Masthead Font Research

Here I have conducted some further film magazine research into the masthead font. From my original research into magazine front covers, I noticed that each magazine uses very basic but noticeable (large and bold) fonts for the masthead. Therefore, I have chosen these fonts as I feel that they all have a bold, basic look which will have visual impact on the target audience. Each of the fonts have something unique about them but they are all very similar to a certain extent. This made the job of picking out the masthead harder. From drafting each font with the main image, I managed to come to a conclusion of using the first font which is called 'impact'. I used this font as it allowed the main image to be dominating and eye catching. This was because the masthead did not take away any attention from the main image while being noticeable and rememberable.

Film Magazine Colour Scheme

Here is the colour scheme for my film magazine. I have used Adobe Kuler to display the colours that I feel reflect the genre of the film. From looking at various film magazine front covers, I have realised that the colour schemes relate to the film and is a significant part in portraying the genre of the film. Also, I have taken my audience research into account and used the colours that most appeal to the target audience. I have chosen the colours of white, grey, red and black as I feel that these colours connote the urban gang violence. Black and red highlight the mysterious and violent aspect of the film. While the white and grey add a professional look for the magazine. The contrast of all the colours work well together which will allow the magazine to reflect the film genre.

Film Magazine Images

Film Magazine IT Layout

This is a flat plan of what my front cover magazine will look like, highlighting the placement of the masthead, headline, sell lines etc. I will go by this layout and change aspects if necessary. 

Urban Drama - Front Cover Magazine Analysis

Film Magazine Planning Sheet

Main image: What is the main image going to be? What type of shot composition angle etc?

The main image will be a mid shot of the main actor (the protagonist), displaying a gun or knife with conventional miss-en-scene. The actor will be looking directly at the camera on a smokey urban setting to reinforce the genre. 

Name of Magazine: What are the connotations of the title? 

The name of the magazine will be called 'Film Scope' as this implies to the audience that the magazine will involve new films and information on/from films. I will display the name of the magazine in a formal and simple font to give it a professional look.

Colour scheme: 

The colour scheme will be black, grey and red as these colours best portray the genre in depth, due to the dull, dark and violent colours.

Headline: What is the headline and how does it match the film/actor etc 

The headline would be the film title. This will help to anchor the image and give the magazine more meaning and understanding for the audience. 

Sell lines: reference to other films/actors/directors/ film festivals etc.

• List of new films with small description.
• Short sell line that relates to my film.
• Up and coming film titles.

Banners/splash: other features, competitions etc.

Banner at the bottom to possibly highlight new films with images or add additional information if needed. 

Magazine tagline:

'Knowing is half the battle' - This is relevant as people who would normally buy a film magazine, enjoy reading about films and news to up and coming films. This tagline implies that once you know about the films and news you are half way closer to watching the film which is relevant.

Other info: (price, date of issue etc)

• Price and date will be placed on the barcode.
• The magazine website will be located somewhere near the masthead

Final Poster

Finally, I added the three main characters names at the top of the poster, using the 'Urban Jungle' font. I added the release information at the bottom with production and sponsors companies logos. Also, I wanted to add the Twitter and Facebook logos as this will be another selling point for the poster which the target audience associate themselves with. I used the rulers on photoshop to make sure the writing and logos lined up correctly.

I placed the poster credits below the film title as this is where it was most suited and it also gave the poster a unique attribute. I used rulers down the side of the poster to make sure the title and credits lined up.

This is a screenshot of the poster credits I created, using a font I downloaded called 'Steel Tongs'. 

Once the film title was created, I replaced the old title with the new edited one and added a red outer glow as seen below.

 

Creating Film Title

In the torn section, I placed the title of the film as this was most appropriate for a split screen poster. However, I don't feel that this title is very affective so I will go on to creating my own design. 

To separate each picture, I decided to create a torn/ripped paper effect as it links directly to the genre. I created this effect by using the pen tool to select an area. I then used various eraser tools to erase some of the section. After, I selected the section, I deleted it from the two images so it left the background. Finally, I added an outer glow and changed the background to black.  

I felt that the previous images were either too light or dark. So I played around with the Levels and Hue/Saturation effects to gain more depth and contrast between each image.

I first started by adding the two main pictures on to photoshop. 

Font Research

Here is some research into different font styles for my film title. Using www.dafont.com & www.1001freefonts.com I was able to preview each font in the format I wanted. This allowed me to pick the fonts that related to the genre, storyline and title of the film easily. I first started looking for a graffiti font that would highlight the urban genre. I came across font 1 which is a font that relates massively to the genre as well as the title. The graffiti of the font illustrates the urban genre and the dripping from the font contrasts with the title of the film. Font 2 is very similar to the previous font, its only difference is that is has more of a bold, thicker font. However, I feel that this font would not work well as a title due to not being able to read certain letters properly. Font 4 is a unique font which displays the city landscape at the bottom of each letters. This is an element that will allow the audience to recognise the genre and therefore entice them to watch the film. I have been attracted to font 6 because it is bold, clear and simple like 8 Mile and Kidulthoods posters. The simplicity of it would allow for the attention to be on the main image. I will go on to test my favourite fonts 1, 4 and 6 on my poster to see if they work well with the image. 

Film Poster IT Layout

This is a flat plan of my film poster. It shows you the structure and gives a brief layout of what my poster will look like.

Poster Images

Here are some of the photos I have taken for my poster.  I decided to take these photos outside as it composes an urban background. This street background reinforces the genre hugely, as it includes buses, buildings and  brick walls which relates to the common urban scenery. The actor was advised to look stressed and angry, to clearly direct the audience to the storyline of the film. 

I then went on to take pictures in relation to my USP which is the countryside. The actor was asked to look mysterious, hence him looking directly into the camera. This has an impact on the audience as it allows them to feel as though the character has a powerful story behind his characteristics. Taking the photos with the character placed more to a certain direction e.g. more to the left or right, enabled me to highlight my unique selling point, as well as work well as split screen poster.

These two images were chosen deliberately to be used as the film poster. They both directly link to the story line of the film, including the urban genre, which contrasts with my unique selling point being the countryside.

Draft Photos

Here are some of the pictures I have narrowed down for my film poster. I have taken two of the characters from the trailer and tried to use artificial lighting to give the images a chiaroscuro effect. I realised that from changing the lighting from low to high I captured a different look. This helped me significantly as I was trying to get close up pictures of the characters and it allowed me to capture the emotion in their face. However, these photos didn't work well as a split screen poster as there wasn't enough variety of images that I could work with. From this I will go on to take some more images that will also relate to the genre and the film storyline.

Influential Poster

Audience Research - Questionnaire

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2CCG737

Here is the layout of the questionnaire, using survey monkey

Question 1

In this questionnaire, I decided to distribute it to a niche age group that related mostly to the genre. This will allow me to be more precise in the main target demographic and gain a greater understanding. From the people that responded, the majority of them were 16-20 years of age which is a specific age group that are interested in the Urban Drama genre.    

Question 2

I decided to hand out my questionnaire to both male and female equally. I was interested to see if there was a differentiation between both the male and female opinions on Urban Dramas. 

Question 3

This information gave me an insight to what type of urban drama is prefer by the demographic, as an Urban Drama film can fit into many different pockets. The information shows that the highest two answers were 'Gangster' and 'Other' which were both 33%. On the option 'Other' the audience responded with 'comedy' and 'realism', the two people that stated comedy were of female gender signifying that the target demographic is more male related. 

Question 4

This data gives me many ideas on what to involve and base the trailer around as this is what the target audience think of when hearing the words 'Urban Drama'.  

Question 5

Kidulthood was the most popular answer which reflects back to question 3 of the 'gangster' genre being most appealing to this small scale of people. From this information it is evident the gang type of story line is preferred in genres audience. 

Question 6

These responses will definitely be taken into consideration when taking the pictures for my poster.

Question 7

The three most said colours were black, grey and red. I feel that these colours will definitely reflect an urban drama look and I shall use these colours in my magazine front cover to reflect this.

Question 8

Question 9

These are concepts that I will take into consideration when making the trailer.

Question10

Target Audience Brainstorm

Audience Mood Board

This is our mood board showing the genre of Urban Drama that significantly relates to the target audience. I have incorporated many images that our audience finds appealing. These images consist of the clothing, foods, music and technology the target audience relates to signifying .

8 Mile - Poster Analysis

8 Mile is a film that relates massively to my genre ‘Urban Drama’. This is a poster that depicts many aspects of the genre of drama. The main image is of the main character ‘Eminem’ who will definitely be a massive selling point of the film. The image is a mid shot of Eminem which dominates the whole of the poster indicating that he is the main focus. It shows Eminem in sitting down position, with his head tilted downwards with no eye contact with the camera, as he is writing lyrics on his hand. This shows emphasis not only on the story line of the film but also the genre of the film giving it a distinctive factor. The fact that he is writing rap songs on his hand again highlights the poverty which pollutes the inner city areas making it difficult for young people to follow their dreams, almost giving you an insight into the film.

The colour scheme of this film poster relates significantly to the urban genre. The dark black, grey, and yellow shades allow for this urban drama feel, as it resembles the lifestyle he experienced within the beginning of the film. These dull colours of black and greys allow for the yellow/orange title and white taglines to standout.

The placing of this poster would be in magazines, bus stops and cinemas. This is reinforced as the image is the main focal point and these places are where the public will be able to grasp the full effects of the image such as the writing on the hand. Also, the poster credits displayed at the bottom, illustrate that it is one of the last posters displayed before the release of the film.

The Taglines will significantly influence the audience as it involves other A-list celebrity names like Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy and Mekhi Phifer. This gives the audience a slight insight into the film, as it alerts them of the genre of the film just through what these actors specify in. This could  also attract another audience that are fans of these actors which would be another selling point incorporated in the poster.

The target audience of this film would be predominantly aimed at males but can appeal to females depending on interests. The age group will be approximately 15-25  years old as this age group is more appealing to this generation.

Repertoire of Elements of Urban Drama Genre

Character: Typically in a Urban Drama movie there is generally three groups of characters; The Gangs, The Police, Innocent Civilians, along with these group of characters there is also typically a ex gang member who gets dragged back into his old gang life. Normally the female characters are stereotyped to be ignorant and to be used for sex appeal and the men are usually the gang members. Children appear very often in urban drama films as it gives the film a sense of how the innocence can be twisted to become involved in a gang or can also be used to show how a gang could be ruthless in killing a child.

Audience: Men seem to be one of the main audiences for Urban Drama Films as it's exciting and ruthless and gives the audience an insight on gang life. Also young adults from 14 upwards possibly from London would be interested possibly by the Urban Drama genre as it shows them what actually occurs near where they live.

Settings: For the majority of Urban Drama films the setting is quiet similar, there is generally always a dull, rainy day and a council house around an area which you can tell is full of crime e.g. graffiti showing vandalism. Popular settings also include London Streets, alleyways and Council.

Themes: For an Urban Drama film to be successful it needs to conform to some of the typical themes, themes such as Evil vs. Good, Misunderstood children, Dark Lives, Sin vs. Purity and even death.

Style: Conventional lighting for an Urban Drama film is quite low key, dark and gloomy with a dull, cold feel to it. They have a lot of use of close ups and a variety of low and high angles shots, to create tension. Another way of creating tension is through the use of sound, typically you'd get a lot of rap, grime, and nowadays even dubstep playing, this also gives an insight of what the gangs of today like listening to, in terms of music genre.

Iconography: An iconic item you'd find within a Urban Drama film would be some form of knife or gun, and of course most defiantly blood. In terms of clothing, Hoodies, Snapbacks and tracksuits are worn to represent how gangs dress.

Narrative: Typically the narrative of a Urban Drama film would be to have some sort of gang with gang members and gang leaders established, so the audience get an insight of the hierarchy of power within the gang, there is usually also a police group who the gang are running from at some point within the film, there is also usually a misunderstood gang member who believes he is doing or not doing the right thing by being in a gang.

History and Background of Urban Drama

Influential Genre Examples

Institutional Context

This is a Slideshare of the feedback we received on our pitch from our teacher. From the feedback, we have realised that more detail has to be added in certain areas like the Mise-en-Scene being in more depth and the Main Characters names.

Website Analysis - Insidious 2

http://www.insidiousch2.com/

From looking at Insidious 2’s website I can see that it immediately links to the film through many elements within the website. The film genre is emphasised in the main image of the homepage as it shows three different doors with the middle one being red which symbolises the supernatural horror genre of the film. Also, the red door is highlighted through the light beaming down on it creating a mysterious atmosphere along with the eerie sound added. The pitch black background adds to the genre as well as the mist/smoke running along the floor resembles this.

 On every page of Insidious’ 2 website it shows this toolbar (shown above) of other addition viral marketing links like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube etc. This allows for people to get up to date on news of the film and for the film to be shared by other people which would certainly attract a larger audience which is a free marketing technique for the film. This toolbar has a banner that lets you purchase your cinema tickets online and gives you the show times which is a direct selling tool.

 Clicking on the red door brings you on to a different page, showing Insidious 2’s recent trailers, which would influence and entice the viewer to watch the film. Also, on this page is a gallery of animated pictures and the list of the cast with an insight paragraph of each character and their role.  

The two other doors on the homepage lead you to an interactive reading on the film and even a sinister game. This highlights the uniqueness of the website while keeping the audience aware of the genre. Overall, this website is a direct marketing tool for the film and is very attractive for a horror audience due to the depth of detail the designers went into to grasp the audiences attention.