Research into Magazine Cover Text - Michael

Empire Magazine 

·         “Massive Preview Special”

·         “Bloody hell, Harry comes out fighting”

·         “Oscar special!”

·         “First look at the Citizen Kane of super hero movies”

·         “Inside Michael Mann’s Gangster blockbuster”

·         “Inception, the Matrix meets 007, on steroids!”

·         “Essential 2011 preview”

·         “Inside, the bloodiest yet”

·         “Edgar Wright levels up with this one”

·         “The Epic returns”

The language used on a magazine usually consists of a masthead which tells you the name of the magazine and is located at the top of the magazine, a collection of teaser texts, which are attention-grabbing lines, located all around the front cover hinting at the different articles inside. Crossheads, normally a smaller headline which summaries the main article such as “Bloody hell, Harry comes out fighting” for a main feature about the last Harry Potter movie. Cover lines are smaller features about articles in the magazine. Also you can expect taglines such as “Number 1 movie mag in the UK “.  Further language includes offers such as “Free Poster” which are normally shown in the form of a Puff a small colourful shape with the information in it that reader’s attention is brought to immediately.

I also notice how much extreme language there is to make the reader feel special - exclusive, best, only, best ever etc

Research Into Magazine Cover Text - Luke

Magazine Teaser Text

·         World Exclusive

·         First Looks!

·         Ultimate Winter preview

·         Guy Ritchie loads Revolver

·         Grab Your Golden ticket!

·         The 60 Hour Movie You Must See

·         Essential Winter Preview

·         Definitive In-Depth Access

·         Sizzling Exclusives!

·         On Set Of The Alien Invasion

·         Confessions Of A Control Freak

·         Who Should Win?

·         Welcome To Wonderland

·         The interview the world’s been waiting for

·         The Da Vinci Code but better

·         Action’s new hero

·         The summer’s darkest blockbuster

The language that is used across these teaser texts boasts a sense of exclusivity that couldn’t be found anywhere else. They’re trying to show the reader that you are reading this before most people persuade them into purchasing their product. Words that are used a lot on magazine cover teaser texts usually relates to recent films ‘Guy Ritchie Loads Revolver’ and ‘Welcome to Wonderland’ as two examples. These tap into a certain audience of film fans and entice them into reading. Words such as ‘World Exclsuive’ ‘Ultimate’ ‘Sizzling Exclusives’ ‘Must See’ are used as a way of getting the reader excited as they are exciting words and manage to persuade a reader without saying much. Some teaser text is used as a way of summarizing an article ‘The Da Vinci Code but better’

Research into Magazine Cover Text - Jess

Examples of teaser text on film magazines.

·         ‘the force is strong with this one’ – Scott Pilgrim

·         ‘all the elements are coming together’ – Sherlock Holmes

·         ‘The Matrix meets 007 on steroids’ – Inception

·         ‘The boldest and coolest film of 2009’ – Star Trek

·         ‘The end begins’ – Harry Potter

·         ‘No-one’s safe’ – Twilight’s New Moon

·         ‘DEATH! DISTRUCTION! DYSTOPIA!’ – The Hunger Games

·         ‘Confessions of a troubled superhero’ – Iron Man 2

Key Language on Film Magazine covers

The above examples show that magazine teaser text sounds a lot like the tag line on a film poster, so we need to bear this in mind when creating our own.

Language on magazine covers is to there to advertise what is in the magazine to fans of the film being promoted and uses the most dramatic and eye-catching language possible.

Words such as ‘exclusive’ and’ secret’ or ‘behind the scenes’ are often used. This is because it makes the viewer feel as though they are getting to see things that the public are not usually supposed to see or hear or that they are going to hear before anyone else, therefore are made to feel privileged by buying that particular magazine.

Research into Magazine Cover Text - James

-          Massive preview special

-          Ultimate winter special

-          The boldest and coolest film of 2009

-          Explosive 2006 preview

-          Inside the ultimate head trip

-          Inside the bloodiest Bond film ever

-          The finest middle-earth coverage continues inside

-          Exclusive (list of films)

-          Verdicts (list of films)

-          Wowser (list of films)

-          10 coolest films being made right now

-          The ultimate superhero movie assemble inside

-          Superman speaks first words from Man of Steel

-          An extraordinary exclusive

-          The summer's darkest blockbuster

The language used on magazine covers is almost over the top. Words like massive and ultimate are used a lot to draw the reader in. Another word used frequently is the word exclusive. The word exclusive means they are the only magazine that is going to have this content and the magazine is almost saying just buy use we’re the best, you can’t get this anywhere else. A huge amount of words on the front of magazines have suffixes to makes everything seem better than it actually is. Some words are even made us just to get the point across, words like ‘wowser’, a made up word for the exaggeration of being surprised.

Storyboard to Animatic / Shot List / Cast and Props Lists

Here we are working on our animatic, ordering our photographed post-its and trying to establish a length of shot that tells enough story but creates pace:

Here we are listing our shots in preparation for creating a proper filming shot list, focusing on the logistics of filming rather than the trailer order:


Work on Shot List

Here is our initial list, ready to be turned into a proper shot list:

Locations

Locations

Here we are beginning to identify props:

Props

And sound and music requirements:

Music

More Targeted Trailer Research - Jess

Inspiration from other trailers of the same genre.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

·         Cutting between title sequence and motorbike. Could be used in one of our ‘running’ scenes to build tension.

·         Our trailer is explained mainly through dialogue however this is purely music and title slides that the audience has to read throughout. This could be effective as if used as a narrator of the story and also could be used to mention the fact it is based on a bestselling book etc.

·         Title of film shown twice throughout whole poster, audience more likely to remember it.

·         Also leaving all additional information such as website address and cast and crew name until the very end of the film as it is important information for the audience to know, however it doesn’t seem part of the trailer itself.

Black Swan

·         Dialogue used over different, relevant video

·         Turning off all lights in room to be used as a ‘fade to blank’ transition from shot to shot

·         Sound effects over music as certain events unfold in trailer

·         Heavy breathing emphasised to increase tension

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

·         Little sections of different conversations from the film that are put together to seem all relevant to each other and sound like one continuous conversation

·         Text slides throughout to make the audience think / help them interpret what they are seeing.

·         Text slides saying ‘from the bestselling author etc…

·         ‘The classic’

·         Quick flashes of small movements in different locations leading up longer shot of main character turning around

Abduction

·         Voiceover of main character talking as if film is over explaining how he now feels different to how things where before the ‘main event’ happened in the film

·         Extremely dulled colours when atmosphere changes in the film, indicated something bad.

·         Flashes of light in fighting scene

·         Shows life before ‘main event’ happens

 

More Targeted Trailer Research - Michael

More specific research into trailers that are in the genre of our film. I wasn't looking for how a trailer is constructed generally but for more targeted ideas so that we can improve on our storyboard and make sure our trailer keeps to the conventions of the genre. Here are my handwritten notes as I watched through the trailers. I haven't typed them up because in a way the indiviual notes don't matter, it's what I've learned overall that counts. My key findings:

- much more dialogue than I realised
- more use of intertitles - actually more than voiceover seems to be the trend
- distinct trailer phases
- matching drum beats and action is key
- montage editing - trust the audience to see the connections

More Targeted Trailer Research - James

Psychological Thriller Analysis

Memento

Se7en

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Zodiac

Shutter Island

General

-          Fast paced action montage creates suspense and a sense of mystery; a lot of L cuts.

-          Mixture of voice over and dialogue - we may just use one or the other to create a sense of storyline and mystery.

-          Title slides that further the story development could help because we can’t show too much dialogue in case it gives away too much of the plot.

-          In all the trailers there were a huge amount of L cuts which makes it easy to link different shots that may have nothing to do with each other.

-          Mix of horror genre that allows greater mystery, like shadowy figures in background.

-          Very spooky music is used that builds up in tempo throughout the trailer.

-          A lot of the time when the final title slide came up, there was always a shot or two afterwards in order to create more mystery or for shock value.

Specific shots

-          Shots of camera flashes to show photos being taken we will display the photographs instead of just having the flash.

-          Shot of someone’s reflection in a small pool of water allows us to show someone is there but not show their identity.

-          Really fast shots that are almost still images collected together in a montage style of editing.

-          Shot of film negatives showing suspicious things and a shot of negatives being burned.

-          Photographs being burnt.  

More Targeted Trailer Research - Luke

Here I have followed the method of writing down the shots that appear in trailers as I found this useful to get an idea of the construction. This research was more targeted as by this point we have worked out most of our trailer storyboard and were able to look at the specific genre and also at more specific needs. From the trailers I watched, I made a list of the kinds of shots that tie in well with our genre and story and which we can borrow and adapt for our own trailer.

 

The key thing I have noticed is that to create a trailer narrative, it works better not to worry too much about the film narrative. You actually need to think about the trailer narrative as a separate thing. For example, in the spy genre, there are lots of quick shots of secret files in the trailers. The audience does not need to see the content of the file or work out what information has been discovered, they just need to know through this shot that there is secret information to be found. In the same way, I also noticed lots of shots of actors doing relatively ordinary things - just walking down the street or standing talking to each other. I would not have thought of putting shots like this in our trailer before as they do not carry much story, but I can now see that these 'ordinary' shots are needed so the audience can see who is connected with who.

Rough Ideas for Prmotional Campaign - Luke

Promotional Campaign

Our film is a psychological thriller based on the book ‘The Boy Who Hacks Computers’ but we have changed the title to ‘Anonymous X’. The audience for this film is going to be very mixed because it is a book adaptation which appeals to both genders, but I believe it will have a stronger male audience. It’ mainly aimed at 16+ so we’re hoping for a 15 certificate but adults will also enjoy it as the book was an international best seller.

1^st October 2012 – This is the release date of our first teaser trailer. It will very much be a teaser in the sense that it won’t show much about the story but will state the film and cause some internet buzz. It will mainly be fast pace editing through multiple amounts of shots.

5^th October 2012 – Our first character poster is to be released. There will be a couple days between the poster and the trailer just so people are aware of the film. It will feature the character of the photographer holding a camera looking shocked in a ‘red room’ with the title ‘Anonymous X’ displayed at the top.

22^nd November 2012 – An interview with the author will be released. By this point people will have analysed the trailer and seen the first poster so there will be a small amount of excitement but the introduction of an author interview will increase this. This is an interesting idea because people always say ‘the film wasn’t as good as the book’ but now you get to hear from the author about the film adaptation.

24^th November 2012 – The next character poster is released which will be of the journalist. It will be a full body shot with pieces of paper and files beside him but also stills from the film will be displayed in the smoky black background. The title again being displayed at the top to as a running theme for the posters.

7^th December 2012 – This is the release of the second teaser trailer. It will be similar to the first one but give the audience a better sense of narrative and introduce a few more characters than before. We’ve decided to do this after the poster because we feel the character of the journalist will be criticised in either a good or bad way by the internet so this trailer hopefully should prove people that the right choice of casting was made. Also there will be encrypted clues about a website which is to be released in a month’s time.

7^th January 2013 – The website for our film is going to be released. It will be set up like a blog with posts from ‘anonymous X’ talking about small things to do with the plot such as suspicious teachers and it will gradually evolve into something bigger closer to the release date. There will also be a link to a site which features cast photos and some exclusive clips.

7^th March 2013 – This date has been chosen because it coincides with the last three releases, this time it will be the release of the hacker character poster. The blog will start talking about a new character and around this time the poster will be released. It will follow the same structure as the other posters with the black background and full body shot but the background will have more ‘hacker’ related items such as mainframes and computer wires.

14^th March 2013 – The Twitter and Facebook pages will be released. This is a good idea because most of our campaign relies on internet response and it is the most influential tool for a campaign. There will be two pages; one for the hacker and the other for the journalist. It will include quotes from the book and slowly build up a meta-narrative.

21^st March 2013 – This will see the release of the rival blog. The rival blog contains a big part in the plot so releasing it gives people a better sense of interactivity and causes more excitement as the book most the audience have read is coming to life.

1^st April 2013 – The final poster is going to be released. This isn’t a character poster but it will contain all of the characters that were previously released along with a tagline, production credits and links to all social media. The poster will contain the same font for ‘Anonymous X’ and the background will be a mix of files (both case and computer) as well as stills from the film inside a photograph.

7^th April 2013 – This is going to be the final teaser trailer release. It still will be a teaser and not show too much but it will give away more than the last two and have a fast paced backing track with quick cuts to seem exciting.

10^th April – 20^th May – Will see a variety of magazine and TV interviews with different cast members and the director just to keep peoples interest in the film. The magazines will more than likely be male audience film magazines such as Empire and Total Film but to appeal to a female audience they may be featured in Grazia.

22^nd May – One month before the official release date will see the official full trailer. It’s been decided to leave it this late in the campaign because if a trailer is released too early it will cause excitement at the beginning and slowly die down. By now people will know if they’re putting their money to the film but hopefully the trailer will win over fans of the book that are wary of the adaptation.

20^th June 2013 – The date for the premiere. By now people are aware of the film from trailers and posters so all the stars will gather for fans at the premier and we will release a competition for fans to see the film first therefore ensuring an audience outside the cinema. The cast will sign autographs, take pictures and do short TV interviews as well as props from the film being positioned around the area.

22^nd June 2013 - The film ‘Anonymous X’ is released and therefore ending its promotional campaign.

Rough Ideas for Promotional Campaign - Jess

The film that we are creating is a psychological thriller. And due to the complexity of the storyline it would be aimed at a slightly older audience. Therefore our target audience being between the ages of 18-30yrs demographic seems suitable.

Timeline of Promotional Campaign.

1.       First Teaser Trailer

This is used purely to reveal minor information, including the name of the film, a sense of location and the blog, but no explanations or addition information than the basics.

Our film is an adaptation of a pre-established successful book and therefore the storyline already has a fan base and the teaser trailer will start to get people talking and excited about the film.

This trailer will be short and will only last a matter of around 30 seconds. This just gives a sense of genre and leaves the audience anticipating the next trailer.

2.       Photographer character poster

Early posters released are character posters. This highlights the importance of the film being based around a book. These will automatically being to attract the target audience from the people that have already read the book and would be interested in who have been cast as which character.

3.       Author  Interview

All early stages of the promotional campaign are going to be all about getting the audience of the book intrigued about the film first. Therefore the interview with the author, which would appear in a film magazine, would be so that the audience of the book can get a sense of how the author of the book imagined the film to look like, and this would give ideas to how the director of the film would make it look.

4.       Journalist character poster

This should clearly be related to the first character poster in colour palette / composition.

5.       Second Teaser Trailer

Slightly longer than first. Stating ‘coming soon’ at the end and revealing more about the film than the first did. For example shots of characters reaction to ‘to be found out’ happenings. And a glimpse of a fighting scene / other action scenes.

6.       Website (Anonymous X blog)

Basically just a real version of Anonymous X the blog for the potential audience for the film. This would be written as if the journalist was writing it in character in reality. This would make the film more relatable and realistic.

7.       Hacker Character Poster

In the style of the other two character posters.

8.       Twitter/Facebook pages set up

As the internet is such a big part of modern life, starting up social networking sites accounts is essential to be able to keep people talking about the film. This would be used to release information on the films but also so that the audience can interact with each other talking about the cast/crew etc…

9.       Rival Blog

Anonymous Y – this is set up to give away snippets of gossip from the set – the pretence is that the characters would rather keep this secret.

10.   Final Poster

Unlike the rest of the poster the final one would reveal other aspects of the film and not just what the characters are going to look like. It would give more of an impression of the overall narrative. This poster would establish the relationship going to be positioned. Also the release date for the release to the public would be at the bottom of the poster.

11.   Magazine Feature

Interviews with all main characters and the director. Will include the cover photo of empire magazine and a 10 page spread of interviews, quizzes etc… This is starting to bring in outside audiences that may not have heard that much about the film but however are regular buyers of this magazine and therefore we know would be potential target audience. And with the magazine cover and interview explaining the film and what happens in it would be convinced to go and see the film.

12.   Final Trailer

The final reveal. This will reveal everything that the teasers haven’t except of course the ending to the film. This will include all the relationships between the characters, who’s friends with who and who’s not friends with who. The kidnapping of the girlfriend is shown and the major plot points are unravelled to the audience, although there should still be a lot to guess at. The genre is established  through the music, dialogue and events of the film. And the audience is left with a cliff-hanger at the end to make them want to carry on watching, fill in the gaps and find out whether the girlfriend is in on the kidnapping or not and if all of the three main characters survive.

13.   Premiere

Lots of press releases and publication of positive critical reviews

14.   Film released into cinemas

All elements of the Promotional Campaign have a strong central  identity which links the character/ storyline together and makes it easier for the audience to recognise.

Rough Ideas for Promotional Campaign - James

Promotional Campaign Timeline

·         First teaser trailer.

Not really a trailer just a fast clip showing a characters or two with the name of our film and a coming soon title slide.

·         First teaser poster

Photographer single close up shot of his face with the name of film and strap line and character name or title (The Photographer). Possible in black and white

·         Interview with author

Shows such as Jonathan Ross show. Not shows like The One Show because the film and book are to adult for that audience

·         Second teaser poster

Poster of journalist again close up of face with names of film and strap line and characters name or title (The Journalist) 

·         Website set up

The website will be like the blog use in the film having info on characters and plot line, disclosing more information closer to the release date of the film.

·         Third teaser poster

Hacker poster single close up shot of face including film name, strap line and name of characters or title (The Hacker)

·         Twitter/Facebook pages

Link to website and info on film

·         Rival blog set up.

Rival blog like in the film itself. Will have negative information and will slander the characters and film/original blog

·         Final poster released

Half hacker and half Journalist face with other characters in the background along with film name, strap line and release date. Possible in black and white.

·         Final teaser trailer released

The trailer we are making for our media project maybe minute and a half long.

·         Magazine cover

On Magazine like Empire or Total film, info interviews inside.

·         Final trailer

Full length two and half minute showing most story line

·         Interview with director and actors

Sky film show/film programme

·         Premiere

London premiere

·         Film released

Released in Cinemas around the world in 3D as well.