Molly Owens A2 Media Studies

Diabolique Magazine Annotation

05:38

The background of a horror magazine tends to be quite dark and dull to follow the conventions of a horror magazine cover. This cover background is a dark shade of red, and this is a conventional colour in horror as is black and white. These colours have connotations of dark, death, blood and the binary opposites of the innocence and the evil. Magazine covers are likely to have one main image, with a few additional images. This is what has been done in this magazine cover as there is one main image which is linked to the text at the bottom of the magazine. The use of other images on the cover relate to the other cover stories on the magazine cover, helping the reader with the navigation around the magazine cover. There is also a faint image of the location of the place where that particular film is set, this allows the reader to understand partly about the narrative of the film. The masthead always has the same layout, typography and colours which are featured in every issue and this is allowing the reader to be able to identify the brand within any issue to recognise it straight away when they see it visually.

The imagery on the magazine cover is actually illustrations and painted images and therefore, it shows that this magazine cover is partly unconventional. The typography that has been used for the headline story and cover stories are written in Gothic fonts which makes it more appropriate for the genre and theme of the magazine. We are instantly able to tell what genre this magazine is by looking at the colours, images and the typography used within the magazine cover. The changes in the colour of the typography allows us to understand the importance of the text and the text that is aimed to attract the readers’ attention first.

There is a barcode at the bottom of the left hand corner of the magazine cover, this is a code that is conventional as it is placed at the front of the magazine. Some magazines tend to have the barcode at the back of the magazine or within the magazine, however by having the barcode elsewhere makes it harder for the reader to find it straight away and this may put them off if they’re planning to buy the magazine in a rush. There is the price and the issue number near the barcode which also helps the reader identify the information that is needed.

There is no use of synergy on the cover of the magazine regarding social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, which is a disadvantage as some people may be more interested in viewing the updates on social networking sites rather than on paper. However, there is the website link included on the cover of the magazine which is useful for people wanting to view some of the content online as anyone can access the information through cross-media convergence.

Ancillary Product Planning

Fangoria Magazine Front Cover Analysis

05:18

Ancillary Product Planning

Horror Film Poster Analysis: Insidious

02:31

Insidious Poster Analysis

Main Image -

From what is presumed to be the main character, the poster has used a medium shot to indicate this. You can see a house behind this character which indicates that this is where the character lives and where most of the plot's main events will be set around. So to conclude, from the main image I can recognise that this is the films main character and all of the events that will take place in this film will happen in this house.

Text -

The film title is clearly shown from being much larger and bolder than the other text. All of the text contrasts the dark background to make it stand out more so it can be seen from afar. Other than the film title, the release date is the most striking piece of text as it is in bold and this is because it is arguably the most important piece of information. This is because it is often the information that people want to find out first, again, other than the title. Smaller and finer text is used for crediting as this information is still important enough to be on a poster but is not the centre of an audiences' attention. Finally, another typical convention of film posters is the production companies logos' to show who was involved with the production and creation of the film itself.

Layout -

The layout of the poster is very simple and sticks with common codes and conventions of films posters which makes it look more professional and clean. Everything is evenly spaces and sized to match conventions but doesn't distract from the main image.

Film Companies -

The logos of the film companies that are involved with the film are displayed along the bottom of this film poster to show that they were involved with its creation, it is also used for advertising also. It is also for audience reassurance, for example, if a well known production company released this film people may feel more inclined to see is as the production company could have a good reputation.

Colour Scheme -

Overall the colour scheme is very dark and dull, this is to intentionally create a sinister and weary feel to the poster. The sky in the main image is very dull, gloomy and grey. The pyjamas the boy is wearing is the only true colour on the whole main image. The skin tone of the boy looks deathly and his face is showing no emotion or expression. The only bright colour on the whole poster is the bold white text to convey the sinister nature of this film to the audience.

Direct Address -

The poster uses direct address in a very obvious way as the main character is almost staring directly into your soul, as they are looking right at the centre of the camera. This along with other elements of the poster create one whole sinister feel and creates a true sense of fear for the character.

Lighting -

The chosen lighting in the poster is meant to look like natural daylight as the character is stood outside but it is much darker to reinforced the sinister and gloomy feel to the poster. From this lighting the audience can immediately tell that this film is not going to be a light-hearted comedy but something that strikes fear. The dark lighting also makes it more difficult to see smaller details on the posters main image, this will make audiences more inquisitive to find out what happens in the film.

Hook -

This text at the top of the poster could be used as a hook because if the audience are already fans of the films 'Paranormal Activity' and 'Saw' then they may enjoy watching this film but they may not have though this if they didn't know about this prior to seeing the poster.