Magazine cover
When considering the Magazine cover, I looked to one of the biggest film magazines in the world: Empire. I looked at a variety of front covers, focussing on the horror genre. What I noticed was that many covers simply featured the face of the main character(s) and then a tag line, or the film's title. The background was then coloured accordingly - for example: for the issue featuring Red Dragon (2002), they simply had a picture of Anthony Hopkin's face lit up with a red light and a dark background. The red and dark colours give out a dangerous feeling from Hopkin's. However, there are also other films featured around the edge of the photo (e.g. "Harry Potter 2!"), this shows the audience member that the whole magazine will not be focussing on this type of film and gives it a 'lighter' feeling.
Another example would be when Empire featured Terminator 3 (2003). In this, they had Arnold Schwarzenegger's face lit with a cool blue light. This film is within the Action/Sci-fi genres, so the cold blue light gives off a technology feel for the viewer. However, the darkness surrounding Schwarzenegger's face also gives off a slightly more threatening feeling than a normal Sc-fi film.
This means that my magazine cover will feature my character covered in blood, with a dark background and looking quite emotional. I will most likely add a tag-line of sorts... Possibly "everyone is at risk..." or something similar. I hope that this conveys the genre of horror, but also the emotional side of my teaser.
Poster
In many horror film posters, they depict pictures of the main character(s) at a time where they are threatened (or at least show that they are through emotions). For example, for the video game The Last of us (2013), many posters depict the two main characters looking scared, or comforting each other in some way. However, some also show simply their scared/determined faces. But in all of these, they are looking directly at the camera... Looking for help from the audience. Also, there is frequently quite dark colours used to show that it is a very dark and harsh world that they live in.
Similarly, the posters for Children of Men (2006) depicts the main character looking at straight at us through a broken window. Again, with a determined look on his face. This also makes the audience feel like they want to try and help him on his quest. The broken window could symbolise the broken society that he lives in? Or simply the violence that is in his world... But he is also surrounded with very bleak colours (mostly greys and blacks) so this keeps the darker themes of the film in mind.
Due to these (and many other posters that I have looked at) I have decided on a picture for my poster. After filming, I would like to take a picture of the two main characters hugging each other for protection. This is because they will still be covered in the fake blood, and will be very dirty, so it will look like they have been through a lot. I will also take the picture in a way that Jack can look directly at the camera. This way I can experiment with different looks that he can have - maybe determination, or sadness, or anger. Anna will be hugging him for protection, and he will look like the stronger figure in the picture.
I will also have low key lighting being used, due to the fact that most horror themed posters have low key lighting to give the impression of bad things happening around the characters. I may also add an effect to try and make it look more 'sketchy' than a real picture - this is because I want to try and convey the idea that their future isn't certain and anything can change. I may even shoot a little in black and white instead of the 'sketchy' idea.
But that is my rough plan - I will have to experiment a lot with different ways of taking the photos for both tasks and editing them. Eventually I will have a finished product that follows most industry conventions, but I know that some won't be adhered to, due to the fact that I usually try to do thing my 'own way' a little.
