Research into Magazine Cover Text - Brendon

Magazine Language 

Total Film magazine

·         10 coolest movies being made right now

·         On set cracking the case of the world’s greatest detective

·         Ultimate summer review

·         From Batman to Star wars : the 50 must see movies for summer

·         Grab your golden ticket

·         Confessions of a superhero

·         First looks (spider man)

·         Heads up our Massive preview

·         The modern guide to movies

Empire Magazine

·         Review of the year

·         Essential 2011 preview

·         First look

·         Massive Oscars special

·         3D event of the year

·         Bond is Back, Inside the bloodiest bond yet

·         Sneak Preview

·         25 world exclusives

·         Limited edition, 3 Covers to collect!

FHM

·         100 sexiest woman in the world (2012 edition)

·         Fitness special

·         Woman of the world

·         Meltdown the hottest new girls in Hollywood

·         Black magic woman

·         Motor mayhem

·         50 mistakes you have made with a woman
 

 

Having looked at text on both film and other magazines, it is clear that there are common features:

- short and snappy
- exaggerated language
- make reader feel special

Research into Magazine Cover Text - George

Examples of magazine language:

Empire Magazine

-          ‘MASSIVE PREVIEW SPECIAL’

-          ‘REVIEW OF THE YEAR’

-          ‘MASSIVE OSCARS SPECIAL’

-          ‘FIRST LOOK! PUBLIC ENEMIES’

Total Film

-          ‘ALL THE ELEMENTS ARE COMING TOGETHER’

-          ‘MASSIVE PREVIEW SPECIAL’

-          ‘Cruise goes to war’

-          ‘The sins of Spider man’

-          ‘ Its Bourne meets Inception’

Première

-          ‘The secrets of Spiderman 3’

-          ‘The most powerful actor in the world’

-          ‘Oscar bonus’

-          ‘when stars collide’

-          ‘Naughty and nice in Miami Vice’

Initial Shot and Cast Lists

Having numbered each post-it on our storyboard, we are able to see which shots are filmed in which locations and using which actors, which will help us to put together a proper shot list for filming:

Revised Storyboard After More Specific Research

After presenting our intial ideas we could see that there were lots of gaps in our narrative and that our film lacked a real cliffhanger moment, so we returned to the storyboard, added a new element to the drama and fleshed the narrative out a little more:  

The big changes are:

- addition of more potential moments of drama e.g. car crash so audience don't know which is the key one
- addition of shots that make the issue of who dies more ambiguous
- a cliffhanger ending - we don't know who has pulled the trigger
- more shots showing the relationship between the two brothers

More Targeted Research Into Trailers - Brendon

Hurt Locker

    Conversational shots, ie shot reverse shot - needed for our dialogue scenes as quite a few

    Close up on important features - e.g. gun, killed in action list

    Slides with important phrases “you have to be brave” - used to show our tagline

    Voiceover carrying over scenes - montage kind  of editing

    Music increasing in speed- needed to add pace to our ending

    Mix between action and drama/comedy shots - we need to cross-cut between these

    Shots getting faster and faster as the trailer progresses

    Finishing on a cliff hanger (pulling bomb out of the dirt) - for us the death

Pan’s Labyrinth

 Voiceover (ominous voice not from the movie) - we could consider?

 Long/medium shots

 Contrast between light and dark scenes/shots - colour overlay to distinguish home / war?

 Enhanced sounds of features relevant (fairy wings) - sound effects needed e.g. battle sounds

 Music progressing steadily in loudness

 Screens with the reviews from magazines

 Screens/voiceover of the producers names etc.

This is England

Old music (period correct to the 80’s)

Use of stills and black and white filters

A lot of conversational shots used, importance of dialogue

Music representing speech scenes happening

Music playing contrasting the shots, happy music in action scene etc.

Green Street Hooligans

Voice over to bring context to what is happening

Contrasting music, e.g. Happy with action scene

Silence/ no music during conversations to stress importance

Group shots to single shots

Shots of awards received - we should add

Green Zone

    Shots with the sounds of helicopters to start (black screen)

    Speech over scenes but not like a typical voiceover

    Music replicating the action happening

    Steady increase in shot speed and music speed/loudness

    Contrast shots, opening safe to opening door

    Dark scenes to light scenes contrast is a big thing throughout the trailer

More Targeted Research Into Trailers - George

Lincoln 

What can I learn from this trailer / key aspects
 

When looking at this trailer it is evident that there are two distinct sides. The political side and the conflict side. From this I can see I need to keep the balance right between the conflict at war and the conflict at home. This way I can keep the audience interested with aspects of drama and violence that are so common in all films. In this trailer, a slow motion effect has been used for many of the war scenes to highlight the pain and suffering inflicted. This may be a useful aspect when making my trailer. Also, It is noticeable in this trailer that the order is a constant mix of disruption and equilibrium as not to bore the watchers and keep them enticed throughout the trailer. I can draw on this and look to use it in my making of the trailer. For transitions, this trailer uses only fade transitions. This appears to make the trailer run more slowly but oddly gives it more emotion. Many of the shots are long shots in which many people are visible, yet when the Abraham Lincoln is present, many of the shots are mid shots and close ups. This tells me that when key characters are in shot, we need to use close ups or mid shots to place emphasis but we also need a variety of shot distances to move in and out of the story.

This is England

This trailer begins with the use of archive footage. There are still a lot of ideas I can take from this trailer. First of all is the balance between equilibrium and disruption as was the case with the trailer for Lincoln. As mentioned earlier, it is highly important that I get this balance right as to keep the watchers enticed. Another thing I noticed with this trailer is how the use of transitions changed as it progressed. At first a fade transition is used as the general mood is quite calm yet as disruption begins to occur, a simple fast cut is used to match the ever increasing sense of action. I should take this on board for my trailer as it may be effective to use fast cuts when it comes to showing a sense of disruption. We will probably use fades early on and then move to straight forward cuts as the pace picks up.

The Hurt Locker

The issue with this trailer is the fact that it is almost entirely based in a war zone, so I have little comparisons to draw with war life and home life. Yet there is plenty I can take from this to help with the war side of my trailer. Again the use of transitions has a distinct effect on how it is perceived. This trailer uses almost entirely fast cuts as to highlight the drama that follows a war zone. This will be important to include when thinking about my trailer. Another noticeable factor with this trailer is the distinct variation in dialogue. At one moment everyone is shouting and screaming at once then at the next moment it is in complete silence. This again is important in my trailer to show the difference between war zone and home life even though the silence may occur at different locations that aren't expected.

Atonement 

This is a shorter trailer and only focuses mainly on the trouble that is caused at home due to war and other factors. This is a distinct factor of the story in my trailer as I aim to focus mainly on how the war zone can actually cause a great amount of trouble at home. One way they portray this in the trailer is by including a lot of loud diegetic dialogue. This portrays the sense of trouble well. Again the use of cuts varies but this trailer mainly uses fade shots which turn into fast cuts to show the increasing trouble.

Pan’s Labyrinth. 

This trailer is outstanding in the way it shows a distinct difference between reality and fantasy and although I don't have a fantasy factor within my trailer, I still need to show how there is a difference between two almost different worlds.

The key parts of this trailer include.

- almost no dialogue

- fade transitions

- slower pace

- sinister non diegetic music.

Presentation Of Initial Storyboard

Here we are presenting our early ideas and first attempt at a storyboard to the other members of the class to get some early reactions and see what we need to work on:

A really key point to emerge from this was that we tell too much of the story. This was something we have been worried about and so we will redraft our storyboard to make sure that we are leaving key plot points only hinted at and there are enough questions left unanswered that there is a real reason to watch the film.

Rough Ideas for Overall Promotional Campaign - Brendon

Timeline for my Promotional Campaign

The first thing that will be released in our promotional campaign for our movie will be a teaser poster. This poster will include only a main image of Sam with the background of the war the movie is set within and the title of the movie.

• September 30^th

The second thing to be released within the campaign will be the teaser trailer which will last 33 seconds long. This will give enough action and drama to entice the audience and strike some interest so that they look out for the future posters and or trailers.

• October 10^th

The third item to be released will be another teaser poster; however this one will be of Scott rather than Sam and will also include a seasonal release date (e.g. this winter)

• October 12^th

The fifth item will be the full trailer, lasting around 2 and a half minutes and will include the full date of release for the movie as well as showing a lot more action and story line than was in the teaser trailer shown previously.

• October 22^nd

The 6^th item released shall be a full poster which features the full release date as well as the credits at the bottom of the poster with the main actors’ names just above this. The poster will have Sam as the main image once again, stressing the importance he plays in this movie.

• October 24^th

The 7^th set of items released within this campaign will be a series of magazine covers with the magazine Total Film; these will be special edition covers and will have little on them other than the main image of the “featured” Actor and the title of the movie. These covers will be a set of 5 Covers (Scott, Sam, Mother, Father, Oliver)

• October 30^th

The 8^th and penultimate item to be released in this campaign will be a website that advertises the movie as well as having a blog that features pictures from on set and behind the scenes. The website will include a forum for the public to talk and speculate about the upcoming film, it will also include all the posters and trailers to date and will host them on release further on in the campaign. The website will also include a countdown to the release of the movie in cinema.

• November 3^rd

The eighth and final item will be the second and final full trailer for the movie which will show more of the storyline and action and provide more information so as to entice and keep viewers interested in the movie and waiting on the full movie with anticipation and high expectations.

• November 5^th

Rough Ideas for Overall Promotional Campaign - George

Thinking of an overall promotional campaign.

November 1st 2012- at this point, the first teaser poster will be released. This will include an image of a deceased soldier lying on the ground looking directly into the camera. This will give the audience an idea as to what the film is about and the general mood of it.

November 20th 2012- At this point, pictures of the filming process will be leaked onto online sites such as IMDB as to give the audience an idea of what expect from a film they know almost nothing about.

November 25th 2012- this is the release date of the first teaser trailer. This trailer would only be very brief (around 30s) and would include only one of the main characters (the young boy Sam). We would see him in army training and a non-diegetic voiceover will be used to provide key information and give the audience more of a clue as to what the genre and tone is. This teaser trailer would also be unique in the fact that it is done in one continuous shot. This is because there is only one main character in this teaser trailer and by using one continuous shot more attention will be focused on that one character. (see Atonement).

December 10th 2012- At this point, more shots of the movie being filmed would be released to provide greater information and a second teaser poster would also be released. This poster will include an over the shoulder shot of a soldier standing alone in a battlefield looking at a family photo in which all the main characters (excluding one) would be included.

December 20th 2012- The Director and Producer would take part in a brief interview on a widely watched chat show in which they will explain how the film is progressing and how they think audiences will view and feel about it.

December 30th 2012- this marks the release of another teaser poster. This one will involve the main character (Sam) having a face off with himself. Yet each of the different Sam’s' will be a different personality and lifestyle he holds. One being the military style with the short hair and standard army uniform whilst the other will be the 'Sam' that wants to be free and live his life. This now confirms to the audience that Sam is the main character. 

February 6th 2013- on this date, the final movie poster will be released. As I wish to keep a certain degree of mystery to this film, this poster will show a family photo of each member happy and smiling yet bullet holes have shattered and distorted parts of the frame. This is to hint to the audience how the 'Mumford' family have been broken up and damaged by war.

February 20th 2013- the website would be launched on this date, this website will include interviews with some of the cast, director, producers and other members of the film crew. The websites main feature of the websites front page would be a large military tech style clock counting down to the release date.

March 1st 2013- behind the scenes footage will be released that hints further to the settings and storyline.

March 17th 2013- At this point, the final, official trailer would be released. It would be a fairly average time wise (1:30) yet would include lots of key information, all the main characters will be seen, there will be much more dialogue and there is a general hint to the storyline.

April 21st 2013- Film is released. 

Further Work on Film Plot

Last Post

•       Military family – father, mother, two sons.

•       Father is very dedicated to the military, runs his family as if they were in the army. Assumes both sons will also become soldiers. Older brother already is, younger brother about to.

•       Younger brother has a best friend who is about to travel the world – brother is jealous, is not sure about a military career. Lots of family arguments.

•       Younger son runs away to travel with best friend.

•       While away, the news comes that the older brother has been killed in action.

•       Big argument between parents – mother blames father for loss of both of the sons. Father accidentally kills mother in argument.

•       Younger son comes home because of this and…

Issues to resolve

•       What is the cliffhanger? What don’t we know that we want to find out?

•       Where does the story go from here that we are hinting at?

•       What is the end point of the trailer? Does the older son die quite early in the film so it’s ok to show this? Do we show the accidental murder? If so, there needs to be a lot of action after this or there will be no tension in watching.

Initial Outline of Film

These photos show some of our early film / trailer ideas:

Further Research Into Promotional Campaigns - Brendon

Total Recall (2012)

The Total Recall marketing campaign started at around March of this year. This may have been considered late to start providing teaser extracts and posters of the movie to the public as some companies can start years in advance if not at least a year in advance of the movies release, whereas this movies teaser campaign was started only 6 months prior to the release of the movie in cinemas. The first piece of teaser publicity that was released to the public was in the form of a teaser trailer that was released on the 26^th of March that was 33 seconds long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4Z-E-Mxbo

This trailer was presented in this way to spark the interest of viewers who had seen the original with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990, and with the fast paced shots and the action seen get new viewers interested in this new reformation of the old movie. This trailer was almost a teaser for the first official trailer which was released on April Second to the public and was the usual “2:24 seconds long”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SerZm7DheA

This full trailer explained more about the movie and contained many more scenes of action and more information on the story itself. As the first Teaser trailer was released a teaser poster was released for the movie that contained little text, only the title of the movie and the season of release, with the main actor as the main image in front of a futuristic setting.

http://www.impawards.com/2012/total_recall.html

Between the release of the trailer and the movie there were more posters and trailers officially released to the public containing more information on dates and information on the story line itself as well as action scenes to keep the viewers entertained and interested in seeing the movie. However there were also unofficial posters released that fans had made which were to show off the story behind Recall and what the main story is about. Below are a few.

 

 

This campaign was largely successful in gaining the audiences interest and they gained a lot of publicity through magazines and TV trailers, however through all the hype generated the movie some would say did not live up to the expectations set.

The key thing to learn from this campaign is the importance of the involvement of the audience - cmpaigns work much better when they are interactive.

 

The Amazing Spiderman Campaign (2012)

The start of the amazing Spiderman campaign was largely headed by the huge company Sony who Built a promotional website for the Film back in 2011 which would be a source for fans to see trailers and posters released for the movie.

http://www.theamazingspiderman.com/

This website released three trailers ranging from the initial teaser trailer to two full trailers later on in the campaign. This website included a gallery of shots taken in the movie or during production of the movie itself. The way in which Spiderman was marketed to audiences was extremely effective as they chose movies, which tied into the superhero them such as avengers and played their trailer at the release event of the movie as well as paying for it to be seen on the main page in the iTunes store, one of the biggest multimedia distributers in the world. The campaign started off with releasing the initial teaser trailer and a few posters which included little to no information on the specifics on the movie other than the actor and the setting, perhaps in later posters the seasonal date and then near the movie the actual screening date.

A company called BEENOX also produced the amazing Spiderman Game, which would have boosted sales for the movie as well as reaching more fans. This first set of extra merchandising led on to retailers selling toys of the characters from the movie as well as the iconic sweet dispenser PEZ marketing their new Official Spiderman Sweet dispenser in the form of Spiderman’s and the lizard doctors Bust. The franchise of Spiderman has always been largely successful over the previous years however because the main actors had been changed and the story was almost being retold in a different light the audience had to be convinced that this New Spiderman was still staying true to the original and was going to be as good if not better. The marketing campaign largely helped with this and fans were not disappointed. The once large franchise of Spiderman has only increased in size now due to the new movie and the new merchandise being sold, and with the fan base growing in numbers constantly. The marketing campaign over the last 18 months was extraordinary and gained a lot of interest from the fans from the series and new fans with the new approach to Spiderman, All the different methods used for marketing, be it the trailers or posters or the games and toys, the audience was not disappointed and was kept interested and intrigued to see the final movie and the public was ultimately pleased when they saw the movie and to date is still a major movie of the year.

This was probably not a difficult film to promote and would have been a box office success with very little promotion. This shows that the promotion has become an expected part of the film and one of the ways in which studios compete. Where the big films are concerned, the campaign isn't so much about making sure audiences watch it, but are much more about an elaborate competition designed to create maximum hype and enhance the studio's reputation.

 

 

 

Further Research Into Trailers - Brendon

Total Recall (2012 Full Trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pV2zz3z0oM

The trailer first starts with a green ratings card that informs the viewer the rating in which the trailer/preview has been given and who authorized this rating. This ratings card is a distinguishing factor that alerts viewers immediately that they are watching/or about to watch a trailer. The beginning of the trailer starts off with little other music than an underlying drumbeat that sounds effectively when a character stops speaking and the scene transitions to the next. This leaves the rest of the scene quiet and puts a sense of calm that is building up into a major scene that will be seen in the future, ultimately building suspense within the audience/viewers. The music then comes in as action is taking place and in certain places where the music is faded out there is silence making the special effects seem more fulfilling. This is used to gain tension in the trailer and to make the action seen more interesting and adrenaline fueled with a fast pace. This is very useful and done well for Total Recall as it reflects what is going on in the movie and how things have gone from a quiet and calm into steady change that ultimately leads to action and darkness throughout the rest of the movie, which is reflected perfectly by the music heard. The trailer is also broken into sections with title screens towards and at the end of the trailer to alert the viewer which movie trailer they are watching and also a rough if not specific time frame that the movie is expected to be released in cinemas, which in this case is Total Recall that will be show This summer.

The Amazing Spiderman (2012 Full Trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tnxzJ0SSOw

This trailer starts off with the familiar green ratings card informing the viewer that this preview or trailer has been approved for “appropriate audiences” and that it has been rated by the influential and established ratings company “Mpaa.org/filmratings.com”. This trailer has represented the main themes throughout the movie using Propp’s common archetypes with Spiderman being the Hero and The doctor becoming the Villain (reptile creature). The movie uses codes like Levi-Strauss’s Binary opposites to present the good vs. evil complex throughout the movie which effectively according to Fowler’s theory, based on the previous movies and movies in a genre like this, leads the audience to have expectations (that the Hero will defeat the Villain after overcoming some struggles and a defeat of his own) that will either be fulfilled or subverted in the end. The movie follows Todorov’s basic arc in which there is equilibrium to start off with that is disrupted and resolved creating a new equilibrium at the end of the movie. The use of all these codes and conventions follows the natural set used by previous movies within this genre so it is easy for the audience/viewer to distinguish the genre of the movie and whether they like it or not. Superhero films are easy to analyse in this way as the narrative is so simple and formulaic. The pleasure for viewers is in watching how these expected features are realized, particularly the special effects.

 

 

Further Research into Magazine Covers - Brendon

The Bourne Legacy (Empire)

This cover of Empire is fairly sparse in the form of images and only really displays the main image from the featured film (The Bourne Legacy) however it is largely populated by text that either is directly to do with the movie or bears some similarities. The main image is placed centrally to every thing and has a very plain but textured background. The main image colours are very dark and stand out from this dull background drawing the viewer’s line of sight immediately. The crouching figure is holding a gun and staring directly out at the reader, a challenging look which helps to anchor the style of the film, as do the dark colours.  Although the main image is central the name of the movie and the text relating to it on this poster have been placed over the image, albeit with see through writing that is still readable from afar. The cover contains phrases like “Action Packed” and “Gangster Special” which draws the viewer in as they want to know more about these specific features as well as the main movie, enticing them to buy the magazine and read further. This magazine cover would have dramatically improved the sales of the movie as the promotion would have been seen by many existing readers but also by people just passing by the magazine and as it is such a string, clean image it catches the eye. The key word “Bourne” is in the largest font as this is such a popular and successful franchise and the change of actor means he is not the recognisable feature as would normally be the case.

For us, this shows how crowded a magazine cover can be in terms of text. As our film might not have the sellign appeal of a sequel, we expect there to be a lot of content on the cover.

 

The Amazing Spiderman (Total Film)

 

 

This magazine cover from Total Film is relatively empty with regards to text and promotions on the front. The cover focuses more on the main image of Spiderman and the title of the movie to sell the magazine, which shows us how established and known the franchise is and is expected to be as no further selling phrases or points are needed to be shown. The poster consists of a fairly plain background with a blue light produced that surrounds the main image being Spiderman in the centre of the cover. Under the title there are a few key words to re-iterate the new factor of this movie and to show that Spiderman is back. The other text shown on this cover is the title of the magazine and a small bit of text underneath stating the price and date of release. Although these are present and the title is large it does not distract the viewer from the cover at all.

This looks like an incomplete magazine. There is no barcode for example. This looks like a fan-made example or an early glimpse. This highlights how careful you have to be when searching the internet as there is now so much fan-made material that it is easy to become confused as to what is institutional and what is not. The second version contains much more text and is totally convincing as a Total Film magazine cover. This is useful to see how these kinds of covers are built up.

 

 

Further Poster Research - Brendon

 

Total Recall (2012)

 

This poster is fairly busy with the main image taking much of the space available on the poster. Although the main image takes up most of the space in the poster, the colours used in the main image and the background are very similar. The use of dark colours like the dark brown, shades of grey and the black all help to make the picture seem grown up and slick and reflect the theme of the movie itself which is a dark thriller. The way the shattering building morphs into the main character’s head also suggests that he is in danger. A hero against a destroyed city is a classic superhero pose.

There is little text on the poster which leads us to believe that it was a late release in a teaser campaign or an early release in the full campaign as the text does give the audience a season in which the movie will be released but not a specific date.

 

The title of the movie is large and centrally placed at the bottom of the poster drawing the audience/viewers eye to it and also letting them know exactly what movie this poster is advertising. The last piece of text seen on this poster is the catch phrase used, What is real? This will clearly be a key tagline across the campaign.  This is placed dead centre of the poster, and on top of the actual main image. This leads the viewer to see it immediately and provides a complex for them leaving them wanting to know the answer and how the movie will portray this.

The main thing I have taken from this poster is the need for an effective background that helps convey the narrative. In this case, the background is in graphic style while the actor seems more real, cleverly backing up the tagline. We are not sure what we are seeing.

 

 

The Amazing Spiderman

The composition of this poster is extremely interesting. The main image is placed to the right of the poster as the character is looking over the city (the background) Whilst his head is placed so that it looks like he is almost looking behind him at the audience/viewer but he may just be looking at the city itself. His face is lit so we get a clear sense of who he is and can identify the actor. The city/background image plays a large part in this poster and is allocated more than half the posters space. This may be because the audience is meant to recognize the city that the movie is set in straight away or to emphasize where exactly the movie is set. The actor’s position above it  gives him status and power and makes us assume that he is looking out at a city he feels belongs to him and will protect at all costs. The poster does not display much text and has no specific date leading the viewer to believe this poster was released early in the teaser campaign. The only inkling towards a date is the words “coming soon”. Although this is an early poster the poster states that it will be released in 3D which means that this is important to the production company and this is how they perceive is the best way to watch their film. The other text shown is the main catch phrase which is placed centrally to the whole picture, and it sparks interest in the viewer due to the mystery behind the words.

We know that our tagline will be important, especially as we think it might not be short and snappy but might be three separate phrases that will be used as intertitles in the trailer as well as on the poster. It's interesting here that it doesn;t stand out that well against the background. George also noticed a tagline in quite small font in his research, so although we are not seeing this as a convention, we won't make choices based only on making thigs stand out. Clearly the producers expect the main image to do the work of catching attention and the interested audience to then take the time needed to read the rest.