Monsters.

Looking at the film ‘Monsters’, research how the film was produced and distributed to audiences. Consider the following;

·         Target Audience

·         All elements of production including cast, crew and location

·         Budget

·         Marketing and distribution, UK and worldwide

The film ‘Monsters’ was produced by Allan Niblo and James Richardson, he film was directed by Gareth Edwards who also worked as the visual effects artist. The film itself did not have an all-star cast, the film stars Scoot McNairy

The film cost under $500,000 with $15,000 of this being the cost of the equipment, yet the film made a staggering $4,188,738. The producers were able to make the film with such a low budget because of the use of prosumer cameras to capture the feel of hand-held footage rather than the typical 35mm filming. Another way they kept the budget so low is because they never actually asked in advance to use any of the locations used. Another way they kept the budget low is because they did not spend much time filming, they apparently only spent 3 weeks on the film and for most of this time; it was only 7 people travelling in a van. When they shot moving shots, they did not indulge in luxury; they merely hung the camera out of the van window and cushioned it with a bundle of clothing.

Contents (1st Draft)
This is my first draft of my contents page for my school magazine, this is to go with the cover on the previous post.
I used my own pictures that I took myself with various page numbers to turn to. I put small captions on the pictures giving the reader an insight into what the story is going to be about before actually turning to the page. I put the 'Contents' title down the left hand side of the page to make it seem more spacious and a little bit different to the norms. As well as the normal stories, I put a small sub-heading saying 'Plus!' at the bottom of the page to give the reader an idea of what else is waiting to be read inside the magazine, one of which is one of the smaller stories on the cover. As you can see, the image at the bottom is of an iPad 2 which is representing a competition which any student can enter. I believe this contents page and the cover are both quite good for first drafts, please give your opinions on both?

Cover (1st Draft)
The first task I was given was to create a school magazine cover, I did this on Adobe Photoshop, I did this to the best of my ability and I think there was a good result.
I created my own school logo similar to the actual school logo. The background I used is quite neutral to give the cover a sense of space so everything doesn't seem too cramped. I edited a picture Mr Wilson and put a large headline next to the image stating that there is an interview with him inside. I deliberately made the headline quite large and in red to make it stand out to the reader. I also put various other stories around him on various other subjects. I put a competition at the top of the cover to draw readers in more. I used a barcode and put the price, the school website and the magazine number in the bottom left hand corner to make it seem more professional.