Film Magazine Covers and Target Audiences.

When creating a film magazine, we decided to create two instead. Not only did we have too many ideas, but we also thought that we could take advantage of making two as we can target different audiences, making our film product potentially more successful. Because we have chosen to target two different audiences on our film magazine, we have to make sure we fulfil all of their expectations, which meant that the content in the magazine is absolutely essential.

To make sure we were doing the right thing, we had to repeatedly ask for feedback from teachers, family and friends. Although we were pestering others on a regular basis, we still continued as we wanted to achieve the best possible outcome. Feedback was crucial as we had to ensure we were targeting our different audiences appropriately, if this was disregarded, our product would not meet our target audience’s expectations which would also then mean that our film product would fail. I think that we all worked hard asking for advice and comments and we made sure that what they were saying was clear and detailed, giving us a concise idea on what we need to do and/or change, undoubtedly this made our film magazine’s outcome look professional and effective, targeting our 2 audiences well.

Although making two film magazines was more challenging and time consuming, deviating from what most of our classmates did, it was definitely worthwhile. Once the magazine covers were done and polished, we then decided which magazine belonged to which target audience.

The first film magazine cover (below) is to attract the younger target audience ageing 18-25. We came to this decision because as you can see, there are more colours used which is a typical technique used to attract younger audiences. Another reason is because of the main character. The character’s clothing consists of a bloody shirt and vest underneath, both was once crystal white. This suggests that white (which connotes purity and innocence) is now stained by red, body fluid, which emphasises on the fact he can no longer go back and he is now on the side of insanity. More blood is seen on the character’s head and the bat making it clear to our audience that violence would be present and unavoidable in the film product. The use of blood is also a convention that conforms to our crime and gangster genre. We chose the blood-spattered magazine to target the younger audience as it is apparent that more young people are interested in violence and gangs in films. We did not use this cover to target the older audience as all of this violence and blood is (for most) no longer striking for their era. Although this is a very stereotypical way of thinking and deciding, we had to lend our products to the audience that most are interested in, this meant that the minority of the target audiences had to be ignored because not everyone around the same age will have the same way of thinking. The framing of the character is also vital as it is closer to the audience, creating interaction between them. I like the way in which the character’s body is not shown as our main focus on the character was the blood, as that would target our young audience effectively. The font was kept plain, simple and bold (as seen on trailer). We wanted to keep this consistency as it would be professional, noticeable and legible. The extra-diegetic gaze was also used to capture the audience’s attention. The extra-diegetic gaze is where a character looks directly and consciously at the viewer. E.g. looking at the magazine below shows and confirms it. Looking at the magazine cover in more depth, you can see that there are 3 colours which are used frequently; red, white and blue. These colours were used to blend in with the union jack in the background, emphasising that it is a British film and the magazine is also British as the films beside the characters are also British. Looking at the package as a whole, I am very pleased with the outcome as a lot of time and effort was put into it. I am convinced that it targets the younger audience well as the content is effective and striking.

Here is the other magazine (below) which is to attract the older target audience ageing 25-40. There are many reasons as to why we think this. Firstly, the colours are plain and the magazine cover does not look arty, making the older audience interested as it suits their expectations. The extra-diegetic gaze is also used to capture attention and social interaction, making each older individual feel like it is targeting just them. This is a cheap technique that is effective and mainstream. No blood was used as we felt that the older generation would frown upon it and would be uninterested, therefore we wanted to make it look sophisticated. From my research, the older generation are more interested in films such as The Kings Speech and Sherlock Holmes. Although violence is shown in Sherlock Holmes, the characters and storyline are more complex, and death is not usually shown in a gory way. Because we did not want to show blood, we used a different approach to suggest there will be violence in the film. The use of red for the fonts is immediately recognisable and the shovel the character is holding is clear that it is a weapon and not suggesting he is some kind of gardener. I like the way there is a shovel and the title is Grow Your Own, this was a deliberate decision as we wanted to make our title stand out and use something which reflects it and we thought a shovel would do the job well. Unlike the magazine cover for the younger audience, we chose to show the character’s full body, allowing the audience to examine the character themselves. Here, he is wearing a luxurious suit with his blazer buttoned up, top button and tie done up. This makes him look neat, older and more likeable by the older audience.

Overall, I am very happy with both magazine covers as I feel that they both offer something different to the two different target audiences. This was time consuming and stressful but I think it was also rewarding. There are a lot of connotations in each magazine cover making our knowledge for film and media recognisable when targeting audiences.

If I had to choose which magazine cover I liked more, it would be the first one. I find the use of colours very effective and British making it clear that everything inside the magazine is British. I like the framing of the character forcing the audience to observe his sinister face. I think that preferring the first magazine cover is good because that is used to target the younger audience and I am in that age group.

Film Poster.

After we have chosen the best picture for our poster, we began to edit. At first, we did not know how we wanted the outcome to look like, however I insisted to put forward the idea of creating something similar to the poster of Reservoir Dogs’. My reasoning behind this is that I found the red, white and black colour palette arresting. Not only did the black and white create a sense of a film noir style but the splash of red was used to give more effect and symbolised danger and blood, which would also relate effectively to our genre for our target audience. Reservoir Dogs was the only poster I found on the internet the most striking because the colour palette and the genre complement each other well and although it looks plain, I thought it was done effectively and proficiently.

To create something similar to the Reservoir Dogs’, Photoshop was used. Although we had two lessons to have a chance to gain some knowledge and understanding on figuring out how to work Photoshop out, many of us (in the class) still found it hard to achieve certain effects we were hoping for. Fortunately, my group has two members who study Photography at A level, so one was editing the poster and the other, the magazine cover. This benefited us tremendously as it meant that we would not have to spend so much time playing around and worrying. Even though they were doing the editing, the other member and I were watching, taking in what they were saying and giving feedback regularly. As we sit in a row in class, it made communication within the group easier. This also sped up our working progress as I did all the editing on the trailer, one did all the editing on the poster, another did the editing on the film magazine cover, and the other gave critical feedback which made us as a group work harder.

Because our film will be British, we wanted to change the misé-en-scene (background) which would help reflect this. We took the background seriously as it plays a major contribution to our poster. This could only mean that we would have to go London to take some photos of famous landmarks so it would be recognisable. We did not want to keep the background of the run-down estate as it made the characters look disenfranchised, which was not what we wanted them to look like. Luckily, a member went to London with her father for a day out, and took some photos on the way. Therefore it saved us money and time within the group.

She took two shots of well-known landmarks in London – the Millennium Bridge and the Tower Bridge. This is to gain immediate recognition from the audience. Because we have more than one background that could potentially be used, we decided to use both the backgrounds and decide on the best one as a group so we would have more of a variety to choose from.

Firstly she experimented with this picture of the Millennium Bridge that she took whilst in London. We originally thought that this was a well-recognised land mark and could work well as the background for our poster. The original picture was rather dark therefore she had to adjust the Lighting Levels on Photoshop to brighten the picture up and highlight the finer details so they were more visible making the photo look better. 

Once she had copy and pasted the boys onto the London background she then chose to change the colour scale to black and white as it made the picture look a little more realistic. Although she was happy with the outcome of this picture we weren’t fully convinced and were more than sure that she could do better. She knew what kind of effect she was going for in her head and wanted the background to be extremely eye catching, her reasoning for this was because the entire poster was going to be in black and white therefore it really had to stand out to compete with the colour scheme.  She then looked through the shots she took on that day and found a still that she knew would work.

This is the picture we all finally chose to use as the main picture for our background. Our reasoning for this was because the picture was incredibly clear therefore it would be ideal to use when it came to editing. She chose to use a sharp depth of field by reducing the lens aperture to small diameter, this meant the photograph was fully in focus and all minor details remained visible. As it is London Bridge is it incredibly famous worldwide and would be recognised by all audiences, especially the British. We were also very fond of the lighting in this picture and thought the clouds looked very effective. She firstly opened this picture up onto Photoshop and improved the lighting levels by adjusting the input levels. She then opened the picture of the boys onto a separate layer and again adjusted the input levels so the lighting and contrast appeared sharper. By lightening the picture of the boys not only did it look more professional but it also highlighted their facial expressions which would then tie in with the title and genre of the film extremely well. 

She then had to get the picture of the boys to lie on top of the picture of London Bridge. To do this she used the Lasso Tool to cut around the boys and the wall. She ensured that she zoomed in so she was being accurate so she would get a better outcome at the end. Although this was incredibly time consuming it made it easier for her when copy and pasting the cut-out of the boys as she didn't have to adjust it too much. Once we were happy with how she cut around the outline of the boys, she then used the feather tool to soften the edges, she did this by changing the pixel radius to 1, and this meant that the boys would look more realistic when placed onto the London Bridge background. She then pasted them onto the background and used the clone tool to fill in some of the missing colour for example blending in the edges of the boys with the background, again this was really time consuming but all worth it in the end as we were all satisfied with the outcome.

Once she had copy and pasted the boys onto the background of London Bridge she then chose to experiment with the colour scale. She chose to change the picture to black and white as this made the overall picture look more realistic as well as effective. Although we were really pleased with the outcome of the picture being in black and white she was worried that it may not be colourful enough to be a film poster, therefore it may not appeal to the audience. As she was a little worried about the lack of colour on the poster she thought about the colour and style of the text she would later be putting onto the poster such as the billing block, the title and the tag line we wanted to add. Even though we were really pleased with the outcome of the picture, she wanted to try one more experiment to ensure she was making the right decision.

She chose to put an old fashioned paper effect frame over the picture on Photoshop as the final development to ensure she didn't want to edit the photo further. Although she thought the frame looked good over the picture we didn’t think it fitted in with the typical conventions of a Gangster film and juxtaposes with the time era our film is now set it. If she hadn't changed the time era of our film I think this effect would have worked well and would have been a direct link to the era we would have been reflecting. I also suggested that although it looks good, it did not conform to a typical poster and looked like a piece of art work instead. By using old fashioned paper, it would not have targeted our audience as it would be too old for them and misleading as the content of our film product, is targeting a slightly younger audience rather than over 50s. Although we didn't want to use this effect for the poster we didn't think creating it was a waste of time. I think the time was spent effectively as it made us certain that the decision of the black and white poster was the right one to go with. Her next step towards creating the film poster was to add the billing block, title and tag line. She had previously made the billing block on a PowerPoint presentation. At first we thought making a billing block would be relatively easy but until it came to making it we realised it was quite a challenge. Her first difficulty was getting the correct font for the text; she kept referring back to other film posters such as Public Enemies to ensure she was doing it correctly. Her second difficulty was the layout of the billing block as she had to ensure it fitted on the poster accurately and didn't cover the background picture too much. And her final difficulty was adding the pictures of the production companies to the billing block as she found it to be really fiddly. She found herself correcting the billing block about five times as we all (including teachers) kept noticing minor mistakes or things that needed to be included.

Her next step towards creating the film poster was to add the billing block; she did this by copying and pasting it from PowerPoint to Photoshop. Once she did this she then had to change the blending mode so the background of the billing block became transparent. She then had to use the move tool to rescale the size of the billing block, ensuring she held down the shift key whilst doing this so the writing didn't go blurry. She then had to add the title to the poster; she wasn't entirely sure how to do this as we weren’t sure on a colour or font. Initially, it was going to be just black and white, deviating from typical colourful modern posters. However, I insisted to add the colour red as it connotes violence and bloodshed, making our genre even more obvious so it would target our audience successfully. We knew we had to inject colour into it somehow but wasn't sure if making it red would look scruffy. She firstly tried with the title white and made the tag line red so there was a splash of colour.

We were really fond of the style and colour of the font, which she created on live type, which was introduced by a friend of ours. We were fond of the way the wall showed through the font as it added a shabby effect. We also liked the way the tag line was in red as it drew the attention to the title more so. Although we were really fond of this poster we were a little worried with the lack of colour therefore a slight alteration to the poster was made with the title being red and the tag line in white. Initially, the ‘loyalty is everything’ tagline also became a problem of ours, as we did not know where to place it. A member and she wanted the tagline on top of the bridge but the other member and I disagreed immediately as it would make our poster look junior and unskilled, so we suggested putting it above the title. We tried them both out and we all came to the conclusion that placing the tagline on top of the title looked more effective and professional.

This is the final draft for our film poster. We were really glad we chose to change the title to red although this was the most time consuming job of them all. She had to ensure she was really accurate when it came to colouring the outline of the title. She did this by zooming in and using the lasso tool along with the paintbrush to colour the title in. She then chose to stretch the title across the bottom of the poster so it represented a police line. We chose to use the colour red as it has connotations of violence; this created a catharsis allowing the audience to relate to the poster.  She then added the tag line 'Loyalty Is Everything' by using the text tool from the left hand side tool bar, we chose to put this font in white so we kept to the colour scheme and it contrasted well with the main title. Overall I am really pleased with the outcome of the poster. To ensure the poster looked good we printed it out in A3 and A4 and held it up against the wall to see if it was eye catching enough, we also showed the poster to a few people and asked them which genre we were trying to represent, luckily everyone answered correctly. 

Grow Your Own Title.

Our title ‘Grow Your Own’ came from a member of ours (Olivia) when we were discussing as a group as to what title we should use for our film product. Not only did the title itself sounded colloquial and rough, conforming to the characteristics of the gangsters, we also noticed that there is a euphemism/innuendo meaning it has two connotations. This allowed the audience to decide which way they would like to interpret.

Initially, our film was going to be called ‘Allotment’ (thought by Ella) and the storyline (thought by me) was that the gangsters kill the innocent and use their body parts as a secret to grow their plants well. This would make the audience think that the characters are insane as they would go through all that just to achieve healthy plants. We also came up with names such as ‘Beetroot’ and ‘Flower Pots’ but they were ticked off instantly as the title did not go well with the genre/storyline. The reason as to why we changed our mind and moved onto the title Grow Your Own was because not only was it more effective, we agreed that it would be hard to find an actual allotment that we could film regularly in. The storyline is now based on the main leader and the audience watch how he slowly loses his sanity as he rises in supremacy and status, in which he kills his loyal men one by one.

I believe that our final decision will pay off as we have a clear idea as to how we want the shots and we would not have to find limited, specific locations like an allotment. What I like the most about this title is that it has two connotations; growing weed and emphasis on the pejorative term.

Studio and Production Labels

Studio and production labels are essential when it comes to filming. Not only are they present in every film/trailer, but it could also give the audience a rough idea of what the trailer has to offer (reputation of the labels).

Although we were allowed to use existing studio and production labels such as Paramount, 20^th Century Fox etc. We decided as a group to create our own to show our capability and originality. In order to produce this, Livetype and Photoshop were used. Livetype offered a variety of different fonts/styles and Photoshop was used so we could add text to it. We wanted to keep the font plain, bold and simple consistently throughout the trailer so it would become recognisable and easy to read for the audience. We also wanted our font to remain black and white so it would look proficient. After we made our own studio and production labels, we placed them at the start of the trailer, after the BBFC certificate screening.