Finished front Cover

FINAL IMAGE

When taking my final image I removed the studio lights as I didn't feel as if they were doing very much and I used the flash on the camera. This picture came out a lot clearer and her face was lit up a lot more. Also in this picture you could see the gun where as on the first photo I took it wasn't very clear. Also she is looking directly into the camera which engaged with the audience and gave the impression that she was looking at whoever was reading the front cover.

FRONT COVER CONTENT

On the front cover of already existing Empire magazines there are many different titles which mention different articles that you will find in the magazine, a bar code, promotions for merchandise and they are in different sized fonts. In order for me to make my front cover look as similar to existing ones as possible I needed to make sure I included these features as well. As my magazine was focused on horror films I had to make sure the features related to this and also mentioned my article.

This is what my front cover looked like when I had added all the features. 'Carrie strikes again' was referring to an article about the new remake of the film Carrie which linked in as that was one of the films that I had spoke about in my timeline article. 'Going back in time to 1960 horrors' linked directly to my article and so did the banner which included 'the final girl'. The circle down the bottom was referring to the new film that I created which was about a young boy being influenced by violent video games. I also made sure I had the bar code on there and also above the 'M' in the Empire logo all of the magazines had the month that issue was published, the cost and the website 'empireonline.com' and therefore I made sure I included this also.

FINISHED PIECE

Once I had finished the features for the cover the only thing I had left to do was to put the main image in which I had to cut out my model and make sure I positioned her in front of the Empire logo and also put a background behind her which suited the 'violent' representation. Below is what the finished piece looked like once I had put the image in. I chose to have fire behind her as it connotes danger.



Front cover planning

MAIN IMAGE

Looking at the main images on the front cover of empire magazines, there is always a main character filling up the whole page and covering part of the 'Empire' title. This was something I had to ensure I kept the same when creating my front cover. Here is the first

example that I looked at when researching the Empire front cover and as you can see, Will Smith who is the main character of 'I am legend' is on the front, covering the 'P' of the empire logo and taking up the whole page. The magazine clearly has information on this film as the title is in big bold letters across the front. The second example I looked at again was very similar as there was the main character of the film that the magazine was focused on and again it covered part of the Empire title however not as much as the first one. The character on this magazine is looking directly into the camera which compares to the first one which shows the camera angle positioned below Will perhaps reflecting his dominance.
By having the character looking directly into the camera it engages and interacts with the audience and people who recognise the character and who are fans of the Spiderman films are likely to pick it up.

With that in mind I wanted to recreate something like this and have my model looking into the camera but also as I wanted her to have dominance I knew I needed to position the camera below her.

MODEL

The model that I used for my main image was a female friend of 18 years old. I wanted my model to be a female as the focus of this magazine is to look at horror films and how women and children are represented usually as the victims. My article focused on the children and therefore I wanted my front cover to represent females. My model was going to be the main character out of a new horror film who is not a victim but a hero and a survivor. Therefore I needed to make her look as if she had injuries such as cuts and bruises on her face. To do this I used makeup to give her black eyes and bruises with black eye shadow, purple lipstick and red blusher.

TEST SHOTS

This was the first picture I took using one studio light and without the flash on the camera. This image was good in the way that the camera was positioned below my model giving her power and you can clearly see the makeup on her face however it wasn't very clear and it still looked slightly too dark. I chose a leather skirt as women are often sexualised in films to attract the male audience and therefore I wanted to show this representation on my front cover. Also in this image she was looking slightly over the top of the camera rather than right into the lens which I would have preferred as it engages with the audience more. I then took a few more photos using just the studio light however I felt that they were still all a little too dark and her face looked dull which did not work as that is one of the most important features.



Article main image

FINAL IMAGE

 

Having planned what I wanted my main image to look like, I knew that I needed to take the pictures in a bedroom which looked fairly masculine and which showed the TV whilst a boy was playing a violent video game. My brother was my model and therefore taking the pictures was easily done in my own house. I wanted to make sure that you could tell the person playing the game was a boy however not show his whole face to create a sense of enigma. I also wanted the room to be dark so that the TV image really stood out and was the main focus. Initially I was going to have a light shining behind my models head so you could see the outline of him however when I started to take the pictures I realised I did not need this.

This first picture was the first image I took which was without the light behind and without the camera flash on. This was similar to the type of image I was looking for as it is clearly focused on what is on the screen which is the main focus of the image. The problem with this image was that it was a little too dark as you cannot really see the outline of my model and you cannot tell that it is a boy which is an important feature in the image.

After this I then tried with the flash on the camera which I thought would work as it would highlight my model more however as you can see from the image below it was way too light and it took the focus off of the image on the screen and lit up the whole room which I didn't want. Also as the room is not stereotypically masculine like you would expect with items such as a football or cars or even the colour blue, it did not really fit my article. I wanted to then take a picture which would have the same look as the first one which has the TV as it's main focus but also be able to see the outline of my model.

 

For the third image I slightly changed my camera angle so I was more forward and I went to the right of my model so you could see the face slightly better. This image came out a lot better and rather than using an extra light, from the side you could see my brothers face slightly better as it was lit up from the television screen. This image was perfect as again the TV was very clear and you could see that the game was violent as you see the gun on the screen. This was the picture that I chose to put on my article and it was put in the top left hand corner of the double page spread with the title 'are children still as innocent as they are made out to be in horror films?'. This further anchored the meaning of the text and suggested that the video game was going to influence the person playing it.



Article main image planning

 MODEL

The model I have chosen for my main image is a 17 year old boy as I feel this is an accurate representation of the typical type of person to be playing video games. Also one of the messages to get across in this article and new film is that most parents are unaware of what their children are accessing and most of the time people are playing video games and watching films underage.
 In the main image showed in the timeline article of the Empire it shows several actors in the film such as Seth Rogen which is done to attract an audience as he is a well known actor. The film I am creating however is not so much about the actor but about the storyline and also the message that children are no longer victims, but are turning into the villains. This is also going to attract people as in today's society there are stories of 'evil children' and cases such as the killing of James Bulger, the child killers were said to be influenced by violent films which they had seen.  Therefore this new film is going to be a more up to date representation of the real world and the impact of new media and technology.

LOCATION

I felt the most appropriate location for the main image was in a bedroom as that is the main place in which teenagers play their video games and watch television. This is also an area which is private and therefore most parents do not know what their children are getting up to or what sorts of games they are playing and therefore there are very little or no restrictions. Also the bedroom is going to give away information of the character as I am going to make sure there are stereotypical male related objects in the room for example a football and some items of boys clothing.

ALREADY EXISTING IMAGES

I have found some images online which have given me inspiration on the type of shot I want to have such as this one. This was the first picture I found and it was part of an article named 'do video games make children violent?' From this shot you can see the face of the teenager and you can see by his facial expressions that he is very concentrated on the game. The background of the image is very dark which could suggest mystery and it could also connote that something bad is going to happen and the boy at the centre of it. In this image you can see the face of the child however as I do not want the article to give too much of the film away, I have chosen to have my models face hidden to create the sense of enigma. This is why I have chosen the over the shoulder shot. Also I would like the readers to be able to slightly make out what sort of game the teenager is playing so that it is more relatable to people who play games similar and also to parents who know that their children play that type of game also.

This image is one that I found which is very similar to the type of shot I would like as you can see what sort of game he is playing and you can only see the side of the face. Even from the side of the face you can see that he is very concentrated and his facial expressions are very serious.

Timeline content - History of Horror films

The main focus of my article is going to be about how the representations of victims and villains have changed and how horror films no longer seem to represent the real world. Constantly we are seeing women and children playing the victims and men playing the villains and hero's.

The timeline is the main section of this article and this is going to go through the history of horror films and demonstrate whether the gender and age representations of characters have changed through the years or not.

My timeline is going to start in the 1960s as the first film will be Psycho. I have chosen to start with this film as it follows a very common representation of women in horror films, playing the victim. It also shows a man playing the villain which is also expected. Psycho was a movie by Alfred Hitchcock and he brought out another one 3 years later called 'The Birds' which again saw a woman playing the victim. This showed that a common stereotype of women was that they were 'weak, vulnerable and helpless'.

In 1973 The Exorcist was released which began the 'nightmare decade: in front of the children' as we started to see children starring in horror films. In The Exorcist in particular children were immediately stereotyped similar to women; 'naïve, weak and defenceless'. 

Shortly after The Exorcist in 1976 'Alice, sweet Alice' shocked people with the villain character being placed onto children. This immediately made people look at children's behaviour in a different way than 'weak and helpless' and saw them in a more domineering way. In the same year Carrie was released which again followed this representation of a child villain as it saw a young, abused and timid 17 year old girl pushed to her limits after being humiliated at a school prom.

In 1979 things changed slightly as we saw one of the first horror films where the female character showed dominance and rejected the common representations from other horror films. Alien showed the main character Ripley as independent and capable of protecting herself. In the film a group get called to an unexplored planet after a distressed phone call and after searching for survivors, the crew heads home only to realize that a deadly bio form has joined them.
In the group there are many other males who attempt to defeat the 'alien' however are unsuccessful and Ripley is one of the only characters to come out alive. This showed that women are not only victims but can also be just as strong as males.

Although many people thought that may have been the start of a different type of horror film, females soon went back to being the victim of male dominance as a spiritual presence influences the father into violence in The Shining released in 1980. Also Scream was released in 1996 which saw a group of young high school students fall prey to a serial killer.

In 2013 Carrie the remake was brought out which was thought to be another attempt at changing the age and gender representations in horror films to keep up with todays society. They need to take into account different roles certain people play in society and the 'evil child' is becoming more common in todays society as we are seeing more child murderers than there were back in the 1960s. In order for horror films to represent the real world, it is vital that they adapt the representations of their characters in accordance with todays society.

The timeline will end with the new film that is going to be released which the main image is going to represent. This film will see a male become a victim of a teenagers violence as he is influenced by a video game containing shootings.

Timeline planning

LAYOUT

The image below shows the layout of the timeline and you can see that it follows a similar pattern to the timeline page from the empire magazine. The main image is the most important part of the article as it takes up most of the double page spread and as it is in the top left hand corner it ensures that it is the first thing the reader sees when they turn the page.

Below the main image is where timeline is going to be which in this case is going to go through the history of horror films and look at how the representations of victims and villains have changed throughout the years. This is slightly different from the original timeline page in the magazine as the article I looked at was going through the dates of how the film was being made and it was all within 1 year. My article is going to look at many different horror films and is going to go through the years looking at how they have changed.

On the right hand side of the page is going to be a table which includes many well known actors and actresses and it is going to show how many horror films they have been in and whether they have been the victim or the villain. I am predicting that this is going to show that the actors have mostly played villains and the actresses have played the victims as this is a common stereotype.

MAIN IMAGE

As the focus of this article is going to be on the new film which involves children and teenagers being influenced by video games, it is important that the main image is representative of that without giving too much away. The location of part of the image is going to be in a bedroom as that is most often where teenagers are left alone playing their game and therefore are not restricted on what they can access. The main shot will involve a teenager sitting on a bed playing a video game, perhaps an over the shoulder shot so that the readers can see what is on the television. There on the TV will be a game such as 'call of duty' as it involves violence and killing scenes which can influence a persons behaviour.

Also in the room somewhere in the shot there could be something which initiates he is copying the behaviour from the game such as a gun, similar army clothes etc. Although this may not give too much information away, there will be a tagline just under the image which will give the audience more of a clue of what the film is going to entail.

The over the shoulder shot will allow the reader to feel as if they are watching the television and they will have the exact same view of the teenager sat on the bed. You will be able to see the back and side of the person's head sitting on the bed however their face will not be shown to create a sense of enigma. Although you cannot see the face the reader will be able to imagine the sort of age of the person playing the video game as teenagers are the main consumers of game consoles and are known to be the main users.

The caption underneath the image is going to be a question to the reader, targeted towards the parents of children who play video games or have access to uncensored material.

Front page research

IMAGE

Looking at the front page of my chosen magazine Empire, it is clear that there is always the main character of the film which the magazine is focused on as the main image. In my case as I want the main character of my film to be an 'evil child' the main image is going to be of a child looking very powerful and dominating the page.

This image of Ripley from the film Alien is showing her as powerful and dominating by the way she is standing, her facial expression and the gun she is holding. If this were on a magazine cover, without knowing what the film was about, you would know what sort of character she was from this image alone.
This is what I plan to do when I create my magazine cover as I would like the main image to be of a child looking 'evil' perhaps dressed in clothing similar to a character on 'Call of duty' carrying a gun or a criminal from the video game 'Grand theft auto'. This main image would give the readers a slight idea of what film the image was portraying without giving too much information away. This may attract different audiences; young teenagers who are similar age to the character and who play video games, and also parents of those children as they may be concerned about how violent video games and films can influence their children.

FRONT COVER

As I am using the Empire magazine, I will need to ensure I am keeping the house style the same and therefore using the same fonts in order for the magazine to be recognisable.

Above is the logo which empire uses on every single cover of their magazine and most of the time it is in this red colour. In order for me to match this I have done some research on the fonts used throughout the magazine. I have fount a similar one to this named 'EF Kaffeesatz' shown below.

Another font which looks similar is 'Bernard Gothic Heavy SG' which is shown below. A benefit of using this one is that you do not have to pay to download it onto the computer whereas you have to pay for 'EF Kaffeesatz'.

My Idea

As I am focusing on the representations of victims in horror films using the timeline style article, I want the main image and main focus of the article to be about a new film coming out with a completely different representation of both the victims and hero's rather than have the stereotypical 'weak' female or child victim and 'strong' male hero.

I have come up with a few ideas but one which I think would make an interesting article is a new film involving child villains. Through researching child victims, they are often portrayed to be innocent in films yet more and more 'evil' children are coming out in the media for example Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Investigations into crimes committed by children has shown that the lack of control on underage children and their access to violent films, TV programmes and video games has a massive influence on them.

This research has given me the idea a new horror film which involves child villains who commit horrific crimes based on ones that they have seen in violent horror films and video games. I am considering either a child on their own or a group of children mimicking actions which they see in violent video games for example shooting from 'Call of Duty' or torturing others in horror films such as 'Saw'.

I think this idea will make an interesting news article as from most of the horror films I have personally seen and also researched, I have not yet seen one which has uses this idea. I also think it will interest not only horror film fanatics, but also parents of young children who perhaps play violent video games as there has been things in the news about the impact violent video games can have on you.

Also this is something different from the everyday horror and perhaps slightly more representative of today's society. I would like to have the mother of the violent children at work in the film leaving the children home alone and portraying a more accurate image of women compared to other horror's who are still showing them as 'housewives'. I have not yet decided where I want to have a male role, if at all as most horror films portray the male as the 'hero' due to their strength however I do not think this is representative of society.

The Timeline

Looking through my chosen magazine; Empire, there was one particular layout of an article that stood out to me. The timeline page is one which I think would fit with the type of article I am wanting to write as I am looking at horror films over the years and how the representations of victims have changed. Using the timeline layout I can include the dates of the different horror films and compare the different representations between them all.
Below is an analysis of the timeline page in the Empire magazine.

Total Film Magazine VS Empire

When choosing what magazine I wanted my article to be in, the main two that stood out were Empire and Total film. Both of these film magazines are fairly similar as they include film reviews, cast interviews, 'exclusive information, product promotion and detailed descriptions of many locations which films are made.

Here are the deconstructed front covers of an issue of both total film and empire magazine. On first glance they both look very similar, the main image dominating the whole page and the image is the main focus which is anchored by the title of the film; Will Smith being the main actor in 'I am legend' and Keanu Reeves representing 'Constantine'.

 

On both the front covers they promise to provide you with unseen information as the words 'revealed' and 'exclusives' appear when talking about 'Hollywood secret weapons' suggesting Hollywood film stars and producers are to be exposed in Total Film and 'on set with every movie that matters this season' in Empire perhaps suggesting we are to get a 'behind the scenes' view of the films.