MAGAZINE COVERS AND FILM POSTER ANNOTATIONS.

By Nilima, Leanne, Fatma.

Traditionally with a romantic/comedy drama the attention is on the protagonists. This would be effective to use in our film poster because we want the audience to focus on the protagonist’s facial expression and posture.

Beginning of each word in the title is in blue, this could signify how the characters are just friends as blue is a neutral colour. The font of the title is simple and clear without any feminine connotations; this is effective because it does not attract one side of the gender than the other. This could be incorporated into our film poster as well because attracting both genders is something we want to do and using some colours that connote to romance.

The expression and posture of the male character is quite stereotypical and suggestive; he is looking at the female character like he has something suggestive in mind, this can be used to say all men think like that and it is the norm. However, she is looking towards the audience to suggest she is teasing him, this again can be suggested the norm for the situation, as a result the audience can relate and would be more likely to want to watch the film. It also gives an insight into what the characters are like and how they will unravel through the film.

Clothing - very formal; they look comfortable and laidback. His clothing looks dishevelled as his tie is hanging loosely connotes the sexual nature of the film. His top buttons undone, representing he does not take much care of how he looks.

Sexual reference with hands indicates what will happen in the film, reflecting romance side of the genre; hints at the comedy aspect of the film, as this is relatively immature. This differs to the magazine cover as he is looking more professional in it, without any immature gestures.

The title is very small and at the bottom; as they have traditionally in Romance film posters; this draws the attention back to the Actors because they are famous and the actors are the ones that are attracting the audience to come watch it.

By Nilima Begum

The most important cover lines are first in bigger, bolder text so it catches the reader’s eyes first. This gave us inspiration to use this technique in our magazine so the cover line that relates most to the characters/film stands out first to the audience. The cover line 'Secrets of sexual attraction' indicates that there may be a focus on sexuality in the film; this is also presented in the film poster too through sexual hand gestures. This not makes the reader want to read the magazine and find out the ‘secret’ but also watch the film too.

Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake are both in each other’s arms, his hand is around the lower of her back and this is effective because this is showing the close relation between them; suggesting romance, fans might be interested to know whether the fictional couple are a couple in real life.

The style of the magazine has bold, italic and texts which are in three different colours. This keeps the whole magazine to a theme which we will incorporate in our magazine to keep it structured. The other colours on the page include pink and white, which are perceived to be quite feminine colours – relating to romance. We would like to use this in our magazine to also insinuate it is about romance.

Both the lighting and colours of the cover photo are very nature-inspired, which symbolises a natural love story. This would be effective to use in our magazine because we could show the love between the main characters as raw and natural from the start.

The male protagonist is grasping the main female character, whilst she is cosying up to him in a stereotypically sensitive feminine manner. There is a slight break from the stereotyped gendered roles as we see that the female character could be said to have the power as she is grasping the male protagonists tie.

By Nilima Begum

Her facial expression suggests there is a glimpse of slight mischievousness as she smirk’s at the camera as she hangs onto his tie. The male character in this photograph is dressed very neatly and smartly. His facial expression is more hard to read because now it looks professional than it does in the film poster. She is dressed in a glamorous black dress, connoting elegance and alluring. They are both looking directly at the camera which draws the audience in.

By Leanne Gayle

Both magazines and film posters are created to market products, however the main difference between the two platforms is that the first priority of magazines is to sell itself and gain a larger readership rather than a primary focus on the film. The film poster has the sole purpose of marketing the film. The simplicity of the film poster can be reflected through this reason. The film poster is minimalistic, the picture is taken from a scene in the film, rather than an additional photo-shoot.

An enigma is created through mise-en-scene – costume; Hazel wears tubes around her nose and neck suggesting that she is sick, this engages the prospective audience as it becomes apparent that the film is most likely a tragic love story. Curiosity is created towards why she’s wearing the tubes. This theme is carried on further with the use of play on words in the selling/tag line “ONE SICK LOVE STORY”, in colloquial terms “sick” is a synonym for great or epic, so on one hand the phrase is a praise of the story and on the other the dictionary definition of ‘sick’ – being unwell, also applies as this is a film about young people with cancer, it can be interpreted either way.

The designers are targeting young people by using youthful slang but also creating a pun as the words reflects the main narrative. The creative use of language is something we can think about using in our film poster, to intrigue and engage audiences; the poster seems very light hearted and romantic, the language used implies there’s a more serious side to the story creating an enigma for the audiences.

By Leanne Gayle

The text on the poster plays on pre-sold elements of the film, as the font used in the title and colours used for the poster are taken directly from the cover design of the book, ‘The Fault In Our Stars’. Fans of the book will be familiar with this layout and will be instantly drawn towards the film poster as the typography is recognisable. The magazine poster differs from film poster in this respect as the magazine keeps its own identity by using the same typography that is used for their weekly magazine so that readers can instantly recognise the magazine from its similar front cover.

Other information on the film poster tells the audience that the story is based on a “best seller” book, this is a selling point for the film as it implies that the book was popular and successful and therefore the film is a reflection of this and will be worth spending money on.

The magazine cover also has much more text in comparison, these are selling points of the magazine that introduce different stories that the issue contains. The image used for the magazine shows the same characters. Although, it’s from a separate photo shoot rather than a scene from the film, this introduces the idea that the magazine will have interviews with the actors who starred in the film. Readers will gain an insight into the behind the scenes of the film, this will intrigue fans of the franchise. The actors have a direct mode of address in the magazine photo, looking directly at the audience.

They’re also closely positioned next to each other, suggesting romance, fans might be interested to know whether the fictional couple are a couple in real life. The film poster uses an over the head shot so that the audience is looking down on the couple holding each other’s heads. This places the audience in an intimate position with the characters, wanting to know more about their story.

By Fatma Sadiq

Main Actors: Traditionally with a romantic drama’s the attention is on the protagonists, these characters are recognisable faces as they are famous actors; they are put centre stage to draw attention to their fans. Also, mentioning their names in the poster immediately lets the audience recognise them as it draws them into the film.

Main Image: The main image usually indicates what the movie is. For example, the image of the ship indicates this is the set of the film etc. Also, the characters are cosy, their body language and pose connotes this is in the Romance genre. Additionally from what we can see, the characters are dressed in neutral colours and the woman’s makeup is natural. This draws and emphasizes the ship in the image further signifying it.

Tag Line: The tagline of this film is a short abbreviation automatically summing up the genre of the film ‘NOTHING ON EARTH COULD COME BETWEEN THEM’ this sounds romantic and loving which is what the film is about – relating back to genre.

Title: The font of this poster represents the regal glamour of the Edwardian period in which the movie is set in. It is also sharp and white and is clear and readable for the audience, attracting both sides of the gender. Also, the one word title makes it catchy for the audience to remember the film title and also reinforces their memory.

Director’s Information: David Cameron is a well-known director, many of his audiences will go to see his work mainly because they have seen or liked the previous films he has directed, allowing fans to like the movie automatically.

By Sadiq Fatma

The main image has a border surrounding it which adds a twist to the ordinary film cover. Furthermore a barcode is place at the bottom of the cover which is a typical conventions of a magazines conveying it is for sale.

Main Image: In usual magazines cover the characters look directly at the camera, however the characters in this cover have decided to look up at an angle. This may suggests they are deeply thinking about something or even more cliché looking at the starts.

Film Title: The film title is again bold and clear, however it is not in a san-serif font which goes against the typically conventions of the font for romantic movies. The colour of the font makes up for this as it is a light shade of the grey and cream. The colour grey having connotations of the moon and the colour cream of freshness further allows the audience to recognise the film genre.

Cover lines: The cover lines on this cover are very limited, in fact there is only two. This is done in order for the audience’s attention to stay focus on the main image.

Tag line: The tag line of the cover does not directly relate to the film but is around the same subject matter, this makes it clearer to the audience about the context of the magazine.

Mast-Head: The mast-head is bold and clear, different from their iconic mast-head on usual magazines covers they publish. Additionally the main image is placed above the title as it is the main attraction of the cover.

Colours: The colours used through the magazine are toned down muted, basically dimmed. This illustrates the films genre clearly as dim lighting is a usual convention of romantic films as it has connotations of love and intimacy.

Moreover the image of the background as been blurred out to further emphasize the characters.

The body language and pose of the characters emphasize the love between the couple. Also the closeness of the characters help the audience feel attracted to the film as we also physiologically feel closer to the film.