Soundtrack: Planning and Permission

A friend of mine from school is in a band (The Kwirks) and they play acoustic style music and make songs that I feel could potentially be appropriate for my romance trailer soundtrack. Therefore I Facebook messaged the band and gained permission to use one of their songs for my media coursework. I've promised to mention them and give them the credits, and they said that it was fine for me to use them. To the left is a screenshot of the private Facebook messenger conversation proving this.

Posters to compare to

The key image of the two characters on this poster is fairly similar to mine, it involves the main male and female protagonists, they are both positioned facing towards each other and are close enough to show that there is a significant romantic relationship between them. The image I used for my poster is more of a medium shot than this and it involves the characters looking directly at each other. I think this image for the 'Titanic' poster is effective, although the characters don't have direct eye contact, you can tell by the way they are holding each other and gripping hands that they are in love. However, I decided to use direct eye contact in my image as I think it symbolises a romantic relationship very well and gives connotations of love and potentially lust.

This particular film poster for the romance film 'Australia' is laid out so the names of the actors appear in the top corners of the page, they appear above the actors heads so that the star system technique is used and the audience can link the names to faces. The star system is often used on posters as it allows the film to be associated with well-known and successful actors and therefore attracts a wider target audience. I have positioned my actors names in the same way on my poster, the names aren't directly above the heads of my characters, however they are in the same halves as the actors so they match and can clearly be linked to them. The background of my poster is the location of one of the scenes in the film, the park location where the actors first meet. This is similar to this particular poster in the way that the desert type location that the film is located in, has been included in this poster.
The difference between them is that this specific poster uses the location as a separate image to the one of the stock characters at the top, where as my location is surrounding the actors as a background shot for the poster. However, the key thing is that the film location is included in both, therefore I have followed this convention in my film.

This film poster has included the film's title at the bottom and in the centre of the page, I have followed this common and stereotypical convention for my poster. I feel that it is effective as it allows the key image to be visible and not covered by anything, therefore no attention is drawn away from it. However, it is still in the centre so it is hard to miss, and it appears in a much larger font than the distribution information and release date, so it is still very eye catching for an audience who happen to come into contact with this poster, by walking past it etc.

This poster has included the phrase "Coming Soon" which is the equivalent to a release date for the film and is intended to excite the audience with the thought of the film coming out shortly so they will anticipate more and potentially be more likely to watch it.

Magazine Covers to compare to

In terms of my final magazine cover I have taken elements and conventions from a range of different magazine covers from pre-existing film magazines that have been used to promote a range of successful films. I have attempted to follow the main conventions of a film magazine cover and make them specific to the romance genre as far as possible, to link in with my film. 

This magazine cover uses a location from the main film being promoting as its background. I have followed this convention for my poster and have used a shot of the main female character in the hut location where the two protagonists were drinking together. This is so that the target audience will link the focal image and surrounding background with the shots from the film and these elements will link together and potentially make the audience more interested and will make them less likely to forget the film. This magazine cover is a prime example of the magazines can conventionally use a location from the film specific to that issue, as the background for the front cover. In this specific example, it is a spooky looking wooded area, to link to the narrative. In my cover it is a hut/field location on a sunny day, the hut has graffiti so it is stereotyped with teenagers who are the key target audience for my film. This magazine issue has used buzzwords as have I in my cover, buzzwords are conventional of magazines of pretty much all genres, because they are exciting and are intended to catch people's attention and draw them in to encourage them to want to read more. Similarly to this issue, I have used the buzzword "Plus!" as a way of appealing to my target audience, this word makes the cover seem interesting and implies that the magazine is full of interesting articles and exclusives that the audience would want to read, and potentially couldn't read elsewhere.

The majority of magazine covers, of all genres, follow the rule of thirds, where the magazine is split into 3 different sections and different information on articles etc appear in the different thirds. Mainly, the title goes across all of the thirds, because it is very important and is intended to be memorable. Also, sometimes magazine covers have banners at the top or the bottom of the page that cut across the thirds completely as well, this is usually because these contain important messages about articles or exclusive stories that the magazine thinks the audience will be interested by. The focal image of the character/actor from the film usually appears in the middle third on the page and sometimes extends into the other thirds depending on how large the image is. This is stereotypical of all magazines as the main image is one of the main elements of the cover and therefore it appears in the centre so when people see the cover, they automatically look directly at the image. I have followed this convention for my cover and have intended it that the image of the female actress is central and cannot be avoided. The barcode for this specific issue of Empire is positioned in the same place that I have placed mine for the covers layout. I think this is a good place to position it, as the barcode needs to be included on the front cover, but it isn't a key aspect of the cover and therefore putting it in the bottom corner ensures that it is visible, but it doesn't draw attention away from the main elements that are intended to excite the audience.                                  

I've followed the layout shown by this one in the way that my magazine cover also involves the title appearing in front of the focal image and not behind it, many magazines use the reverse of this layout. However, I felt this was more appropriate as the focal image was still clearly displayed and eye catching, and it meant that the audience could read the whole of the title and recognise the magazine.  The focal image involves a direct mode of address with the camera from the actress, this is often used on magazine covers and posters promoting films as it is intended to make the audience think the character is looking at them and directly targeting them. This is because from pretty much every angle that you look at it, the actresses eyes follow you so you are drawn in and it feels personal.  I have used an image involving direct mode of address on my magazine cover, this is due to the reasons mentioned above and because I think that it is a successful way of drawing an audience in and making them look more closely at the magazine. The price and date of the issue are included at the top of the cover, I have followed this convention with my magazine cover, however the price and date appear separately at and in different thirds, this may subvert the conventions slightly, however it was easier to read and appeared more boldly when I separated them. 

Ancillary: Magazine Production

 I searched the internet for an appropriate barcode and then used photoshop to flip the image and place it at the bottom of my magazine. If I'd have had more time or greater knowledge of photoshop, then I would have created a completely original barcode. However, this wasn't the case. I still cropped the image and rotated it therefore I made it individual to my magazine.

The screenshot to the left shows the title of my film highlighted on screen. The typography and colour of this is the exact same as I have used for my film poster. This is so that the audience can easily link the two together and so that the promotion for the film all ties in together nicely and hopefully attracts a bigger, potentially more tent-pole, audience.

This image is similar to the image above however it just shows the tool box on that I used on photoshop to adapt my fonts if I needed to in further detail, and to play around with colour and shadows etc to see which, if any, of these fonts were effective. This was useful as it allowed me to experiment with a large range of effects and change the percentage of exposure or saturation etc and see how these worked and tied in with the focal image and the magazine cover background.

Ancillary: Magazine Production: Typography

My magazine is called 'Cinematic' I used a fairly plain font and a simple white colour. The white colour is reflected throughout the magazine cover as white typography is often conventional for magazine covers if the background is brightly coloured or involves an actual image, which mine does. The bold white font

                                                                                                        stands out on the coloured background and I feel it is effective as the background already uses a range of colours, so if I'd have used a brighter font colour for my magazine title, then it could have looked too busy and potentially put people off. The title is written completely in capitals, this is another convention of magazine front covers as capitals are icons of excitement and trying to catch people's attention and this is exactly what magazines intend to do.

I put a slight outline on the font at the bottom of the magazine cover. The buzzword 'PLUS' is outlined also so that it is emphasised even more so than before to ensure that it catches the audiences eye. The slight white outline helped to make the font look more 3D and therefore seem raised up from the background image. I think this outline would be more effective than having no outline at all as the could then potentially begin to blend in slightly with, especially the black, shades in of the background image. The last thing anyone aims for on a magazine is the text blending in to the background and not standing out, therefore I think the outline is effective.

Pictures for Photograph Prop

Below is a range of pictures taken of my main male actor and the second female actress (the antagonist character). The pictures are taken to look as if the characters aren't aware that they are being photographed and it makes them look like they're doing something wrong. In this case, it is made to look like Theo is talking to another girl and potentially cheating on the main female character, Kate. These photos need to be printed off on paper so they can be used as props and filmed as the female character opens a posted letter containing these photos, hinting largely at the narrative.

Voiceover Script: Updated

Due to a change to my initial storyboard and me planning to film a range of new shots so that the film's narrative is clearly shown in the trailer and the disequilibrium is emphasised more so that the audience are anticipating the films release, I have had to make changes to my initial voiceover script.

Below is the updated script:

Kate:
I met Theo in a park on a rainy day in January. I fell for him instantly. His laugh, his voice, the way he looked at me. I thought we would be together forever. 
I guess everyone remembers their first love...but not always for the right reasons.