Stage fright Movie Magazine Cover

Another part of our horror movie campaign to create a horror magazine cover advertising our movie. First of all we started off by taking a couple of different photos of our cast the same day we shot the trailer. We have previously discussed and planned ideas for the cover so when it came down to the day our ideas are well organised giving us a starting point to experiment. Here is one of the pictures we took a how effective a different angle would be before we chose our final image;

I suggested that we use the image in which they are looking straight at the camera because this is a lot more powerful and dramatic.

We talked about what some of the differences might be between a horror movie magazine cover and a horror poster. I mentioned that after looking at the magazine I had bought at forbidden planet it was quite apparent to me that horror movie magazine covers are always a lot more commercial than the posters are. This is most likely because magazines are aimed towards advertising stars and celebrity culture where is posters are more about creating an atmosphere and building interest in the film.

First of all we cropped our original image into a close-up of the actors frightened faces. I think this makes it look more claustrophobic and makes the viewer more intrigued to know what the actors are looking at. Turning the image into a close-up altogether gives it more impact.


Jessica mentioned that she thought the image was not scary enough. I came up with a great way to build more of a horror atmosphere. To add more shadow to the image I added another layer and painted black in all the areas where the shadows would fall and then according to how light or dark we wanted the shadows to be, we could just the opaquency of the layer. We also use this technique to give the flashlight more glare given the image more of a horror movie style and making the surroundings seem more dark in comparison.



The actors are in quite proposed position but the way that Jessica's character is down on her knees makes it very dramatic. This also shows her character as being frightened and concerned. The young child, played by Edward, is clutching onto a sister giving a sense of innocence. The two other characters are a lot more strong and bold. To show this we made them stand up and look a lot more prepared with a wide stance, as if ready to fight. The image is very classic horror

with also a team eliment. Similar to Scooby Doo or the cast of house of wax.

Another important thing to consider when creating on magazine cover was what the logo might look like. When I looked magazine I bought at forbidden planet I noticed that there are a lot of classic horror movie conventions used. For example blood and shadows. In mind I suggested using the font which was similar to the one used in Rocky horror picture show. The words 'the lost a limb' as a certain amount of dark humour to them again similar to the film Rocky horror picture show. Comedy and horror has proved to be a powerful hybrid. As shown in such films as Scream and Beetlejuice. I thought it would be a good idea to use this in our movie magazine cover.