Magazine Cover Drafts

Using a default image on Pages, I have created a few magazine cover drafts using my chosen masthead name and logo. I have done this to get an idea of the final outcome to see if I like the sketch plan designs that I created earlier on in my project.

Chosen Magazine Logo

I have come to the decision of my magazine cover title logo:

I have chosen this logo because I think the design itself links to media as it is postmodern due to the design. So this is the final decision of my magazine title.

Sketch Plans: Magazine Cover & Poster

I have produced 6 sketch plans - 3 for magazine covers and 3 for posters. As I haven't came to a final decision of my magazine name, I have just used "C'est la vie" for all of the sketch plans but I won't actually be using this name.

MAGAZINE COVER SKETCH PLANS

Mag Cover 1: This magazine cover design sketch is inspired by Aesthetica whilst the image drawn is inspired by the Twilight poster. I have kept it minimalistic and simple in order to keep that feel that Aesthetica creates. This design has a bordered image in the middle of the page with the masthead logo simply at the top of the cover. There will be no text, only the barcode at the bottom and the price which I haven't included in the sketch plan. This image may be quite hard to shoot because it involves a lot of acting and emotion in the facial expressions because it is a closeup shot of the characters.

Mag Cover 2: This magazine cover design sketch is inspired by Sight & Sound whilst the image drawn is inspired by the Like Crazy poster. This magazine cover will have a much more busy composition with text, a full image on the whole of the page, a bordered masthead and heading for the "New Upcoming Movie". The image will have a romantic setting with the couple holding hands, walking towards a gorgeous landscape to fit in with the romantic theme. The text font will vary to add affect and emphasis on certain lexis. In the sketch, the main large text in the middle of the page looks like this:

"A FILM THAT WILL MAKE YOU Laugh & Cry,"


The words emphasised will attract the target audience as they will know whether they want a sad, yet happy romantic film to watch.

Mag Cover 3: This magazine cover design sketch is inspired by Screen International whilst the image drawn is inspired by The Notebook poster. This magazine cover's main attraction is going to be the bold text in the middle of the magazine cover. Again, I have used the "laugh and cry" phrase to attract the correct target audience. Similar to the magazine cover sketch plan 1, the image may be hard to capture due to the emotional facial expressions and setting. The text and captions is to the point with not much text. I have chosen to write "see TEASER TRAILER inside!" to promote the movie more using convergence of a magazine and movie trailer.

POSTER SKETCH PLANS

Poster 1: The main inspiration from the poster sketch plan is from Listen To Your Heart. The grid layout design plays a big part on this poster because there is 5 boxes that will contain an image and 2 other boxes that will contain text. This structure just makes it a lot more clear and planned. The quote presented in the middle of the poster says, "How many times can 2 people come so close, yet they never meet?". This is the catch phrase related to my movie. Rather than just using one image on this poster, I will be using 5 different photos which would mean my photo shoot would be longer but this is fine if I choose this layout for my poster. Similarly to the magazine cover sketches, the title "The heart never lies" will play with different fonts to emphasise certain words in different ways. 

Poster 2: This poster takes inspiration from the poster Love & Distrust. The image has a romantic setting to suit the theme so the audience will immediately know the movie's genre by looking at this poster. The quote is situated at the bottom of the poster where there is negative space so it fits in well there. The same applies for all of the text on this poster. The general composition is busy, especially with a busy setting of the image so with the text, there is no negative space. I have done one poster with a busy composition to see what format works best for a romantic genre. 

Poster 3: This poster sketch is inspired by The Notebook poster. Similarly to the images on two of the magazine cover sketches, this image will involve good acting from the cast to enable facial expressions that the audience will fall for - it must look realistic and like the characters' are actually in love. Again, the title has its variation of fonts to cause emphasis on certain words and the long quote is situated at the top of the page in the negative space. I think overall this composition is quite simple, yet affective and it definitely shows what I want to show. It clearly identifies the genre with the image and the quote and title are presented clearly. 

Sound Cloud

http://soundcloud.com/you/tracks

I have signed up to Sound Cloud a new form of technology that I have come across and used. I will be uploading music that I have recorded for my trailer. You can find these tracks in the above post.

SoundCloud is the world’s leading social sound platform where anyone can create sounds and share them everywhere.

Recording and uploading sounds to SoundCloud lets people easily share them privately with their friends or publicly to blogs, sites and social networks.

You can easily share sounds to Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Foursquare.

SoundCloud can be accessed anywhere using the official iPhone and Android apps, as well as hundreds of creation and sharing apps built on the SoundCloud platform.


I have recorded some singing and piano music that I may be using in the background of my teaser trailer. The songs I have recorded are She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5 and a classical, romantic piano piece by a GCSE music student. I chose these because they fit into the romantic genre.

She Will Be Loved - Kathryn Singing

Romantic Piano Music

Background Music Ideas.

Here are some videos I have found on YouTube of styles of music that I am considering to record to play in the background of my trailer.



This is romantic indie music which is similar to the song in the Like Crazy trailer which is also of this genre. This music could be a genre that my target audience listen to in their spare time.



I recorded Kathryn Sunnocks singing this song because it was high in the UK top 40 music charts at the time of producing my product so this shows I have researched popular music of today, which would help attract the audience.



This is a slow, romantic, classical cover of the original indie version by The Calling. Its slow and romantic features help to set the atmosphere in my trailer.



This is one of my favourite piano pieces and is very romantic which would suit the trailer perfectly for the genre.



This is another beautiful piano cover of "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. Similarly to the previous video, it is romantic and slow and is used in the Titanic movie which is something I researched for my trailer planning.

This week I am recording a female singer and a pianist to use for my trailer. I may end up using them both in the trailer, or only one. I am yet to make my decision on this.

Coming to film the actual trailer

I visited this website to find these questions. These are the questions that they ask themselves when producing a film. Examples of their work are Kidulthood, Life & Lyrics and Sweet 16.

Think about - what do films have in common?

- Representation: Are the character types what you expected? Do you see any of then as stereotypical?

- Setting: Is this typical? What other setting might work?

- Mise en scene: How does this work to confirm a sense of realism?

- Themes: What kind of narrative strands would you expect to be explored in these kind of films?



Is there anything else you can think of that might be considered conventional?

Movie Posters

I have looked at each movie poster by all of the trailers I researched.

The lighting and composition are the main features of this magazine cover. I love how the eye is drawn immediately to the character’s faces, and the composition is so minimalistic. Due to the dark theme to the movie, the poster has stayed faithful to this and kept a dark, shadowy feel. There is minimal text but is still clear for the audience to read. I think this poster focuses more on promoting the image and the characters rather than trying to create a focus point on the text.

The alignment of the text on this movie poster is the most important feature here. I love the consistent text making its way down the poster of different phrases to symbolise the feelings that this movie consists. Similarly to the Twilight movie poster, the lighting really finishes the image nicely. The lighting appears to be coming from a strong sun that symbolises love and happiness. Whereas the Twilight poster was all about keeping it dark and mysterious. This movie poster has quite a busy composition, even the image has background focus points which shows where some of the scenes will take place in the movie.

Again, the lighting takes a major part in this movie poster. Similarly to Like Crazy, the sun appears to be coming from a strong sun and they have a setting placed in the background of the image. However the text on this poster is a condensed down a bit. The title stands out in red, taking the colour from the characters’ clothing. The text is placed in the blank space on the poster to fill the frame.

This movie poster is possibly one of the most famous posters in the world. I love the photo editing done on Photoshop where they have blended two images - one of the Titanic ship and one of the two characters. The composition is perfect - the ship’s end points and leads the eye to the characters’ faces whilst the writing is situated in the blank spaces of the ship.

The image is what does it for this movie poster. The text is rather simple in a standard black, clear font which symbolises the idea of a ‘notebook’. The image itself is stunning, showing the audience immediately that the story is about a romance. The rain in the image shows one of the scenes within the movie too. I love how the lighting behind the characters is shining through between their faces.

The colour palette here is yellowy and white which are quite pure colours. The characters are situated on a beach, suggesting the setting and location in the movie. The film logo of “Dear John” is big and bold, standing out from the rest of the small text. The top of the poster is kept simple with only the actor’s names and the rest of the text at the bottom of the poster. I think this divides the composition perfectly.

The grids on this movie poster is the main feature. They have create boxes of different sizes with different images in each one to show different feelings and themes within the movie. The biggest image is of a couple which suggests romance is the main theme within this movie. The text, similarly to Dear John, is yellow with the main words in the title being bold. The rest of the text is white and a lot smaller.

Real Media

Media Talk Podcast: 21/12/11 The Guardian (Notes)

Twitter and the Kindle have really kicked off this year - they have come to maturity. Mass reports about the football are published in newspapers but everyone would already know about it through online media like Twitter. Before Twitter and social sites, the newspaper would be the first people would hear about news so it was all very shocking news. But nowadays, people tend to hear about news through other types of media.

The Kindle has just reached its tipping point. The battery lasts "forever" but it is not touch screen which is a feature that the users wish it had.

The Eye is said to be the newspaper of the year. The Eye is a condensed version of The Independent. The fact that a smaller version of a newspaper is voted to be the best suggests that newspaper readers prefer less pages to read. The Guardian had a good year in 2011 despite the last week of 2011 being blamed to be involved with the phone hacking.


My ancillary task of a magazine cover can be promoted in all media. Magazine cover can be presented on a Kindle.

Women Representation In The Media

78% of news articles written by men
72% of men on question time
84% radio 4's quest are men

Bookers are the main corporates for these statistics due to their 24/7 pressured environment. 5000 women were dropped from broadcasting in the last two years. The BBC have been accused of victimisation.

'woman on the left' - when Hugh Grant was in court about the Levson Enquiry, there was a woman on the left that was flirting with him.


IN TERMS OF THE REPRESENTATION IN MY WORK:

The woman in my trailer is a typical girlie girl, stereotypically prone to romance and happiness who is pretty and wears pretty clothing. There are always these types of girls in romantic movies as they are easier to empathise with from the target audience which are girlie girls themselves. For example, Rose in Titanic, Allie from The Notebook and Savannah from Dear John.

Rose (Titanic)

Allie (The Notebook)

Savannah (Dear John)

Looking At Ancillary Tasks

My ancillary tasks are a magazine cover and a poster.

ancillary task - media magazines
movie scope
sight and sound
screen international
aesthetica

My favourite magazine covers are by Aesthetica as they incorporate a sense of fashion and concentrate on appealing to the female gender. I want to appeal to females with my trailer so taking inspiraion from this magazine might be a good idea. The logo is simple but stands out in a clear, white box at the top of the page. There is also a border around the image which makes the magazine cover unique. Hardly any text, if any, is situated on top of the image which makes it more media like as rather than it looking like a magazine full of content, it’s more about images. Here are some examples of my favourite magazine covers by Aesthetica:

The magazine, Movie Scope's covers focuses more on portraying portraiture images of actors and actresses. Again, Movie Scope’s logo is in a white box at the top of the page with a white border around the image. But Movie Scope’s logo is partnered with text about the content of the magazine and the barcode, whereas Aesthetica is kept alone with a tiny bit of writing alongside it which I prefer. The text on the image is kept quite minimal just to add a bit of information about its content to attract the audience. My favourite magazine covers by Movie Scope:

Sight and Sound magazine covers focus more on images of actual characters from movies, rather than the actor being themselves. The logo is very bold and eye catching, similar to Aesthetica and Movie Scope - it is presented in a text box to separate from the image. Text is mainly white but picks up a bit of colour from the image.

Screen International’s logo is again, presented in a box on its own with no text within. The text on their magazine covers are kept to a minimum with the images being payed the most attention. The colour palette on both images is mainly red and black - a simple, yet eye catching colour palette to have to stand out on a magazine rack. On the second magazine, I like the edited letter with images within them - this is unique and affective.

I would quite like to name my magazine something media based but spelt in a different language. Here are some of my ideas:
- La Voix (The Voice)
- Whisper
- La Verite (The Truth)
- Expression
- Vox (voice in latin)
- A Diem (an anagram of media but also means "of the day" in latin)
- C'est la vie (that's life in French - I think this is a nice phrase to have and is often used in society)

Here are some logo designs:

Applying Narrative Theory: Two

Here is a trailer of a romantic movie called Listen To Your Heart. Linking to Christopher Volger's narrative theory, the Helper actually has alot of screen time in the trailer and plays an important part in the movie.



Defining Narrative

The events that occur during my trailer are grouped into 'cause and effect' rather than 'action and event'. This is purely due to the genre of my trailer. The cause of an event in my trailer is that Scarlett will be moving far away to go to University. The events that will take place because of this will be arguments, break ups, get back togethers etc. Connotations signified will be love, hurt, distress, hope and lust - all connotations that the audience will relate to and want to watch. I know they will want to watch this due to my market research.

NARRATIVE STORY:
The story is basically a boy and a girl who go to the same college. They often notice each other but have never spoken. Until one day, Scarlett drops her folder and Braden picks it up for her - a typical cliche moment. In the trailer, I will be showing shots of them being close but never speaking and then the folder scene. From then on it will be about their relationship and how they grow to love each other. Eventually, I will show Scarlett revealing the University dilemma to Braden and from then on it will be shots of them arguing, crying, hugging etc. to show the audience that not only will there be a perfect love story in the movie, but a realistic storyline to it aswell that alot of people in real life go through. The report of the event will be shown through captions on the screen and dialogue of the characters.

NARRATIVE PLOT:
There will be no author or narrator in my trailer - it will be only background music with captions on the screen and dialogue from the characters. This is how the story will be presented throughout the trailer. I will be revealing clips from every scene showing the development in their relationship from beginning to end but I won't be showing any clips or hints to the outcome of the story as this is what I want the audience to wonder about. The events will be put together in different ways. When Scarlett is revealing the news to Braden, there will be sad music and slow shots and movements. But when they start arguining and things start going wrong, it will be presented with fast cuts and a louder music range.

Tzvetan Todorov's theory is that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo and potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. For example, "Katie and the Biscuit". Todorov argued that the basis of conventional narrative structure consists of an initial situation, a problem which disrupts this situation and a resolution of the problem which allowd the reinstatement of the initial situation. Basically...

Sitation 1 > Problem > Resolution

In my trailer, it will be:

Fall in love > Scarlett needs to go to University > ?

I have written a question mark on the resolution because I won't be showing this in my trailer as it will give the whole story away and no one will bother watching the movie.

Todorov also suggested a slightly more complicated description of narrative structure than the simple situation/problem/resolution structure. Here are the five stages he posited and how it relates to my trailer:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset - The couple are in love: happiness, laughs etc.
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action - Scarlett tells Braden that she will be going to University soon.
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption - The couple wonder if a long distance relationship is going to work and they start to argue alot.
4. An attempt to repair the disruption - Braden tries to persuade Scarlett that they can make it work. Here there will be lots of tears etc.
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium - Won't be revealed as I am only producing a trailer.

Christopher Volger believes there are twelve steps of the hero's journey which became very influential in Hollywood movies. However, this doesn't relate to my work because I don't have a hero in my story.

Vladimir Propp contend that there are seven 'spheres of action' - a villian, donor, helper, princess, dispatcher, hero and false hero. However, this doesn't really relate to my work either because I only have two characters and neither fit in with these criterias.

Practise Teaser Trailer

On 28/11/11 an Apple expert came into school to teach us some iMovie techniques. We were taught about clip transactions, video and audio adjustments, add freeze frame, split clip and how to add music and text into the video. Overall, I thought it was an extremely beneficial day as I learnt so much and I am now confident when it comes to editing my trailer.

From audience research with my questionnaire, I know that my audience will like the close ups and soft lighting. From looking at professional teaser trailers, I have found that the running time of them start at 53 seconds - 2:25 therefore, I believe that the average time for a teaser trailer is about 2 minutes. This practise teaser trailer that I have produced is only one minute long so for my final piece, it will be longer.

IDEA

I was listening to this song when I read one of the comments underneath:

"I told my neighbour (who is my age and I really like him) that this was my fave song. He said he had never heard it so I told him he had to go listen to it. He said he would. The next day it was raining and I looked out my window and saw him standing in my driveway. I ran out there with an umbrella and asked what he was doing. He sang, 'I don't mind spending every day out on your corner in the pouring rain".


This story genuinely touched me and I really want this idea in my trailer!!

Applying Narrative Theory: One

The fact that there is no hero in my trailer makes it hard for me to compare theorist ideas to my work as they all include a hero character. In my trailer I will only have two characters - the two lovers.

Joseph Campbell theory of narrative has found some currency in the modern hollywood blockbuster. It is often called The Hero's Journey. It comes in three acts - departure, initiation and return. Campbell's theory doesn't relate to my trailer because I don't have a hero. My reason for not having a hero is that I am producing a romantic genre and I wanted it to stay between the two characters - I didn't want any complicated storyline with lots of people. I wanted two lovers who fall in love and find a problem that is caused by their own personal dilemmas and will be fixed this way too. This way, the audience are more likely to relate to the story line when watching the movie.

Tzvetan Todorov is another theorist, arguing that all stories follow the basic structure of an equilibrium, disruption and resolution. It involves talking about ideology and power relations. This theory can apply to my trailer a little better. In my story, the equilibrium is when the couple are in love. This will be shown through shots of the couple laughing and spending time together. The disruption is when Scarlett realises that when she goes to University, it may cause problems between their relationship as she will be moving far away. The resolution, however, is rarely shown in a trailer because otherwise you would be giving the whole story away and no one would want to watch it. By leaving out the resolution, you can leave the audience wondering what will happen between the characters and that is what will make them want to watch the movie.

If a narrative begins with an idea of equilibrium or balance, whose idea of normal is it?
This is an interesting question. The script writers/producers etc. would do market research to find out what equilibrium is to the target audience when in a relationship. With this, they can create a normal world that the audience will find suitable. All members of the audience will be aware that when you are in a relationship, it is not happiness all the time. All couples have arguments eventually, which is why something like this has to happen in the trailer. If the characters fell in love and they lived happily ever after, the story wouldn't be interesting enough to capture the audience's attention. Therefore, if trhe equilibrium is disrupted by an event, there has to be something that goes wrong. In my trailer, the thing that will be going wrong is that Scarlett will be going to University far away soon and they will struggle to maintain a long distance relationship. The events that happen in my trailer are arranged according to the ideas that they contain.

In the narration, the viewer does not know more than the narrator. However, I don't think I will be having a narrator voice over during my trailer - I would like to stick to captions on the screen and dialogue from the film clips. The point of view comes from an outsider watching their relationship. The narrative doesn't cheat in any way. The events are compressed in time because obviously I have to fit a lot into a short amount of time. Even in a trailer, the time will very often be compressed to fit more into the time schedule.

Filming Footage

shot steady
framing shot
variety in shot distances
mise-en-scene
colour
props
lighting
setting
editing
shot transictions (fade, cut, dissolve etc)
sound

Use of ICT/Digital Equipment

To produce my anamatic, I used Windows Live Movie Maker.




On the 29th November, James Smither came in to teach my Media Studies class skills on iMovie as this is the software that I will be using to produce my teaser trailer.






Websites for inspiration and research:

This One - Latyer Media

This One - English and Media (Username: mediamagazine9 Password: jet423st)

Actors, Locations & Costumes

The female actor, Scarlett, I will be using is called Hannah Lloyd. I have worked with her in coursework projects before and she is well known for her photographic and acting work, therefore she would be brilliant to use in my romantic trailer. Here is a picture of her that I have taken myself:

The male character, Braden, will be played by

In terms of music in my trailer, it is not allowed to use music that is owned by other companies. For example, I can't use music from iTunes or You Tube. Therefore, I will approach musicians that I know and friends who play musical instruments and record them playing the guitar, piano or singing.

COSTUMES

For Braden, I see him being quite casual wearing simple clothes but caring for his appearance at the same time. Here are some examples:

Scarlett I see as being pretty and feminine:

LOCATION

I took the following images of a model who is going to be playing the female character in my trailer. But the location and setting in these images is where I would like to film some footage for the romantic scenes.