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