16/04/2012 - Making of the Film Magazine

This is the image that will be used for the Film Magazine. We have chosen to use this image as the photographs from the previous two shoes did not give the dramatic and thriller genred image that we were after for our magazine. As supported in our research, film magazines often features characters from their films e.g. Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd.

The first stage of creating the magazine was to open the chosen image up in Adobe Photoshop CS4 so that it was available to edit and this is the best programme that we have to edit an image as well as place text and other images onto this exisiting one.

Then the brightess/contrast was adjusted in order to intensify the colour of the dress, make up and the style of her 'messy' hair. By changing the brightness and contrast, the 'dirt' marks that we created on the face of our model in a previous shoot were much more visible now and this reinforced the fact that the actress in the film, Lily, is dishelleved and hoping to be rescued from the poor conditions that she is being kept in by the abductor.

We then decided to add a red tint to the image as it is a colour that is recognised as connotating danger and this is relevant to the film trailer as the audience realise from the very beginning that Lily is vulnerable and is seen as a target perhaps, in her red dress, and is later abducted and held hostage.

A main convention of a magazine is the barcode as this lets the retailer tell the buyer how much the magazine will cost and identifies it as a product. In order to input ths barcode into the magazine cover, we opened up Adobe InDesign CS4 so that it could be pasted into this programme. We were also able to create the blue circle and black banner for the magazine in this programme on the same document. To make the banner, we created a rectangle and filled the shape in with the colour black. To make the circle a similar process was used; created a circle shape and filled it in blue so that is also becomes a solid shape. To make it more noticeable the outline weight of the white line around the circle was set to 8 to make it more bold.

Continuing in Photoshop, the title of the magazine 'Film Media' was entered into the magazine aswell as the text 'Magazine of the Year' which are both located at the top of the magazine cover. Due to research it is important to use conventions that are supported and we found that from our research into film magazine covers that the main text should link to the image that is used on the cover. To do this, we inkdropped the colour of Lily's dress but chose a slighter darker shade of this colour so that it was much more visible and then added it to the colour of the text for continuity. We then decided to use the colour white for the sub-heading as in our research many film magazines use this colour as it stands out on a darkish background/image.

As demonstrated on a piece of research into film magazines, white text is very common and is simple but very effective to the reader!

As the magazine will evidently feature 'Lily' from our film trailer, we felt it was appropriate to include the title of the film 'Seized' and the phrase associated with it 'A Modern Cat And Mouse Game' as the magazine will include some kind of article about the film itself. We wrote these two pieces of text in the 'Weathered SF' font that we have been using throughout the process of making the trailer and the film poster for continuity and so that people associate this font with the film itself.

 Our research supports the location of the barcode and solid objects to place text over.

The blue circle that was created in InDesign earlier was then imported into Photoshop and then black text was added over the top of it where it could be seen easily. By right clicking layer that was labelled 'Vector Smart Object' we were able to rasterize the text so that when we clicked a corner of the text box it was easy to move. In magazine research, text is quite often placed at an angle on a magazine for a more interesting structure for the reader to observe. The barcode that was also created in the same programme was then pasted into the bottom left hand corner as this is where it is often placed.

The final stage of creating the film magazine front cover included adding the remaining text which will be about what else the reader can find inside the magazine. We decided to continue using light colours such as white and blue to keep with the colour scheme and so that they could be seen easily. We decided not to show a price as our research does not show a blatent price but rather focuses on the bar code being the method and convention for this.

This is the final film magazine front cover!

25/03/2012 - Design for Magazine cover

20/03/2012 - Second Magazine Shoot

Here are a few images from our second photoshoot for the film magazine front cover. We decided to dress our model, Georgi, in the red dress that she is seen wearing in the film trailer. This makes her identifiable to the reader who may want to see the film or who has already seen it and the red will attract the attention. By taking the photographs outside we were able to use natural light which would help create the innocence of Lily and differed to the lighting used in our first shoot.

19/03/2012 - First photoshoot for magazine

These are just a few images from the first photoshoot for our film magazine front cover. We decided not to dress our model up or put lots of make up on her as we just wanted to have a trial shoot and see how she would look in the resulting images. We were pleased with how our model looked and know that with the appropriate clothing and styling she will be perfect for the film magazine as she was in our trailer! Below are some pictures to document Kate photographing Georgi:

15/11/2012 - Conventions of a Film Magazine Front Cover

I am going to focus on this magazine front cover as I feel that it will be relevant to the process in making our very own cover. I think that this is an appropriate front cover as the person on the magazine is Johnny Depp but in the character of Sweeney Todd from the film. The magazine is evidently about his character hence why he is in costume for the image. For our magazine front cover we have decided that we will dress our model in the same clothes that she wears when playing Lily in the our film trailer. This is because, it will continue to target our audience and they will be able to easily recognise and want to read this magazine.

The title of the magazine and a phrase underneath is located at the top of the magazine so that it is noticeable but does not take up too much room on the cover. The text is big and the white and blue colours are bold on a dark background.

The magazine cover also uses few words but ensures that they are significant and grab the readers attention!

I have also noticed that there is no bar code or pricing on this magazine so perhaps in our own magazine we won't include these two conventions as the design if simple and effective without them.

In contrast, this magazine cover has much more writing which I personally do not like as I think it detracts the reader away from the main figure in the centre of the cover. I have noticed that there is a barcode located in the bottom right hand corner and perhaps this suggests after further research that we should also include a bar code to make the magazine appear more legitimate and realistic.

14/11/2011 - Ancillary Tasks - Film magazine cover - Research

During the process of filming, we have reached certain points where we cannot film, for example, not having the appropriate equipment available to use. In the mean time, we have decided to begin our ancilliary tasks and I have independently chosen to research the film magazine covers which we will be making as well as a film poster. 

I like this magazine cover as it shows Johnny Depp in character as Sweeny Todd from the film so that it is recognizable to the reader. However, the cover demonstrates that the feature will be an interview with Johnny Depp, most likely about the film. The colour scheme is mainly pale colours like white and blue. They are cold and help reinforce the angry look on the actor's face. The title of the magazine is bold and other titles are also in a huge size font to draw attention to them. The layout of the text surrounds his face as it is the main feature of the cover. It is composed to have the image central and the main focus of attention and then text at the top and bottom about the contents of the magazine. It is simple and effective as it is not too much for the reader to observe and clearly illustrates what the main topic of the magazine will be.

The concept of this magazine cover is quite impressive and full of fantasy. The colour scheme is not too complicated or distracting and the red titles are bold and compel the reader immediately. The image used looks like one from the film so we instantly recognise that the main feature will be about the film Inception rather than just the actor himself. Empire is a renound film magazine so readers will most likely be inclined to read it anyway but the layout is tightly structured around the image.

I really like the title for 'Empire' magazine as I think it is memorable and clearly enables the reader to know that they are a big film company and the red immediately attracts attention.

Out of the three examples of film magazine covers, this is my least favourite. I think that the colours used do not compliment each other very well and and the bight yellow boxes are a distraction from the central image. The background is plain and has a picture of a skull which i'm not quite sure how it is relelvant. However, I do like the picture of film director, Quentin Tarantino used. I like the use of light on his face and the pose. I think that the rest of the cover is untidy and shows no clear layout.