Editing so far - Cut 1

Here is our editing process so far, excluding audio and the final day of the shoot. 

Magazine name survey

In order to get a name for our magazine which was popular with our target audience, I created a survey on surveymonkey to see which of all of the ideas we had had for out magazine title was the most popular. The first question on this survey was asking what the gender of the person taking the survey was. From the 5 people which we had answer the survey, two were male and three were female. This is fairly equal which shows that the results we have gathered are true of both a male and female gender. 

The next question is asking what the age of the participant of the survey. We had people ranged from 12 to 21 answer our survey, however the majority of the people answering the survey were ages 15-17. As our target audience is older teenagers, this means that we have our niche audience answering the survey and therefore the results will be more relevant. One thing we could have improved when creating our survey is people selecting their specific ages instead of an age bracket.

The final question is one about which magazine name they find the most appealing. Overall the most popular magazine title, with 3 out of 5 votes, is the title 'Outtake'. 

This survey could have been improved by us making the sample size bigger, asking more people to answer our survey for us. This makes sure that we have a definite representation of what this demographic finds appealing. However, due to time and finding people to answer our survey we only managed to get 5 people to answer it. 

Empire Magazine

General Survey Results - Analysis Video

General Survey Results - Evidence

Snow White and the Huntsman - Film Poster Analysis

The next poster I have chosen to analyse is one taken from the advisement for the movie 'Snow White and the Huntsman'. The first poster here is the main one used for advisement for this movie. The first thing which stands out is the title. It is placed on the bottom part of the image but in a large font to make it stand out and catch the audiences attention. It has been placed in a silver metallic looking font which fits into the theme of the poster with the silver and grey being main features in the colorisation of the images. As it is placed in large text it means it stands out and catches the audiences attention. It has also been placed so it doesn't overlap with the character's heads in the image, this is because they are also a focal point and if they were to overlap it could detract from one or the other. The title is possibly one of the most important things about a film poster as it tells the audience the name of the film and if they find the poster appealing they will hopefully remember the name and then want to watch the fill movie. 

Below the title of the film a small caption, which is put in bold so it stands out from the institutional information below it. The caption says "From the producer of 'Alice in Wonderland'". The advantage of adding in this information to the poster, is that the film 'Alice in Wonderland' is based on a very similar audience as the film is also a fantasy movie. This means that if people liked the film 'Alice in Wonderland' they will look at this new film and automatically be led to believe that this is of the same standard. It is also a film adaptation of a fairytale much like 'Alice in Wonderland' and therefore they audience thinks that it will be just as good as 'Alice in Wonderland' which was a very successful film. 

Above the title is three names, these are the names of the three main actors within the film. Much like mentioning the producer is the same producer as the 'Alice in Wonderland' movie, if the audience likes films which have perviously starred one of the people mentioned they will want to watch their latest piece of work as they believe it will be to the same standard. I believe the director has been very cleaver with his casting, for example Kristen Stewart, is most well known for starring as the main character in the 'Twilight Saga'. This movie was a fantasy dark romance, its target audience was primarily older teenage girls, as is the audience for 'Snow White and the Huntsman'. This means that any of the fans of her acting in that movie will want to watch this movie. 

The final bit of text which appears on the poster is the institutional information. This is placed in a very small font and contains all the information about the institution which has created this motion picture. It also contains the names of actors and people involved in both pre and post production. Below this institutional information is the words 'Coming Soon'. This is obviously one of the earlier released posters as it does not contain a specific date, as one has probably not yet been released. This shows how early in the process of creating a film, the advertising is done. 

The image which dominates the rest of the poster shows three characters, they are placed in order of the actor names beneath them, this helps to tie together the actors face and their name. The image shows the main three characters, the protagonist, the villain and the side kick/ romantic interest. Behind them is a background which consists of armies marching into battle, a castle and a sky full of crows. I believe the armies have been placed to show that this film contains a large element of action and huge (high budget) battle scenes between good and evil. I believe the crows have been placed for a variety of reasons, the first is, in the original story of snow white her hair is described as "black as a crow". Another interpretation would be that crows are an omen of death, and therefore connote the theme of death within this movie. The queen (the character in the centre) is wearing a hood made from what appear to be crow feathers; this connotes that she is dangerous and evil. 

The image consists of three separate mid-long shots of the characters which have been placed together. The centre image is of the evil queen. She is placed slightly above, and larger than the other two characters, this may connote her being extremely powerful and superior to the other characters. She is obviously the queen character as her costume contains a crown made of silver spikes. The silver goes nicely with the title, tying both the writing and image together. She is front facing and looking directly at the camera which makes eye contact with anyone looking at the poster, this is done to make the audience feel directly involved. Her costume is made up of a dark, scale like, material. This could denote a snake skin and therefore connote evil and poison. As the audience will know, in the story of 'Snow White' the Queen poisons an apple and gives it to snow white, her costume may be a reflection of foreshadowing this to happen within the movie. The last thing that really stands out about the Queen's character is the use of a prop, the is holding a dagger in her hands which is again silver, fitting in with the silver theme. The dagger connotes that there will be action and fighting within this film and she may possibly stab someone, this makes the audience want to know what actually happens in the film.

The next image is the one of the left, which is of the character of Snow White. It shows her in a ripped dress and apparently in movement walking towards the camera. She isn't looking directly at the camera and so her mode of address is indifferent to the audience's existence and instead she is looking at something off of the poster to the right, this makes the audience wonder what she is looking at. Her costume suggests she has been through a lot as it is dirty and ripped, this connotes the idea of action and he fight for survival. The final image is that of the Huntsman. He is also dressed in warn, muddy clothes, which suggests that he is in constant action. He is looking towards the left and appears to be in a fighting stance, this again makes the audience wonder what/ who he is preparing to fight. 

As well as this standard poster. The designers made a set of individual character posters. I have selected two of these, both of the character of Snow White to take a look at. The title of the film is still placed in a very clear place on the poster. One in the centre at the bottom, much like the standard poster, and the other it is placed on the left hand side. 

The first shows Snow White standing at a angle, facing towards the left hand side of the poster edge. She is not acknowledging the camera's existence which make it look more like a  candid action shot instead of a posed one. Behind her is a group of people, as there are seven of them and in the traditional story she meets seven dwarfs we are led to believe that these characters are the seven dwarfs. They are stood quite far behind Snow White's character to make it clear that she is the focal point of the image. The setting is full of snow and mountains which reveals some of the setting which the film will take place in. The snow is also associated with the spread of evil and may connote her battle against evil within the movie.

The mise en scene, in terms of costume and props, is very different to the first image, she is standing in a polished suit of armour holding a sword. This gives her a very powerful image. This also suggests the idea of battle and the fight between good and evil and that she will be directly involved. It also goes against one of the key conventions of a fantasy movie, which is that the main protagonist doing all the fighting is a male. I believe this has been done to attract a more female based audience, as females will aspire to be like her. It also makes the film interesting compared to other fantasy films which stick to the generic stereotypes. 

The final poster I will be looking at for the advertising campaign for 'Snow White and the Huntsman' is a close up character poster. This shows a close up of Snow White in the same costume and pose as the full length character poster only with some slight differences.

The title is placed in gold and is not placed in the centre bottom of the image, instead in the middle right. It still stands out and is therefore uninterrupted by the image of Snow White. The poster also contains a specific release date which is placed at the bottom of the poster in a slightly large font. This makes it stand out for the audience so that hopefully they will remember the date of release. 

Into the Woods - Film Poster Analysis

In recent years, the print material used for advertising a film often consists of more than one standard poster. Often a film has several posters which are used for promoting the film. Often these consist of individual ones of each of the star actors, if it is a Hollywood film with very famous actors and actresses in. I have decided to analyse the film posters for the movie 'Into the Woods' as it was a high budget film which contains many big names such as Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt and Anna Kendrick and subsequently there are many posters of individual characters. 

 This first posters is one which is the "main" poster used when promoting the film, this means it is the one which was used most in cinemas and on billboards to promote the film. I believe this has been chosen as it shows all of the main actors and characters on the poster as well as stating their names.

The first thing that stands out to me when looking at this poster is the title, it is placed in the center of the image and is fairly large, this means that is stands out and is the first thing to capture the audiences attention. It has also been placed in gold text which stands out against the dark colored images behind it. It has also been placed so that it does not overlap with any of the actors directly, this means that both the title and the actors are clearly visible for the audience and one does not detract from the other. Just above the title in a slightly smaller print is the production company of the film 'Disney'. It is placed in Disney's font instead of that of the title, but is also gold which makes it fit in with the other text on the poster. The production company title is a lot smaller than that of the main title but as it is still place in the center of the image it is still clearly visible and the audience will be able to notice it. They may have done this because Disney is an extremely well known media conglomerate and thus has a reputation for creating high quality, family friendly, movies. It not only attracts an audience who have watched other Disney movies and wish to watch this one but it also makes it clear who the target audience of the movie is, a family audience. The designers of the poster may have also done this because Disney is well known for working with some of the actors which appear within the movie, such as Johnny Depp, where he started in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise which is an extremely successful movie not only in terms of revenue but in popularity. People who enjoyed that movie will see the collaboration of company and actor and be led to believe that this movie will be just as good. 

The names of all of the main actors and actresses, who also appear on the poster, are placed in the same gold coloured text at the top of the page, however in a slightly different font to the title. The names are also placed in capitalized letters which makes them stand out slightly more. Typically when a person looks at an image their eyes well start at the center of the image and then look up and down, by placing the names at the top they are subsequently the second thing the audience sees after the name of the film, this has also been done because when film posters are exhibited, the names are just above eye level of the average adult which makes them more eye catching. Although the names are large they do not detract from the overall image as they, much like the title, do not overlap with any of the images of the actors. This is something we will have to take into deep consideration when creating out own film poster. 

The final bit of text which appears on the poster is the institutional information, placed in a white font, extremely small at the bottom of the page. This information is not meant to catch the audiences attention and is there for legal purposes and not to try to promote the film. The only bit of information which the creates of the poster want the audience to see is the release date which is placed in a slightly larger font at the bottom of this information. On our own poster I will probably make this text slightly larger than the information on this page because I feel like it could be easily missed as it is quite small on this specific poster. 

The genre of the film is similar to the genre of our film, a fantasy film which contains elements which are darker and scarier. However, this specific film will contain less of the dark element of the genre because it is a family audience targeted film. The images therefore reflect the genre. Our own movie will be a 12 and therefore it will be allowed to be slightly more scary instead of a dimmed down version of horror. 

Another poster from the advising campaign for this movie is on the right above, this one only shows one of the characters. Both of the posters I have looked at so far have the same background of a dark wood containing lots of twisted trees (which connote horror as they are scary looking and are often used in horror films). 

This poster contains all of the same titles as the first poster the only difference lays in the choice of images. There are different posters for each of the characters. A few of these are shown to the left. These images are combined in different ways to create the overall poster. These posters for individual characters do not contain all of the smaller writing or the names of the actors and actresses. These specific actor posters contain an enlarge picture of the character which dominates most of the image. They then contain a small version of the title of the film, not as big as the title on the poster containing all of the characters, but it is still eye catching as it is placed in the gold font which stands out against the dark gloomy background. The name of the actor which appears on the poster is placed above the title in a white font which again stands out against the gloomy background. Below the title is the time of release of the film, as this poster is one of the earlier ones it merely says "Christmas" instead of a specific date. Above the character is the name of the character for example the "Cinderella" poster contains the character name above her head. This makes it apparent which actor is playing which character. The font used is different from anything else used on any of the posters, it has a more handwriting effect. This may have been used to empathise that this is based on a written fairlytale. 

These two separate character posters also have animated versions which appear online. Disney has done this to create something new and interesting and make the film stand out online from other standard posters. The movement consists of a slight shift in lighting and a movement of the fog which appears within the poster. These animated posters are something which is very new to the movie advertising business and is used mostly to make ones poster stand out from the norm. 

Hansel and Gretel - Film Poster Analysis

The next poster I have chosen to analyse is the poster for the film 'Hansel and Gretel'. I have chosen to analyse this poster because it is slightly different in its format to other film posters. 'Hansel and Gretel' is a action-horror comedy film based on Grimm's fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel'. The first thing which makes the genre of the film apparent is the title on the poster. It states the name of the film in a quite large red font which has a "blood splatter" effect. The combination of the font and the colour red gives the impression of blood and therefore links into the conventions of a horror type movie, which include blood and gore. The red text also stands out against the black costumes and white background of the images which makes it more eye-catching and is therefore more likely to grab the audiences attention. Slightly below the title is the sub title 'Witch Hunters' which offers more information about what this film is about. Next to this is the word '3D' which reveals to the audience that the film is will available in 3D, this shows to the audience that it is a large budget film, and these in general are better than lower budget films. Both of these are placed in the same font as the title, to make them stand out, however are smaller so that they do not detract from the title itself. 

What makes this poster different, is normally on posters the text is level with the horizontal of the page, on this poster however the text has been placed at a diagonal. Normally the text is placed at a horizontal in order to ensure it can be clearly read, it also make sure that it stands out as usually it fills the width of the poster. I do not believe that placing this text at an angle affects how clear it is on the poster as the text is so vibrant and stands out so much from the image. I do however, think that it offers something new a fresh, for example in cinema's when there is a line of posters this one will stand out as the text is placed in a different area which does not follow the usual conventions of a film poster. This means that the institutional information place beneath  the title of the film is also placed at an angle. Below the institutional information is also placed 'Coming to cinemas in March'. This is placed in a slightly bolder and bigger text, this makes it stand out a lot. This is an obvious convention of any type of movie poster, even if there is not a set day for the release of the film usually the film has a general date such as 'This Christmas' or 'This Summer'.

The image placed on the poster comprises of the two main characters, Hansel and Gretel. The background comprises of some white snowy mountains and a few trees. The white background makes the black of the characters costumes stand out even more. The mise en scene, in terms of costume, the person who has created the poster has placed them in black leather outfits, which give them an assassin and "badass" look. This is quite different from what we know about the original characters in Hansel and Gretel, who were innocent children from a very poor village. The connotation of black leather is to create a potentially intimidating appearance, this shows that the characters are to be feared and therefore are powerful. The use of the weapon props enhances this idea as the use of weapons makes them appear more threatening. It also reveals that there will be a great deal of action within the film as there will be fights scenes. They have deliberately been given weapons which are ranged like a gun and cross bow, these are often used and associated with hunting and therefore bring forward the idea of them as 'Witch Hunters'.

The mode of address of the characters is direct, both characters are looking directly at the camera, they are looking with a very serious expression, this shows that they are powerful and deadly characters. The direct mode of address may also have been used to make a link between the audience and the characters, this makes them look more appearing and as if they will actually feel part of the movie if they watch it. This, especially for fantasy movies, is a big part of the escapism and thus entertainment.

As well as the standard A4 portrait poster, a landscape one was created for perhaps buses or landscape billboards. It contains all of the same elements as the first, it just lacks the institutional information and the text is placed towards the left and the image to the right as there is no overlap. 

Audience Survey

We created a survey which we will be handing out to members of our target audience group to see the best way to interact with out audience. 

AUDIENCE SURVEY

I have created a questionnaire to hand out to people to determine the type of audience my film trailer, and other media products, will be aimed towards.  I have used mainly closed questions so that I can analyse the results easily and create graphs and charts based on the results. The questionnaire is as follows:

Gender:

Male   [   ]     Female   [   ]

Age:

Under 10   [   ]     11 – 17   [   ]     18 – 29   [   ]      30+   [   ]

How often do you watch movies?:

Everyday   [   ]     Once a week   [   ]      Once a month   [   ]     Less than once a month   [   ]

Do you enjoy watching movies?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Do you enjoy watching fantasy/horror movies?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Does a film trailer influence if you watch a film?:

Yes   [   ]    No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Does an actor’s appearance in a film influence you to watch the film?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Does a film poster influence you to watch the film?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Which style of horror film do you find more scary?:

Realistic   [   ]     Fantasy   [   ]     Both   [   ]

Which is your favourite genre of film?:

_____________________________________

Where do you prefer to watch movies?:

Cinema   [   ]     At home   [   ]      Online   [   ]     Other   [   ]

Where do you find out about new movies?:

TV trailers   [   ]     Online trailers   [   ]     Magazines   [   ]     Cinema   [   ]

Do you read movie magazines?:

Yes   [   ]     No   [   ]     Sometimes   [   ]

Film Magazines Conventions

Film magazine covers follow similar conventions to all magazines in general. I have drawn together some of the ideas of the conventions from looking at several magazine covers and doing online research. The codes and conventions which appear on the majority of products are as follows:

• MASTERHEAD - Features on all magazine covers, it is usually placed at the top center of the page which tells the audience which magazine it is. It is always the largest text which appears on the magazine which makes it eye catching for the audience. Magazine headings are often placed in colours such as red or placed in bold or capitals because this makes them stand out even more.
• IMAGES - Magazines always contain a main image which takes up most of the space on the page, in terms of a film magazine this will usually be a mid-shot and should reveal what the film is about, perhaps the main character in a still which appears to be taken from the movie. If the film contains a big Hollywood star they will most likely appear as the main item on the page as they are used as a selling point for the movie. Sometimes there are smaller images around the page which show other movies or interviews with movie stars. 
• BUZZ WORDS - These are words which catch the audiences attention, and make the magazine seem to stand out from any other magazine. Using words such as "exclusive" when talking about an interview make them seem like they are the only one with fresh, exciting information about a film which appears in no other magazine. 
• ANCHORAGE TEXT - This text often overlaps with images and is normally quite large on the magazine cover, however, far smaller than that of the masterhead. It tells the audience what stories will appear within the magazine. These often contain quotes taken from interviews or short snappy titles which stand out but also reveal what will be inside the magazine. 
• BANNER - This gives overall information about the magazine and what can be found inside of it. 
• BARCODE, DATE, ISSUE NUMBER and PRICE - All magazines contain these. The barcode appears on the front of the magazine as usually the back page is a paid for advertisement, the date and price are normally quite small but still relevant so that the audience can see this information. 

Different types of Film Posters

Known places for film posters to be seen are on big billboards, bus stops, on buses, underground stations and of course, around the cinema to show future film releases. Because film posters are a physical thing, there is no limit on where they can advertise films. I have examples of posters on some of these to the right of this page.

Because of this there are many different sizes and shapes of posters which are required to be made for the promotion of films, especially big hollywood block busters made by conglomerate companies. These companies have the accessibility and budget to create several posters to promote their film whereas smaller companies may create one or two posters which will only be displayed in a few spots and promoting on, the sides of buses for example, is very expensive.

The outline for our product is that we only have to create one poster to promote our film. I believe we will be creating a standard A4 portrait poster which could be used in a cinema, much like the posters on the last image I have placed here. Through researching many types of poster we should be able to draw up exactly what is required on our poster to make it a successful as well as interesting product. 

Film Posters - History

A film poster is a poster which has been created with the purpose of advertisement for a film. These days studios normally print a variation of posters in different sizes and with different images to both make each new one exciting but to suit a variation of different purposes (like ones for billboards or others for magazines). The main convention of the poster is that it contains photographs of the main actors, however, prior to the 1990's posters usually comprised of drawings or installations. The poster also contains the name of the film, the date it will be released, maybe a catch phrase and the name of key actors or the director. 

Brief History

In the early days of film, there were no movie stars on the movie posters because most actors in films chose to be anonymous. These were legitimate stage actors who felt embarrassed to be participating in this new medium. The producers were thrilled, because they believed they could control the medium as long as there were no stars.

The earliest forms of advertising for movies included hand painted crates and sandwich boards. The turn of the 20th Century saw a world with a very high illiteracy rate.  Posters or advertising for any entertainment needed to have vibrant colors and pictures and a limited amount of words, so that the advertising could be understood by a large number of people, also this would entise the views to keep an eye on the poster to find out the information shown on it. 

In the early days of film, there were no movie stars on movie posters because most actors in film chose to be anonymous. These were legitimate stage actors who felt embarrassed to be participating in this new medium. The producers were thrilled, because they believed they could control the medium as long as there were no stars.

This could relate to Richard Dyers Star Theory, as the institutions creating the film wanted creative control over the product that was released to the audience, meaning that the audience sees the product exactly as the institution wants it to be seen. This could also link in with the encoding and decoding theory of Stuart Hall. The theory is about how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed. 

1910 saw in the era when the production companies saw that they could make money out of these “movie stars” and this brought about the release of movie posters with named actors on the poster.

In 1920 the focus had almost moved away from the film to the star completely (and so the Hollywood celebrity is created). The 1920’s were considered the golden age of the silent movie. Beautiful movie palaces replaced the movie theater. The posters of old were replaced by artistically aesthetic movie posters. Well-known artists were commissioned to design movie poster portraits of leading stars as the posters had to be painted or block printed. 

1930 was when the film industry really came into its own. Since the first motion picture in the 1890’s the film industry proliferated very quickly going from silent pictures in early 1920 and full feature talkies in 1930. However, 1930 also saw in the great depression, people thought that this would be the death of the cinema industry but it instead offered people a chance to escape from the horrible reality they were faced with. This rise in popularity in cinema meant that the big companies where churning out films and posters to match their latest motion picture.

The posters varied in sizes, and they experimented with different styles of letters. During the 30’s, the studios generally produced two styles of one sheet and half sheet posters, each with a different kind of art work. Paramount Studio posters were known as “Style A” and “Style B”. MGM used “Style C” or “Style D”. Universal Pictures were known as “Style X” and “Style Y”. Sometimes there were more than two styles released, especially when the movie was a major production. 

Then, in the late 1940’s, we entered a new arena: the age of television. By this time, TV had attracted a large number of movie goers, so the studios responded by reducing the number of films made. Many of the great directors and stars of that time found themselves out of contracts with the studios. This was a devastating blow to many actors.

With the coming of the 1950’s, and to fight the popularity of television, movie studios created more fantasy films. The studios that once produced the war movies were now making science fiction, comedy and grade “B” drive-in movies. Although the drive-in had been around since 1933, it reached its peak during the 1950’s with over 4,000 screens in the United States alone.

1960’s brought the boomer generation to their teen years. There were so many children from the post-war baby boom that a lot of the movies were very “teen” oriented. Teen idols from the world of rock and roll crossed into movie stardom. Elvis Presley became very popular at this time, not only for his music, but his movies. There were also a lot of “beach movies” with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. Action movies also became very popular and we saw the introduction of the infamous double agent, 007, James Bond

The 1970’s was  a launching pad to the era of the blockbusters of the 1980’s. Movies like The Godfather, Rocky, Star Wars and Star Trek were born. Although the posters of this time continued the use of photography, drawing and painting styles were sometimes used and famous artists like Ansel Adams, Frank Frazetta and Bob Peak created some popular posters of this time

The 1980’s was the age of special effects, which was the key to the success of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Back to the Future, Batman, ET, Ghostbusters and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

With the 1990’s came the computerization of special effects. Because of this, the 90’s brought two of the biggest money making films in history, Jurassic Park and Batman Forever.

Why we chose to create animated logos

Creating Animated Production Company Logos

Here is a slide share on how I created the production company video logo:

Editing of production company video logo from rebecky69

Here is the final product:

Day 5 of filming

Day 3 and 4 of filming