Movie Posters Continued...

 As with the covers, I answered questions on posters as well. This was additional poster research, and like the magazine cover, this helped me understand posters, their features & how to lay out my own poster. 

The film poster which I think is the most effective is the ‘Dead Silence’ poster. I think it’s effective because it not only does it use the conventional features of a movie poster, but it uses them in non-conventional way like the others. For example, the text is not just a sans serif font coloured red, but it’s a stylised font, with an effect the makes it look eerie and emphasises the genre of the film. The image used is effective as it draws the audience’s eyes to the center of the poster, the eyes of the ‘puppet’ are looking straight at you, therefore it’s engaging with the audience and gives the audience an idea to what type of horror this film could focus on. The colour of the slogan is conventional as it’s red, which denotes danger, blood and death, which then links back to what is said; ‘YOU SCREAM. YOU DIE.’ The font is also a sans serif font which makes it easier to read which suggests they want people to read it.

Finally the dark background is effect as it gives the poster an element of mystery, especially because you can’t see all of the ‘puppet’ only the bow, top of the collar, face and finger, which suggests these are the key areas which need to be focused on.

Jurassic Park: The most outstanding feature of this poster is the logo. It’s the first thing you see when you first look at it, and is in the trailer and the beginning of the film. It clearly shows what the film will involve, and connotes many things; red background links to the red skies in the Jurassic era, trees at the bottom link to the ‘park’ and the silhouette of a T-Rex skeleton further cements our understanding. It really stands out from the background and I love the font used, it fits the film perfectly.

Silence of the Lambs: For this poster, I think the most outstanding feature is the image, particularly the contrast between the red eyes and the white face and the bug. Both are made clear, which suggests to me that both are more important than the face seeing as the face isn't clear. Because of this I am drawn to the bug and the red eyes, rather than the title.

Dead Silence: For this poster, I think there are two outstanding features, the first being the image and the contrast between the creepy doll and the zombie looking hand, the second being the title & font used. But if I had to choose I would say the title. This is because I think the effects used are outstanding and really effective. It really gives the poster that edge and really shows clearly, the genre of the film. It is also made clear by the dark background, so it jumps out  even more, and the ghostly look relates to the synopsis which states that; ‘Every town as a ghost story…’

Avatar: Finally, the most outstanding feature for the Avatar poster is the colour scheme. There is only one main colour used, and that is blue. All the other posters have different colours, whereas Avatar uses different shades of the one colour, this could be due to the fact that the creatures in the film are blue, and that the one shown on the poster is also blue, which then makes their eye stand out as it’s a light green/ yellow. The title is white with a blue glow around it.

I would change the Avatar poster, but not the rest. Purely because I feel this is the weakest poster as it does not have many of the conventional features of a poster. I would probably add a release date so that people would know when it comes out, billing block with information about the film and a slogan. I have noticed that there is a website in the bottom corner which has more information on the film, and that could be the reason why they decided not to put the main information on the poster, but I feel that the purpose of a poster is to give information about films and is a key part in the advertising of films. This is why I don’t feel the need to change the others as they have enough information for the audience.

Dead Silence & Silence of the Lambs: These are both horror movies, albeit different types of horror, and both use the same colour scheme; red, white & black. This aids the viewer’s understanding about the film as they would have seen horror posters before, and would associate these colours to horror films, for example if they have seen the poster for SAW they would recognise these colours on these two posters, and therefore recognise this as horror. This could also be evident in the fact that Dead Silence was written, directed and produced by the same team that did SAW.

Jurassic Park: The colour scheme for this poster aids the viewer’s understanding of the film as red represents the danger behind the dinosaurs, black represents mystery and power which could link to the strength and power of the dinosaurs, and orange represents energy, fascination, determination. So from these representations people would get the sense that it’s an adventure, thriller and energetic film.

Avatar: The colour scheme of the poster for Avatar is mainly blue & black. Blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, seriousness, trust & loyalty and black represents power & mystery. It could also be perceived as an alien colour and therefore viewers would get the impression that this might be a sci-fi/fantasy film. The representations of the two colours could also aid in their understanding.

Out of all of the posters I have only seen Avatar. The poster does match the film as the creature on the poster is one of the main characters in the film, and also the colour representations sum up the film well, the font is very alien-y and the colours match the surroundings in the film as well as the genre.

Movie Magazine Covers Continued...

 As well as the analysis I did of some movie magazine covers, I also decided to annotate some and answer questions based on them. This is additional research for my posters, the research has really helped me as it's given me a clear idea of what to include on my cover, and how to lay it out.

The conventional elements of the magazine covers are mast head, this is important as it tells the audience/reader what the magazine is called, but also the audience can tell if it’s a good magazine if the title is well known and they recognize the title, font and style. It also relates to the type of content included in the magazine, cover-lines, these are important as they tell the reader what are the main features of the magazine, which celebrities are included, what are the main headlines, they give the reader a reason to buy the magazine, this leads onto unique selling points, these are the features which make the magazine seem unique compared to the other magazines, they’re important as they also give readers a reason to buy the magazine, could be free extras, limited edition covers to collect etc.

Other features include the main images; most covers feature a main image that looks directly at the reader, which is direct mode of address, these then engage with the reader and are important as it backs up the cover-lines, and shows the reader which actor/actress is going to be featured in the magazine, magazine header bars are important as they show the unique selling points, for example on one of the posters ‘DISCOVER SIR SEAN’S BEST FILMS ON DVD!’ Again, gives the reader a reason to buy the magazine, finally puff words are used to make the cover look appealing, and engage with the reader and make them read on, words like ‘EXCLUSIVE!’ and ‘PLUS!’ are used commonly. This emphasis the cover-lines and make the reader want to read these articles in the magazine. 

The magazine cover for Total Film, in my opinion, is the most eye-catching. I say this because the colours used are bright and bold and go well with the background, the look of the mast head is interesting and matches the film mentioned on the cover and looks futuristic, which then links back to the film Inception. Also the films mentioned are quite Sci-Fi, which then links back to the background style. The font used is simple but effective, easy to read, the text is in all caps which suggests that they want to catch the attention of potential readers, also the magazine header bar is very catchy ‘THE MIND-BLOWING ISSUE’ this then suggests to the reader that they have to buy the magazine, and the unique selling points such as ‘TRON – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW’.

I think entertainment weekly has some missing features, for example it’s missing the bar-code, website, price and footer. I think there could be a reason for this, they may have felt that the simple layout is more effective as it draws the readers eye to the main cover lines, and the main feature of the magazine. But I think that there should be a price on the magazine so that readers can see how much it is, also there should be a website so that readers know where to go to find more information and shows convergence like the other magazine covers. I think it also needs cover-lines that show what else is featured in the magazine so that those who don’t have an interest with 50 Shades of Grey will see that they have other things to read. At the moment it’s only appealing to one type of audience, and not to every reader.

Yes, these are shown in the cover-lines. Entertainment Weekly has information on props and costumes from other movies and TV shows, Total Film has information on other film such as comparisons – Shrek 4 vs. Toy Story 3, information on reboots such as Predator, the 27 most mind-blowing movies ever, as information on conventions, actresses from Twilight, first looks at recent films, meet the master of mind flicks and so on, Film Review has information on Lord of the Rings, Empire has information on Titans, Hunger Games, Bourne Legacy, and other films, also promotes the ‘girls of Skyfall’ Additional information is necessary as it allows the cover to appeal to different audiences, it also shows that the magazine as other features and doesn't focus on one topic, shows that they are current and keep up to date with the latest news and information within the film industry. 

I think the Total Film magazine cover can help me design my own cover as it has all the conventional features, the layout it clear, the colour scheme looks effective, and matches the type of films that it’s promoting, the image is effective, and generally looks like the most effective cover. The Empire cover may also help me as they also have most of the conventional features.

Movie Magazine analysis...

In order to plan my front cover, I have decided to do some research and look at professional and popular movie magazines and their covers. After this I will start a paper plan for my own movie magazine, with the help of the research that I have collected here...

Magazine Cover 1 - TOTAL FILM

The first movie magazine cover I'm going to analyse is Total Film. First off is the bold and big mast head. A sans serif font is used to make it clear, the lettering is in all caps, again to emphasise the name of the magazine. The colour used helps it to stand out from the background. Next is the unique selling points, these are things which make the magazine unique, on this magazine cover, the 'freebies' are what makes it unique; the 'FREE GIANT IRON MAN POSTER!' and 'PLUS DANIEL DAY-LEWIS | MEL GIBSON | BLU-RAY SPECIAL'. These are what the readers can get if they buy the magazine. The photo of Johnny Depp is big, so big it overlaps the mast head, this shows that he will be a key feature in the magazine, there is also a sense of direct ode if address, he is looking straight at the reader, therefore engaging with the reader. Next to the image The cover-lines link the image to what is being included in the issue. The cover-lines show what will be included in the magazine, again white used along with a sans serif font which helps bring it forward and not let is get camouflaged by the background. Finally you have media convergence - the website for the magazine is shown on the cover, and you have a cover-price. Additionally, puff words are used; 'FREE' 'PLUS' 'WORLD EXCLUSIVE' These words help emphasise the key features of the magazine, and make it sound interesting to the reader.

Magazine Cover 2  - EMPIRE Magazine

Second cover is from EMPIRE. There is a clear theme going on here, red & grey with white and black. The mast head, again is bold and in all capitals as like the previous cover, a sans serif font is also used so that the readers can understand what it says. Unique selling points are as said above the mast head; 'COEN BROTHERS! LONE RANGER! RYAN GOSLING!' There is also a '32-PAGE COMEDY SPECIAL' as well as additional gossip. These show some of the films and actors that will be included in the issue. The main image of the elves of 'The Hobbit'. They are slightly posed and/or stylised, the one that is drawing his weapon looks to be slightly more significant than the others, all three are looking towards the reader, thus showing direct mode of address, and therefore engaging with the reader. The image then linked to the cover-lines, these show what the main feature of the issue will be, in this case it's 'The Hobbit'. There is also a quote included which is called anchorage, and also shows direct mode of address, and engages with the audience. The font is very fancy, and links to the genre of the film shown. Again, there is media convergence, the website is shown on the front cover, puff words used; 'PLUS' There aren't as many puff words used on this cover, which suggests that because it's a popular magazine, they do not have to emphasise what is featured in their covers, whereas other magazines such as TOTAL FILM which aren't as popular or famous, use as many puff words as they can as they need to make their cover seem unique so that people will buy them. 

From these covers I have come up with a few ideas of how to set up my magazine cover, and what to include. I still need to come up with a name for my magazine, but I think after seeing these two magazines I have a pretty good idea of where I want to take this. Empire is a very good example of a successful movie magazine, that looks good, and doesn't have too much going on, on the cover, whereas magazines such as Total Film need to have slightly more going on as they aren't has mainstream as magazines such as Empire.