magazine cover
Once I had my photos I could start on my magazine cover. I used photo shop to edit the photo, I darkened the image, added rain and storm clouds and a few raindrops on Veronica. I then put the photo into In-design and started to work on making it into a magazine cover. I had only put my title on when I found I did not like the image I had used. Most magazine covers have a character from the film on the cover but not in a scene but a super-imposed scene behind it.
It was at this point that I started playing around with a different photo and a different idea for a front cover. Looking at Empire, I took a lot of ideas from there. To start I cut Veronica out of the photo, getting rid of the background behind her. I tried putting her on different backgrounds but I realised that she was in the wrong position as it looked like she was floating.
So I edited another photo in the same way. In this photo she was standing upright looking backwards which gave me a lot more freedom in using this image. I took inspiration from Empire's magazine cover for 'Star Trek: Into Darkness' (see below) which had only smoke and dirt behind and partially in front of the image. This connotes obscurity which links to my trailer, that Veronica does not know who is behind her. It also helped me in developing my skills in photo shop.
I then decided that I would take my inspiration from Empire which is a highly successful film magazine, basing my layout in a similar way. I put my image into In-Design and worked on placing all the magazine features around it to produce my Magazine Cover. I put the name of my magazine behind the image of Veronica and used a movie strip along the bottom. I then placed all the other articles featured on the front cover encircling the image of Veronica. I took the inspiration for my layout from Empire's magazine issue featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes.
photo shoot
I decided I wanted Veronica on the cover of my magazine, in a set up/scene from the film. This is in contrast to Alice who I used for my poster. After school one day we went back to Rebekah's house to take the photo. I chose this location as it is quiet so there would be no movement in the background to show her isolation. I also wanted somewhere that looked like a normal street so the audience would feel comfortable with where the character is. Below are the photo's I took.
Practice mock-up
To see what my magazine cover might look like, I did a practice of it. I followed my plan of the drawing and used images off the internet to put it together.
plan
all genre film magazines
These three film magazines dominate this area of the market. They cover which films are new releases and which ones are worth going to see. These are Total film, Entertainment Weekly and Empire. These magazines have a similar layout with a main character in full costume on the front cover and text surrounding the edges. Other genres of magazines will focus on the main celebrity, whereas film magazines pick out the most iconic, loved character from a film. This draws in a bigger audience as more people want to read and learn about the character. For example, Empire have chosen Legolas, Thranduil and Tauriel from The Desolation of Smaug. They are not the main characters from the film but they are iconic, the Elves and this is their first appearance in The Hobbit franchise. Also by placing Legolas centre, it brings in the audience who knew him from The Lord of the Rings franchise. As the films already have a huge fan base they do not need much advertising, apart from placing the main, most-loved characters from the franchise. This alone is enough to bring in readers as they want to know more about their favourite franchise. Just above the title of the film, is a tagline which reads 'on set in Middle-Earth'. This tells the readers that the author went to the set and has an exclusive insight to the behind the scenes. This will mean lots of people want to read the magazine as they want the behind the scenes information from their favourite films, giving them a better insight to the workings of the film. It also says 'Here come the Elves' which suggests there is more than one cover of this issue, this means fans of the franchise can buy lots of different covers of the magazine so they have the collection of all their favourite characters. Similarly Entertainment weekly and Total Film use an iconic, famous character from a film. Entertainment Weekly use Captain America while Total Film use Katniss from The Hunger Games. Both these characters are well-known over the globe, and will draw in readers from an already wide fan-base. Both characters are in full-costume and make-up which makes them more-recognisable to their films. The focus is put on both these characters as they are what is going to draw in money for the company. Like Empire, both these magazines are offering an insight to the films, this draws in an audience as it means they can get a behind the scenes look. This is a common idea for Film Magazines as it gives their readers something to read other than just about the film itself, which is usually what they find in interviews, panels and synopsis. Entertainment Weekly are keeping their focus on 'Captain America' as this is where the money is in this particular issue. This mean the rest of the front cover is quite bare. In comparison Total Film have a very busy Front Cover with other massive blockbuster titles such as 'The Avengers', 'The Dark Knight Rises' and 'Prometheus'. This tells the reader that they have lots of articles on the big blockbusters rather than focusing on just one. This is to bring in a bigger audience as they have more than one film to offer. They also mention an article called 'Exclusive: Joss Whedon does Horror' this tells the reader that no one else has this story, that it is exclusive to this particular film. It is also a very recognisable name, Joss Whedon who directed and produced 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has also won lots of awards so is well known in the film industry. This means a wider audience for the magazine issue, as Joss Whedon already has a huge fan base and if he has released some exclusive news his fans will want to know what it is.
I need to make sure I use some of the ideas in my own magazine, as it means my own product will be just as successful as these. I plan to use my main characters for the front cover, and surround it with different articles which relate and will interest a wide range of readers. |