Magazine front cover analysis

This front cover is from Empire magazine, which is a British film magazine and was first published in 1989 by Emap. The magazine has a target audience of males and females, ABC, film and cinema fans. The monthly magazine is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain.

Part of the masthead is covered up by the main image; this shows that the magazine is successful as publishers feel confident that audiences will recognise the magazine, despite part of the masthead being hidden. The masthead is in large capital letters, this is so that it stands out as much as possible. The colour red is used to represent danger. This front cover is a lot busier than the previous front cover from Entertainment Weekly that I looked at. There are conventions however that are similar on both covers. Both the mastheads are the largest text on the page and are placed at the top of the magazine.

The main image on this front cover features Heath Ledger staring as The Joker from “The Dark Knight”, his last film. Heath Ledger is a renowned actor; again this shows the magazines success. The image used is a long shot. The image represents Heath’s character to be very intimidating and reflect his character in the film. The costume used is how The Joker appears in the film; he wears bright clothes and has the iconic face paint on. He is sat with his head tilted down and his eyes are looking directly at the camera, his pose and posture add a creepy and eerie characteristic, making audiences feel threatened. Behind him is a metal gate, these could be jail bars representing his dangerous character.

Down the right-hand side are some plugs for other features that are appearing in the magazine. These will pursued audiences to buy the magazine and read the articles inside. They do not disrupt the main image or stop it from being the main focal point of the magazine. The font used for these plugs is smaller than the font used for the main headline. The three main colours used are red, green and purple. The purple and green font matches the clothes that The Joker is wearing. The bright colours represent the comic strip and grab the audiences’ attention. The red used on the masthead represents danger and blood. White is also used for smaller font so that it stands up against the dark background but down not stand out as much as the more important text such as the main headline. Other conventions are also included on the front over, such as the magazine’s website, the issue number, date and price. A barcode is also included in the left-hand corner or the cover.

The main headline “Meet The Joker” has a graffiti/comic book style font. This represents the film “The Dark Knight” because Batman was originally a comic strip. All of the front cover has a feel of a comic book, with lots of different colours and fonts. There is a strap line underneath the main headline saying “He’s a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown”, this font looks like someone has carved it with a knife. This creates a sense of danger and edge. Above the masthead is a strapline, “The Dark Knight World Exclusive!” this gives audiences a taste of what is to appear in the magazine and links with the main headline and image. It also makes the magazine sound more distinguished and exclusive because it says “World Exclusive”. In between the strapline is the Batman logo, this has become an icon and will be easily recognised.

Magazine front cover analysis

Total Film is Britain’s second-best selling film magazine. It is published by Future Publishing and was launched in 1997. The magazine is published once a month.

This issue features the new Sherlock Holmes film. The main image is like the one on the front of the Entertainment Weekly cover, it is a medium shot of Robert Downey Jr. as his character Sherlock Holmes. The image is very simple and doesn’t include any bright colours. As the previous front covers I have looked at, a well know actor has been featured. Robert Downey Jr. is an accomplished actor therefore creates a successful image of the magazine and he will be recognised by audiences.

Total Film’s iconic masthead is similar to that of Entertainment Weekly, because one of the words is incorporated into the other. The word “Film” is in large, white, capitalised font so that it stands out and is the largest font on the page making sure it is the most noticeable. The word “Total” is in a smaller font and is incorporated into the word “Film”; it is the same colour as the background so that it looks like it has been cut out. The word film is larger to put more emphasis on it, because the noun represents the genre of the magazine. Just like the Empire magazine front cover, the masthead is partly covered by the main image.

The main headline lies over the top of the image; “Sherlock Holmes” is in large font in blue and white. The colour scheme of the cover represents the genre and character of Sherlock Holmes. Blue and white represents cool and calmness which is one of the characteristics of Sherlock; it also represents mystery which is an element of the film. The straplines above and below the main headline also reflect the theme of mystery, “All the elements are coming together” and “On set! Cracking the case of the world’s greatest detective”. They also give audiences a clue as to what articles on Sherlock Holmes are going to be included in the magazine. Above the main headline is a box containing the words “World Exclusive”, this is used to make the magazine seem more unique and to make the audience more excited and enticed to buy the issue.

Down the left and right-hand side of the cover there are plugs to give the audience an insight of further articles and features in the magazine. The same font is used that is used throughout the magazine, in the same blue and white colour scheme. The films mentioned in the side headings are all well known and will be recognised by audiences. They are from a variety of genres, therefore attracting a wider audience. Other conventions that appear on the magazine are a barcode, date, issue number, price and website.

Above the masthead there is a skyline that gives indication as to other top stories and articles that are going to featured in the magazine. The words “10 coolest movies” is in bolder text than the rest of the strapline, this is so these words grab the audiences’ attention to entice them to buy it. The word “coolest” also fits in with the colour scheme and genre. Three small pictures are placed along the top in the skyline to show three of the 10 movies mentioned. This is designed to grab audiences’ attention and make them want to find out what the other movies are.

Synergy between trailers, covers and posters

Synergy basically means working together to achieve an objective that couldn't be achieved independently. Cross-media convergence can help with synergy if companies are wise enough to take advantage of the links they have forged. Cross Media Convergence is a term that refers to companies coming together vertically or horizontally (or both). An example of this is the big American company Warner Brothers, who have merged companys veritcally.

Disney is an obvious example of a synergistic company from the top down from Film Studio to Kids' TV Channel (where it further plays and promotes its films) to the Disney Store (in the street and online) where children can pester you to buy all the merchandise and DVDs/CDs they've seen on the TV/Web or in the cinema whilst watching and seeing other disney related things. Synergy doesn’t just happen in films, another example of when two or more companys have come together to promote and achieve the same aim was when the company Monster produced  Beats by Dr Dre headphones under the Dr Dre name. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber have also released under the "Beats" name, therefore people who wouldn't usually buy Monster or Dr Dre products are now attracted to and buy into the brand.

Trailer history

This post is about how trailers have changed over the years, I will provide a name of a trailer through each change and also an example of each:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937):  This was the first trailer to be produced by Walt Disney and it was very heavily texted throughout. There was also a sense of propaganda because of the war and it also included a voice over right through the actual trailer. The trailer also included information about Walt Disney, who was the creator- this seems quite unusual now as no trailers today include information about one specific person who is the head of the company! There was also a re-release of the trailer and there was also a lot of clips from the film were actually shown in the trailer.

Cinderella (1950): This advert features a lot of large text and includes a lot of facts and interesting information; it keeps the low voice over and also surprisingly- doesn’t outline the actual story of what the film was about, this could maybe be because people will already know what it is about. The information the trailer shows (what I mentioned before: took around 6 years to actually collect!) The trailer was also very small, and didn’t have a long running time. This could be seen to the viewer as a ‘tease’?

 

Gone with the Wind (1939): The entirety is attached with heavy amounts of text, giving information on the film itself, for example the actors and actresses featuring in the film. This also didnt include must of the film, and was more writing and contextual knowledge regarding the film. This is not done much now-a-days.

Poster analysis

This is the film poster for the film ‘insidious’, the poster itself, looks scary- and gives the viewers the denotations that the poster Is about a film from the horror genre.  The poster has a black ‘fog/mist’ around it and almost reveals the vacant looking boy, with his eyes scratched out. Behind his is a big, intimidating house followed by the sky.

The image if the boy uses a certain light to almost make it look 3D, and he almost shadows off towards the bottom of his image, also, where his eyes are scratched out, it looks as if it’s the poster that’s scratched- not the actual boy: the boys head is central to the poster therefore on first glance that is all you see, his face- which looks possessed. The house behind the boy image looks big, if this house was on its own with no other images round it- people would still associate it with being scary, as it is a perfect stereotype of horror films.

At the top of these images is text in white, this stands out against the black fog I mentioned. The text reads ‘From the makers of Saw and Paranormal Activity’. This could almost be seen as a ploy to get people to go and see it, as the films Saw and Paranormal activity are very successful and are all trilogies; therefore by ‘name dropping’ they may have persuaded followers of these films to go and see this one, as it may be similar- or, just as good.

Below the boy, is also text, this is the most central text on the poster: and is also the largest text on the poster- this shows us this must ne the name of the film the poster is advertising. Underneath that in a teal colour, is writing that says ‘It’s not the house that’s haunted’. This gives us the connotations of the denotations that it must obviously be the little boy who is haunted. If the viewer goes to see the film, then it will become clear that this is possible one of the most memorable lines within the film- which is why they chose to feature it on the poster.

To the right of the image is more text coloured in white giving a quote and 5 star rating from a movie review magazine, company’s often put these on posters as they are praising the film, and often when someone says a films as good, it becomes more attractive to the person who hasn’t seen it, therefore- will go and see it, or buy it on DVD.

Film trailer terminology

There is a lot of terminology used inn describing film trailers, i will now detail these below and give a descripion and explination of what they mean:

Music    The music used within a film trailer is a very important thing, this is because music often sets the tone of the trailer and gives denotations and connotations about what the film is about. Music can often be very expensive especially if the song is very well known, however films can also get jusic made especially for their trailer, which can be equally expensive. Music can make or break a trailer, for example a horror film would not have a happy melody in the background, where as a chilkderens film would, also a childrens film wouldnt have a sound track on the trailer that is a dark and scary one, such as the one used in Bat man: Rise of the dark knight, or the music from Paranormal activity.

Voice Over    A voice over is very similar to music, the voice has to fit the film and what it is about. Getting a good voice over can be expensive, especially when using a well known one. Big companys such as Warner Brothers though, have the same people doing them, this is why sometimes when watching a film trailer the voices sound the same.

Cast Run    The cast run is a list of actresses and actors names that are shown throughout the films trailer, who feature in the actual film itself. They wouldnt have actors in the trailer that wouldnt be in the film itself. This is done using the big names of the movie to help create the hype and raise awareness of the film through the use of the main stars,m and also by using the well known stqars it is more likely thast people will want to go and see the film as they are i n it, this is known as star power.

Billing Block    The billing block is mainly used at the bottom of a films poster and includes all of the people who played some of the major roles within the making of the film, this can also make a fil,m much more popular as there are people well known for films and people like films by them, so even if the film was a flop they would most likely make there money back as a good film director, for example, has made the film. An example of this would be a film from Steven Speilberg etc.

Ident    The Ident is the part of the trailer that shows the production company that was involved in making the film trailer, for example more well known ones are Warner Brothers- which is a huge multi million pound company and not so big well known ones such as Big talk productions, which is a British company.

Video Resolution    The resolution of the films trailer is in most cases the same as the resolution of the actual film. E.g. 35mm Reel / Digital Formats (this resolution is very good but expensive high range view) But thanks to the increase of viewing film trailers on the internet most trailers are being posted on to video sharing sites such as VIVO and Youtube to be viewed in 1080P resolution, which is a basic and cheap view.

Sounds    Most of the modern film trailers will be using the Dolby Digital Sound Format, or other programmes similar to this. This is so that they can use the the sound effects to the greatest potential, helping to create atmosphere within scenes of importance within the trailer and also, throughout the film.

Poster Analysis

This is the poster for the film 'Cabin in the woods', there are many different things on this poster that gives us the impression that it is a horror movie. The denotations fromk the poster gives us this idea, such as the 'forrest' background, which is in black and white, followed by the image of the cabin which is all jumbled up, and in the shape of a rubix cube. The texts are all either coloured in red or black, giving us the connotations thaty the film is going to be scary, and giving us the idea the film is most likely going to be a high rated film.

Another feature of the film's poster is the use of the black and dark red colour scheme as i have just mentioned, this is a very iconic and stereotypical colour schemefor a horror film and it is used within horror film genres often, as it gives the viewer a sense of: danger, blood, death and murder. Red is also used to show danger as it is the colour of blood and other gory things, this is also why is denotes the danger and scaryness of the film, the red as a colour also associates the red colour with the use of blood within the film. With blood and gore is obviously a main feature within many different horror films and this is yet another feature of a horror film poster. The text above this image gives some film reviews, this also the actual film title is in black, large 'creepy' letters, with the date the film comes out in red colouring.

The main way in which this posters shows it is of the horror genre is the subtle use of the rubix cube outline using the cabin, which is the main setting for this film. This immediately denotes that there is some form of danger in this film as the rubix cube is known as a game, this gives the viewer of the poster that the film will involve a game, which could be seen as the film withh be like one of the Saw trilogies. The  cabin and background to the poster also creates a very eerie and dark atmosphere within the poster showing what the atmosphere and the setting of the whole film will be.