Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince poster

The Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie poster meets the conventions of a movie poster because it has a central image, which is usual for a movie poster. The central image is a midshot and is quite dark which contrasts with the light background, this makes the image stand out and shows the audience it is important. Harry's face is lighter than the rest of his body, which shows him as a hero. His facial expression and positioning shows him as a dark, serious character as he looks like someone who is ready to fight. The movie name is behind Harry, which means more attention is shown to Harry than the movie name. This is because Harry Potter's apperance is so iconic the movie name does not need to stand out. The movie name is slightly darker than the background which makes it slightly stand out, and it is in the font that all of the Harry Potter movie names are in, which makes it instantly recognisable. This movie poster does not have a tag line, which subverts the conventions of a movie poster. This is because most people who are going to see the film already know what happens, so there is no need to say. The date line is quite small at the bottom of the page, this means it doesn't stand out that much. This is because people would already know when it is being released as it was such a highly anticipated movie. However, the text colour is white which means if you look at movie poster closely you can see the release date. There is a lightning scar in the middle of the release date which is iconography because lightning scar's are known to symbolise Harry Potter. It also subverts the conventions of a film poster because it does not have a large billing block. It mentions a few people at the bottom of the poster, but it does have the usual large billing block. This adds focus to Harry on the poster and makes the poster seen more dramatic as it does not have much to draw attention away from Harry. This film poster attracts it's target audience because it is dramatic, and the people who are interested in Harry Potter and going to be excited for the drama in it. It is also simple which leaves the audience in suspence as they do not know a lot about the film from the movie poster. The cohesiveness with the trailer is achieved because the trailer and the movie poster are very both dark with serious facial expressions. Harry is dressed the same in both the trailer and the movie poster so it gives the audience the idea that Harry will mostly be wearing dark clothes, to represent the dark mood in the film. I have drawn the conclusion that movie posters can be simple and effective, and they do not have to follow all of the conventions of a usual media poster. I have also learnt that backgrounds on movie posters are important as it gives off the mood of the film, and also helps the central image stand out.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince magazine cover

I analysed the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince magazine front cover which is on film magzine Empire. The front cover meets conventions of magazine front covers as it has a cover line giving the reader a little bit of information about the main article. However, it is not a usual cover line because although it is about the major article it only has a classic quote from Harry Potter ‘bloody hell!’, writing in a large font saying ‘massive preview special’ and then a short sentence about Harry, which leaves the readers wondering what information the article will contain. This front cover also meets the conventions of magazine front covers because it has a left-hand third, which is something a majority of magazines have. Harry potter is also mentioned in the left hand third which means everywhere you look on the page you see writing about Harry Potter. The magazine cover also has a masthead which is on a typical magazine cover. The colour of the masthead is red, which is the same colour as Harry’s jacket. This has been done so the front cover looks simple and attractive, and it could also be because red has connotations of blood, and the film is presented as being dark. At the bottom of the magazine is a plug, which is another convention of magazine front covers. This is to give the magazine variety so people who are not interested in Harry Potter might still buy the magazine because they are interested in who else is in the magazine, shown by the Plug. The plug is white and yellow, which contrasts from the main picture of Harry on the front. This also gives the magazine variety and shows it is about different things, not just the main article. The magazine front cover also has a puff underneath the masthead. ‘The world’s biggest movie magazine.’ This is used to boost the status of the magazine so people want to buy it more, and the colour of the puff being red makes it bright and stand out, and it also goes with the simple colour scheme. The text is yellow, red and white which all stand out against the dark picture. The biggest text such as the masthead and puff are in red, so they stand out more than the white and yellow. The colour of the text adds to the simple colour scheme, which makes the picture stand out more. There is a variety of fonts on the page so the magazine does not look boring, but instead looks interesting and readable. The main article has big text in white to show that that is the main feature in the magazine. The date, price and barcode and all small on the magazine front cover. The barcode stands out because it is white against a dark background, but the price and date are in a small font so they are not noticeable when somebody is glancing at a magazine. The main image on the front cover is a medium close up of Harry’s face. It is quite a dark image due to the dark background and Harry’s facial expression, although there is a light shining on his face which portrays him as the hero. The close up image gives detail of his face, this gives an insight into what the movie is going to be like. The image on the left is not noticeable when you glance at the magazine, as the other image is so much larger. The image on the left side of the page shows who else is in the magazine, so people who are not Harry Potter fans have other articles to read. The target audience for Empire magazine is people who like films, and as this is a big, highly anticipated film it is going to be interesting to people like films. There are other big films mentioned in the left-hand third, so if people are not interested in Harry Potter, there is a wide selection of other films for them to read about. The magazine front cover links to the trailer and poster because the poster also a picture of Harry in a red jacket, which shows his main costume in the film. He also has serious facial expressions in both the magazine front cover and the poster, which shows it is a serious film. In the trailer Harry is also wearing the red jacket, and the trailer is serious and dark, which is like the magazine cover is. The colours in the trailer are very dark, and shows the film to be dark. The background on the magazine cover is also dark, which shows overall it is being presented as a dark film. I have drawn the conclusion that different fonts are good on magazine covers, as it adds variety. I have also drawn the conclusion that a simple, close up image is good for a thriller or a horror film. Having a simple yet effective colour scheme is also a good idea as it stops the magazine from looking over-crowded. I also think having a background that matches the movie genre is important as the background behind Harry Potter shown instantly what type of film it is.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer

In the Harry Potter and the Half blood prince trailer transitions are used for various different reasons. Throughout most of the trailer fade to black is used to show a passing of time, and also to represent uncertainty and mystery within the film. When Tom and Dumbledore are in the orphanage straight cuts are used to show the reality of the orphanage and the reality of magic. This contrasts with fade to black so the audience get a sense of variety, and so they also pay more attention to the orphanage as it varies with the other transitions. At the beginning of the trailer an establishing shot of the train is used, this sets the scene and shows the audience that Harry goes back to Hogwarts. Then there is an aerial shot of buildings, this is very dark which contrasts with the establishing shot, which is brighter. Snow is falling in the aerial shot which gives the audience the immediate idea that the film is going to be dark. The high angle shot of the person walking under an umbrella leaves the audience which a sense of mystery and suspense, as they do not know who's under the umbrella. It also suggests that because they're hidden it gives them a disadvantage as they are seen as the smaller person. There is a high angle shot when Dumbledore and the orphanage worker are walking to Tom's room, this shows Tom as being a more powerful character than Dumbledore, and also shows the audience that Dumbledore is not completely in control of the situation as he usually is. There is a mid shot of Tom and Dumbledore when they are talking, this shows them both as equals. It also shows normality as it could appear they are just having a normal conversation. This contrasts with the rest of the trailer where there are scenes of extreme magic. There is a close up of Harry near the beginning, the memory is by the side of him and looks the same size as him. This suggests that the memory is just as powerful as Harry. It also shows Harry's reaction in detail to viewing someone else's memory. There is another establishing shot of the orphanage which shows the audience what it looks like on face value. There is a low angle shot looking up at Dumbledore when he is standing on flames. This shows he has a lot of power, it also leaves the audience in suspense as they do not know what happens to Dumbledore after. The non-diegetic music at the beginning immediately creates suspense, but at the same time makes the trailer seem peaceful. When the Warner Bros sign comes up there is a loud bang, which makes the film seem creepy and dark. There is then the diegetic sound of rain, which adds to the dark feel, but also adds in the bleak feel. The diegetic sound of the voices are all low, as if there is nothing to talk happily about. A key example of this is when Tom says 'I can speak to snakes'. The non-diegetic sound of the typical Harry Potter music is at the end makes the trailer instantly recognisable. The last diegetic sound is where Dumbledore says 'No'. This leaves the audience in suspense, and makes them want to see the film, as they want to see what comes after. The costumes are dark, which shows nothing happy is happening. Most of the costumes are also simple except Dumbledore's, this suggests he is more important than the other characters. The prop of the memory cabinet is light, which contrasts with the rest of the room, this highlights the importance of it and shows it contains happy things, which is different to the most of the trailer. The orphanage is dark and bleak, this is represented through the simplicity of Tom's room, and the darkness of the walls. This gives the audience the first impression that Tom as a child was surrounded by darkness and depression. The prop of the long grass when Tom is talking shows mystery as Tom isn't sure on why he can do what he can, and it's also a mystery of what's hiding in the long grass. The prop of the fire which Dumbledore is standing on is light, but it a scary light, rather than the bright light of the memory cabinet. This shows that even at the lightest point in the film, it is still surrounded by darkness. This trailer attracts it's target audience(teens and Harry Potter fans) because it has the typical Harry Potter music, so people instantly recognise it just by sound. It also attracts it's target audience by none of the characters needing to be introduced, it shows dark/action straight away, which shows it is going to be a dark film. The conclusions i have drawn from this analysis are that sound has a big effect on trailers as it can impact what genre the trailer is seen as. I have also concluded trailers do not need to be long as a lot of information can be shown in a short period of time.