Film Magazine Cover

I have also done research on film magazine covers which would cover my target audience that I have chosen to aim my teaser trailer at. I have found four well known film magazine covers which I can analyse and use as research. From these four covers, I can then use them to base my own magazine cover around them and either challenge or keep the conventions of a popular film magazine cover.

The front cover of a 2009 issue of Empire Magazine.
From the analysis of the film magazine Empire, the title is block, bright colours which is the first thing that attracted me to the magazine when I first look at it. Having a clear block capital bright title makes the magazine stand out against others when it is piled up on shelves in shops. The main image that is spread across the entire front page shows the character from the film that's been a hit with the audience in the past. You can tell that it is an image from a sequel film because of the quote on the right hand side '*Bloody Hell Harry comes fighting back'. The image in the bottom left hand corner shows characters from three big upcoming up movies which is a good way of grabbing peoples attention because they see the image and they want to find out about it. I don't think this is a convention of movie posters but I may just follow this magazine layout and add a couple of images of upcoming movies to my front cover.

The cover of a weekly film magazine, Entertainment Weekly. This front cover is similar to the one above with the block letters and bright colours. The colour blue is consistent over the front page unlike the colour red on the Empire Magazine. Using the same colour for story lines that are the same colour as the title makes them stand out against everything else that is on the page and it makes that story stand out more than the others. It's a simple magazine front cover unlike Empire which has a lot of different film titles that grab your attention. I think the simple layout works well with the type of image that it is as it makes it look more powerful because it's not being overtaken by loads of eye catching film titles.



One of the most popular film magazines, Total Film.
Total Film is one of the most popular film magazines that are about. This is different from the other two that I have analysed as it doesn't have any film names, stories, gossip about celebs or images which is unusual for a film magazine. This layout is not a convention of a typical film magazine because there would normally be a few film titles on the front cover being advertised or at least a couple of images. This magazines title is also block capitals like the other two posters which shows that a block capital title could be a convention of film magazines. I like the way that 'Total' has been placed in the 'F' of film as it makes it different from just having a simple block title. I've noticed that 'Entertainment Weekly' is a similar title to 'Total Film' because the 'Weekly' is in the last few letters of 'Entertainment'. Before analysing these posters, I didn't know that 'weekly' was in the word 'Entertainment'.

Front Cover of a issue of the film magazine Premiere. This magazine cover is different to the others in many ways because the title isn't as blocked as the other titles that I have analysed which shows that not all magazines follow the conventions of magazine covers. I think the title itself is effective as 'Premiere' is normally associated with Film releases and the red carpet. The main colours that this cover has used are blue, white and black which are simple colours that are easy to read and they all work well together which helps make the magazine cover effective. I think that the long list of celebrity names is a little odd and it doesn't look right for the layout of the cover. Having a list of films/celebs is an idea that I will not be following when making my own magazine cover.





This is my own magazine which I have created. I decided to go with the convention of film magazines and make my title bold so that it stands out against the picture. The title of my Magazine is Mad.About.Movies which I thought was too long for a magazine cover so I abbreviated it to M.A.M and then underneath the title I put a little tag line that explain the abbreviated title which says 'Mad About Movies has all the up to date movie gossip'.

Stages of Film Poster

Throughout the making of my film poster, there were many changes that had to be taken into consideration when trying to aim it at the right audience. When I made one draft then I asked my target audience to try and get them to suggest ways in which I can improve the poster. Some people suggested that changing colour and type of font could help to attract a lot more people. Once I made my final poster, I then got my target audience to have a look and make more comments on how I could improve it. Here are the stages of my poster:

This was my original film poster which I was quite happy with but my target audience said that the colour of the image looked too faded and it didn't have the right tint of colour that suggested envy and jealousy. Majority of people liked the image of the eyes and said it looked quite intimidating and is like they are being watched which was the feel that I was trying to achieve, so I was quite happy that most people picked up on that. I also tried to get a few comments from people that weren't in my target audience, just to see what they had to say about it. The tag line at the bottom about the release date 'Following you into Cinemas', people said was quite effective as this also suggests being preyed upon like a vulnerable victim. They said the word 'Following' was really effective.

This is the final image of my film poster which I am quite pleased with as it doesn't look that much different from the original but it's easy to see the changes that have been made. After looking over my analysis of my research, I decided to move the billing block to the bottom and then make it a lot smaller in font. This had made it look like a real billing block and adds to the look of a real film poster, so having the billing block at the bottom is a convention that I have stuck to. All the names that are on the poster are all names of which I have made up and I made the decision of putting the directors name above the title as this seems to be popular on a lot of movie posters that are about. I then decided that the title being at the bottom didn't look like it should be there even though the research that I had done showed the title at the bottom on the majority of posters that I analysed so this is a convention that I have challenged. I thought that adding two of the main characters names underneathe the title will give it a movie poster look.

Film Poster

To advertise my teaser trailer, I need a poster. As my teaser trailer that I am making is going to be a Horror, I need to make a poster that represents this genre and will be obvious to what Genre it is when people see the poster. To make the films genre recognisable, I will need to use dark dull colours such as blacks, greens, reds, browns etc.

The poster from the 2002 horror film, The Ring. From the Analysis of this horror film poster, I can see that the use of black is the main colour and it looks really effective with the bright white against it, it makes it stand out. The tag line at the top works well as it's noticeable but it doesn't stand out too much that it takes the attention away from the title of the film and it doesn't give too much away about the film so it draws you in and it makes you want to go and see the film which shows that the poster is attracting an audience.










The poster from the 1973 horror film, The Exorcist. I like this film poster for The Exorcist as I think that shadow makes it really creepy and from looking at it, you can tell that the genre of this film is a horror. The shadowed figure gives a hint of a horror as there is no identity to show you who the character is and not knowing the identity of a person is scary because you don't know if they are friendly or whether they will be a danger. The blocked red box makes the 'Most terrifying movie of all time' stand out because of the brightness of the colour. The tag line of 'Most terrifying movie of all time' suggests that the movie is going to be quite a scary film and this is the sort of tag line that will attract people to watch it.




The poster from the 2009 horror film, Friday the 13th. This poster is quite similar to the one above as the identity of the main characters identity is hidden and this makes me think that this could possibly be a convention of horror film posters. The title also suggests that it is a horror because Friday 13th is known to be a superstitious day where bad things happen so this could suggest that bad things will happen within the film. There is also the use of red in the title which was also used in the poster above, this could also be a convention as red is known to be the colour of blood and danger.







The poster from the 2009 horror film, The Last House on the Left. The film poster of 'The Last House on the Left' also uses the same colours that were consistant in the other three posters, black, white and red. These seem to be conventional colours for a horror film so therefore these could be some good colours to play around with when it comes to making my own poster. The font seems to be block capital, same as 'The Exorcist' and 'Friday 13th' which also seems to be popular with other posters that I have looked at.








After analysing these four horror posters and others on the Internet which have been released in different years, the colours which are popular in all four images and also ones seen on the Internet are dark dull colours like Black, Dark green, Navy blue etc. There is also a strong use of White which I think is a good colour to use on a horror poster as it is a bright colour compared to the dull colours that are listed so it helps it to stand out. I like the font on all four posters and I think that the style of font on 'The ring' poster is really effective as it links in with the storyline of it being about a girl and the style of writing looks like a child's handwriting. The last three posters have a strong use of red which I also think represents horror really well as it is associated with horror because of blood and danger. I might consider using red as the colour font on my poster and if not on my poster then in some point during my teaser trailer as I think this would make it look effective and will make the genre easily recognisable.


This is my own Horror poster which I have created using the analysis of other posters and also some opinions from other people on what a horror poster should include. I am quite happy with the way that the poster has turned out because when I first thought about it in my head, it was nothing compared to the way that this has turned out. I had many different idea's of the way that the poster should look throughout the process of putting together the poster. As the majority of horror posters that I had analysed, I noticed that the main colour was black so I went against this and decided to challenge a horror poster convention by making the main colour a dull green. The dull green colour represents Envy and Jealousy which will be explained within the storyline of the film. Also using the eyes as the main Image is really effective as it looks as though they are watching you and your every move. I captured an image of my mates face and then cropped the image so that the focus was on the eyes and the eyes only. The Image had to be stretched so that it fitted the whole page but I think that this has helped create the right look of the poster. The right side being darker than the left side is meant to represent the fact that there's a hidden side of the Unknown person/creature that is preying on the vulnerable victim. I thought that using the line 'Following you into cinemas' would be a good memorable line as the storyline is about a vulnerable victim being watched and having her every move followed so I think it helps to link in with the storyline.

Target Audience

I have chosen to do a Thriller film as it is a different genre to what the rest of the class are doing and by doing a Thriller film, I am challenging myself to create something that is of standards which Is similar to films made by major film production companies. I plan to aim my film at a target audience of 17 to 25 year old because majority of 17 year old and above scare themselves watching thriller/horror movies for the thrill and excitement and this is the mood that I aim to create when my film is finished. To carry out research, I have asked people of all ages to fill out a survey of about 8 questions that will help me make my film to aim at my target audience. I asked 20 people to fill out the surveys so that I get a fair response. The following charts are to show the results that came from the questions that I asked.


This is the results for the first question which I asked, which was what ages category do you fit into. As you can see, there were five categories which the person could choose from. 12 people from the survey fitted into the 17 - 22 category, 5 people fitted into the next category of 23 to 28, None of the people that i surveyed fitted into the 29 - 34 category, 1 person fitted into the 35 - 40 category and finally 2 people fitted into the last category 40 and over.


The second question that I asked was to find out what it was that attracts people to a film poster so that I had an idea of how to attract my target audience when creating my film poster. As you can see from the results, 3 people said that colours and the title would attract them to a poster first, 5 people said that the actors/actresses that are placed on the poster will attract them to it. I think good looking actors and actresses will attract people to a film poster as that is what they expect to see. Nobody that I surveyed said that the release date would matter to whether it attracted them to a poster or not which is what I expected because when I look at film posters, the release date is the last thing I look for so I thought that it would be a similar case for other people as well. Finally the one that I thought most people would go for is the genre of the film, 9 people said that this is what would attract them to it. They don't expect to see a film poster that contained dark colours, thick font and then for it to be a Rom-com. They expect the poster to tell them what the genre is.

From the information that I received in the results of question 2, I decided to find out what colours it was that attracted people to a thriller film because this I had already decided on making a thriller/horror film so I wanted to know what colours I would need to put onto my poster. As you can see from the results 3people had said dark blue, 7 people said Red which will suggest Horror, danger and blood etc, 10 people said Black because it suggests something being unknown and secretive. 11 people said Green and 3 people said white. This information is helpful as it gives me a rough idea of what colours to use on my posters.


I wanted to know what genre of films people go to see when they go to the cinema. I gave the following genres for people to choose from:
Comedy - 4
Rom-Com - 5
Thriller/Horror - 4
Animated - 4
Documentary - 0
Action - 1
Adventure - 1
Drama - 0
Musical - 1
War - 0


This is the fifth question which I asked my target audience and it asks them whether when they decide to go to the cinema, Is it them who decides on what film/genre to watch or is the decision makde by someone else. And if the decision is not made by just one person then is it a joint decision. Six people out of the 20 people that were asked said that It was them who made the decision on which film/ genre they went to see. A slightly lower number of 5 people said that it was someone else that made the decision of the film to see and most people have said that it's their friends who make the decision when they are out socialising.

From some of the answers that I recieved during the questionnaire, I found out some useful information that will help me make my teaser trailer so that I can aim it at my target audience. Before a film is released, it needs to be advertised and there are many ways of advertisment. Another question that I asked was 'How do you normally find out about films that are due out in the upcoming months?'. Seven people said the most common way for them was to hear about releases through a trailer that they have seen before another film that they have gone to see before they heard about the new film. The next highest that people said was a poster which I thought would be the one that most people would have said. Three people said that Adverts and Other ways are the main way to how they know about an Upcoming film. Some of the other ways in which people said were ways like Billboards, Radio adverts and Teaser Trailers. The least amount of people said that word of mouth which I found really surprising.