Draft 2
The masthead, Total Film, instantly tells you what the magazine is about. The title "Film" has connotations of Family, warmness, comfort and fun, which tells the targeted audience that
the magazine is about the film and cinema without having to read any of the content. The
masthead is a bold sans serif big and white font to stand away from the dark
background and to look modern and with Time rather than a more traditional
look. The target audience are males and females aged 15 – 20 and interested in the film industry so the masthead has to be easy to read, modern, and bold so it looks more
appealing to the TA. They have used a display serif font as the main cover like many
magazines, linking to other genre conventions, but because of the unique white font they have used its played out clear and easy for potential readers to view. There target audience
wants to instantly pick up the magazine and recognise it by its name just and font alone. The masthead is placed behind the image to, not only show more of the main actor, but also
indicate a certain professionalism toward the viewers and by-passers and to show they are a well know mature brand of magazine.
With the image, the colour palette consists
of dark blacks and browns with the orange hair and pale skin being the thing catching the audience’s eyes. This links and ties in with the rest of the palette through the purples and darker colours throughout. The pale white face links to the main cover lines and the colour white which all connote to cleanliness and pureness, which overall gives a positive outlook on a single glance of the cover.
The layout bursting with content and looks almost cramped. The overall design looks quite stylish and looks quite boastful. The layout shows more of the Image on the right, leaving room for the main cover line and secondary cover lines on the left. The target audience can be
attracted to this layout because of the broken down text blocks and the recognisable large scale image of Alice.
The main image catches the target audience's Eyes because of the recognisable
character on the front. The character appeals to a whole new
audience who like Alice in wonderland or whoever features on the front of the cover.
It Is a mid shot so the readers can view enough of the body and costume to recognise the character. If it were a Long shot you would not be able to tell who
the Character is straight away, the same way if it was a close up the reader may be uncertain what the image tells them. The way he is looking directly at the camera
uses direct address with the target
audience getting their own personalised experience. The target audience will want to know why
the character featured on the cover is there so they will pick it up and buy the magazine.
The main cover line is white to stand out from the dark purple background.
It is serif to get a more traditional look. It would change due to
the film featured on the cover and based on the fantasy theme the font used is the serif one. The targeted audience will like it because it is not
hard to read and the audience would want to read it with ease. This is why the main cover line is white and serif. The audience will also not want to read extended statements that dwell on unspecific information so the text is kept short for ease of reading. Its clear and to the point and to the
point to see whilst still having the information they need to get across. Some
connotations of the style of serif are formal, traditional, informative and
stylish.
Some of the other features include a bar
code, price, date and website. The bar code is placed on the right just above
from the middle. It is also not a huge size which may mean they wanted the
Image to be big and show it all off.
The masthead
Empire has many connotations such as in power, top tier and a community suggesting
that the reader is in power and in charge. There target Audience Will appeal to
this because they like to take control and be empowered. The colour Red used is
easy on the eye and goes well with the dark background; red has connotations of
royalty power, passion and danger. Which will appeal to the majority of the
target Audience because if they watch films they have probably watched horrors,
thrillers and intense films which all links back with the conations and colour
of the masthead. They have used a very overpowering font that is clear to see.
The serif, bold and modern font all link to what the magazine provides. The
magazine provides info on the latest movies and in time films which relates to
the in time modern typography they’ve used for the masthead.
For their colour pallet they’ve used some darks
browns, blacks and bashes to add the mystery of the whole Sherlock Holmes
title. Blacks and dark colours have connotations of: death, evil, mystery, formalness and power.
All these can in some way link back to the masthead. Browns have connotations
of earthy, warm, stability and home
The layout is very showbiz and Hollywood with the roll
of film just bellow half way down the page. These show snapshots of the most
exciting bits of the latest films. Their target audience will appeal to this
because they want to have sneak peaks and exclusives. The layout as a whole
with the main piece of writing being below the film roll, the light brown block
behind the main image stating “massive winter preview” and the new films right
at the bottom of the page all contribute the overall intense layout of the
cover
The main image is a mid shot probably to show off the
characters costume and still to leave enough room also for the film roll
featuring less important films that are not the main focus for this issue of
“Empire”. The main image is covering the masthead; this shows that they are
confident the unique font, colour and style of the masthead will be
recognizable in the shops. The facial and body expressions of the recognizable
actor tell you the film are a serious, action and a good vs. evil film. The
image uses direct address to engage the TA and make it more personal. The main
image also shows, with the costume, that the move is not set in the modern era.
This contrasts from the masthead, which is modern, and serif.
The main cover line is very clear to see due to the fact that it is the
light brown colour used for the light brown block in the top left. This is to
link together the magazine. The text below the film roll is white which has
connotations of purity, cleanliness and innocence, which is a huge contrast to
the dark black background. They have cleverly highlighted the main pieces of
writing again with the light brown colour to show that it all links back with
different elements of the cover.
Some other features included in the cover are a bar
code, website and quote that states “The Worlds Biggest Movie Magazine” which
impresses their target audience and is saying if you where to get a movie/film
magazine this would be the one to get. It also looks good ageist all the other
film magazines.
Draft 1
The poster of the 2015 Poltergeist film is obviously a horror because of
the fact that the poster itself connotes to; fear, horror, ghosts and children mainly due to the fact that there there is a clown on the front. The poster is represented as a horror, which
is quite easy to tell because in it follows all the genre conventions of a
horror film. E.G; the darkened image on the front, the white title, how they
have included red in the image with the hair and make up of the clown doll, hat there is a clown on the front staring at the viewer which uses direct
address and also the title itself. The mid-close up shot of the clown is the
only image the viewer is seeing, this could be because clowns have a bad
representation is the world of horror, people commanly fear clowns likely because of film IT. The layout of the poster is quite empty and filled with the black dark space;
I think they’ve done this on porpoise because it is the unknown and if you
cannot see what’s there for half the image that makes for a very uncomfortable
and edgy start when you first look at the poster. The clown if you look closely
is muddy and battered which makes the viewer want to know why and hooks the
audience in as dirt and/or mud coyotes to old, used and forgotten. It also is a significant feature to the poster as a whole because
it gives off an edgy and uncertain vibe throughout the whole poster. All the
text is at the bottom of the page. This is because when the public look at the
poster their eyes will instantly go to the middle or the top of the page, they
would have to at least scan though the whole poster to get the name of the film
and date. The only piece of text that is not the title or the credits is the
“#WhatAreYouAfraidOf” tagline which is at the bottom of the page. This is a
rememberable tagline to have, also to have it as a hashtag is a creative way to
promote the film on social media. It tells us that the film and their creators are capable to keep up with the trends and will involve a whole other population. They use the red colour for the date only because it is made to stand
out from the black background and draws peoples attention straight to the main buck of the writing. It is key information about the film so
they have highlighted it for the viewer to read with ease. The colour pallet follows the genre conventions
of most horrors; black, white and red. They used/included red in the doll
clowns hair and makeup and also at the bottom of the poster, the release date.
White is used in the credit block and the title and the colour black is used to
cover up half of the clown doll in the image. Picking the colours apart, red
connotes to; danger, blood, fire and destruction. Black has connotations of:
mystery, unknown and fear. And I think the white is used purely to stand out
from the black background but also has conations of: faith, purity
and light. So maybe white is used in this case to give the reader hope or a
light at the end of the tunnel. There are no props other than what looks like a red rope around the clown’s
neck, which may link again to death. The clown doll also looks sinisterly happy on the
front, which makes the viewer uncomfortable and fearful. The expression has a negative effect on the viewer as the direct eye contact They have used a
mid-close up shot on the clown’s face they also use direct address to reach out
to the reader. Its eye level and has a fearful effect on the audience. The
lighting is used in contrast between the dark shadow on the right hand side and
the pale lifeless face on the clown. I think the audience is meant to focus on
the face of the clown because that is where the contrast is between the dark
background and pale face. The title of the film itself, “Poltergeist”, tells
the viewer that the film is a horror about the unnatural and unknown which
links back to the fear of unknown again. It is a wide stretched title that
gives you the horror element and vibe.
The opening scene depicts
a young boy lying in his bed with his eyes wide open with what the viewer is
led to presume, a face full of fear. This would link to the doll seen on the
poster, which connotes to children. This also seems to be set at night, which
holds true to connotations of fear and the unknown. The high angle shot indicates
that the boy is powerless and hopeless.
The build up consists of having
the young boy look down the staircase with lights flashing on and off. The
music plays a huge part as it builds until the drop. Here they have used a high
angle shot and an over the shoulder shot to let us see what he is seeing and to
exaggerate the horror and fear factor in the shot. Also the fact that its quite
hard to make out what’s at the bottom of the stairs which adds to the mystery. It also makes the viewer ask questions about it. Another frame shows when the viewer is
meant to get a thrill or a jump scare. This shot is a low angle shot and the
mother behind her is out of focus, this is because the viewer needs to be
asking questions all throughout the whole trailer, this is also because if the
background is out of focus, then your eyes are drawn on the screaming girl and
her expressions. This part, in my personal opinion, is the part that looks
si-fi to me. This is the entrance to the other dimension full of ghosts and
demons. Pair this with the font used to show off the hash tag
‘WhatAreYouAfridOf.’
