In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? - Magazine

As part of my marketing campaign, I had to create a magazine front cover.

Before I started the planning of my magazine front cover, I decided to analyse some existing film publications to determine the conventions of a magazine front cover.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis 1

Magazine Front Cover Analysis 2

To determine the conventions of magazines, I looked at a mainstream magazine and an independent magazine.

I found that all film publications shared the basic conventions such as masthead, cover lines, barcode, slogan, etc. This researched made me understand what to put on a magazine front cover to make it seem authentic.

I then had a look at the different types of magazines to gain an understanding in which type of magazine would feature my film.

Total Film Magazine Cover Analysis

Studio Magazine Cover Analysis

Filmmaker Magazine Cover Analysis

Empire Magazine Cover Analysis

American Cinematographer Magazine Cover Analysis

This research gave me a better indication in to how the different conventions are used depending on the style of the magazine and it gave me and indication of how I wanted my magazine front cover to look. After this research, I thought it was most appropriate to base the style of magazine of a mainstream magazine such as Empire. I then decided to look at different Empire covers to determine how the conventions were used (font, colour scheme, layout, etc.).

Empire Cover Analysis 1

Empire Cover Analysis 2

Empire Cover Analysis 3

Like the Empire masthead, the masthead for Splice is at the top of the page and is in a thick, square font. Most Empire covers tend to have a central protagonist on the front cover, so mine features the same. To add authenticity, I have added a price, issue number, date, barcode, etc. 

Most of the Empire Magazines I looked at had a main cover line relating to the central image so I included this on my cover as well. I also noted that most covers had a banner, cover lines with Hollywood references, and a slogan so I added all of these to make my magazine cover feel as real as possible.

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? - Teaser Trailer

As part of my marketing campaign, I had to make a teaser trailer.

Before I could start planning my teaser trailer, I needed to understand what their conventions were in order to make mine authentic.

My first task was to watch theatrical trailers and teaser trailers and compare the two.

Comparing Teaser And Theatrical Trailers 1

Comparing Teaser And Theatrical Trailers 2

It quickly became clear that teaser trailers were a lot shorter than theatrical trailers. Theatrical trailers also had more narrative; giving away more of the story, slower editing and introduced you to more characters. In comparison, teaser trailers provided a tease, revealing little about the story, introduction to few characters, fast editing and lots of fades. After this, I decided to conduct research on the conventions of teaser trailers.

Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 1

Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 2

Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 3

As expected, I found that all teaser trailers had the same conventions despite their different genres. These conventions included images from the film, sound effects, tag lines, billings, etc. 

Teaser Trailer Conventions

After deciding on the genre of my film, I decided to look at action film teaser trailers to identify the genre specific conventions which are used. 

Action Films Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 1

Action Films Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 2

Action Films Teaser Trailer Conventions Analysis 3

I found that action film teaser trailers tended to have slow editing at the start with slower music, but as the trailer progressed, the tempo of the music and editing increased. There were also lots of fades and impact sounds. Due to my research, I added these in to my teaser trailer to make it feel as authentic as possible.

Here are all the conventions I found for action film teaser trailers:

Action Film Teaser Trailer Conventions

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? - Poster

As part of my marketing campaign, I had to make a poster.

I started researching poster by identifying the general conventions. I did this by looking at a variety of posters from different genres.

Poster Convention Analysis 1

Poster Convention Analysis 2

Poster Convention Analysis 3

Poster Convention Analysis 4

Poster Convention Analysis 5

From my research I found that no matter what the genre, all posters had the same conventions, for example: title, tag lines, billing,etc. It was at this point where I turned my attention to action film posters in particular to identify genre specific conventions such as font, colour scheme, etc.

Action Films Poster Conventions Analysis 1

Action Films Poster Conventions Analysis 2

Action Films Poster Conventions Analysis 3

Action Films Poster Conventions Analysis 4

Action Films Poster Conventions Analysis 5

From this research, I knew that the central protagonist should feature alone on the cover in an action pose with a prop. I also knew that the colour scheme had to be dark with high contrast colours to make it stand out. It was also important for the font to be bold and square as this tends to be a standard convention across action film posters.

What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

During my research, I used focus groups and questionnaires to gather information from my target audience. The results I gathered from this helped me shape my marketing campaign to as streamlined as possible. All this helped me achieve to make what my target audience wanted.

Poster Questionnaire

Results Of Poster Questionnaire

Magazine Front Cover Questionnaire

Results Of Magazine Front Cover Questionnaire

Teaser Trailer Questionnaire

Results Of Teaser Trailer Questionnaire

The results during production were so helpful that I decided to conduct a further questionnaire post-production to determine what my audience thought of my marketing campaign and whether they thought it was authentic.

Magazine Post-Production Questionnaire:

1. In comparison to existing mainstream film magazines, does this front cover look authentic? Why?
2. Would you be able to tell that this front cover is meant for a mainstream film magazine? Why?
3. Would you purchase this film magazine? Why?
4. Would this film magazine stand out on the shelf? Why?
5. Does this magazine work well with the poster and teaser trailer? Why?

My audience feedback revealed that the bold 'blocky' fonts used gave the magazine an authentic feel as a mainstream film magazine. The colour scheme with the high contrast red also made it eye-catching and would stand out on a shelf. Due to the cover lines all being linked to Hollywood, once again the magazine has an authentic mainstream feel. However, some feel that the background should have more action in it (an explosion).

Poster Post-Production Questionnaire:

1. Does the poster look authentic? Why?
2. Would this poster make you want to see the film? Why?
3. What genre does this poster belong to? Why?
4. Does this poster work alongside my magazine front cover and teaser trailer? Why?

I had a 100% response rate to action as a genre of my poster as the protagonist looks like he is running away from something or someone and is holding a gun. The bold, square font and the tag lines further backed up the genre. There was a high response rate to the poster looking authentic due to the billing, production company logo's, reviews, etc. The positive reviews and the mystery in what the protagonist is running from resulted in most people wanting to see this film. However, some felt that once again, there should be an action background (such as an explosion).

Teaser Trailer Post-Production Questionnaire:

1. What genre does the film belong to? Why?
2. Does the teaser trailer contain the right conventions? Why?
3. Do the sound and images work well together? Why?
4. Would this teaser trailer encourage you to watch the film? Why?
5. Does the teaser trailer work well with the poster and magazine front cover? Why?

Once again, I had a 100% response rate to action as a genre. The fight scenes, guns and constant running displayed scenes of action. The general consensus was that the sound and images worked well together and excited the audience. They were drawn into it and wanted to see more. They felt that whilst they gathered some information regarding the storyline, they were withheld from a lot of it and want to know what happens. Most people indicated that they would watch the film. Most people also indicated that due to the fades, quick editing, tag lines, etc. the teaser trailer had all the appropriate conventions.

My audience informed me that due to the continuity in the marketing campaign (same fonts, images, tag lines,etc. used), all three components (teaser trailer, magazine front cover and poster) worked well together. This continuity means that the audience is more likely to watch the film.

How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

I decided to present mt research and planning and my evaluation in the form of a blog. I set up a Blogger account to present the information, a Soundcloud account to post audio files and a Youtube account to present video files.

Using a blog proved very useful as I was able to display my research and planning in an orderly manner and illustrate it with audio files, videos and images. This ensured it was 'easy on the eye' for a reader. Uploading images proved extremely easy and gives an artistic edge to my blog.

I used a Panasonic HDC TM900 (camcorder) to film my teaser trailer. This proved very useful as I was able to shoot multiple takes of each shot when something went wrong. With the accompaniment of a large SD card, there was no problem with how much footage I could take at a time. The camera also enabled me to instantly erase shots I did not want which saved time later in editing.

Before I began editing, I uploaded all my shots, audio files and images onto the software (Avid Media Composer) in separate bins which also saved time during editing.

As I discovered in my research, taglines are a convention of teaser trailers. I used Adobe Photoshop to create and edit my taglines so I could upload them to Avid Media Composed and put them in my teaser trailer.

Now that all my components (shots, images, audio, etc.) had been organised into bins, it was straightforward for me to start piecing together my teaser trailer. Due to my shot list and provisional running order, I knew exactly which shots I wanted where and when I wanted the taglines and titles to appear. I opened the shots I wanted, trimmed them down and then added them to my 'timeline'. The multi track feature allowed me to have my shots on one layer and taglines, titles and billing on another layer. Similarly with audio, I had my main music on one layer and sound effects on another.

During my research, I found that another convention of teaser trailers were fades. In order to add verisimilitude, I used fades in many of my shots. This gave my teaser trailer a real feel of authenticity. In the pictures above, the little purple boxes before and after the audio and shots are fades.

I used Adobe Audition to edit music, voiceovers and sound effects I found and recorded for my trailer so that I could just add it on to my Avid timeline. 

With the use of Adobe Photoshop, I was able to create both my poster and magazine front cover. Photoshop enabled me to manipulate the colour schemes, fonts and placements of things so I could make my poster and  magazine front cover as realistic as possible. I used tools such as the magnetic lasso tool (to cut out and crop images) and the smudge tool and eraser to clean up the rough edges.

These are the various stages in the making of my magazine front cover:

I used the link tool to link layers of my poster together, so when I moved them, they all moved together. For example: I linked the issue number, date and prices together so when I resized and moved them, it all happened together. Another tool I used was to create a shadow effect on writing. This made the writing stand out, which was especially useful as the writing is white and so is the protagonists t-shirt.

These are the stages of production for my poster:

How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?

My research into films marketing campaigns illustrated to me that there were many consistencies throughout. This is to make sure that when the audience sees one thing (for example: the poster) and then another (teaser trailer), a link can easily be established. Making this link builds a 'profile' in the audiences minds and therefore when they want to watch something in the cinema, this profile is there. They are more likely to watch a film from a unified marketing campaign.

In my campaign, I decided to keep as many things uniform as possible for this reason. One of the things I kept the same was the fonts I used on my poster and in my teaser trailer. This makes them instantly recognizable so the audience can draw a link.

However, when it came to making my magazine front cover, I was not able to use the same font. Production companies have full control over what the teaser trailer and posters look like, but when it comes to magazine front covers, they have very little say. Production companies will send round a press pack with photos and information they have provided, but more than this, they have no control. It would have to be a very rare and special occasion for a magazine to change its font for a film.

I also used the same tagline's in my teaser trailer and on my poster. This further builds the 'profile' in the audiences mind and draws an instant link. While the font might be a bit trickier to pick up, a tag line has the potential to be memorable so when you see it on a poster and a teaser trailer, an instant link is established. I feel the tagline's I picked represent my film suitably without giving away too much of the story line. They also have an action feel to them, so when seen, a member of the audience can identify that the film belongs to the action genre. There is no tagline on the magazine, as the magazine is independent of the production companies. Instead the magazine has a cover line which  it comes up with itself to show its independence from the film.

The dominant central image on the poster and magazine front cover might not be the same, but the both feature the central protagonist. When the audience see the central protagonist on both the poster and the magazine front cover, an instant link can be made.

On my poster and in my teaser trailer, I used a similar billing and the same production company logos. I did not include a billing on my magazine front cover as this is not a convention for magazines. Rather, they have things like cover lines which display names of actors, directors and other films.

Finally, the release date on my teaser trailer and poster is similar. One of things I noticed is that many teaser trailers do not have exacts dates. They tend to feature a line like 'coming soon' or 'summer 2017'. It is for this reason that in my teaser trailer, I used the latter. As my poster was not a teaser poster, I included the actual date of release. The similarity in dates provides an extra opportunity for a link to be made. This link provides a push for the audience to see the film before it is actually released.