Inception - Analysis

For my coursework as well as producing a teaser trailer of 1-2 minutes, I must also produce two ancillary products: a magazine cover featuring the film and a poster.
I am going to analyse the magazine cover and poster for Inception to establish common trends and conventions that I will stick to when I construct my ancillary products.



The title of the magazine 'total film' has effectively adapted to the genre of the film it is advertising: thriller. Through the images of the tops of building which appear to look technological, the audience can establish that this film is of the thriller genre and the title of 'total film' suggests that the film is complex.
Leonardo DiCaprio is the dominant image on the cover suggesting that he plays a huge role in the film and that he is the main character. Through his facial expression the audience can establish that his character is a complex one and the audience can also make an intelligent judgement that DiCaprio is the main protagonist in the film.
The title of the film 'inception' is layered across DiCaprio letting the audience know that he has a dominant role in the film and the typography 'inside the ultimate head trip' is the magazines USP as the audience wish to read about this 'ultimate head trip' as the magazine is suggesting that they have information about it. The magazine also has other sections such as 'Tron, everything you need to know' and 'the 27 most mind-blowing movies ever!' This gives the audience another reason to purchase the magazine as the issue contains other attractions. The text 'Mind-blowing' is repeated twice on the cover to reiterate to the audience that Inception is a film revolving around the mind.



There are common features between the magazine cover feature and the poster. Both include the central image of DiCaprio. Both include the title of the film 'Inception' across Dicaprio's character. Both have similar colours, dark blues and blacks and red. These colours indicate to the audience the genre of the film. They connote a psychological thriller with sci-fi elements and the red colour stands out on both products suggesting that the film includes elements of danger. Interestingly, on the poster DiCaprio as the main character appears vulnerable and overpowered by his surroundings, this potrays more of the narrative of the film whereas on the magazine front cover feature DiCaprio appears very much in control and not vulnerable but quite the opposite, this suggests that film magazine features revolve around the main character and the idea of having a recognisable face/person so that the audience can be drawn to it.
In my opinion, this is very effective of ancillary products as the magazine cover feature attracts the audience through the character as the audience have prior knowledge of the film so know that he represents the film whereas posters are more complex and reveal more of the narrative which attracts the audience as the poster effectively 'speaks more' than a film magazine cover feature.

I will be using this idea for my ancillary products by concentrating more on potraying the narrative on the poster and having a recognisable face/image on the magazine front cover to allow the audience to familiarise themselves. I will also use similar colours on both products so that the genre is constantly reinforced. I will also make the title of the magazine cover reflect the genre of the film, perhaps through colour of style of typography of images within the title of the magazine.