MY FILM MAGAZINE COVER

FINAL FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER - A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

CONSTRUCTION: EDITING A QUESTION OF IDENTITY MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

Below is a SlideShare presentation on the editing of my magazine front cover for A Question of Identity. 

HERE is a link to a blog post I wrote on independently completing a mini-case study on the Scandi Noir genre - this was a key influence of the planning and editing of my poster. 

HERE is a link to a blog post I wrote on independently completing a film shoot in Aberporth, West Wales on metaphorical weather, similar to those used in Scandi Noir genre texts. 

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING A QUESTION OF IDENTITY FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER





I took the photographs that I am going to use in my film magazine front cover for A Question of Identity at school. Since I planned what I was going to shoot before hand and made a call sheet, I found that I was organised and efficient during filming to experiment with different shots. I had considered using the school dark room, however I realised that my images, especially the extreme close up of Aarons face and the extreme close up of Sydney's side profile (as seen below), wouldn't be dark, mysterious and haunting due to two reasons. Firstly, the flash on the camera would completely wash out and brighten the characters faces going against my original intentions for the poster and the dark, sinister and haunting genre of my film. Secondly, the dark room would make my photos too dark and less visible without the flash. Therefore I made sure I picked my locations carefully fitting my vision.

The extreme close up shots of Aaron and Sydney taken in the tunnel

 



I took this photograph above that I will have as a sky background around my main character, Aaron, who will be placed in the centre of the poster creating a commanding, powerful and authoritative  feel  attracting and addressing my audience. This will create an eerie, dark, haunting and sinister atmosphere; suited to my film trailers action and thriller genre. I found inspiration for using the sky background when completing individual research of the Scandi Noir genre - HERE is a link to a mini case study I made researching the Scandi Noir genre and HERE is a link to a blog post on my individual research and photos taken on the beach in Aberporth, West Wales.

PLANNING: A QUESTION OF IDENTITY FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

Before planning my film magazine front cover design for my film A Question of Identity, I decided that it would be appropriate to gain some understanding on how Adobe Indesign works. Although I am planning on using Adobe Photoshop to make my film magazine front cover, I thought it would be appropriate to have a go at using Indesign as professionals use this programme to make posters and film magazine front covers for Poster and Advertising campaigns distributing information on movies pre release. I think using Adobe Photoshop will allow my film magazine front cover to look professional, slick and eye-catching; successfully attracting and addressing my target audience to come and view my film at the exhibition stages.

HERE is a link to a blog post I wrote on using Adobe Indesign at the stage when I was making my film poster - the skills I learned are still applicable to when making my film magazine front cover.

After completing the first step of planning, as described above, I then started to research different film magazine front covers. I felt by doing this I would gain appropriate inspiration for my own film magazine front cover.

I firstly started to deconstruct professional film magazine front covers, looking at the codes and conventions of movie posters that successfully attract and address audiences' to come and view the advertised film at the cinema.

HERE is a link to a blog post on the deconstruction of Empire film magazine front cover.

HERE is a link to a blog post on the deconstruction of Total Film film magazine front cover.

HERE is a link to a blog post on the deconstruction of The Hollywood Reporter film magazine front cover.

From deconstructing these film magazine front covers I then had a clear idea on what I knew was appropriate in clearly conveying the codes and conventions of film posters, in turn successfully attracting and addressing my target audience.

Below are the three film magazine front covers I analysed - Empire, Total Film and The Hollywood Reporter (all equally successful film magazine companies):

I like the extreme close up of the main character in each film magazine front cover as it influences authority, a commanding presence and power due to the main focus (character) using direct eye contact to catch the audiences' attention. The film magazines  above have mainly have either direct eye contact or eye-catching facial features which attract and address the audience. I want to do this with my film magazine front cover. I will be putting the main protagonist Aaron on the front below the Masthead and the Overline so he is the main focus of the cover; reinforcing himself as a principal character in my film trailer and making it evident to the audience.

I will have a sky background around the main character Aaron - matching my film poster creating continuity. This will create an eerie, dark, haunting and sinister atmosphere; suited to my film trailers action and thriller genre. I found inspiration for using the sky background when completing individual research of the Scandi Noir genre - HERE is a link to a mini case study I made researching the Scandi Noir genre and HERE is a link to a blog post on my individual research and photos taken on the beach in Aberporth, West Wales. I will have the film magazines title in red, matching the Empire title so it looks professional, as well as have an eye-catching white font for the Puffs, Cover Lines and Plugs, so they will stand out against the black, dark and sinister background; further attracting and addressing audiences.

My group and I will have Top Film as our film magazine title. We decided that if we all have the same title on each of our own film magazine front covers but different features such as Puffs, Cover Lines and Plugs we will create continuity between all of our ancillary projects - making them match together since they are all endorsing the same product, our film trailer for A Question of Identity. We came to an agreement in class and further agreed upon it on our group WhatsApp group chat.

WhatsApp group chat

My film magazine front cover plan

RESEARCH: FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS #3

Below is my film magazine front cover analysis for The Hollywood Reporter Magazine (February 2012). I have researched and analysed the codes and conventions of a professional film magazine front cover to gain a better understanding of how I can successful produce a film magazine front cover, as part of my ancillary project, to attract and address my target audience.

I made this presentation in Emaze. Emaze is an extremely useful presentation tool as it allows me to quickly and efficiently upload a Power Point presentation or make my own using unique, vibrant and eye-catching tools.

RESEARCH: FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS #2

Below is my film magazine front cover analysis for Total Film Magazine (Summer 2011). I have researched and analysed the codes and conventions of a professional film magazine front cover to gain a better understanding of how I can successful produce a film magazine front cover, as part of my ancillary project, to attract and address my target audience.

I made this presentation in Emaze. Emaze is an extremely useful presentation tool as it allows me to quickly and efficiently upload a Power Point presentation or make my own using unique, vibrant and eye-catching tools.


RESEARCH: FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS #1

Below is my film magazine front cover analysis for Empire Magazine (February 2011). I have researched and analysed the codes and conventions of a professional film magazine front cover to gain a better understanding of how I can successful produce a film magazine front cover, as part of my ancillary project, to attract and address my target audience.

I made this presentation in Emaze. Emaze is an extremely useful presentation tool as it allows me to quickly and efficiently upload a Power Point presentation or make my own using unique, vibrant and eye-catching tools.

RESEARCH: VISUAL HIEARCHY IN POSTER DESIGN

Below is an Piktochart on the Visual Hierarchy in poster design, also applicable to film magazine front covers. Visual Hierarchy in poster design focusses on the psychological viewing of the human eye when recognising what it observes - how the brain processes text and computes it. Piktochart is an extremely useful tool as it has allowed me easily and efficiently create a variety of different charts including photographs, drawings, hyperlinks, videos and information. 

In my Piktochart I will show a study of visual hierarchy and the minds perception in advertising designs and the importance of developing visual paths when designing an advertisement, such as a film poster and film magazine front covers. I relate my research and findings to my film poster visual hierarchy, for example describing the theories in relation to the codes and conventions of film posters and film magazine front covers. Researching this will allow me to have a better understanding of visual hierarchy when I produce my film trailers poster, in turn making it look professional. I will also explore the theory behind visual hierarchy, and how the principles can be used to put these concepts/theories into practice. I have also embedded a YouTube videos on my Piktochart explaining what Visual Hierarchy is. 

I will take these Visual Hierarchy layouts into consideration when making my own film magazine front cover for my film trailer project - A Question Of Identity. I will make key information such as the films title, key graphic such as a photo of the main character (Sydney or Aaron in my case) stand out and eye-catching by following the Z pattern layout or Zig-Zag pattern. As a result of this the poster I produce, thanks to the influence of completing research of how professionals produce film posters that successfully attract and address audiences to watch films as well as researching different psychological theories such as the Gutenberg diagram, Z pattern layout, Golden Triangle pattern, Zig-Zag pattern and F pattern, will successfully attract and address my target audience. 

HERE is a link to a blog post about how the research I completed when finding who my target audience for my film trailer were. I focussed on how other brands target their specific audience in turn successfully attracting and addressing them to buy or view their product. 

HERE is a link to a blog post on my target audience for my film trailer - including my audience profile. 

HERE is a link to a blog post I wrote on the BFI Audience Exit Polls. 

HERE is a link to a blog post on Maslow's Theory that helped me decide who my specific audience were when planning my audience profile.  

RESEARCH: FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS

http://www.world-newspapers.com/film-magazines.html

I firstly started to research professional film magazine front covers, such as those from Empire Magazine and Studio Magazine. From completing this research it gives me a broader understanding of the codes and coventions used by professionals to attract and address an audience, to not only buy the film magazine but lure and entice them to view the film at the exhibition stages. This gives me a good idea on how I can structure the characters I want on my film magazine front cover, how I want the mise-en-scene to look, the camera angle and lighting to be used to create an eerie, questionable and sinister atmosphere.

RESEARCH: FILM MAGAZINE BUZZ WORD GLOSSARY

Below is a selection of media marketing words that will help me describe and analyse a film magazine front cover (part of a films marketing campaign). These words are especially useful when I analyse a selection of film magazine front covers and my own.
 
Cover lines : Information about major articles given on the front page of a magazine 
Left-side third: A lot of important information designed to attract potential readers is placed in the left-hand side vertical third of the front cover page. This is in case the magazine is displayed in a horizontal shelving system rather than a vertical one.
Masthead: The title of the magazine or newspaper. It is usually placed at the top of the front cover for display purposes
Puff: Words or phrases on the cover of a magazine used to boost status
Plug: Information about the contents of a magazine or newspaper given on the front cover