Drafting and planning: Empire Magazine Cover Development

I have started creating my magazine cover for my film. In my previous blog post I have decided to use a black masthead as this goes better with my colour scheme. I have decided to add a red background to the Empire logo to help it stand out more but also because i really like this idea of having this on my magazine. I have decided to us the Balloonist Font for my cover lines etc because i think this makes the magazine looks realistic and is the only typography that i could find that i thought made it look like real magazine.

I saw this in the Spider Homecoming Empire magazine and thought it was something i would like to incorporate. Spider-man has a similar colour scheme and pulls using the masthead background off well. I also like how the cover lines are organised in this shot with the backgrounds which means they can stand out from the main images and draw the reader's attention giving them their own unique look. 

As you can see I have used a background on my cover lines which I like a lot. It make them stand out and makes them separate from the background so they don't blend in or a less visible but draws the audience's attention to them. My main image will have the background of a forest which will go well with this magazine cover. I have also added a skyline to the magazine. 

Adding this skyline makes the magazine more realistic and allows me to construct a date for my films release as the films and the when the magazine should be released. All films should be released around the same time however I intend to make my magazine an April release. However that means that 'Ready player One' cannot feature as a cover-line on my magazine as it is released in march and wouldn't appear on the cover due to it being already released however the rest are released in May therefore they are suitable for this magazine month and perhaps i should make the magazine a may edition. 

Overall i am pleased with my beginning development and I will experiment with the various photos taken to see which will fit the best. I will look at my research again to add more conventions to my magazine such as puffs and pugs. 

Drafting and Planning: Drafting Poster

Now i have begun looking at my ancillaries and have researched and drafted my magazine ideas I now need to begin looking at how i want to construct my poster. From my research i have looked at a variety of posters that have the protagonist and the antagonist on either side of the poster.

There is going to be an invisible split down the middle of the poster separating the two characters from one another. For this poster I intend to use black and white as my primary colour scheme as this connotes the dark themes of the movie. Furthermore it makes the cover stand out and makes it eye catching due to the lack of colour. I thought i could use the design to separate the protagonist and antagonist to show that these two characters are different to each other and are clearly at odds with each other. Also at the two characters used will of course be the main protagonist and main antagonist and I wanted to showcase this by putting them on the poster. 

As you can see from the badly drawn example above that I want to replicate something similar to the posters I have researched in by having both the protagonist and antagonist as the central figures of the poster. My inspiration for this idea comes from various different posters such as: 

 All of these posters in corporate the use of central figures, as any poster should, however some have just used the head of the characters instead of the entire body is the primary inspiration for my main image. However other posters like MAD MAX : Fury Road has inspired the typography for my poster as it uses a post - apocalyptic look which goes with the film. This means I will have to research into typography to find the appropriate font for my poster. Poster below:

The typography above appears to look like graffiti and looks hand drawn emphasizing the post apocalyptic setting. The title looks torn, smashed and broken which is another emphasize on the setting. From researching into typography i have found Some Fonts i like and will explore in another blog post. So for a first draft this poster is something that I already really like and looks really cool and effective. I think if i were to follow something along these lines i think it would really help the feel and overall design of my trailer. This particular design i believe would also be very effective because of its design, simplistic colour scheme and images.

Drafting and Planning: First Draft : My own personal feedback

The week preceding half term our class had to give their first draft into the teacher to be marked and to receive feedback upon so we can improve upon it after half term. This gave the entire class the opportunity to see where they were at.

Although i have given my work to sir to see what he would improve I am certainly able to look at what i think needs to be improved in my trailer before receiving his feedback after half term. We can then see if their are things we both agree upon.

My thoughts 

• Now that I have edited what I have I can now see what shots that remain. Obviously more shots are needed to be filmed for my trailer so over half term I will assemble my actors together and begin filming with them.

• The music in the trailer should only be around 14 seconds longs. In my first draft i used around 45 seconds which obviously means it needs to be shortened down. I still am yet to use the song from Kaleo which may replace the song currently in its place.

• Some of the editing needs to be tidied up in places and some narrative needs to be recorded for better clarity 

• Inter-titles need to be added to the trailer to add a greater understanding for the audience 

However some of the positives of the trailer is that all of the beginning is filmed and bits and pieces of the middle is recorded along with the ending.   the trailer also gives a narrative that could still be followed even though it was not completely finished. Another thing i believe my trailer excelled well in was the sound part and i think this really helped my trailer come across as more effective. 

Organisation/Drafting and Planning: Masthead.

I have now begun to construct my magazine however before I decide what I want to appear on my magazine I need to be able to create a realistic looking Empire magazine cover. To begin I have decided to figure out the positioning of the magazines masthead

To find the appropriate location and size for the masthead I took the masthead and placed it on a plain white document. I took an existing Empire cover and placed it over the masthead. This completely covered the masthead. I made the cover 50% transparent which revealed the masthead underneath that I am going to use for my cover. This then allowed me to organise my masthead in the proper position and is the starter for making my magazine. 

However whilst doing this I thought about colour scheme for my magazine and decided on a few different colour combination that I would like to try to see which one best suits. From looking at other Empire magazines I have found that the masthead has a different colour to help accommodate the colour scheme. The colours I intend to use are either:

• Red, black, white and blue 
• Green, Black and White 

After thinking about this I have thought that the best colour for my Masthead would be black on a contrasting background which would make it stand out and let the audience know immediately who 

the magazine is by!

I have managed to find a black masthead which i can use for my magazine. I will experiment with different colours to see which suits it best. 

Drafting and Planning: Initial Magazine Ideas

Whilst my trailer first draft is being marked over the half term It is important that I look at my ancillary products like my poster and magazine. I have researched into various different magazines but I have decided that  Empire magazine is the magazine I want to do for my film.   

Now I know the magazine I want to do I can begin drafting my ideas for my movie magazine. I have begun thinking about possible ideas for my trailer magazine.  I will do a separate blog post to show how all of my research from magazines has affected my final product when that is completed.

Below are three badly drawn Magazine covers, which I have created,  which are accompanied by a real Empire cover. The Empire front cover is what I hope my final product to look like. The reason I have put my draft magazines and these covers together is because they have similarities in the layout and the main images are similar to what I intend mine to look like.

 



This is a magazine I like a lot. Mainly due to the
colour scheme as it connotes the evil of these
characters which makes the poster stand out as a
whole. I also like the layout and the
arrangement of the key figures of this poster
which has inspired me to do something similar.



In this draft I have decided to include three
central figures from my trailer. I really like
this as it gives a greater importance to the
other characters and shows a sense of  unity
and leadership. This is similar to The Force
Awakens cover to the right. However they use
the antagonist as the cover star which is
something to consider 

 

 



This is the Hunger games cover and has Katniss
directly addressing the audience with eye
contact. This cover has an array of
conventions which are needed on a magazine
most of the time. We see her entire body but
looking at others I could also only have just the
upper part of the body for my photos.

Most movie magazines seem to have the

central figure at the heart of their magazine

This emphasises that they are the key

figure in the film but also shows a strong

main character who can stand on their own.

This is similar to the hunger games magazine

which has Katniss as the central character

which goes against the women stereotype







 

This Last Jedi cover is a huge influence on this
idea for my magazine. I like this one a lot
as well due to the simplistic colour scheme.
There isn't many cover lines or puffs which
are the usual conventions but this doesn't stop
me from doing this myself  

My last Draft is having the two main protagonists
back to back but still looking towards the audience.
The direct address seems to be an important feature
of the main image and is a common occurrence in
the main image of a movie magazine. Having the
two protagonists back to back shows they watch
out for one another and are on the same level. This
is like the last Jedi cover to the right.

On my A-level journey in Media studies I have done a Magazine cover before whilst doing the As year of this court. From doing this I am much more well equipped to create a magazine cover for my film. In the As part of the course I also created a contents page and a double page-spread (DPS). But this is mot a requirement for the trailer just a magazine cover. From doing the As part of the course I know what type of photos are required for my photo shoot meaning I can transfer my skills from As to A2

In my drafts I have kept two things the same:

• The location of the Masthead. In all magazines a masthead is used to make the magazine instantly recognisable to its audience and will always be present on the front of a magazine and usually always in the same place but it may shift to be more central which it isn't in my draft.
• The main cover line will always be the largest cover line on the page and can move in accordance to the photograph used.

The 2nd draft will be a wide shot showing the whole body yet the other two will be closer and the legs down will barley be seen.

I will begin drafting my magazine and poster, when the shots are taken,on Page plus. The software I am using to create both my ancillaries.

Drafting and Planning: First draft of trailer

This is the first draft of my trailer, which has been given to my teacher for marking which i will receive feedback on after half term. I haven't included all of my footage as some of it wouldn't make sense to put it in right now whilst it is unfinished. 

Research into Similar Products: Little White Lies Magazine Cover

Today I've decided to look at a different magazine, Little White Lies.
Immediately these covers of Little White Lies is visually striking. They incorporate a different approach to a movie magazine. They all have a drawn cover that has been created by an artist. Apart from this the cover of this magazine is rather plain and doesn't incorporate much use in cover lines and other usual conventions of a movie magazine.


We can see conventions which are a necessity for a successful magazine in general, like the masthead, main image/ main cover line, bar code. The main image is suppose to be eye catching for the audience and I feel that this particular type of magazine does this successfully due to it having a graphic main image instead of a photography which mostly appears in other magazines like empire. Little white lies are unique and aesthetic which would grab the reader's attention. I like the way that this magazine portrays film in their covers. Some would say that Little white lies Portrays film as a modern day art form. The main focus is the main image and the creators of Little White Lies rely heavily on the image to do the talking with a limited amount of word.

I have found out, through research, that the main demographic for Little white Lies is anyone who loves film as the language used is widely universal. This magazine would appeal to anyone who loves film. Overall I really like Little White Lies due to their different approach to a music magazine. I think they would be a suitable choice for a music magazine As they have done some big films such as Star Wars and even did a cover for 'The Road' which is a similar film to my own. However although I like this magazine a great deal, creating it will not be an easy task and there are various other magazines that will suit my film like empire which I am researching into. Nevertheless i will take time to research more and make a decision in the next few days. 

although I am not sure if I'm doing Little White Lies as a magazine I have looked at the various processes that are used in the creation of the magazine in the form of this video below:

From this we can see how the cover is constructed along with the whole magazine. It is released on a monthly basis.

Research into Similar Products: Mad Max - Fury Road Poster

Mad Max Fury Road poster

We can see the Title of the film ' MAD MAX FURY ROAD' which covers nearly the entire poster. I also like how there is damage to the title and layers on it to compensate the genre of the film. Post apocalyptic/ action and adventure. I also like how the actors of the film have been put in front of the 'MAD MAX' yet behind the 'Fury Road'

The main image immediately suggests the post apocalyptic setting of the film as we see two people with guns, ragged clothes and pieces of metal that is attached to them. The character played by Tom Hardy has a cage around his head like how a dog would have a muzzle to cover his mouth. This suggests he is dangerous. Both of these characters are important as they are both at the center of the poster and the actors names have been placed at the top of the poster suggesting the story arc revolves around them. The main image appears to take place in a desert. This isn't a natural habitats for humans to survive in which once again reinforces the idea of a post apocalyptic genre. 

The tagline at the top of the poster stands out due to its unique typography. It looks hand written once again suggesting the post apocalyptic genre of the film. it is large drawing the audience to it. It directly links to the title making it more effective by using the word 'MAD'. The tagline gives a futuristic vibe as it talks about the future suggesting a sci - fi genre of film. By doing this the audience are allowed to imagine the type of film this is.

At the bottom of the poster we can see the films credits like the directors and producers. The production company is also mentioned. This is a big convention for a hollywood poster and isn't meant to draw the audience's eyes away from the main image of the poster. Gives credit to the production company but doesn't draw away from the poster.

There is a very simplistic colour scheme which only uses the colours of Yellow, Orange and Blue. These colours all compliment one another and shows the main setting of the film. In the title we see red which makes the poster stand out more. It further emphasizes the action of the film because it appears to be blood splatter, stains and broken debris. The colours also suggest a world in chaos. I like this effect on the title as it foreshadows to the audience the action that will take place in this film.

Research into Similar Products/ Organisation /Drafting and Planning: Fake Newspaper

Whilst editing the first draft of my trailer I began to notice two things:

• When edited down the clips I had were not long enough to fill a full 2:30 time frame for a trailer. So far i have around half of this!
• I have decided to incorporate the use of a fake newspaper. 

So it is evident that more filming is required for the second half of the trailer which i will highlight in my draft.

But whilst editing I thought it would be worthwhile having a fake newspaper made for the specific purpose of emphasises to the audience the events that took place prior to my moving image project. Therefore this blog post will explore various different fake news papers made for comedic purposes or similar purposes to my own

I have looked at a few websites that allow user to create their own newspaper article:

http://www.addletters.com/pictures/newspaper-generator/6056023.htm#.Woxgj6jFK00

https://newspaper.jaguarpaw.co.uk/

Here are some of the first results of the draft newspaper for my scene I intend to use it for 

drafting and planning : Influence from Jurassic World trailer

Drafting and Planning : Final distributor choice.

After looking at some of the biggest production companies around today, Paramount, universal and Warner Bros, It is clear that i want this film to be a non - independent film as these are large non - independent film companies. I have researched into all three of these companies all possessing the possibility of funding my film however i have decided to go with Paramount pictures.


         

Although the other two are big companies and could get behind my film I felt was a better option as Paramount do films similar too my own like Terminator and World War Z which makes me feel that my film would have a place somewhere amongst Paramount pictures. I will use this logo in my draft to make my trailer look realistic.

Research into Target Audience : Age Rating

After doing my presentation a few months ago I mentioned that i wanted my film to be a 12 Age rating, however many of those i was presenting to felt this was too low after i had showed them my ideas and presentation. They felt that a 15 was more suitable for my film which i agree as this allowed me to explore more possible scenes for my trailer which you wouldn't find in a 12 but rather a 15

Films classified 15 contain material suitable for those aged 15 and over. A film qualifies to be rated 15 under these circumstances:

• Drug taking can be shown, however it must not be promoted or encouraged.
• There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language. It must not be endorsed by the film as a whole.
• There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted given the context and circumstances.
• There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail.
• Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.

I feel that this is the suitable age certification for my film. Although we may not see all of this in the trailer if i think about the wider film then a 15 is the right choice.

Research into Similar Products: Ancillary Products: Magazine

I have looked into Poster quite a lot recently and will continue to do so until I have decided how I want my poster to be laid out and what it will say about my film. However i should start looking at Magazine covers to see what i ca pick up from them and how it can influence my own magazine.

The masthead '' EMPIRE ''is written in a large font to grab the reader's attention and let them know what movie magazine they are reading. Also shows where the masthead is immediately The colour white of the masthead grabs the reader's attention and then allows them to transfer to the ''Captain America'' as the main cover line is also in white making it stand out.

The puff on the page relates to the main image. '' Meet Marvel's First Avenger!'' The main image is emphasised and takes up majority of the room on the cover yet leaving room for the cover lines etc. The puff and main image introduces the readers to Captain America  and gives the audience the sense of needing to read more about him as the puff teases the audience to come and ''Meet'' him inside. The text ''HOW SUMMER'S SUPERHERO WENT TO WAR'' also teases the readers as they would want to find out more about the film and the character himself.

The main cover line is also in a Capitalised, Bold font telling the reader what the main feature is about and who it represents, which is the main image.

The magazine also shows us the other features it has included.For reader's who may not be interested in Captain America there is also an alternative for other reader's. This part of the cover shows that they are not as important however to the main cover line. The issue No and the price of the issue in small font at the top. Some consumers may think that the Magazine is quite cheap for hat they are getting. ''32-page Sci-Fi Special inside'' they may thing its more worth the money with the booklet that comes with it.

The magazine theme relates directly to the main feature and creates a patriotic look for the magazine. This may make American Consumers more like to see it and buy it

Organisation - Filming

Most of the filming is now complete. I can finally put the Filming I have done into the editing software and now begin to finally come up with my first draft. Below are just a handful of the clips I took in the re-shoot. In previous posts i have shown some of the other shots i have filmed but i may need to re-film them so i will not be including them in my final draft.