SIDE-BY-SIDE POSTER ANALYSIS
My magazine cover was influenced by the 2005 release of TOTAL FILM that focused on a nonhorror series called Sherlock Holmes. This was subsequent to the fact that I loved the colouring of the whole poster and I also love the idea of the poster being full of content – I’m also fond of the ways in which there are features of three photos at the top that denotes the less important but still great features of the magazine. My reasons are as followed, the cold colouring mirrors that of Michael's persona, he looks innocent but as the cover states "he's not as innocent as he looks" because he's a cold blooded killer - this is where the name 'cold blood' came about for the movie trailer – my colouring is less vibrant, more neutral toned to display the lack of sympathy for the crimes he has committed. Our film is about a guy, Michael, who get's bullied throughout the whole of his educational life. Michael has a profound interest in Herpetology; he heard rumours that through a mix of humans DNA's and lizards, man could transform into lizards. This is where Michael had the idea to torture those who ever bullied him, attempting to turn them into a lizard, once turned into a lizard they would lose all memory of ever being human and take commands from Michael. However, in the process he kills of all his bullies due to his unsuccessful experiments, apart from his last which was a guy called Jason - who bullied him the most - who he managed to successfully transform into a lizard.
The name 'cold blood' not only plays on Michael being a murderer but also links to that of Lizards who have cold blood and these psychological factors with the mental conflict is why I’ve chose such an atmospheric (with the smoke on either side of Michael’s face) and cool coloration. In addition, the idea of the magazine being busy with content refers to the mentality of Michael but was also to initiate the idea of the magazine containing a lot of gossip, thus makes the magazine
more trustworthy, lucrative and professional. The imagery was for aesthetical reasons only; it makes the magazine look a lot more appealing and less boring.
Concentrating my wording on my magazine alone, I've decided to call it Amusive which portrays enjoyment and entertainment. The duck tape that the movie title is placed on refers to the kidnapping aspects of the trailer. In addition to this, you can see that half of Michael's face is darker than the other, this was to connote his evil side; his psychotic features that lead him to awful events – this refers to the theme of a student scientist is out of control and has a hidden evil side.
Behind Lewis on the right is Jason screaming and then to the left of him is Jason as a lizard, this was to portray how Jason was in the wrong to bully Michael for so many years but then the construction of Jason as a lizard on the left portrays that Michael was wrong to do such a thing to Jason. Not only that, his name ' Michael Scales' plays on that of herpetology due to 'Scales' being his last name - this again refers to the fact that his malevolence follows his innocence.
In regards to the design of my cover, I've used four subheadings, two on either side of Lewis' face to slightly cover the lizard and Jason as they're less important on this cover as opposed to Michael, who I'm focusing on for this piece – my film poster focuses on Jason Hawkes because it’s supposed to sell horror conventions so mise-en-scene factors would be best for a film poster. The subheading contain information that the magazine will contain inside, I've managed to grab the attention of the reader through using compact wording in capital letters accompanied by exclamation marks, and then the subtext follows in a smaller type-faced form. The colours of these subheadings are teal to concisely link with the colour scheme. The main feature, Cold Blood, is in a red typeface to show its importance on the cover; denoting that this is the most significant feature of the magazine. I've then used a black text at the top left of the page conveying how Amusive is "the worlds’ leading entertainment magazine", this cover line is accompanied via four film features (all imagery was taken by me) to show the less important film features in the magazine. At the bottom left of the cover I've used a graphical feature stating that there are four free posters inside, this will help engage the audience - everyone loves a freebie.