When producing our trailer we had to make sure that the poster and magazine cover related to it and were recognisable as part of the same package/brand. Throughout the making of the poster and magazine cover I used two main colours; dark red and eerie blue with black and white. I also used these colours for the text in the trailer. I chose these colours because not only do they appeal to both genders but neither colour dominates the other so they look effective on the page. The dark red connotes blood, death and danger and really appeals to body horror (gore) horror fans. The blue colour that I chose to use adds a mysterious sci-fi, almost alien feel to my magazine cover that links in with other films that are advertised in my magazine. The contrast of colours and how I have used them attracts a larger range of different horror fan audiences.
During the process of filming the trailer we took stills to use on the cover of the magazine and the film poster, ensuring that the costumes and overall style were recreated ok. For the title of my magazine cover 'Empire' I used the existing empire font so that it was easily recognisable, however I manipulated it by colouring the title blue and adding an eerie glow to connote a horror feel. The title is also the largest font on the page. Sticking to the same colours for my film poster I used the colour red for the title; 'Insanitarium'. I also put it in capital letters to stand out and show that this word is important.
The image used for my film poster is of the psycho killer in a lab coat. This is a dramatic close-up image to show the character's emotions and slight low angle connotes an element of power through the ideas of expressionism. The image was also taken in low key lighting to add a mysterious effect. After researching 'Empire' magazine I discovered that the main image on the majority of covers as large and stood out on the page. The image I used for my magazine was taken in artificial lighting to make it look appealing and fresh on the page. It is also as a mainstream magazine and I wanted an image that would stand out from the magazine racks with its bright appearance. An existing 'Empire' magazine that inspired my image was the January 2011 issue featuring the film 'Tron'.
The film poster has to appeal more to horror genre fans, and therefore my poster has a darker appearance to connote the dark narrative. A horror poster has to be eyecatching and contain enough generic conventions that appeal to horror fans. I selected the best still image and edited it using Adobe Photoshop CS5. I added a dark red tint to the image using color corrector and added an overlay layer with some scratch texture marks to make the image look and edgy, similar to the poster for 'Nightmare on Elm Street 2010'. The mysterious mid-shot of the main character looked edgy and really effective on the poster. This inspired me to create a poster that had an eerie feel to it. I also like the dark background and how it helps to create that feeling of mysteriousness so you don't know what could be hiding in the background.
Red connotes danger and blood and is a very effective colour to use for horror genre. The font I used was simple and wasn't too distracting from the main image, but it’s distorted style helped evoke the unsettling feel of 'Insanitarium'’s story. The background of my film poster is black. I chose black because it connotes death and darkness and uses restricted narration to make the audience feel nervous that something might be hiding in the distance. The still image on my poster was taken in low key lighting to emphasise the characters 'cut out' smile and make the character look even more evil.
A magazine cover also has to be eyecatching but it tells your more about the film and has more writing and behind the scenes features such as interviews with the cast. The image I used was a mid shot of a male character with a pitchfork. The character is pointing the pitchfork towards the camera which represents his power through this phallic symbol.
As with my poster, my magazine cover ties into my trailer and appeals to our target audience of gore/thriller horror fans ages 18-25. For example the magazine cover and film poster have screenshots seemingly taken from the trailer as they are both advertising the film. I chose to advertise my horror trailer in 'Empire' magazine as it is a well known mainstream magazine with the same age group audience. Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960) and his auteur influences on the film inspired our trailer to make it appealing to thriller fans. The gore/body horror in our trailer was inspired by Tom Savini's work in Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978). After watching a documentary on Tom Savini we learnt how powerful and memorable his techniques can be, such as the “head blow-up” scene in ‘Maniac’ (1981) that made a low budget film very popular. We hoped this would have the same effect on ‘Insanitarium.’
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