What Rating Should the Film/Trailer be?

There will be a time where the film as a whole would have to be classified, and along with this, any trailers that go with it should contain the same classification so it appeals to the correct target audience. This would mean making a teaser trailer that abides by the laws set out by the BBFC, and attempting to create a trailer which fits in with their rules regarding classification. The film I am creating will be either a 12 or 15 film, so would therefore have to contain less sexual scenes and less foul language than films with an 18 certificate. Due the horror and terror I wish to create within the trailer, I believe that a 15 certificate would be the way to go, because of the freedom within the guidelines to put a larger amount of horror in the trailer. On the BBFC website it states that 'Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.' This allows for the range of story that i want within the trailer, and will be the rating that I aim for.

How Teaser Trailers differ to Theatrical trailers

The first video is a teaser trailer for 'The Social Network' and the second is a theatrical trailer for the same film.

This highlights the main differences between an initial teaser trailer and a much later theatrical trailer for the exact same product. The first notable difference between the two is the length of the clips, with the teaser trailer being half the length of the theatrical trailer. There is also the fact that there is no moving image footage in the teaser trailer. This helps remove the visual element of what might be seen in the film, and the audio track tells you that it is the story of the creation of the 'Facebook' website, however there is no footage to show how this has been portrayed.

The Teaser Trailer instead gives a number of titles (Punk/Genius/Prophet/Traitor/Billionaire) which presumably relate to the creator of 'Facebook', as he should be the main character. The theatrical trailer introduces the characters slightly, and gives away some of the storyline, to further entice viewers after they have seen the teaser trailer and with to discover more.

The Event: Teaser Trailer

The Event

This is the trailer for 'The Event', a secretive channel 4 drama series that will start in late october. This trailer is a teaser, as it keeps teaser trailer characteristics and doesn't give much of the story away. A lot of the shots used are long shots which are intentionally blurry to keep the story secret. Its also a very short trailer, being only 30 seconds long there is not much opportunity for the story to be told, and therefore keeping the audience in suspense.

Edited Magazine Cover

This is the edited version of the magazine cover, where changes have been made to take account of what was said in the audience feedback session. The first noted change on the page is at the top, where the 'Animation Edition' title has been placed in the top right, and has been placed in line with the masthead.

The Pug has also been edited, where the colour has been changed to fit in with the background, and an effect has been added to make it look like it is a 'sticker'.

The font on the left hand side of the page was changed to a lighter green, where the background green was taken away, and the actual 'Shrek' logo was used to brand the feature.

At the bottom of the page i decided to create a red banner to frame the page. The large amount of font that was originally across the bottom of the page was moved to the right side of the banner, and the iconic Disney logo was used on the other side of the banner.

Audience Feedback on Magazine Cover

After creating the 'mock up' magazine cover, I had a small focus group of peers look at i and analyse what they thought wasn't so good and could be improved for the final cover example. These are my findings:

The first thing they picked up on was the text at the bottom of the page, and they thought there was far too much there to take in and read at once. Although the idea was to fill some space at the bottom of the page and create a border, i now realise that this could be done better and the text can also be reduced.

Another thing they didn't think looked very professional was the 'Cartoon Edition' running across the masthead, as it looked slightly out of place. This can easily be moved and changed to 'Animation Edition' to make it look more professional.

Colour was another issue they picked up on, where the common thought was that there was far too much colour on the page, and that there was colour covering the main article. They also picked up on the Pug on the page, and the feedback stated that it was out of synch with the cover style, and also that it looked two dimensional on the front cover.

Magazine Cover First Draft

This is my first attempt at trying to replicate a film magazine cover, using ideas and styles that i've picked up from studying other magazines in the market. Here i decided to use a bold red masthead to easily convey the title of the magazine, and draw attention. The titles on the page were made bold and were intended to stand out, and the bold strokes around the letters were intended to give the cover a cartoon style font. There is also a bright yellow pug to show the special offer clearly.

Magazine Research

In preparation for designing my own magazine cover to accompany my film, i've looked at a number of different film magazine covers to analyse mastheads and what is used in the industry. Below are examples of 'Total Film' magazine and 'Empire' magazine, to see what styles are used for mastheads.

Both of these examples use a large bold masthead, with all capitals, and a colour that is bold and is easily identifiable. The 'Total Film' also contains a name that is very much associated with the film industry, so anyone browsing the magazines can pick out the genre. This is the sort of style that i will attempt to go for, to create a stand out magazine cover.

Also, i've chosen magazines with the same cover story, to see how they compare in promotion styles. It is very clear on both covers that 'Star Trek' is the main story, due the photo used, and also that the film title is the largest article on the front cover. The characters from the film have been placed in the centre of the page, and are the focus point of the article, especially on 'Total Film' where the face takes up nearly the whole page.