Analysis of finished film magazine front cover

I used the masthead 'Unscene' and spelt 'seen' as 'scene' to relate to scenes in film, so the mastead has connotations of unseen films.

I continued the conventional black, red and white theme throughout linking with all 3 of my media texts.

I used the main image of a character from a scene in the film with the tagline 'Asphyxiate official' catching the readers attention with a memorable iconic image from the film.

• The well established effect I wanted this magazine to have can be seen through the main sell line above the masthead 'Best summer preview ever!' this indicates that it is a regular magazine with different issues of previews to reach a range of target audiences for the magazine to generate more profit.

I would relate my film magazine to Empire because:

• The conventional black, red and white theme is used.
• The image is of the character from a scene in the film with the tagline 'Christopher Nolan's Inception' with Inception big and in bold to stand out from the rest of the text.
• The layout of the magazine is similar to mine. For example, both mastheads are in red placed at the top of page.

Analysis of finished film poster

• My poster mainly consists of one of the trailers main themes being Water, and the protagonist risng from the water not revealing too much identity, relating to the theme of the unknown.
• I have used the conventional black, red and white theme so the text stands out on the image.
• I have highlighted the word 'HATE' as this links in with another one of our main themes in the trailer.
• I have chosen to focus on the eyes looking directly at the audience. This makes the image seem very powerful and draws the audience in.
• I have lined the tagline in line with the protagonists eye suggesting this is what can be seen through the eyes of the protagonist.

I would relate my film poster to Scream 4 because:

• It follows conventions of the black, red and white theme which mine consists of also.
• Contains the iconic image of the protagonist straring directly at the audience drawing the audience in, just as I have done with mine.
• The tagline is also in line with the face as well as 'Scream' placed inside the open mouth relating to the scream of others.

Evaluation

Strengths and weaknesses of the finished film trailer

From our focus group I believe our group discovered that our trailer contained more strengths than weaknesses as we recieved positive feedback throughout.
Although I do believe our weaknesses were:

• The content of the film trailer - I think perhaps more content could of been included so the plot of the story would be easier to reveal.
• Effects and Transitions of the film trailer - I think better effects and transitions could of been added to make our trailer look more effective.
•  Plot and settings - our group struggled at the beginning with coming up with a good plot and setting for our trailer.

Although we were able to highlight our weaknesses after many changes and improvements, I believe we successfully produced a good, successful pyschological thriller trailer which the audience seemed to enjoy.

How our trailer compares with real media output

Our trailer follows the typical conventions of a horror/pyschological thriller genre although we challenged them slighty with the use of a female protagonist. However we used an unconventional element in our trailer with the black and white effect over the first few shots to show an action that happened in the past and differentiate this with the present. We have also used a darker setting and several possible villains to create a sense of disorientation, both of which are stereotypical to the genre we tried to portray.
Before deciding on the plot for our trailer we analysed a number of horror trailers on Youtube such as Friday the 13th, Sorority row, Scream 4 and Shrooms as they all had elements of 'psychological thrillers' which we considered using in our own as it makes the story more effective and leaves the audience on the edge of their seat.
 I think our trailer mainly compares to Sorority row and Friday the 13th as our plot consists of elements featured in these trailers. For example the setting of the lake and woods in our trailer compares to the setting of the lake and forest in Friday the 13th. It's also similar in the way iconic images have been used, for example freddy's costume in Friday the 13th contains the iconic mask, in our trailer we have used the iconic hood. Our trailer compares to Sorority row with plot focused on the themes of loss and revenge.

Consuming the film trailer

An audience would consume the film trailer we have produced through a variety of digital technologies such as:

• The Cinema
• The Internet
• Radio
• Television

The audience would be adressed over a variety of media platforms. We would do this by trying to reach as large an audience as possible. Consuming the trailer in these ways makes our target audience technophiles.
The audience would consume our film trailer by watching other films at the cinema with our trailer being shown before the film with 3 - 4 other trailers, giving the audience a glimpse of what to expect in the film. It would also be consumed through the internet on sites such as Youtube where the audience are able to control what they watch.

Codes and Conventions

The film trailer we have produced is successful in the way it follows conventions of other horror/psychological thriller genre trailers but also challenges them making our trailer individual and unique. The trailers code of enigma uses a red hering effect where the audience are left unaware of who the killer actually is.
We have used generic codes and conventions within our trailer with the use of fades to black and white and
black, red and white colour scheme continued throughout the 3 texts. The dark setting follows the repetoire of elements by Branston and Stafford, looking at stereotypical horror settings. For example the lake and woods are dark settings creating a sense of danger.
Our trailer contains 2 iconic images:
The hood - representing death.
The lake - representing danger.
The red hering effect also represents confusion.

Target Audience

We identified the target audience by using actors who were aged between 15 - 20 both male and female. However because we used a complex title for our film trailer, we have widened the audience to 15 - 24. This decision was made after finding out from a survey that 15 - 25 was the age group who's favourite genre was psychological thriller. We also found that this age group was more likely to visit the cinema as they have more holiday and like to spend leisurely days with their friends.

Our trailer appeals to the target audience by using characters of the same age group, so the audience will be more interested in the film as they can relate to certain characters of around their own age. The target audience can relate to characters in our trailer as they are of the same age, making it more realistic to the audience as they are able to imagine themselves in the same position. The target audience is able to recognise the genre of the film trailer due to the soundtrack, non diegetic sounds such as 'Boom', dark lighting, establishing shots such as the protagonist overviewing the party and vunerable shots of the victims.