Magazine Construction

I gained inspiration into the construction of my magazine greatly from Empire and Total Film. After analysing a variety of covers, I decided that I wanted to use a single character image in the centre of the poster. This follows the conventions of many film magazines, as the use of a single subject allows for content to be easily and clearly displayed around the outside. After looking through the photos that had been taken for the construction of my poster, I thought that the image of our character Mr Pink standing on top of a roof was visually the most complex and powerful. This was primarily due to the varying features in the background of the image, making it more interesting from a distance. The image also emphasises our film's location in South London; furthermore due its skyline position, it comes across as more professional.

Once I had decided the central image, I began to test out the different ways in which I could present my magazine title. When thinking about what magazines titles mean to me and the connotation of them, I came up with three reference words: Reel, Life and Film. I particularly liked the double meaning created when the use of "Reel" is presented with "Film".  However I found that visually I particularly liked the position of text inside another, much like my inspiration, Total Film. This was due to the partition between the bold black and white colours, making the title appear less heavy overall and creating a ocular link between the words. Whilst experimenting with the titles representation on the poster, I felt that it had a more powerful effect on the viewer in the text spanned either side of the page. Furthermore this worked most effectively with block fonts such as 'Quartzo' as the graphics were immediately catchy and recognisable.

To try to diversify the variation of graphics on my magazine, I researched into different fonts on the website: http://fontsinuse.com/in/2/formats/11/magazines. I found this site very useful to achieve a broad perspective of the styles of font available and exploring the possibility of experimenting with non-stereotypical styles. I particularly focused on the Magazine section of this website as I wanted to see how real media texts contrasted different features through varied fonts. I found that the magazines that featured most varied fonts, were immediately more interesting as each exclusive felt unique. Using this website helped me to experiment with contrasting styles of fonts for my chosen magazine title, Reel Film. I particularly liked the font 'uncle typewriter', as against 'Quartzo' it connoted an edgy magazine with assorted features.

My first rough draft of the poster was minimal, featuring the title and main exclusive advertising "Capture". I was unsure where to present the main feature, as media texts position it in varied ways. However I did find that commonly the text was on the lower third of the page, enabling it to balance the weight of the magazine title. I used the font 'Champagne and Caviar' for "Capture" as I felt it conveyed the modern urban setting of our product. Initially it was hard to read any font in the lower third and so using the eraser tool and paintbrush, I faded the lower third of the poster into black. This worked effectively as when text presented on the lower third was in white, it created a strong visual contrast drawing the viewers eye immediately. To try to diversify my product, I wanted to include the reoccurring feature in our trailer of the ink. The main inclusive reason for the use of red ink is its connotation to blood and thus death. This alerts the audience to a possible outcome for our product, suggesting it as an action/thriller.  It also makes our product the most attractive piece on the magazine, drawing the audiences eyes there first.

I was pleased with my final poster shown below, which features many layers of information and graphic elelments. During the construction of my magazine, I found that adding features from real media texts, such as puffs, greatly increased the authenticity of the product. My final puff, used a contrast of black and metallic gold tones. As my magazine was predominately dark coloured, I decided to use white as the background colour of the puff to lift it off the page. Furthermore I positioned it at a tilted angle and added a shadow backdrop to emphasize its effect as an exclusive product. Due to its success in my earlier trials, I chose to present the title of 'Capture' with a clipping mask and red ink behind to create continuity, which also features in both my poster and our trailer. To try to create variation within the magazine, I used different fonts on each of the composite segments. This enhanced the visual effect that each feature is unique, emphasising the varied content in the magazine. One of my final decisions on the magazine was adding a subtitle of "our most action packed issue ever". After researching into real media texts, I found it a common feature that to make the magazine stand out from the others it would feature a statement line above the title. Due to our product having hybridity across the action and thriller genres, I was able to suggest the issue was action packed as it also referenced to our product 'Capture'.

EJ