Research and planning into target audience

As a decision Julie and I have decided to make a short film that has a educational purpose. This purpose would be to educate people in high schools about controversial issues in today's society. As the short film would be seen in schools across the United Kingdom our initial target audience for the short film would be 14-22 year old including people in higher education. So baring this in mind the film poster should be aimed to attract people of this age so a teenage target audience however a total different audience for the magazine film review. So our film magazine review is independent from our film poster and short film.
Our target audience for a magazine review would be the parents of these teenagers so they can have an influence on the safety that our film is trying to focus on and by attracting two different target audiences; we are broadening our target audience. As our film is not for self promotion and educational purposes widening the audience relatively has no effect on our product except more adults as well as teenagers could be influenced by our product which i generally believe is a positive outcome as more people are being educated, as it is apparent as time changes so do people so it can be educational for all.

Analyse a range of magazine film reviews in terms of visual codes

Variation in layout

• There are many types of visual codes in film magazine reviews, first being the photographs used and the placement of the picture on the page; it is important because it can have a significant effect on the way an article is read and the readers. A common trend in many film magazine posters is the image used is taken from a scene from the film and comes before all the text to attract the audiences attention. the text usually lies under the main picture as now the audience's attention has been drawn to that review.  

• Secondly the arrangement of columns is down to the aimed target audience as if it were for a younger target audience it would consist of more breakout paragraphs, by having more columns it generally means more text is present so this will attract a much older audience who like to read. Generally the main text is presented within single columns with extra information appearing in the breakout boxes.

• Thirdly another type of visual code is having a sub-heading it visually breaks up longer articles to make it easier and more digestible for the reader.

• Additionally the headline can be seen as a visual code as the way it is presented and portrayed can attract or discourage readers. The use of capitals can suggest urgency and importance unlike lower case letters suggests the opposite , the impression is it not vital to read.

• Finally the font and typography generally gives a magazine character and identity a sense of diversity and uniqueness. This refers to the way the text is laid out; size,line length and spacing. These visual codes have such a impact to the article being read or not and by who, if these visual codes are altered in different ways it is to suit the target audience hence why visual codes are very important in a film magazine review.

The written codes are based in a magazine article and are communicated through language used. the mode of address is vital as the way it speaks to its audience could be in the simplest form this could be formal or casual. For younger magazines it could be very casual, older readers very formal it also may be humorous or serious depending on the targeted are.

the symbolic codes are based around the choice of images, fonts and colours. the connotations of what you see is key here there must be thought into selection, cropping, framing and point of view to every magazine film review.

1.   An example of a magazine film review that i thought was done very well for a younger teenager target audience was the review for 'Avatar' 2009. 

This is a common film review as it has a massive picture taken from a scene in the film before the text to entice the audience, furthermore only two columns are present so the reader can digest the text easier and a breakout paragraph is present to highlight the importance of a quote and to make it more digestible for the reader.

Different magazine film reviews from different publications in terms of written codes

Written codes are vital in identifying the target audience, this is apparent by the language used in the review. For example 'Sight and Sound' is a in-depth British magazine and they accomplished these using the written codes. the language is formal, well written and structured. no coloquial language is used as the audience is targeted at a much older upper class readers. A magazine with this much information shows clear unbiased research went in before the review was written showing a much higher status over other magazines. Their reviews are cultured and non- inclusive. An example of the written codes could even be identified from a online review.
Example: 'The Cabin in the Woods'

'Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon’s marvellous meta-monster horror may be smarter (and funnier) than it is scary, says Kim Newman'

'Spoiler alert: this review gives away a major plot twist'

'When Boris Karloff hesitated during the filming of the sequence inFrankenstein (1931) where the Monster accidentally drowns the little girl, director James Whale persuaded him to go on by arguing that the sacrifice of an innocent was ‘part of the ritual’. Director Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon, who co-scripted The Cabin in the Woods, have spun this stray thought into an entire movie, taking the self-awareness of the Scream franchise even further into postmodernism by positing a world preserved from primal chaos only by a series of ritual sacrifices that take the form of horror movies. These sacrifices are masterminded by a clandestine global organisation, whose latest project involves a group of five young friends spending a weekend in an isolated cabin.'

'An amusing running joke keeps the film abreast of the Japanese arm of the organisation, which is having a gaggle of Kyoto schoolgirls terrorised by a floating ghost who is ultimately exorcised by being confined to the body of a happy frog, while monitors show the aftermaths of similar projects around the world as evil lairs burn down or giant apes lie dead in ruins. This is the most monster-happy movie since Anthony Hickox’sWaxwork (1988) and Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992), and similarly finds a climactic excuse to unleash a horde of every imaginable menace on the labcoats who have supervised the project: a bat-vampire, killer robots, a knock-off of the Cenobites from Hellraiser, a giant snake, a werewolf, zombies, a killer tree, a giant spider, a disturbing ballerina with a tooth-ringed maw for a face, and a Lovecraftian/Creature from the Black Lagoon-ish merman. Also amusing is the moment when each of the kids in the cabin finds an object in the basement that might summon a specific monster, tipping this into a different subgenre of body-count horror picture, before a Latin passage in the diary turns it into a zombie/torture-porn hybrid.'

As seen above the language and format used is much more in-depth than usual magazines they talk about movies like an art and expect the reader to understand.

Another example to compare different written codes to is in-house magazines. As these magazines are given out for free by the cinema the language is colloquial and informal as it should appeal to everyone, the text is bias but basic to draw more customers , the structure is kept so simple with more pictures this magazine is aimed at anyone. This concludes why written codes is so important as it does generate its target audience through the language and format.

Conventions of magazine page layout

1. Graphics: highlights a sub-heading makes the film review more appealing to attract the readers of these reviews.
2. Section title: highlights the section topic
3. Pictures: vital they correspond to the target audience, so a main picture in the beginning leads to a reader reading on to the text that follows the main picture.
4. Headline: can be a word or phrase depending of the content in the headlines determines whether the reader is fond of it to read on.
5. Introduction: the introduction gives a brief start to the article it sets up and introduces the film review.
6. Breakout paragraphs: makes the reading more digestible because it breaks the paragraphs and chooses a main piece of text whether it to be a quote or a strong piece of text that the reader should be aware of it highlights and makes it apparent, this also takes up space.
7. Captions: explain some things in the review
8. Breakout boxes: extra information that could relate to the review topic just to take up more space
9. Strap lines: for more insight to the article
10. Call to action: pieces of information 
11. Columns: break the text, more presentable
12. By-line
13. Font and Typography: Font, text size, wording are all very important
14. Page number indicates which page your reading 

Different audiences available for different film magazines

'Sight and Sound' restricted the different audience target for their film magazine as from the format and language used it is clearly for the upper class a higher end magazine.The target audience is aimed at a mature adult as star ratings are not present with the review being highly analytical but not categorising the film to be positive or negative. Finally 'Sight and Sound' is the most in-depth film magazine targeting a restricted target audience.

'Empire' like 'Sight and Sound' also restrict their broader audience as it is clearly for young adults and this is apperant by th use of pictures, chosen backgrounds, text, font and titles. Example is seen in the film magazine review for spiderman its chosen desires for the front page would only appeal to young adults, teenagers. 

Lastly in-house film magazines like 'Cineworld' and 'Odeon' are the leading magazine in having a broader audience a mass  audience , they achieve this by using informal language, also this makes it easier for young generations to understand and make sence of the text. Furthermore as these magazines are distributed in cinemas, they are accesable for everyone so the magizine must appeal to all genders, age, ethnicity they do this with a simple layout and more visual inputs. Global increase in audience was available as soon as this magizine was made to be taken for free this incourages more people to pick it up additionally the way these magazines can also be accessed online make a broader audience available. The reviews are always positive of the films advertised as this attracts the audience to see a film making the cinema more profit by screening watched films. 

Main film magazines in the UK

There are many film magazines in the United Kingdom that distribute there own opinion on the latest on screen films however there are three main film magazines that are well known, these are : 'Total film', 'Sight and sound', 'Empire'. Why have these three magazines known over most? as they have the largest distribution and are easily accessible to everyone through many devices either it being a smart phone, Ipad, Internet or actual magazines that can be bought from shops.
Another film magazine that is well known is the 'In house cinema magazine' found in most cinema's. The only aspect that these magazines share in common is they are full of information about the films, however their layout, style, content and mode of address can be widely differentiated.  

 Empire and Total film are relativaly similar in the sence of there bold titles colourful backgrounds and glossy finish both films look at big hollywood releases that will hit mainstream cinemas for release. The general layout of their articles is to have a  block heading  to catch the eyes of viewers, with a large picture taking up many of the columns. This large photo will tend to be a clip from the film showing the main stars in action, by doing this they get attention of the viewers and sway them into reading the article because by using a-list characters more readers will be obligated to read it. The content of Empire and Total Film articles generally aim to promote the film, not critise they speak in a formal tone to the reader.

In house magazines such as Cineworld and Cinema have a similar layout with a large picture, bold title and columns; however the mode of address is  informal. The reviews on films are biased as they are promoting the film so that people are attracted to the film as it comes directly from the cinema so it would promote the film for profit based reasons. The audience for this magazine is people that go to cinemas on a regular basis and watch all types of films whereas Total Film and Empire are aimed at people who have a broader interest in films, generally these articles aim to promote the film so do not reflect greatly on the downside of the film.

Sight and Sound magazine looks at cinema and film. Sight and Sound does not just review mainstream  films, they like to review independent films also. they look at these independent films with much more depth and structure to the others. Sight and Sound articles have a hectic layout with many columns and at times a picture. Formal text with a bit of humour. Their articles are well structured with an introduction on themes, synopsis, genre and director. Sight and sound educate readers on a whole about narrative and keeps a very structured review.

What are the main film magazines in the UK?

Magazine film reviews are used to give the audience an objective opinion as reviews are usually more balanced. A film poster has an instant affect on the audience however they may not take in as much information as it takes a maximum of 2 minutes to look at a film poster whereas if they were to read a film review, they would be spending more time to slowly take in the information. Film reviews play a very important part in a firm's marketing campaign as it is free publicity, as the press are objective and just has to tell the truth about what they thought about the film. However, there is an element of risk as the publicity isn't paid for so they can therefore write whatever they want. If the film review is good then it can work in favour of the films marketing campaign however a very bad review can ruin a film completely.

The main film magazines in the UK are Empire, Total Film and Sight and Sound. They are there to cater to the general public and are heavily distributed and accessible. Niche audiences on the other hand are addressed by independent cinema and have magazines such as Little White Liesand Electric Sheep. Another established film magazine is the House cinema magazine; these can be found in well-known cinema’s such as Odeon, Vue and Cineworld. Although all these magazines follow the conventions of a film magazine they come in very different styles, layout and content as they target different audiences.

Empire and Total Film are similar magazines; their style is very glossy and colourful with bold titles. Both magazines cater for films with high budgets such as Hollywood movies and are released in mainstream cinemas. The block headings are in the font ‘San Serif’ alongside large pictures to help draw attention to the

viewers. The photo tends to be a clip from the film showing the main stars in action purposefully chosen to sway them into reading the article and to promote the film. The tone of the article is very laid back; it manages to have a formal yet chatty tone to the reader. The content of Empire and Total Film articles usually relates the film to other well-known films; although the writing is objective it mostly sums up films in a positive light.

Similarly, in the house magazines distributed in cinemas such as Cineworld they have a similar layout with a large picture, bold title and columns; however the mode of address is very informal and chatty. In addition, the films are biased as they are trying to promote the film in order to gain attraction and they therefore do not reflect on the downsides of the film. The audience for this magazine are cinema goers looking for a direction on what film they want to see in contrast to Total Film and Empire which is aimed at people who are interested in film, and seek expert opinion on them, and therefore their reviews are not biased. However, sometimes they do include a breakout box with a verdict of the film or the star rating.

Sight and Sound magazine looks at cinema and film as pieces of an art form, aimed at educated middle class people, alongside an open minded audience. Their articles are well structured and they give in-depth review information. Unlike Cineworld magazine, Sight and

Sound produce reviews for independent or global films as well as mainstream big budget films. Sight and Sounds layout is crammed with many columns and sometimes pictures. Their mode of address is formal, with a pitiful attempt to include humour in the article. There articles are well structured with an introduction on themes followed by a synopsis, commentary on the director, an objective balance, wider academic context and finally bringing the article to a closure. Sight and Sound is produced by the British Film Institute (BFI) to inform the audience about up and coming film and to educate people with the art of film with its unique narratives and films.

Two examples of UK independent cinema magazines are Little White Lies and Electric Sheep. They are very different to the mainstream magazines as they are aimed at a niche audience. This consists of independent cinema goers who want to find out about independent film directors and a range of cultural films that are coming to independent cinemas. The front cover of both Electric sheep and Little White Lies have a very unique style, the names of these magazines are quite strange which highlight that they are aimed at a specific audience. The Little White Lies has a comic look to take it away from the standard glossy magazines that you would usually find. These independent cinema based magazine articles are eccentric, intelligent and informative with a real love for the world of cinema.

What is the purpose of a magazine film review

There are many purposes of a film review in a magazine. Firstly it provides the necessary information that consumers of interest to the film, would get an insight to the film and when it will be released. Of course different magazines would vary in depth of the synopsis for example a well known film review magazine is 'Empire'. 

  

 Empire is well known for adding less harsh critics to the films they review, furthermore they tend to use less textual columns than other review magazines as they keep it to a perfect brief that does not bore the consumer, it engages them more alongside being more accessible. They also tend to add more pictures and larger text just making it generally more appealing to the public. A competitor magazine called 'Total Film' also has a similar layout to 'Empire' as it is more accessible to a wider genre of the public. This is a example of Empires review about 'Avatar' just showing the layout they mostly use. 

 

 Secondly Magazine reviews tend to tell you about the plot of the film, one magazine that is renown for giving to much away is 'Sight & Sound' its one of the more least appealing film review magazines as the textual columns are much more than usual with a more formal look.

Finally magazine reviews also advertise other pieces of information alongside giving the film a rating out of 5 stars, they tend to be unbiased unless the magazine is from a cinema showing the film.

Magazine Film Reviews (Research):

Magazine film reviews are used to give the audience an objective opinion as reviews are usually more balanced. A film poster has an instant affect on the audience however they may not take in as much information as it takes a maximum of 2 minutes to look at a film poster whereas if they were to read a film review, they would be spending more time to slowly take in the information. Film reviews play a very important part in a firm's marketing campaign as it is free publicity, as the press are objective and just has to tell the truth about what they thought about the film. However, there is an element of risk as the publicity isn't paid for so they can therefore write whatever they want. If the film review is good then it can work in favour of the films marketing campaign however a very bad review can ruin a film completely.

How does semiotics work as part of film posters in terms of visual codes

The film poster for Will Smiths film 'The pursuit of happyness' was very captivating hence i decided to annotate it and now analyse it. Like most other film posters the name of the main actor is across the top, this brings awareness to who is starring in the movie; in this case its Will Smith a famous a-list actor who starred in 'Fresh Prince of belair' when he was young which built his reputation to no have become a a-list actor. For consumers who have watched his other films and enjoyed them this poster is targeted to them as he is a main star in this one also. Additionally the title of the film stands out in the center but the makers of the film produced something clever and give a hidden message in the title, they block capitals the 'pursuit' and same with 'happyness' except put it in red basically saying 'pursuit happyness' to the audience. As well the standard convention of the main actor with a predominant position is shown to captivate the background. finally there is a billing block at the bottom to make it seem formal and a release date which enables people to see when it will be coming out.

Another film poster that caught my eye was 'Twilight' the tag line is at the top so the first informative writing is at the top which is significant. The background image shows the location which supports the predominant picture of the vampires in the picture, i like the way people are in the background wearing red Hood's as if they will be preyed upon like there victims and the red represents death and blood like a war is coming. The title of the film is in a font that suits the theme also the colouring is the colours of a wolfs eyes which does bring the narrative forward because when you think of vampires wolfs interlink. On the other hand like the previous film poster the release date is at the bottom which makes the audience aware on the release. Finally the billing block to make it formal.

Finally the last film poster i analysed and annotated was another Will Smith film like the other one his name is printed at the top to show that he is the main star additionally the tag line is underneath. The background image shows the location and the main image is very powerful his stance his strut and the dog by his side. title of the film is yet again at the bottom and a billing block is again keeping it formal. the usual release date is stated on all film posters as it is important.

Main conventions of film posters in terms of technical codes

There are many conventions of film posters in terms of technical codes. To start with all film posters have a title, the idea of putting the title in a film poster is to make the audience aware of the name of the film which could relate to the genre to make them aware of them theme; additionally the can utilize full awareness from the title by making it bold and colourful hence it stands out from the background to stand out from other competing film posters. Furthermore the titles font can reflect the time era of the film or add effect to move the narrative forward.

Secondly persuasive language is used in the tag lines to attract the reader to the film and help them memorise it. The best form of tag lines is those that come in three's better known as the 'rule of three' where a film poster has a tag line that has three short effective sentences. The rule of three is a principle in writing that things are funnier, more satisfying and more effective. The reader of this information is also more likely to consume the information in the poster through the tag line. A series of three is often used to create progression in which tension is created then built up and finally released. An example of this is 'The good, The bad, The ugly'.

Another convention of a film poster is the use of the predominent image, as we seen earlier in the film poster 'The Fighter' we clearly have a victorious struggle stance represented by a a-list actor, the use of such a powerful image and a famous actor would entice a much greater audience because it not only shows the main actor but also could represent the genre of the film.

The BBFC is also shown on the poster this is to inform the audience of the content in the film also by having the age limit stated it targets the audience they want to attract.

Additionally the use of promotional features like the actors names and directors are normally shown in billing blocks at the bottom of the poster is used to show the consumers who is in the motion and who created the film incase theyve liked the directors others films so would like this one it makes it more formal.

Finally the background image normally shows the location or theme or other characters present in the film which moves the narrative forward.

I have annotated one film poster to represent what is seen above:

Conventions of a film poster:

Film posters normally contain the technical codes above however there are a few exceptions. This is called a 'teaser poster’; this is when the poster has barely any information to build up advertisement for the film. An example of this is the Harry Potter 6 film poster. Film posers are always going to show the film in a positive light as it’s the first imagine the audience will see and therefore has to keep them interested. Semiotics work as part of the film poster to instantly allow the audience to process a lot of information just from the visual imagery contained in them. Harry Potter 6 instantly tells me as an outsider that this film is going to be mysterious, making me wonder what will happen as it doesn't give much info. Even the title of the film has been abbreviated; however this is acceptable for big actors such as Harry Potter as everyone knows who he is and is familiar with his work.

Written codes are used to give a little bit more information on the film and to keep the audience interested. These are called 'taglines' or could even be the use of words in the film title. Examples of 'Classic' film tagline's are; 'Same make, Same Model, New mission.' this is from the film Terminator 2 (1991). This uses the rule of 3, which the audience is more likely to consume as it is written in a group of 3 as it is a build-up, creates tension and finally released. Another example is the tagline for Alien (1979) ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’, straight away the audience know the film is a sci-fi and horror genre and they will instantly know if this is the type of film they want to watch.

Classic examples of film posters

There are many types of different film posters, they vary as time goes back as the older they get the more they seem to be hand drawn, alongside having a very classic realism effect.

As shown below the classic film poster for Casablanca seems more natural and not photo shopped it seems apparent that back then artists would draw the film posters for advertisement unlike film posters today that are all done on the computer.

Another example of a classical film poster: Same concept in this film poster it seems to be drawn by an artist which gives it a more realistic cartoon effect.

I think what makes classic film poster so effective is the differentiation in times to what the target audience is interested in now to the posters back then, in that era of time the audience must have shared the same opinion to the fist theatre posters which would just show the director and the name of the film. They are SO effective because they are basic and not what we in this era are used to. An example of a classical film that has developed over time is the famous worldwide hit 'King Kong' and i have different examples to show the difference from the film poster in the past to the film poster now, it shows the difference between how they have developed over time alongside showing a man made drawn poster and a computer edited photo shopped one of today.

This is the first and oldest example of the king Kong film poster as you can see it is very basic does not have any of the characters in it just a drawing of the ape destroying the planes, this poster was drawn by an artist and no computers were used.

The second example as seen above is more recent as the colours changed more vibrant and graphically improved however it was still drawn by an artist.

Finally the most recent film poster for King Kong that was re-released in the 21st century, it is apparent that this has been photo shopped it is not hand drawn its all done by technical devices such as an expensive SLR camera and edited cropped coloured on a computer, its modern hence we live in a modern period where these luxuries are available back then they had to use what they had.