Magazine Research and Planning

Conventions of Horror Magazines

• Emphasis on a main character, mainly a close up/ medium shot of the figure
• Rule of thirds
• cover lines are a must to catch interest

Pre Production Survey

I thought further ahead when researching about horror magazines and analysing them. I came across the prices and wondered what people of this age would be willing to pay. I thought that people of the age 18+ wouldn't find it hard to pay for magazines, but for the gap of 12-15 year olds who do not work, may find it harder to buy them. Most people said they do not buy horror magazines because they get more satisfaction from watching horror rather than reading about it. so it's not necessarily the price that puts them off, a few said £2.50 and £3. This gave me an idea for how much I could sell mine for, and advertise it for the right price.

I used this question to see on average who reads horror magazines, and if not why they don't. The responses are shown below. Most people said they don't read or buy them because they don't find them as effective or they are simply not their type of horror go to product. However I had to go along with my project of making a magazine cover. The only information that I could use from this question was to make the magazine not only about films. This gave me ideas of cover lines rather than just aiming at film related cover lines. I think I will involve actors, costume, cinema and surveys in mine, including some kind of freebie to help sell it.

Photo Shoot Plan - Magazine image

Location - The house used in the trailer for university students (Molly's house)

Possible pictures - creepy female serial killer, 4 students altogether showing their stock characters

Props/Costume - makeup of the serial killer and a white sheet, stock character costumes for:

Drama queen: pink crop tops, lipstick, lolly pop, phone, sunglasses

Nerd- reading glasses, turtle neck jumper, books, little makeup

Goth- dark makeup, black clothing, crimped hair

Cool dude- hat, jeans, casual clothing

Equipment - portable light, tripod, Sony AX 58 Digital Camera, possibly a plain background like a white wall or photo booth

Possible problems - dimming the light in order to give it a gloomy look instead of a clinical one