Mag development

This is what I created as my initial mag cover idea. I later found that this is much more like a Movie Poster. However this is a good thing to know as that is the second ancillary task that I have chosen. 

After moving on from the previous idea, we looked into how mag cover looked and created the guide lines in the post above to create the more suitable format.

This is my first attempt at creating a design that was developed with the concept of being a mag cover firmly in mind. However still needed further development to bring it up to a acceptable standard.

As I further developed the design I incorporated elements from mags that I has looked over and felt the design techniques within them to be effective and appropriate with in this genre. The thing that was mostly commented on was the ability to tell what was the name of the 'new' film in comparison to the rest of the cover. The another thing that was most misunderstood was the reason for the arms.

Acting on the comments made I used a star to make the title stand out above everything else and a solid colour bar that gave a definite colour contrast to the writing. I also gave a reason for the hands as they play an important role in the feature film that is being advertised. 

Carrying on with the idea of the main design being influenced by the film being featured in this mag. I changed the background to the forest scene that is the film is set in, this coupled with the use of colours and borders in the title of the mag and the slogan to draw maximum attention to them as possible. 

The final changes that were made were small details like finalising the use of space by reorganising things like the stories, barcode, showing Issue number and filling space that was usable without the design looking over crowded.

After looking over the design I realized the arms where irrelevant and therefore replaced with eyes giving the sense of being watched. This is mainly due to the fact that we want the scene of being watched and disappearing without a trace...............

The editing package that I used to create all of these covers was Serif PhotoPlus X4

Mag Cover plan

After looking at current horror Mag covers we deduced the common characteristics throughout out the HORROR genre. With this knowledge we created this plan to follow, this will help us get the best effect possible.



HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS (David Baverstock)

Hammer Film Productions is a film company that is based in the UK. It was founded in 1934 and they produced a series a 'Gothic' Hammer Horror Films which were made from the mid-1950's to the 1970's. Hammer tended to dominate the horror market and they enjoy worldwide distribution and having significant financial success. Hammer produced a variation of film genres such as Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Comedies, and Film Noirs, they also created television series.  They had more success after they partnered up with United States studios/distributors Warner Bros.
The Horror Thrillers that they created were The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. Hammer were producing these film when horror was groundbreaking.

Celador Film Company; The Decent 2006

Celador Film Company

http://www.celador.co.uk/

‘Global light entertainment company originally formed as an independent production company in 1983. It has produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is probably best known for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and co-producing the film Slumdog Millionaire which collected seven masks at the BAFTAS, four Golden Globes and eight Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture in 2009.’

One of Celadors greatest film productions was British Horror film; The Descent (2006) directed by Neil Marshall. The synopsis of the film follows six women who, having entered an unmapped cave system, become trapped through a series of unfortunate events, and are hunted by flesh-eating humanoids who seem to have been trapped inside for hundreds of years.

Neil Marshall realized that horror films almost never have an all-female cast, and with The Decent Marshall wanted to defy convention. Casting all women into the role, Marshall was aware he needed to avoid making them clichéd, so simply asked basic advice from his female friends and family. He explained that the main difference was, "the women discuss how they feel about the situation, and where as a group of men wouldn’t."

When it comes to producing and scripting our own film, I feel I should learn from The Decent when portraying the female character. As I’m aiming the film towards a female target audience I need to make the character relatable. 

Target market

Thanks to the questionnaire that I created on http://www.kwiksurveys.com I discovered that my target market is females. I am now needing to have a more exact knowledge on what appeals to this market.

What I know already?

Female

I’m aiming this film at Middle class and above, as theses classes would have a better disposable income and more likely able to afford the cinema.

With in the UK my mass target audience for woman would primarily be from a christian background.
Thriller Horrors proved to be most popular.

16-25 Skilled Women, will be my target age group, putting the certification of our film aimed around the 15-18 market.
 
Preferred release time is from October till December

The results showed that the female target audience still preferred to see a lead male in a horror film. I will instead use a female with in a supporting role.



These are the only different results when female stats are reviewed.

Magazine Layout