Research Into Similar Products: Empire Magazines - close up shots

There aren't many EMPIRE magazines which have the cover star in a close up or medium close up, so I decided to make a blog post dedicated to some of the magazines with the cover star simply in a close up (or medium close up) shot!

I love how the Empire masthead is white, almost part of the clouds and murky sky itself, and of course you can't not look into Tom Hardy's eyes with the direct address; often the very fact the cover is of a favourite actor is enough to reel the audience in to buy it! Sometimes you dont need the fancy fonts or clever ideas. Sometimes all you need is the face. Also, a close up/medium close up is often more engaging since it's easier to see the character when you walk past the magazine in a shop. And when you talk to others, you're talking and engaging with the face most of the time, not their whole body.

I love this cover; it's so simple, not even any cover-lines. I love how 'The Godfather' is so small, it's as if Empire is confident the audience will just know what film it is merely by the character's face. I love the use of a black and white filter and use of gold in the masthead, adding more age and drama as well as complimenting the tagline 'The Greatest Movie Of All Time'. In this case, the iconic character is all Empire needs to reel the audience in.

Most of the Tron Empire covers do have the characters alone and in a medium close up, and I especially love the contrast of cyan blue and black, complimenting the cover star's blue eyes and make-up. The use of direct address also pulls the audience in. Sometimes just the use of colour and a captivating character is enough to draw the audience in.

Research Into Similar Products: Empire Magazine Research and Inspiration

EMPIRE

I always loved buying Empire magazines, and so for my ancillary products, I'll definitely be making a magazine cover (especially since I had experience of making magazine covers in AS).

Here are some example covers...

I've come to recognise that most Empire magazines use mid-shots or long shots in terms of the photography for their magazines, for example...

I love how this magazine is a total throw back to what happens to Han Solo in Star Wars, but also the utter creativity of the magazine; the fact they thought to use this as a great cover inspiration I find a genius move! Sometimes the colour scheme and loads of text in dynamic positions isn't the formula for a great cover, but often the concept in it's simplicity, and the house style surrounding that one concept is what's needed. In this case it's to freeze the Empire magazine in 'carbonite' too.

With this cover, I just love how the cover lines bend in towards the cover star, drawing the audience's eyes to focus on Leonado DiCaprio in all his broody glory.

The difference in this one is that it's a long shot to show the authority of Katniss and the dangerous world that surrounds her. I love the way the font of the main cover line embraces the dynamic of what's going on in the photo, but also I love how the main coverline doesn't actually cover over Katniss, but leaves her untouched, giving her character complete dominance over the page. However, I don't often like these long shots, since it's merely to make more room for more coverlines sometimes, and it's rather hard to see the coverstar when your walking past the shelf in the shop if they're so small.

A lot of Empire magazines embrace multiple characters on the same cover, like with this edition of The Hobbit, each elf, though you could imagine the actors were photographed separately, are bought together in the one image, showing them as a unit.

I just had to have a Suicide Squad related magazine and I just adore the colours incorporated in this one; the greens and the purples relating to the Joker as a character but also there isn't much text on the cover at all. I love how on the skyline I recognise every film mentioned in it, so Empire makes sure that on the covers, they sell the movies the audience will be the most interested in (while mentioning the more independent or 'upcomming' ones within the magazine itself.) The lack of coverlines makes sure the audience's attention is singularly pinned on the Joker, and the way the coverlines are positioned almost embraces the chaotic nature of the Joker aswell, without being too distracting. I love how the coverstar gives the audience direct address, as if to provoke the reader to buy it immediately. It's a really striking cover, and I'll definitely take inspiration from it. 

Research Into Similar Products/Organisation: Annapurna Pictures

Annapurna Pictures is a film production and distribution company founded by Megan Ellison in 2011. Annapurna also invests in financing, production and sales entity Panorama Media, later renamed Annapurna International.

Filmography similar to my genre:
Her
Joy
American Hustle

Many of the films produced by the company have received widespread critical acclaim. In 2013 alone, Her and American Hustle had a combined fifteen Academy Award nominations. In the box office results have been mixed. While some films such as The Master have failed to gross their budget, films such as Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle have grossed more than $100 million, the latter grossing more than a quarter of a billion worldwide.

Most of these films are dramas based on relatable characters, and I already took inspiration from the film and trailer 'Her' on the fact it's about an isolated, love sick protagonist unsure on how to proceed with life. Also, I love how the company isn't too weighed down by massive blockbuster names, and that it's filmography isn't absolutely massive, giving way to make more little 'gems' of movies. 

Research Into Similar Products/Organisation: Studio Canal

Studio Canal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is a unit of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi.

The company was founded in 1988 by Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the Canal+ pay-TV network. The original function was to focus on French and European productions, but later made strategic deals with American production companies. StudioCanal's most notable productions from its early years include Terminator 2: Judgment Day, JFK, Basic Instinct,Cliffhanger, Under Siege, Free Willy, and the original Stargate movie. In those days, it was known as Le Studio Canal+.

It has strong links to Universal Studios (Studiocanal and Universal Studios were owned by the same company between 2000 and 2004, hence StudioCanal co-produced a fair number of Universal's films).

Other films the company financed include U-571, Bully, and Bridget Jones's Diary.

StudioCanal Ident:

I think StudioCanal would be a fabulous distributor for 'Marianette' because they tend to distribute, along with the mainstream films, the more independant films such as 'Under The Skin' (distributed it in the UK) and The Hunger Games.

I also like quite a lot of the films they distributed, but I don't see my films as a 'major' film at all, more of an independant, so I think StudioCanal fits the bill rather well, for it's openness to all types of movies.

Research Into Target Audience: Feedback on Poster Ideas

I asked for feedback on the posters I put together in my previous post 

Feedback:

So far the feedback is rather torn, but I'll be sure to gather more and more feedback in order to get a more refined decision!

Drafting and Planning: Ancillary Products Poster and Logo ideas

I've been starting to create my ancillary product posters for my film trailer named 'Marianette' (a play on words between Marian and Marionette)

I had a lot of fun making them! Here're the results:

This poster has a rather standard font, and for ALL the posters,
I used the font 'Verdana Regular' and altered the size and spacing of the letters in this way:

This poster was loads of fun to make, and I loved the idea of the colour of the title
being the same shade as her skin-tone; as if her experiences have been engraved into her skin!
I've made this effect like this:

Taking inspiration from 'The Woman In Black' poster below, I decided to
crop an image down for this poster idea...

These final two poster ideas, I replicated the title 'Marianette' all over
her face and skin, only letting the eyes and lips (features of love and communication) remain.

I specifically love the way the title can join it all together with this poster idea too!
I done the font in this way:

I'll be sure to gather audience feedback to see which poster concept is best!

Organisation: Free Sound Sad/Dramatic Songs

Though I was doing cover versions of a couple of songs in my previous posts, they're still copyrighted songs, really, so I could only use 10 seconds of them or so. But the comments did say it was nice that the protagonist sings the words, making it more intimate and personal, but I wonder if there's any point when the original is obviously way better. But either way, I found some sad and dramatic songs (as well as sound effects like bird song which I may use) which I could fully use for my trailer regardless of 'copyright' reasons from the FreeSound website (and I did ask permission from the creator, regardless...)