Textual Analysis of Film Magazine Frontcovers

Language- The language in the written texts of film magazines usually contains jargon related to film and media. Language could also mean the style and colour of text in order to emphasize a particular article in the magazine.

Institution- The institution will be the publisher of the magazine. Future PLC is the publisher of Total Film magazine.

Ideology- The ideology of film magazines are to promote films, directors, actors and production companies. Film magazines usually review upcoming films as well as features on different films and actors.

Audience- The audience of film magazines are usually people who are fans of films and actors. The target audience are 18-35 year olds and usually are mainly male orientated. Many of the covers are of highly anticipated films, most of which are action, adventure and thriller based genres although the cover of the June 2008 issue was Sarah Jessica Parker who starred that month in the new and highly anticipated 'Sex and the City' film which was in the romantic comedy genre.

Representation- The films, actors, directors, writers, production companies and film festivals are the main representation of film magazines. The representation is in the form of images from the film and reviews of that film which help persuade audiences to see the film.

Usually, the images on the front cover or the main article is from the most talked about or highly anticipated film of that month.

The usual conventions of a magazine front cover are;

• title
• headline
• subheadline
• date line
• main image
• additional images
• barcode
• pull quote
• masthead
• issue number
• logo of publisher
• price of magazine

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Sources:

http://www.whosdatedwho.com/what/magazine_view.asp?ID=420

Production of Poster

Draft #1

I began with the images I had taken from the photo shoots and edited them as seen in the previous post. I then adjusted the size of the images to fit a poster and adjusted them when needed.

This is the first draft of the poster. As you can see I have kept a coherent link with the title and the colour scheme of rosy pinks which reflect the genre.

This is the second edit of the poster. As you can see I have added more conventions that have also been used in the posters I have analysed like the actors names, a quote to help persuade the audience to see the film and an additional image to show the storyline of the film.

With the billing block, I used a similar font to that which is used on film posters and adjusted the font size so that the names were the largest text, in order to replicate that of a real billing block.
On my poster, I lightened the colour of the text so it didn't stand out as much as the rest of the text and images. This is to follow the conventions of a typical film poster and not draw attention away from the main images or the title.

Analysis of Poster #1

The size of the poster and portrait format would mean that if this poster were to be used it would most likely be seen at bus stops or in a magazine or newspaper.

The genre of a romantic comedy is represented in the main colour of the poster, pink. Pinks are stereotypically used to represent love and romance. The blue in the left hand heart however, is used to represent the character Alison's feelings towards the main character Tony. The blue is to help represent the fact that she hates him and could also suggest she is the antagonist within the film. The other heart however has a sepia colour used to empathise the fact that Hannah is a memory and to continue a coherence with the style used in the trailer which uses a slow motion effect to symbolise the past. Both hearts are set behind the main character to symbolise the past loves of the main character Tony. The hearts also suggest the relationship of the women to the main character, Tony. The connotation behind the colours of the hearts creates an emphasis, for example, the sepia heart is a warmer colour and the blue is a cold, foreboding colour in comparison.

The main image is of the main character Tony. The acting by the character suggests a decision needs to be made as the expression on his face is of confusion or indecisiveness. The character is also looking into the camera so it looks as if they are looking at the audience. This is a typical convention of images used in romantic comedies.

The title is coherent with the trailer and will be coherent with the website homepage.

Another convention I found in my research that I used on my own film poster was the billing block. It's the same billing block I used in my trailer just adapted to fit in with the conventions I found. The text in the billing block is lighter and the text smaller so that it doesn't take much of the audiences attention from the main image or the title.

Draft 2

Analysis of Poster #2

In this poster, the format is landscape which would suggest it could be used to advertise on a billboard or outside a cinema in the poster cases.

The poster has many similarities with the other, for example the style of the text used in the title, the names of the actors, the billing block and the hearts. Although the hearts are flipped to face the main image of the main character, Tony.

Similar forms are used in both posters; the images, the title, the billing block and the colour pink which is representative of the genre and storyline.

The images provide a narrative in the postitioning, colour and character performances. The main image which is centred on the poster suggests that Tony is the protagonist and the narrative follows him. The image of Tony looking thoughtful tells the audience that he will be making a decision in the film and as he is also looking towards Hannah, the audience will associate it as being a decision on her. The colour used which is to reflect sepia as a representation of a memory suggests that Hannah is someone in Tony's past and because the heart she is in is not touching Tony suggests that she may be out of reach This represents the storyline well as it shows that the main character will be going on a journey to find her.

The other heart, which is a blue and contains his wife Alison, is set slightly behind Tony and he is not facing it which suggests she is the antagonist and an ex or current love who he is leaving. The colour blue represents this well as it suggests a cold and icy relationship.

Other conventions used in this poster which I found when analysing existing products are the names of the actors in the film, billing block, title which is a coherent link between the texts and a tagline.

Photos for Poster

With my draft, I need a medium shot of the main character and two medium shots of the antagonist, the ex wife, and the 'one that got away', Hannah.

These are a collection of the first photographs I took. The lighting was too light in them and so washed out the actors faces and made them look pale. The poses are similar to the ones I want to use for my poster and website but I need to take better and more flattering shots.

Because there were so many I have had to take a selection of them, otherwise there would be several pages of photos and brief descriptions of each one.

These are a few shots from the second photo session. I had a model light here and so this time, the lighting didn't wash out the actor's faces.

With these images of Janey, the one playing Alison, I began to experiment on photoshop.

Above is the original image and below is the Photoshop edited image. As you can see there is a lot of difference as I experimented with colour and modified the colour curve of parts of the image to enhance and lighten the colour. I have also used the clone stamp tool to lighten the skin underneath the eyes.

Second edited photo.

When editing this photo I used the Clone Stamp Tool to lighten the shadows around her eyes and the area above her right cheek.

I also used the Lasso Tool to highlight the blue in her eyes. This was to make them look more defined. First, by making the selection with the Pen Tool, I rendered the eyes and modifyed them by using Feather set at 3 pixels. I then adjusted the colour by adjusting the Colour Curve and setting it so the eyes were a deeper and bolder blue. After that, I used the Dodge Tool to create highlights in the iris and around the pupil and the Burn Tool to darken around the outside of the iris. I then adjusted the pupil by darkening it and then adding a highlight using the Brush Tool. I mimicked this precedure with the other picture of Axel below.

I then began to edit the main image of Axel who plays Tony in my trailer.

With this photo, I also used the method I used with the other photo to make the eyes stand out.
I also lightened the shadows the nose and chin

Sources:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kIkarvhoa8

Poster Drafts

In respect to the audience research I have conducted, I can start drafting posters for my promotional package.

I've been rethinking the title of my film from 'The Other Girl?' to 'The One That Got Away'.

'The Other Girl?' gives the ideology that the male protagonist is having an affair. 'The One That Got Away' has a better connotation with the storyline that the male protagonist chose the wrong girl to marry and let the right one get away. It also provides a clichéd title to a romantic clichéd storyline.

I also need to consider taglines.

I have several so far;

'What happens when your happily ever after isn't so happy?'

'What would you do if you married the wrong girl?

'Find them this Summer'

'Tony Brand made a decision. One year later he discovered it was the wrong one.'

'Everyone has a long lost love... But would you try to find them?'

'Midlife crisis or true love?'

Film Title:

The texts must have a coherent link between them, which includes the title.

To create the title I have been experimenting on Photoshop CS3 with the text tools to create these titles.

This is my first attempt on Photoshop. I made 'The One' larger as it is a vital part of the title which is quite long. The colour is similar to what I have been using for the text in my trailer and will be similar to the colours used in my ancillary texts.

Aqua, as a colour, suggests emotional healing which is representative of the film's storyline.

This is similar to the one before but 'The One' is slightly bigger and the colour is different as purple usually connotes romance and nostalgia.

Draft Layouts:

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Sources:

http://www.1001freefonts.com/handwriting-fonts.php

http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

Audience Research on Film Posters

To begin my research, I used a questionnaire and asked people who were mainly aged 16-20 the questions below.

In the sample, there were 67 people. 30 were male and 37 were female.

• What attracts you to a film poster?

Actors

Colour

Title

Review quote/star rating

Tagline

Images

In my research, the sample said that they were first drawn to the actors in the film. This could be through recognition of the actor or the image on the poster. Title was the second most popular vote and so in my own drafts, I may emphasize the title.

• What do you believe is the most important feature of a poster?

Title

Image of actor

Images relevant to the genre of the film

Tagline

Date of release

Actor/character names

Colour connotation

Billing block

The sample thought 'Images related to the genre' was the most important feature of a film poster for example, hearts for a romance, explosions for an action film. 'Image of actor' was the second popular which in all, means that the images on a poster are the most important features. This means that I'll have to make sure I use the right images in my poster and use them as a main focus point like in the posters I have analysed.

• When you see a poster, what stands out first?

Image

Title

Colour

Review quote/star rating

Awards given/Nominations

Tagline

The image and colour are the things that first catch the attention of the sample. This means that my poster will have to be eye-catching as well as connote the narrative and genre.

• What style of poster do you prefer out of these two?

a)

b)

The chart below shows the percentage of what the people asked preferred between the poster A) 'complicated' poster and B) 'simplistic' poster. As you can see, 57% of the audience preferred Poster A) rather than Poster B) due to the busy style used with the photos.

Textual Analysis of Film Posters in the Romantic Comedy Genre

Recent Film Posters.

500 Days of Summer

Released - 2nd September 2009

Institution - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Directed by - Marc Webb

This is one of the promotional posters from the film "500 Days of Summer" which I analysed the trailer from earlier.

From the trailer and the poster, I can see that there are coherent styles in the promotional aspects such as the theme of the blue colour scheme and the text font. The blue colour scheme links to the idea of Summer as the season rather than just the other main character, Summer. This is also suggested by the light clouds behind the main image, suggesting a blue sky and a romantic idea. The blue colour scheme also goes against the ideology of how the colour represents a romantic comedy which are usually represented by bold and intense colours like pink and red for example. Blue however connotes a cold and depressed atmosphere which would actually represent the storyline of the film and the atmosphere better than the colour pink for example.

The main image is of the main actor but his face is unclear as he looks down at his t-shirt. This twists the conventions of a main image as it usually shows the audience the face of the actor clearly and shows the emotions that link to the tone of the film. However, he is looking down at the film title and photo-style print t-shirt suggestion an adoration for the woman which links to the idea of a romance. In respect, the t-shirt he is wearing can be seen as the main image/images and creates a sense of romances with the characters emotions within and with the scenery. For example, one photo is of them at the cinema together suggesting they're on a date. There is also another with the two main characters kissing.

The title, in comparison to the quote at the top left, is slightly smaller and your eyes are drawn to the quote which gives the film a good review as well as four stars. This could be purposeful and used to entice the audience to give the poster more attention. The source of the quote is in a smaller font than the actual quote itself which is positive towards the film.

The tagline "Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't." suggests a romance that's doomed to fail by twisting the commonly used narrative "Boy meets girl. They fall in love." The bluntness of the tagline suggests that the film is a comedy as well as the quote which also states what genre the film is.

The Ugly Truth

Released - 5th August 2009

Institution - Lakeshore Entertainment

Directed by -Robert Luketic

This is a promotional poster for the summer film "The Ugly Truth".

So far the poster is quite conventional:

• the title is in the centre of the bottom half of the poster


• the names of the actors are above the image of them and at the top of the page so the audience recognises them


• a billing block is used like in most posters and is at the bottom of the page in lighter toned writing than the rest so the attention isn't drawn to that.

The image is a play on the ideology that men love with their penises and women love with their head. This is shown by how the actors are holding the heart: the woman has it close to her head and the man has it below his waist. This also relates to the storyline.


The colour that stands out the most in the simplistic style poster is red which can connote passion and romance. The use of hearts is also iconic and connotes love and romance, and are often used to promote romantic genre films.

I Love You, Beth Cooper

Released - 21st August 2009

Institution - Fox Atomic

Directed by - Chris Columbus

The text style of the poster suggests a teenage romantic comedy with the use of handwriting styled font and graphics to make it look as if it were written on a notepad which presents the ideology a high school crush where the crusher writes the name of who they fancy in their notebook.

The focus point is the image of Hayden Panettiere who plays Beth Cooper. The fact that the boy behind her is slightly obscured by her suggests his character is the one who loves Beth Cooper as well as the fact the title looks like a thought bubble coming from him. The actress is also shown as ‘effortlessly gorgeous’ with bland clothing and little make-up suggesting a stereotype of a high school cheerleader or popular girl. It can also be seen as voyeuristic as Hayden Panettiere is well sought out woman in reality. The crown above the actresses name also suggests that her character is higher up the high school social ladder than the protagonist which may create comedy when he tries to get her to notice him. The broken hearts around the title also suggest comic value as they contradict the title.

The title is also conventional to other traditional film posters as it is in the top centre of the poster. The images are also conventional as they are in the centre of the poster and also look out at the audience. This can be seen as a persuasive technique to get the audience to see the film as the characters look out of the poster which involves and creates an active audience.

The main colours in the poster are blue and an orangey red which don’t connote love or romance. The orange however, makes the title stand out from the lined paper background and the images.

There is no tagline for this poster but on other posters promoting this movie the taglines are; ‘Five little words can change your life’, ‘Still love me?’, and ‘Popularity is nice. Popular girls are not’ which all relate to the plot and the stereotype of a high school crush.

More Film Posters....

50 First Dates

Released - 9th April 2004

Instition - Columbia Pictures Corporation

Directed by - Peter Segal

This poster is promoting a film with a storyline set in Hawaii which is suggested by the pineapples and sand in the Polaroid style photos. In each of these images, there is a photo of the two main characters in ‘date style’ situations which relate to the title of the film. In each the female character looks confused which relates to the tagline ‘When your girlfriend has amnesia you have to win her over... every single day’. This provides the film and protagonist with a dilemma within the plot. The tagline is also in the centre of the poster and written in the margin of one of the photos making it look like photos discarded on the sand.

The fact there is a penguin in the middle image suggests comedy especially as it is dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. The poses of the characters in the images also suggest romance and comedy as they are on stereotypical dates but the woman's facial expression looks confused especially in the image on the bottom right.

Annie Hall

Released - 20th April 1977

Institution - Rollins-Joffe Productions

Directed by - Woody Allen

The image on the 'Annie Hall' poster differs from that of the others because it is in black and white and also the main character cannot be seen clearly. This image could portray a photo taken from a far and the closeness of the couple suggests a romance. The tagline 'A nervous romance' also suggests that that is where the comedy will come from.

The poster uses some conventions which seem to be coherently used in film posters as it contains a billboard at the bottom centre of the poster which includes the institution who have produced the film, United Artists, and the age certificicate the film was given, PG. Unconvetionally, the title of the film is featured at the left-hand side of the page, close to the bottom. In other posters I found that the title of the film usually appeared in the centre of the poster, either at the top or the bottom end.

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Sources:

www.google.com

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.catsandbeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/poster-i_love_you_beth_cooper.jpg

http://www.posterpalace.com/categorysearch.lasso?-Token.category=comedy

Textual Analysis of Film Posters

With this post, I will look at film posters of different genres to better understand the conventions of them as well as looking at film posters of a similar genre to my trailer; romantic comedy.
Film posters are a main part of a films promotional package as they are used to attract the audience with forms and conventions such as;

1. Title of the film in a bold and large font to attract the audiences eye


2. One main image is usually used in film posters (usually of the main character/s) or something iconic of the film


3. Contrasting colours to make it clearly visible


4. Names of the main actors


5. Logos of the film company who produced the film


6. Tag line or pull quote


7. Certificate of the film and a billing block

The Purpose of Posters

The film poster is representational of the film and usually connotes the narrative of the plot through the conventions and codes above. There are often more than one poster promoting a film, all varying in size and content. For example, each poster could be showing a different character from the film or the poster could be landscape rather than portrait as it is a billboard poster. Sometimes, in order to create hype for a film earlier, a teaser poster is released and contains basic information so not to give away too much of the plot away or the characters and theme.

The poster on the left for Astro Boy is a good example of a teaser poster. It plays on the audience’s knowledge that they know the characters iconic hairstyle and the fact he is a robot/android this creates an active audience and also creates hype with the dark lighting of the image, ‘shrouding’ the characters face and not giving away any of the plot. The teaser poster or advance poster in comparison to recent posters of Astro Boy such as the one on the right doesn't show much about the film.

Character posters are also used and often contain one main image of the character and either the actor or character name with a tagline related to the character. For example, the film Kick Ass has used character posters that include a tagline related to the character.

Conventions.

1. Title
The title of the film is usually a key feature of a film poster and the style of the text is usually repeated throughout the promotional texts used (trailer, posters etc) and sometimes becomes iconic of the film. The coherent use of the title can help the audience link each part of the film's promotion. For example, the Harry Potter films.

The title of the film is conventionally at the top centre or bottom centre of the poster. However, in postmodern times a lot of films go against the standard stylistics and place the title in the centre or in a corner. Examples of posters with a conventional title layout can be seen above with the Astro Boy poster on the left and also the Kick-Ass posters.

2. Image
The image is reflective of the film and can be the main character of the film or something iconic, for example the Batman logo from the 1989 Batman film. The image also promotes the actors and characters in the film as well as what genre the film is.

3. Colours
Colours usually connote the tone of the film and aid with the atmosphere the films creates. For example, the colour red can connote blood and danger or love and romance. The lighting of the images in the poster can also apply a certain tone and atmosphere. For example, a dark lighting could connote fear and suspense. The Wolfman poster to the left has dark lighting and neutral and dark colours promoting tension and suspense in the thriller/horror film.



4. Names of actors or characters
Generally, if the film is set to be a blockbuster, there will tend to be some famous actors in the cast. The actors who play the main characters in the film are usually credited on the poster and the film trailer.

5. Logos
The logos of the film production company are usually featured at the bottom of the poster. But other logos could be the film logo which ideology is iconic to the film, for example the 'S' logo of Superman.

6. Taglines and quotes

Taglines are relevant to the film and may actually be a quote said by the character or relevant to the narrative. For example, the tagline for Flash Gordon (1980) is "Pathetic Earthlings... Who Can Save You Now?" This tagline has sci-fi related words such as 'Earthlings' and the interrogative suggests the hero, Flash Gordon, will have to save the day.

The tagline is usually catchy and short to entice the audience, used to promote the film. So for a comedy the tagline will usually be funny.

7. Certificate and billing block

The certificate is usually made by the BBFC in the UK and certifies what age the film is appropriate for.

Poster Sizes

There are different types of posters too.

Posters that are often used to promote a film outside the cinema or on a board for example are quads and usually measure 30 inches x 40 inches in landscape format.

The double crown and one-sheet are both in the portrait format but are in different scales. The double crown is usually 20 inches x 30 inches and the one sheet is 27 inches x 40 inches. These sizes are usually seen in bus stops or used as a product of the film and sold in shops.

Major film releases usually have a larger promotional campaign and use billboards to reach a wider audience. The size usually measures 106 inches x 234 inches and are usually placed on main roads which have many stops on them, for example traffic lights.

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Sources:
http://www.filmsite.org/taglines.html
www.google.com

http://www.dimensionsguide.com/poster-dimensions/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_poster#United_Kingdom