Film magazine analysis

Empire magazine.

With the title 'EMPIRE' being in red and bold capitals, makes this as it stands out amongst the other font used, making it the clearest element on this magazine. The main colours despite the red used are blue, white and yellow. This theme is kept simple and makes the magazine easy reading. The use of the large image of Harry Potter however is what attracts the readers the most, the use of large images not only makes the magazine easy reading. The mid shot of Harry Potter plays a big part in the front cover as he is an iconic film star, the glasses and blood on his face dennotes that a new film is added to the Harry Potter sequel and gives us an insight that it involves a lot of action, appealing to the readers as this will intrigue them and make them want to purchase empire magazine to read further.

The taglines list the names of films, showing the readers what the content inside the magazine is. At the bottom of the page we also have more films names. On the left of the front cover underneath the tagline swe are shown an image of one of the named films, bringing more creativity and image to the magazine and making the readers aware of what films they are refering to, as often when seeing advertsisements we are drawn to pictures straight away, therefore people may not be aware of them name. The tagline on the right of the image quoting 'Bloody hell, Harry comes back fighting' brings humour to the magazine as those who watch the Harry Potter films will be aware that that quote is often used by one of the characters, the use of different font colour furthermore makes it stand out. The heading 'worlds most famous movie magazine' connotes that this is a successful and good magazine, therefore its praised reputation may incourage people to purchase it.

Total film magazine.

With the title of this magazine, the words have been linked together, the total being written inside film makes the word 'film' stand out and makes it clear that this is a film magazine. The large medium'long shot is very eccentric and colourful and is without a doubt the first thing you look at when you see this magazine. The mise-en-scene used is vibrant, the makeup, hair and clothing is all colourful and bold in contrast the the dark background so this image stands out. The use of the eccentric dress sense, the rabbit and large hat connote this is the mad hatter from the film alice and wonderland, this is linked with the tagline on the left of the image quoting 'welcome to wonderland' and the use of Johnny Depp will entice the readers to buy this magazine as he is such a big hollywood star. The design is easily readable and the use of colours, purple, white and yellow are bright exciting colours linking in with the image, the purple as the background works well as the font colour and image stand out well. The taglines include film language, 'starring' and then a list of films included in the magazine in order for readers to discover what the content of the magazine is. The text at the bottom of the magazine includes big hollywood names, therefore connotes this is a high rated film magazine and blu-ray special also appeals as it is a fairly new addition to technology. Instead of a pug, the skyline promotes the film iron man with a free give away, meaning fans will want to buy this magazine for film merchandise.

Film poster analysis

Hitman poster.

The colours used in this poster indicate, danger and seriousness. The use of red on the womens dress and the hitman's tie show they coul

d be working as a team and the women may be a femme-fatale as the colour red connotes danger and as the hitman is a dangerous man the red tie could link with her red dress. This colou

r also stands out in contrast to the black and white. If the women in this poster is a femme-fatale the black and white could possibly link back to the genre of film noir where the femme-fatale character was first introduced in films. The three colours black whote and red are typical colours for an action film as the red represents the danger and death which occurs whilst the black and white often represents the clothing on the characters involved in action films with a typical black suit and white shirt. These three colours are all very serious colours and not playful, representing the seriousness of the film and bringing that out in the poster so the audience are aware of what the film i

s about. The main image in this poster shows the main character, the audience are aware of what type of film this is when they see this as the 'hitman' is holding a gun and his facial expression is very dark, mysterious and scary. Thi

s shows the audience he is the protagonist and that this film is an action thriller as deaths occur and the hitman is a scary looking character. The women in the background furthermore connotes an action film as they often involve glamourous women and she is exactly that. The design of this poster.......

The font used for this poster is bold and effective, it is also very basic and not at all complex, this makes it easy reading and stands out to the audience, it also matches the colour scheme of the poster. The words used are quite limited in this poster, it includes the title of the film which is crucial as the audience need to know title of the film or there is no promotion of it. The date of when the film comes out is also included, which is important as the audience can plan when they can see it, which is more promotion. Small print is also involved at the bottom which includes the main actors names, who the film was directed by and assisted by, the executive producers, the company who produced the film and so on. A website of the film is also in

cluded, therefore people can visit the website to find out more about the film which is more promotion and means the poster does not give away too much. The language used is limited but straight to the point and bold with the use of one word hitman. It leaves a sense of mystery about what the film involves, th

erefore the audience are left with a cliff hanger which will encourage them to go and see the film.

Here is the poster which appears to be used for the teaser film promotions as it does no

t give away the date of release. It does however give the website address for the audience to find out more about the

film.

Assassins poster.


The colour used in this poster is also black, white and red, this is connotes action thriller genres as the red again connotes blood and danger whereas the black and white represent the seriousness of the conflict which is involved in action genres. The main image on this poster appears to be the image on the left, this may mean that this is the main character whereas the other two are also important. The pose of the characters appears to be very secretive and sneaky, this applies to the thriller genre as sudden bursts of scary action happen and their body language appears to be as if they are creeping around to either hide or get something, often the storyline of action thriller genres. The font for this poster is easy to read as it is very large and bold, this stands out to audiences as it is one of the first things you realise on the poster. The use of certain text being in red such as the title and actors names emphasizes that the producers of the poser want these aspects to be the main focus. Using two well known actors at the top of the page stand out and make the film appear better as it has used good and well known actors therefore audiences will be intreaged to see the film. The tag line also outlines the story of the film so the audience are aware of the contents and genre of the film. The small print again shows the directors and production team ect. The release date also stands out in comparison to the small print at the bottom of the poster.

Audience feedback on ideas

 In order to get feedback about my film trailer I made a questionnaire which could be completed. From this questionnaire I hoped to receive information which would help me to improve my film trailer, I asked a series of questions all relating to the trailer.  From my questionnaire I found that the audience was generally pleased with the genre and plot of my film trailer, however the most constructive criticism I found was that the name of my film 'The betrayal' did not appeal to my audience. In order to improve this I asked people personally what they would prefer, the reaction I got was that I should ensure the name represented the failure of trust, alike the betrayal originally represented. After discussing with my other group members we wrote down a list of words which represented our film. I asked 20 people which title they thought would best suit my film and which was the most appealing, while asking I asked a mixture of ages starting from the age of 15 being the certificate of our film up to the age of 41. I completed a tally chart to keep track of what name was the most successful, after completing my second questionnaire I found that the best name for my film was 'Deception', this suits my film trailer as the hitman tricks Ella Gate and she is left feeling deceived, this title also appears bold and appealing.  Below is the questionnaire I carried out to decide on my new name for my film due to feedback on my questionnaire which is on the right hand side of my blog. 

Focused analysis

Characters.

I have chosen Kill Bill volume one, as in this trailer the main character is extremely clear. Uma Thurman is represented as the main character by the amount of shots she is in and the mise-en-scene. She is dressed most often in bright yellow, this shows great contrast compared to other characters who are dressed in plain colours such as blacks and whites. Shots such as where she is surrounded by a large number of men and she is in the middle at 1.10 suggest she is the main character also as it emphasizes on her standing out from the rest of the actors. With the majority of characters being asian and Uma Thurman being caucasion also makes her stand out and suggests she is the main character which the audience should focus on as she is different. She is portrayed not as your stereotypical women, being weak and girly, she is shown to be courageous as she is fighting with many samuris and on a mission to kill. The use of blood on her body and props such as swords suggest this. Lucy Lui is also shown to be a main character with authority as at 24seconds we see her walking towards the camera dressed in white in contrast to her followers in black leading them, suggesting she has power over them and is an important character. This is confirmed with further footage of her at 1.03 where she orders samuris around. These characters are also proved to be the main characters and against each other as there is a shot of them preparing to fight alone and constant shots of fighting scenes with the two sides against each other. The characters on lucy lui's side are easily shown as they are the people fighting against Uma Thurman and are regularly shown in shots behind Lucy lui.

Mise-en-sene

The mise-en-scene used in this James Bond trailer clearly shows that the men in suits are all men on duty, this mainly being either for a killing mission, or the business side of it. Action films often use suits to represent the genre as it is all mysterious and confidential yet still a 'business' making or crime being committed. The use of fast cars often in black represent action films and the use use them in this trailer confirm its genre. Motorbike and guns also represent the action film and that their is some kind of a chase and fight. The women are portrayed as being glamourous and attractive as they are either dressed in shirts and suits, or in glamourous evening attire 1.09 they are also however shown in casual clothing 1.32 which connotes they have been in on the chasing and the fighting. The use of no clothes at all also suggests romance and passion. Technology shown also suggest it is a high budget movie and the missions are all action packed due to the high technology of tracking people down ect and drawing out plans.

Special effects

In the trailer 'Priest' we can see how special effects are used to create creatures who are not human, these special effects appear to make this film more scary and thrilling as the use of special effects to create something not seen everyday may shock am audience, meaning the film has more of a thrilling factor. For example this is shown at 0.40 seconds and again at the end of the trailer, some sort of deathly creature has been created to shock. The use of special effects make a film more thrilling and exciting as oppose to using the basic human as a scary figure as it is away from the normal images we see everyday. The use of explosions on special effects furthermore create a more thrilling and exciting trailer 1.56, this shows their is action and possibly extreme unfortunate events, this appeals to the audience as it shows their is an exciting climax in the film also. Special effects have also been used in fighting scenes, two men appear to be fighting at high levels in the air, this will appeal to audiences as it shows extreme and complex methods used in the film, giving an automatic feeling that the film is action packed and full of high technology scenes appealing to audiences today as it appears more modern, therefore appealing to a wider audience as generations who did not experience these special effects would like to see how technology has changed and the younger generation is more attracted to the higher technology as it is how they have grown up, ie mobile phones ect...

Special effects have also been used while the motorbike is going through some sort of dessert, the bikes speed has been increased to make it look as if it is going faster, this connotes that the film has series of action as it is either driving away from something or to something to get their quickly.

Setting.

The setting in this horror/thriller film is isolated throughout. The car is the only car on the road indicating something unfortunate will take place, the isolated road also builds the atmosphere. The isolated town Silent Hill is a typical convention of a thriller as it means unfortunate events can take place whereas in the normal, busy world this would not and the eery, empty and unusual town means the victims can experience the most unusual and horrific events. The scenery throughout is empty, the empty fields covered in snow also. All of these isolated settings connote danger and allow extraordinary things to happen, building intensity and an eery atmosphere making the thriller 'thrilling'.

Sound/music

For this film 'The edge of darkness', the music matches the editing of the film trailer. The beginning of the film starts with the equilibrium, we see a daughter and her father who appear to be close. This music is slow and shows a state of happiness between the two characters. The use of echoing during the flashbacks of the father and daughter makes the sound muffled and connotes that it is a flashback in time, showing the audience the closeness between father and daughter. The music then drops to a lower pitch and longer dreery sounds where suddenly the daughter is shot. The sound of the gun is loud and connotes that the gun was fired and killed the daughter. The disorientated muffled sound of breathing then fades in and we see the father is holding the dead daughter close to him, this is our rising action of the film trailer as we see the equilibrium at the start of the film as been shattered. The sound of the heart beat ironically fades in after the girl has been shot, this can represent the dads heartbeat which still beats without his daughter but shows he is severely hurting, it also adds intensity to the film trailer and could represent the fathers worried heartbeat, it is left ambiguous for the audience to decide. Loud crashes of music burst in at the same time of the shots changing, these shots also appear to be very harsh sudden action, this builds intensity and seriousness. As dialogue is shown the music gets quieter, this is so we can hear the dialogue. The climax then comes in and the music gets faster and louder. A crucial line 'I know who killed your daughter' is left with no music playing the importance of the line just on its own build intensity and brings seriousness to the film. When certain shots change during the part where they are finding out information about his daughter we hear a slash of a blade almost, this is practical as she is dead and we often associate knives with stabbings which lead to death. The fast music then has moments of loud bursts of sound and as a shot is shown which shows violence it matches the timing of the loud bursts of music. Over-exaggerated sound is also used for sounds such as the telephone and tv, this is to makes the audience pay their attention to what is going on in the story as the tv shows the crime scene outlining the story line. Towards the end of the film trailer strings are brought into the music, this connotes commotion and a drum type sound is also introduced which furthermore builds intensity and brings the thrilling factor to the film trailer. The gunshot type sound at the end of the trailer also keeps the audience focused until the very last moment of the trailer, as well as connoting it is an action film.

Initial ideas for my film trailer

The Betrayal
Our initial ideas for the use of characters was to use two protagonists with one being the victim and the other one being a villain. After looking at action/thriller conventions, they tend to have one 'bad guy' and one 'good guy'. We will also have a boss who is creating this drama and another man who assists with helping the victim escape. We thought by following this convention it could make our trailer effective.

We want to dress the villain in a suit as most mystery men in other action/thriller films are dressed this way. His hair will be slicked back and his suit will be smartly worn to show power within his character. He will be carrying a knife and a gun at certain points in the trailer. This makes it clear he is a dangerous character.

The boss and the other man who assists the victim will also being wearing suits because the clothing gives a sense of authority. It shows that both men are powerful and capable of fulfilling what they intend to do. The helpful man who assists the victim will be shown smoking a cigarette to portray that he is a good man but may also have a 'bad guy' personality aswell. This adds more power and shows that he will not be a character who is a push-over and could possibly turn out to be a hero.

Finally, the victim will be wearing her normal clothes to show that she has been targeted unexpectedly. She will look panicked throughout certain parts of the trailer, which means that close-ups will be effective when filming her.


This is our initial storyboard, which we have made before we start filming. This gives us an insight into the camera angles we will use as well as the dialogue and locations. By creating our shot by shot storyboard, this helps us have an idea of the plot and camera angles we will use as well as the dialogue and locations. After creating our initial storyboard, we will then create a more detailed storyboard. By having a further detailed storyboard, it will help us when we begin to film. When we arrive at our locations, the detailed storyboard will assist with filming as we will know what we would like each shot to particularly look like. It also shows that we have planned our trailer and with organisation we will have enough footage and a variety of shots. However due to complications in the group the story board has not been finished.

Target audience

This is my target audience excluding myself from this image, we have the ages from 17-21. Shennen is a 17 year old female who currently attends sixth form and has a full time job at marks and spencers. In her own time she particularly enjoys watching films with her twin sister Lauren, who also attends sixth from and works in marks and spencers full time. Lauren's favourite film is Die hard, whilst Shannen's is The decent. Die hard is an action film and the decent is a horror/thriller, Shannen emphasizes her favourite thing about thriller films is the suspense and surprises. Therefore my hopes to create an action/thriller film trailer will appeal to Shannen and Lauren. This is due to them enjoying watching their films together and both genres tying together with the genre of my film trailer.

Nicky is 17 years old and also attends sixth form. Nicky enjoys watching movies with her friends as she loves to socialise and share thrilling moments with others, she also enjoys watching films with her boyfriend especially if romance is portrayed in the film. I have used Nicky as my target audience as she also over the age of 15 being the certificate of my film and as she "loves sharing thrilling moments with her friends and watching films with her boyfriend which portray romance" my film trailer will appeal to Nicky as it will show their was once romance and the thriller genre of my trailer will have plenty of moments for her to share with others.

Adam is a 20 year old male who is a full time electrician, in his spare time he enjoys socialising with his friends and spending time with his girlfriend. Adam's favourite genre of film is action/thriller. Therefore he is the per

fect target audience, he also enjoys taking his girlfriend to the cinema on many occasions.

Jack is a 21 year old male who is a student at hertfordshire university. As Jack has to spend his money wisely being a student, he finds going to the cinema enjoyable as he gets in cheaper with the student's rates. When he is not on a night out with his friends, he also enjoys spending time with his flat mates watching films at home. He lives with two other males and two females, therefore when it comes to picking films Jack has to make sure the film is suitable to both genders, the girls particularly enjoy romance, whilst the

boys enjoy action and thriller, therefore Jack is a perfect candidate for my target audience as my genre of film fits in to his lifestyle.

This is Chris and Simon, they are both 46 years of age and enjoy going to the cinema every other tuesday. They enjoy many genres of films; action, romance, horror and thriller being their favourite. They are open minded to watch any film as they enjoy spending time together sharing each others reaction to the film. They buy film magazines regularly to keep up to date with the latest films on screen and what is coming out, therefore they are a good target audience as my film can appeal to a wide age range and to both genders.

Mood board

Mood Board

Analysis of existing media

FASCINATION AND FILM: Film trailers are a visual pleasure. Fascination and film engages our emotions through images and spectacle. Mulvey uses psychologists to discover where and how the fascination of the film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject. Mulvey says that when she uses psychoanalytic theory as a 'political weapon'.

CINEMA AND PLEASURE: Hollywood/mainstrem/narrative cinema manipulate visual pleasure. It codes the erotic into language of the dominant patriarchal order.

SCOPOPHILIA: Pleasure in looking

WOMEN AS IMAGE, MAN AS BEARER OF THE LOOK: Pleasure in looking split between active/male and active/female. Women connote 'to-be-looked-at-ness'. The visual presence of women works against the development of a story line, freezes the flow of action in movements of erotic-contemplation. The women functions as both an erotic object for the characters within the screen story and erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium (object of fantasy). The spectator is led to identify with the main male protagonist. The power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active.

Camera angles are an important aspect of film trailers as often a camera angle can determine superiority, through high and low angles for example. Also point of view shots to help the audience connect with certain characters. Camera angles help us to understand the story and build suspension, for example long lingering shots. We see this in the links to Harry Potter and Twilight film trailers on my blog. Establishing shots also give the audience a clear sense of where the film is taking place and in some genres such as horror, the establishing shot is an important convention in this genre as an establishing shot such as an isolated wood.

Mise-en-scene is another convention to help us understand what genre the film is, for example if we to see a film trailer with characters in futuristic clothing we would presume this was a sci-fi genre.

This is similar with music, as certain types of music represent different genres, for example if we were to here a fats upbeat pop song, we would presume the genre is comedy. Non-digetic sound used for film trailers also builds suspense and keeps the audience engaged. A horror film trailer's music should be eary, cold and create an atmosphere to point out its genre and although the audience may be frightened, they will not be able to keep their eyes off the trailer and want to continue to view the film. Special effects in the sound such as echoing also creates more suspense and horror as the echoing sounds gives the impression that we do not know where the sound is coming from therefore we feel the vulnerable character's attitude towards it and therefore the suspense keeps the audience engaged and alarmed.

Dialogue also helps the viewers to understand the story, narrative can be used to describe the story (voice overs) or the characters who are acting can describe the story also and this can both be used to describe the genre. For example a jokes and punchlines ect will indicate a comedy.

Special effects are another aspect which make film trailers more engaging. Certain special effects will keep viewers attention through the unique effect or simply the creativity behind it, for example films such as avatar, Harry Potter and action packed films. In our normal day to day lives we do not see such things as we are shown by special effects, therefore this is a convention for film trailers as it certainly grabs attention.

Locations are another aspect of film trailers which enable the audience to distinguish what type of genre the film is, for example an isolated location connotes the film is a horror as it shows a feeling of being alone and more vulnerable, something is more likely to happen. Another example being if the location is in an urban area with tall business buildings and so on that the film is an action/crime film. In many films such as action, horror and thriller the rising action and climax being the key focus on dilemma, when often we have confrontation or a scene where somebody is going to be murdered the location is always isolated, some examples are; an empty house as shown in 'Texas chainsaw massacre' and an empty private garden (kill bill volume 1). By this the film becomes more realistic, as murderings and confrontations which perhaps are private and deadly would be in an isolated place so the people are not seen. Locations such as, rivers, beaches and resturants can connote romance as all these places are associated with romance, the location makes the scene more romantic and appealing to the audience and emphasizes their genre of film.

CONVENTIONS OF A FILM TRAILER:

-Use of flashback
-Editing
-Captions
-Music
-Importance of star names
-Title
-Narrative
-Never give away ending
-Release date
-If a horror genre, the setting is usually isolated
-Camera angles
-Voice over
-Mise-en-scene
-Types of shots
-Special effects
-dialogue and sound effects


THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF A FILM TRAILER:

FREYTAG'S PYRAMID - Aristotle identified the basic linear plot structure in 350bc as a simple triangle of beginning, middle and ending. He observed that the middle section might involve some form of crisis, resolved by the end of the story. The exposition is the stage in which we are introduced to the characters, relationships and situations. The action then begins to rise, this is where tension begins to culminate before the climax were tension culminates completely. We then go through falling action then on to the denouement, being the resolution of the plot. The structure then however goes back to equilibrium, revealing the slightest bit about the ending to keep the audience maintained and for them to want to see the film. By looking at Freytag's triangle we can relate to how many films use this structure. Therefore whilst producing my plot I can use Freytag's pyramid to structure my story, the pyramid is a clear convention in films and therefore the trailers they produce as majority of films have this structure in their creations.

In the film trailer 'Twilight' we can see a clear structure in the same way as Freytag's pyramid. The beginning of the trailer introduces the characters and the narrative and dialogue helps us to understand the relationship between the characters and the main situation, being that Bella has discovered Edward Cullen's real identity. We then reach the crisis as one of the characters has been pointed out to be evil and hunting Bella, the editing speeds up and the music creates intensity as does the dialogue. The fighting scenes are all part of the climax and reach the falling action. We then see the hints of the ending through the fighting scenes between Edward Cullen and James (evil vampire) and dialogue such as "Im strong enough to kill you", indicating that this is Edward's aim and could possibly be the ending to the story.

In the film trailer for Harry Potter and the deathly hallows however the structure is not entirely related to Freytag's pyramid. In this trailer it starts off immediately with the climax and rising action as it is a series of films the audience is assumed to know the background of the story due to previous films. Although halfway through the trailer becomes very chaotic with emphasis on a climax, it appears the beginning of the trailer already starts with rising action rather than exposition.

grid of 9

For my A2 media coursework I will be producing a film trailer, I will also be creating a promotional package consisting of the film trailer, a poster and the front cover of a film magazine. By using this blog I will show my research and stages of work by posting each method of work and methods. With the choice of either a music video or film trailer I did some brainstorming and research and came to the conclusion of producing a film trailer, I chose this over a a music video as I could apply more conventions of media to a film trailer and felt I could be more creative and felt I could use more imagination to produce an exciting and thrilling trailer. By using the skills I developed during the AS course I can produce a good standard promotional package due to my knowledge of photoshop whilst producing a music magazine, I also chose a film trailer as I wanted the challenge of something different for my magazine front cover as I did not want to repeat a similar task as I did for AS. Due to photography used during the AS course I feel I am confident with camera equipment and this will help me towards my filming, I will also ensure my knowledge from the AS media exam is used towards the filming.

For my first task as an A2 student and an introduction into A2 Media studies I was given the task to create a scene alike the opening scene from the film back to the future. I was given a piece of paper with instructions of what the shot should be, for example whether it would be a mid shot or long shot ect, the action to be performed, the location of shot and length of each shot. This task proved to be difficult as it required good cooperative teamwork, concentration, cooperative actors and we also discovered that the right equipment would make this task easier. In our groups of threes we were presented with a camera and had to reproduce a short scene. It proved difficult as our camera was set in night mode and we were unable to remove this mode, showing that for the real film trailer we would have to be fully aware of how to use the cameras. The right equipment such as tripods would also make the task easier and the outcome more professional rather than holding a camera and the outcome being unsteady. For the real task I have learnt that the background sound needs to be quite as it proved difficult in the editing process, also we needed to to take more variety of shots and take the task more seriously. I also learnt that I need to be more assertive for people to take directions.