Flat Plans: Film Poster and Magazine Front Cover

                                                                1st Draft Film Poster

As a first draft of my film poster, i was impressed with my initial product. The masthead positioned at the top of my poster is eye catching in a deep crimson colour. The typography incidentally resembles the colour of blood, a tool used common generic representation of horror posters. Additionally, I used the blur tool on Photoshop to make the writing look like it was running down the canvas. This would make the iconic imagery of blood look even more present and attract the target audience to the poster.  Furthermore, the slogan "School's Out. Forever" was a clever play on the Alice Cooper 1972 hit. This slogan also pointed out the possible setting of said film, suggested further by an image of a unknown figure in a hood jacket, which encourages a sinister edge to the poster.

                                                            

                                                            1st Draft Magazine Front Cover

In the development of my first magazine front cover draft, i have realised that the main image is too similar to the my poster and would be better suited for my horror poster. When advertising horror films on a magazine front cover, there tends to be either a close up or mid close up shot of either the protagonist or antagonist or both in some instances. This generic convention of magazine front covers is more likely to attract my target audience towards my magazine front cover. Additionally, the background colour in the mise en scene of my front cover is too bright from natural lighting. and as a result will not evoke a sinister image to audiences that is associated with the generic representation of horror. The lighting also pulls focus away from the masthead positioned at the top of the page, and the subheadings on either side of the page. The subheadings looks overlapped in a scruffy fashion and this consequently demotes the illusion that this magazine front cover is anything like the generic representation of the film magazine

Although, the tight frame of the main image does, to some extent, keep up the feeling of isolation and looks a bit threatening by casting a shadow in the mise en scene.

                                                             2nd draft on Photoshop

The background colour the front cover in purple does not evoke any kind of fear or horror associated with this. The background colour in the mise en scene needs to be black or red, a colour scheme generically represented by horror. The font, particularly in the subheading, does not particularly have any difference to the masthead. I need to find two or three different fonts to use for the subheadings in order to make the page look distinct and striking to the naked eye of my target audience. The subheading on the right is in too much length  my market research into magazine covers has shown that less is more when it comes to the designs of magazine front covers.

Target Audience

The target audience of my film are predominately male, a typical generic representation of horror fans. My magazine is aimed at a niche horror fan audience, fitting the explorer psychographic as my trailer, which merges with the similar target audience of social realist genre of bullying and anti-social behaviour which i will be exploring in my horror trailer. My target audience for my trailer and poster will be specifically 16+ because the classification of my trailer will be 15. More so, the demographic group that is my primary target audience is Group E, students and /or the unemployment. I will be careful in the production stage of my magazine and my trailer especially not to portray my particular target audience group negatively in order to make the magazine more appealing to my target audience.

Additionally, unlike conventional horror films which target a particular cultural group I would aim to have a culturally diverse target audience.

         

    Classification Certification of Trailer

15 YEARS OR OLDER(preferably 16-18+) Moderate generic representation of violence and drugs of an explicit nature, not to the extent where drug use and violence is generically represented in glamour.

Horror Poster Analysis: Codes and Conventions

The Horror genre typically has:

Primary target audience – male, 16-24, This is because statistically, adolescent males happen to be the mainstreamer psychographic of audience appeal when it comes to the violence and gore explored in generic horror films in comparison to an older audience demographic or woman.

15 or 18 Certification  – debates on passive consumption as content in horror film can often have purposely explicit content which arguably is considered too controversial for anyone to watch anyway, whether it be a middle-aged couple watching various horror film in an Alfred Hitchcock movie marathon whom are in the resigned psychographic,  or a 17 year old girl watching a horror movie on television in the Group E student/unemployed demographic.

Extensive use of Narrative enigmas - Examples a conventional enigmatic feature in horror film is the antagonist is not viewed largely, and if he/she is, their face is not shown in excess or even at all. Prime examples are the antagonists Leatherface and Jason Voorhees from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Friday the 13th series.

Slow pace of Editing, builds tension. Long takes - this gradually build the climate of fear or abnormal occurances that may affect the equilibrium of the narrative diegesis. 

Split into sub genres (see below), often hybridised into fused genres like the comedy horror genre in The Scary Movie series, which is a parody(imitation of art, literature, film or other media for comical effect) in itself based on the Scream series, which is another parodical horror film uses exploits the generic storylines and archetypal characters in conventional horror films. Another example is psychological horror thrillers like the Hannibal series, or else science-fiction horror like The Thing(1982+2011) or 1998 film The Faculty(analysis viewed below)

I have decided as part of my trailer to explore aspects of crime drama with my horror trailer as I wanted to explore the theme of extreme antisocial behaviour in my trailer, outlining realistic themes that have been explored in previous year in the history of cinematic horror through films such as Carrie(1973+2013), Tormented(2009).

Film Poster analysis - Crime Drama Codes + Conventions

Crime Drama typically have:

• constructed realities 
• social realism aspects(Bullying, rape, sensitive issues) 
• represent social attitudes to crime concerning law enforcement, victims of crime, perpetrators and witness to crime. Often Todorov's equilibrium narratives revolve around a 'Whodunit' scenario
• stereotypical representations(criminals, police officers etc)
• use distinct props like weapons, police cars, uniformed police officers
• Victims of crime (ordinary, usually innocent until proven guilty)

The main generic conventions of these crime dramas movie posters is that they usually explore through the visual hierarchy in a master shot which shows the stereotype of young people being involved in crime through the mise en scene. Arguably, crime dramas are a  microcosm of the criminality of young people, specifically in depraved communities or 'ghetto' settings. The target audience of crime dramas, much like horror fans, are largely the student demographic group e whom are part of the explorer psychographic, preferably 16-25, but has been known to attract audiences in their thirties additionally. This may be because, fitting the Users and Gratifications subsection of personal identity and relationships, many viewers can relate to the themes of the film because the consumers are young themselves and will therefore find it appealing.

I have decided as part of my trailer to explore aspects of crime drama with my horror trailer as I wanted to explore the theme of extreme antisocial behaviour in my trailer through bullying, outlining realistic themes that have been explored in previous years in the history of cinematic horrors through inspiring films such as Carrie(1973+2013), Tormented(2009).   

What kind of media institution might distribute my product?

I have done research on publishing houses that would be the idealist publishing media group for the institution of my horror magazine. In doing so, I have started to evaluate the PROS and CONS of using these publishing houses for my upcoming horror magazine.

A subsidiary company of the large US based publishing corporation Time Inc., IPC Media is the UK's leading consumer and digital media publisher with over 60 iconic brands that vary from LOOK Magazine to NME to Super Yacht World.  

PROS

With a monthly intake of 25 million viewers on their consumer websites as well as attracting two-thirds of UK women and 42% UK men, their advertising can be advantageous to increase a consumer's magazine intake. The opportunity to be part of a publishing house like IPC would be mutually beneficial for both the publisher as well as the consumer product(synergy).  The large UK based conglomerate that is IPC would create more opportunities for convergence like advertisements, as well as funding for media product in addition.

CONS

Working with a large conglomerate can mean constriction of information, which may reduce target audience appeal to my media product.

  - Time Warner is a large multinational publishing company that own Entertainment Weekly. The magazine Entertainment weekly covers popular culture and so the Scream feature in the issue above is more likely to attract a niche audience of horror as well as a mainstream demographic of magazine readers. 

PROS
Having Entertainment Weekly being backed by a large US based media institution like Time Warner can be advantageous for example as the magazine has more funding, and the mutual benefit of advertising for Time Warner will attract more people to the magazine as well as the publishing company- an example of synergy.

CONS
The disadvantage is that being part of a large conglomerate may constrict Entertainment Weekly from being independent and divulge in user generated content.

Checklist

7th January 2013
 Complete Filming - Subsection of Production Stage

Shoot all shots for trailer

• Download all shots to use for editing - DONE
• Select all shots to use for editing - DONE
• Start Editing - DONE

18th January 2013

Complete Research and Planning Stage

• Complete film poster analysis - DONE
• Complete magazine front cover analysis - DONE
• Complete flat plan for magazine front cover - DONE
• Complete Flat Plan for film poster - DONE
• Take pictures for magazine front cover - DONE
• Take pictures for film poster - DONE
• Analyse images taken for film poster - DONE
• Analyse images taken for magazine cover - DONE

 17th February 2013
   Complete Production Stage

• Complete Editing
• Complete Magazine Front Cover
• Record Summary of progress in producing Magazine Front Cover
• Complete Film Poster
• Record Summary of progress in producing Film Poster
• Record Video Response to Film Poster
• Record Video Response to Magazine Front Cover
• Record summary of progress in Production Stage

28th March 2013
 Complete Evaluation

• Plan responses to questions - DONE
• Write answers to questions
• Review RESEARCH and Planning Stage
• Review Production Stage
• Add additional plenary for examiner about progress in Advanced Portfolio

Audience Front cover analysis + Publishing research

I analysed this magazine front cover as the cover was a representation of a generic conventional horror magazines. This magazine (Fangoria) is likely to attract a mainstream (psychographic) of horror fans. Notably, the horror factor is reinforced on this magazine - entitled Fangoria - front cover by the stream of images positioned at the bottom of the page. My analysis tells me that for my planning and production stage of my magazine front cover I will need to use some typical layout format that indicates that my product adheres to the generic conventions of horror. Typically, a horror magazine features a close up shot or a mid close up shot of a central character in a horror movie. The top of the page is where the mastheads will be centred, usually accompanied a by a skyline subheading or a slogan. However, this is not always the case as seen by the layout of the Entertainment Weekly which features the subheadings of the magazine at the very top, above the masthead.