These responses also tell us that in fact, we will be targeting girls more than we are boys as the majority of girls seem to prefer to watch thrillers and horrors where as the boys's responses are more varied.

 Surprisingly the responses to this question were equal, both genders preferred to have a male "hero" in their films. Perhaps this could be because, for boys it is someone to aspire to, and for girls someone to be their "prince charming". Dispite the results for this question, we will be casting our main character as a girl, but she is more of a victim than a hero, even though the story is based around her. This means that we wont be going against what our target audience want.

All of the girls who answered our questionnaire liked the main characters of a film to be of similar age, whilst the boys answers were again, more vairied. However, still the majority of the boys liked the characters to be their own age. When asked why this was, the general consensus was that the characters are easy to relate to and that they were able to imagine themselves in similar situations easier than they could if it is someone a different age.

Most people we asked wanted an ending which they weren't expecting in a film. This is probably because it adds excitement and also includes the audience with the film more because they have to think about what has already happened and link it to the ending. For some people this can make a film more enjoyable.

Film Magazine Research

This magazine cover appears to be quite crowded. There is a lot of writing all around the picture of "Wolverine". Although each section of text is not a lot of writing individually, there is still a lot crammed onto the front page. However, each block is separated by a thin white line and also the font alternates between white and black. The font is large and easy to read making it stand out against the vivid blue background. The title of the magazine stands out because it is in red and also in capital letters, and although the middle letter of the word is covered by Wolverine, the title is still understandable, either because it is a well known magazine, or just because the font is clear and easy to read. This magazine has the typical conventions of a magazine, including a bar code, issue date, issue number and price. Empire also advertises it's own website under the title of the magazine. The series of bold and large texts makes the front cover stand out. Also the fact that Wolverine is in the centre of the page and no other writing covers his body or face emphasises that this feature is the main feature of the magazine in this issue. This picture of "Wolverine" is an example of the intra-diegetic gaze as he is not looking out towards the reader, he seems to be looking at something behind and above us, presumably inside the text.

This issue of "Total Film" differs to the issue of "Empire" above for many reasons.  There is hardly any writing on the front of this magazine in comparison to the one above and also it covers the actor Johnny Depp, who although is in costume as Willy Wonka it has his real name next to him in bold. This could suggest that the feature could be an interview of the actor about playing the character, or just a review of his performance as the famous Willy Wonka. The font of this magazine is mostly white and grey which stands out against the greens, reds and purples of the photograph behind them. The fact that the writing covers the picture rather than going around the outside such as the "Empire" cover above, could be because the picture is such a close up, that there would be little else place for the writing to go without making it look cramped. However, it could be argued that Johnny Depp is so well known, it doesn't matter that writing covers him as we will still know who he is. However, is Hugh Jackman as Wolverine not equally as famous? This picture shows an example of the direct address (or extra-diegetic) gaze, as Johnny Depp seems to be looking out at the reader.

This cover of "Premiere" is different to a lot of film magazines as their titles tend to be in red or white. However, this issue is in blue along with a selection of text on the cover. The blue would make the magazine stand out on the shelf as it is a brighter colour and also it subverts the expectations, making people more likely to at least look at it for longer than they usually would. Again, although the picture is of Peter Parker in his black Spiderman outfit, the writing underneath "SPIDER-MAN 3" suggests that the interview is with the actor, rather than a review. This picture is another example of the direct address (or extra-diegetic)  gaze as Toby Maguire is also looking out of the frame and out at the reader. This may intice the audience to pick up the magazine which is all part of the marketing and advertisement.

"The Gaze"

According to Jonathan Schroeder : 'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view'. The media constructs the actor's/actress's body and position for the pleasure of people who are watching the films. This is often in a sexual way because people feel less ashamed of doing so in a cinema as the people are around them are not aware it is happening.

Theorists identified lots of different forms of "the gaze" and this is not only in film, but also in photographs, television and other forms of art.

• the spectator’s gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person in the text.
• the intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one person at another within the world of the text - this is often portrayed as a point of view shot in film and television.
• the direct address (or extra-diegetic) to the viewer: the gaze of a person shown in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the person watching the film or reading the magazine.
• the look of the camera - the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people pictured.

The Gaze on British women’s magazines:

Chocolate Box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, warm bath warmth, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.

Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.

Super-smiler: full face, wide open toothy smile, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, ‘look-at-me’ demanding, the hard sell, ‘big come-on’ approach.

Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification created to include male and female ‘two-somes’; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible ‘available’ and definitely ‘available’.
 
Male facial expressions in women’s ads

There are fairly direct parallels with the above - the carefree, practical, seductive, comic and catalogue. The other two male expressions selected as types - the thoughtful and the self-reliant - have similarities to the female introverted and cool, though the thoughtful is far less introverted and the self-reliant more smug than aloof or reserved, but there are no counterparts to the narcissistic or kittenlike.

This research will help our group decide how we want our actress to look out on the audience as it has given me a better idea of what sort of expressions can mean different things. We don't want her to look romantic or sexual, nor do we want the "Chocolate Box" look. The point of the magazine will to be to both sell  the magazine and to promote the film so we will probably go for a "Super-smiler" or an "Invitational" look for the magazine. Of course, this will depend on whether we decide to have the actress as herself on the front cover, or in character because this will change how she looks out on the audience. For example, if we keep her in character, it may be more effective to have her looking at something within the text rather than "out of the frame". On the other hand, having the character look "out of the frame" could make the character seem more real and as we are creating a thriller, this could work to our advantage.

First Poster Draft

Baring in mind the research, we created a draft of the poster we would like to try and create by using images off the internet. Obviously when we make our real poster we will be taking the photographs ourselves but this would give us a better idea of what it will look like rather than drawing it out.

We haven't included a tag line or our main actresses name yet because we do not know for sure who it is going to be, nor what the tag line is yet. We will also add a date for when the film is out. Choosing the font for the title was difficult as we all had our own ideas. Eventually we chose this font from the website "Dafont" but that may change when we create our own poster as this is only a print screen and the quality was not that good as we also had to recolour it. Below is a picture of the fonts we short listed so that we could decide what font we wanted to use.



Target Audience research

As a group we have decided that we want to make the target audience age of people similar to our own age. This is because we know a lot about this age group from experiencing it first hand. To research further into this we have created a questionaire to hand out to about 20 people to get a wide range of answers.

These questions should help us to develop our plot further, because although we already have a rough idea, these questions will help finalise our ideas and also help us to know if we are meeting the demands of our consumers.

I have printed out 20 of these questionairres and we are going to be giving 10 to a group of boys and the remaining 10 to a group of girls. This will make our research more reliable and helpful so that we can understand fully who our target audience is.

Film Posters - Further research

This poster stands out when you look at it because of it's simplicity.What makes the poster stands out is the black background which causes the picture of Earth in the centre of the page to stand out due to the vivid colour of it. The orangy/reds from a distance look like lava which we know is at the centre of the Earth so it does imply perhaps something post- apocalyptic as the orange is only around the bottom area of the Earth. On closer inspection, the "lava" is in fact numbers written in strange handwriting; this implies that there is going to be some kind of code throughout the film.The white of all the text also makes it stand out against the background and the orange glow around the title draws your eye towards it.Also what makes the text stand out is the font that has been used. The font is simple and looks almost like it is computer data which adds to the idea of a code being used in the film. The individual letters of each word are spaced out quite a bit which adds impact, especially to the name Nicolas Cage along the top of the poster. This is because he is the leading actor and so this should draw in an audience who likes his acting. The title of the film does not take up much space of the poster but as there is not much else on the poster, it is still eye-catching as it is only one word so it makes an impact on it's audience. There is also a tag line under the title which reads "what happens when the numbers run out?" This links to the numbers at the bottom of the Earth and also as it is a rhetorical question it draws the audience in and confirms suspicions that something bad could happen to the world in which we live in.

This thriller poster also stands out mostly due to the colour scheme. Again we have the black background, white font and some vivid colour, this time it is a bright red slash down the middle of the poster which suggests an element of danger.The photograph of Cameron Diaz is a kind of sepia tone which makes it seem like an old photograph. The title "The Box" stands out because it is white and also because the word "Box" is in bold. This suggests that this box will be the element of change/ reason why everything happens in the film.Although you cannot see it in this picture, there is also Cameron Diaz's name along the top of the poster in very similar fashion to that of the poster above. This is for the same reason, to draw in an audience, although she is very famous and the picture on the poster is clearly her. We are not told who the man in the hat is at the bottom of the screen, and perhaps we never do find out. This could be why he is so small on the poster and why his name is not mentioned anywhere. Similarly also to the "Knowing" poster is a tag line underneath the title. This time it reads in red "You are the experiment" although not a rhetorical question, it still includes the audience because of the pronoun "you", and the red implies danger which will hopefully make the audience want to know what bad things are going to happen, and also that it could actually happen to them.



This poster, although it does not follow the same colour scheme as the other two posters above, it still stands out because of the colours that it does use. There is still a lot of darks contrasting with whites. For example, his suit against her coat and the brightness behind both of them. The title of this film "Derailed" although they seem to be placed at a train station, it also holds connotations of going mad, which could suggest the thriller genre and produces a sense that something more than what is implied will happen in this film. Also supporting this is the vulnerability of the woman who seems to be pushing into the man, perhaps as a form of protection. This poster also shows the names of the important actors who are staring in this film, again, to attract an audience. The tag line for this film is not under the title like it is in the other posters, but in the corner : "They never saw it coming." this could be foreshadowing something that is going happen. It also acts as a kind of warning to the audience who probably wont see the twist in the film coming either; this would encourage people to watch the film. 

This research will help to design our own poster as it has shown me the conventions of a good thriller film  poster. I will try to stick to all of these as I want it to look as professional as possible. From this research I have learnt that we will probably have white font with a dark background and that it is important to have the actor's/acress's name along the top.

Film Narrative

As a group we had to make a presentation about film narrative, for my part of the presentation, I wrote about Todorov's theory

Coursework discussion

Today we decided on which genre and story we wanted to base our trailer, poster and film magazine cover on, but this decision did not come easily.

To begin with we wanted to do something that we thought no one else would really chose to do, a tragedy of some kind. However, we couldn't really come up with a good enough storyline that we all agreed on. Some of us wanted to avoid love, and some of us thought it would be better to include it. In the end we decided that a good tragedy would include a child or some kind of death. Our problems were that we didn't know a child that we knew would do a good job, and we would have had to have made the actors probably a lot older than ourselves, and we didn't know any adults that would be willing to act for us. The fact that our actors/actresses will be young teenagers will automatically mean that some or most of our target audience will have to be of similar age because they can relate to them. Another problem we had was that we couldn't really think of a story sad enough.

Eventually we decided to change our genre to horror/thriller which we decided would make a better trailer as it allows us to build suspense and we can use people our own age without necessarily changing the target audience. However, this also brought about problems as we then couldn't think of anything really clever as we want to make sure that our film isn't just an ordinary horror film. We brainstormed many ideas and eventually decided on a plot and also which clips from the film we want to include in the trailer.

Overall, I'm glad we finally came to a decision and I am happy with what we are doing, but I feel like we could have made the tragedy work if we put enough thought into it. To me, there still seems something a bit obvious about our plot but we should be able to make it exciting and hopefully make people want to watch the film.

Film Poster Research

About a Boy

The film "About a Boy" is previously a novel by Nick Hornby and is sort of a "coming of age" film as it follows both a young boy Marcus and a bachelor Will. They don't know each other but meet by chance, and Marcus who is having trouble at home with a suicidal mother and bullying at school, takes a liking to Will and invites himself round his house every now and then. They both help each other through situations and teach each other different sorts of things as their characters are nearly opposites. The target audience would be people who knew the book, and also it is a feel good film, perhaps aimed at adults and onwards, mostly women but in some aspects men as it is from a male point of view.

The main feature of this poster is shared between the eye catching photograph and the bold title. The picture shows half of both of the two stars faces, and the boy is looking up at the man, which could suggest that he looks up to the sort of person he is, this links into the story line as Marcus does idolise Will in the film. The title is red, which could imply some sort of danger about the boy, perhaps not physical danger, but a danger of upsetting a current life style. The large picture of Hugh Grant is also part of targeting the women audience as many find him attractive, and he often plays the part of an awkward man who women seem to fall in love with. The boy with him also suggests that he has a son and the title just using the noun "boy" could imply that there is a certain detachment between them. This creates a mystery of the plot, thus making the audience want to see the film because there is not a clear plot give away from this poster as we don't know if they are father and son; there is also the question of exactly what about the boy? 

Under Hugh Grant's name on the poster, there is also the name of some other noted actors/actresses which tells the audience who else is in the film, which would encourage people to go and see the film if they like those particular actors. Similar to this is at the top of the poster is the names of other films produced by the same production team. This gives the audience an idea of what sort of film it is going to be which whilst it can attract an audience, equally, it could steer some audiences away as they know that they don't like these sorts of films.

The poster also boasts a quote of "the best British movie of the year" which could persuade audiences to want to see it  as if something is meant to be good, more people are likely to see it if it has good reviews. The age rating on the front of this also could change the audience because as it is a 12A people will know that it's not going to have loads of violence, sex or swearing in it. The age rating may give people the wrong idea as well because the plot is quite an adult idea, so maybe not all younger people would understand the deeper message within the film, and on the other hand, people may think that the film is going to be too childish and don't go to see it.