Magazine Cover

                                             (Draft)

(Due to the audience feedback I added the barcode and price necassary of any magazine cover.)

Similarly to the previous feedback for my first draft of my magazine cover I failed to include a barcode- so I rectified this...

(Final)

The Significance of Audience Feedback

Throughout the process of creating a film trailer the input of others has greatly helped in changing the ideas that perhaps did not work and discovering new ideas that audiences like. For example the initial draft of the film teaser trailer had many negative effects about sound and content- resulting in a completely new trailer being created for our final draft, with edits that suited people's requests.

This issue was rightfully changed to....

Additionally the idea to include reviews from critics was also scrapped, as in the first cut we featured...

Film Poster and Magazine Cover

The following film posters were useful in depicting what style I wanted to reflect in my own poster for 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange':

Both are quite disturbing images and I find these some of the most effective. I began with the idea of merging faces of both the characters of Jay and Nina....

However this process was considerablly difficult and I faced the limitations of Photoshop. So I decided to use the effects of photo-editing on PhotoShop and the poster design aspect on Corel Draw.

Audience Feedback: ''I don't really like the idea of two faces in one as it makes the film storyline too obvious... go for something original...'' Lauren, 18

After much deliberation and test-runs on photoshop I have decided to follow the black and white theme which is most commonly associated with hypnotism which relates to my film trailers physiological elements.

Throughout the process I have realised that perhaps ideas that are simple does not mean that they are not good. Here is my new film poster plan:

Therefore by using mainly the software of Photoshop and some small details on iPhoto:

The spinning black and white wheel is most commonly recognised as a symbol of mind-control and distortion; relating perfectly to my film trailer. I included all the actors, directors and editors names at the bottom along with the film company 'ClockWork Pictures' and the e-mail address the viewers can go to for our film information.

This image of a black and white whirlpool is a very well known 'logo' for hypnosis and elements which relate to the mind and psychological deception- which interconnects hugely with the storyline and theme of my trailer for 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange'.


Audience Feedback on the film poster (draft):

''The colours contrast extremely well! I love the dark tone to the whole poster''. Alice, 18

''The Mast-Head is very eye-catching and its simple appearance make all the text fit nicely on the page', it could use a tag-line to really sell the film'. Katie, 16

''The poster looks very professional and it reminds me of a gloomy, early 1990's film, however I don't like the way you've positioned 'and'...'' Chris, 45

The process of improvement:
I took on board all of the comments and did my best in creating a simple, yet effective film poster.
From various feedback comments here are some of the changes to my film poster...

Firstly I enlarged the names of the main actors at the very top of the poster, whilst trying to be original I included no images of their characters or any images from the actual trailer- therefore I needed them to feature heavily in another method (hence the large text of their names). My logic was that this film would be slightly 'indie' and not feature greatly famous actors therefore their presence in image form (of their faces) would be meaningless to the audience, I would rather hint and refer to the theme instead of the actors as they don't show anything about the trailer. Secondly the colour scheme all match in order to make areas stand out, such as the main focus in the centre of 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange' in bold red to stand out against the black and white background. Similarly used in the tag lines of reviews from various film magazines (Empire, TOTAL FILM). I included a tagline after a member of the public suggested it would improve the poster greatly, therefore I added a conventional line of text at the top to draw attention- 'The journey of self-discovery is never simple'- a clear insight into the body-swap storyline. The overall image of the poster is very simple yet effective and is rather original compared to other posters, such as the examples at the top of this post which focus images of eyes but do not reveal anything or entice anyone. 
Also my audience feedback suggested to change the 'and' as it didn't fit the sentence structure and could confuse audiences easily as to what the film is called, so I re-positioned it.
I also changed the effect I previously used on my first draft of a brightness enhancer as it made certain areas hard to read, I changed it back to the original on iPhoto...

Here is the final edit of my film poster-

I included references to my film production company at the bottom- ClockWork Pictures, along with the actors, screenplay wrights, director etc...

Also in terms of communicating and linking distribution and products together I included a website exclusively for 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange' film/ franchise. By using modern technology devices to link the audience and product together, particular as teenagers (my target audience) are the prime users of the internet. The website would entice them with exclusive behind the scenes footage, latest updates and releases dates.
The black and white pattern will now be considered the feature/ logo of the film of which audiences will recognise the film, therefore I plan to use it in my exclusive magazine edition... 

PLAN

The design is intentionally similar to link both together as I understand the importance of media products and how they must imply a relationship to an audience. It will assist in making the film a brand that can branch off into other ventures such as merchandise, video games and dressing up costumes etc...

Its simplicity is also interconnecting with the film poster and the nature of the film trailer.

Each plug has a direct reference to the film industry and many are directly related to the 'fear and desire of the strange' franchise as it is 'First Film Friday's special edition.

First Film Friday would be a weekly magazine with a varying price as to whether it comes with any gifts or not. This issue would not and I would price it at £2.00, as a target audience of teenagers would not buy something too expensive.

Audience Feedback....

''I really link how you have linked your two products together... the symbol is really bold and supported by a strong masthead...' Sam, 19

''Could have added the price and barcode just to give it that polished look, but other than that it looks pretty great''. Lauren, 18

''All the features of that magazine look really interesting- however neither products have any actors/ charaters on them!'' James, 16

The audience are right in noticing that I did not include the standard price or barcode expected on a magazine cover, therefor my final design will include this, also I decided to change my idea of both containing the hypnosis element and have my magazine cover to include a main character...


Other ideas of magazine covers...

Audience Feedback

The following comments are from audience members of the final cut of 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange':

These comments are a lot more positive than the one's received for the previous cut of the film trailer- reflecting the importance of audience feedback and how it helps mould a great end product. Without the constructive criticism my group and myself may not have noticed some of the previous flaws and then gone on to correct them.

I purposely used social media sites to collect feedback as my target audience are renowned for using sites such as Twitter and FaceBook. It also intertextualizes with my film company 'ClockWork Pictures' use of social media sites to inform our audience about our film as there is a great link between the wanted audience and the places to advertise to them. For example Disney has its own FaceBook and Twitter account so that it can effectively communicate with its intended audiences and keep them updated with the latest film news. It is a technique of horizontal integration that is so common within the film industry that ClockWork Pictures would also use...

Group Presentation

ClockWork Pictures presents 'The Fear and Desire for the Strange' pitch:

Audience Feedback:

''The idea of a body-swap is very original, but may be hard to portray in just a to minute trailer...'' Chloe

''The title is really unusual and I think that will help it stand out effectively to the target audience...'' Will

''I think that making a suicide look really in a trailer is really difficult and may look too unrealistic...'' Alex

''Your group seem like you know the direction of the trailer and I think that staying away from the typical horror genre is a great idea...'' James

'The Fear and Desire for the Strange' Script outline

Audience Feedback comments:

'' I like the overall script however I wouldn't like to see the line- ''it all began when...'' as that's quite cheesy and it would put me off seeing a film if it sounded too unoriginal''.

''I really like the idea of a mix of music in order to suit the build up, I think that may come across really effectively''.

''The part about using video blogs sounds really good because it would be an element of modern technology that teenagers especially will be able to relate to and is a really interesting idea to include it in a film trailer''.



This is a basic outline to what we will film in the process of making our film trailer. The foundation of the storyline, characters and locations are stated and we found this extremely useful as a guideline when we began filming.

Script Outline:

Jay Dee: Hi... Its Jay Dee... 
I can't explain what's happening to me... 
It happens at school... I don't know where it's coming from... 
I feel as though I'm going crazy...''
''I was in Nina's body... I was in her... I was her...''

We have chosen to keep the script/ voice over minimal to compliment our simple theme ( alike those found in UK indie film trailers). We structured the ending statement from Jay Dee to read- ''I was in Nina's body... I was in her... I was her''.
Significantly Jay is the main character and we therefore chose for him to say all the diagetic sounds in the trailer so the audience can associate his role in the trailer to the main role in the actual film. Also from feedback from class members, a student said that our original idea of Jay's dialogue was too childish and predictable and would put off many people (''It all began...). Therefore we changed his lines completely to suit the edgy drama that we wanted to portray and comments of the new script have been a lot more positive.