Magazine Cover.
Research.
In order to create our magazine, we first did some research in to other well established film magazines. We looked for the styles, colours, pictures, e.t.c and saw what made a successful film magazine. We already had an idea as to what our was going to look like and so looked around for magazine covers that were similar to our idea. We decided to deconstruct "Empire" magazine as it is a well established brand and is in the forefront of bringing the latest news and information about the biggest blockbusters.
This film magazine had a similar colour scheme to what we were thinking. The big red title stands out and it is clear to see who the magazine cover is from, even though the actor's head covers it up a bit. The actor himself is in character, but not on set; something we realised was a theme that ran throughout Empire magazine covers. The overall tone is dark, hinting towards a serious and/or mysterious film. The colour scheme is similar to ours; the blue sci-fi look is exactly the kind we were looking for. The text is all around the character and this makes him the central figure of the cover, making sure the person who sees the magazine cover can identify the character and know what the magazine's special is about. This is something we may try to do in our cover as we want the audience to have an idea that the character we have gives an indication to the story.
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We liked this style of having the character in front of the title of the magazine as it just helps everything to look more "natural" and not thrown on. The big red font really helps it to stand out and we think that this is something we will also use in ours. The fact that the actors head covers the title does not really matter as the magazine is a well established brand and even though you cannot read all of it, it is still easy to tell that this Empire magazine and so it does not matter that the head covers it all.
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The other thing that stood out to us was the actor himself. We noticed that he was standing in a manner that showed he was powerful and in control. Also, this was a mid shot of him, and we noticed that Empire used both mid shots and close ups in their magazines. The other thing we noticed was that the actor was actually in character, and what this does is helps the person looking at the magazine to know that this magazine is about this character, and so automatically know what film this is about. We would try and use the mid shot in our magazine as we want to give the audience a look in to the actor rather than have just his face that would take up nearly all of the magazine.
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In this part of the magazine we noticed that there was not a single secondary image anywhere. All the features for other films were actually just text and what this does is put more emphasis on the actor and the character that is being portrayed. The features themselves are in one way or another related to the overall theme of the magazine cover, and we will try and emulate this in ours, possibly having a sci-fi theme running in our cover with features related to the genre.
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Just as the above cover, this poster too has the colour scheme similar to what we want. The dark blue gives off a very sci-fi look, something we would try and emulate in ours. The one thing to notice here is that the title of the film is written across the front of the magazine, and in a style which is similar to the overall sci-fi look of the cover. This is something different to the one above, where the title is pushed to the side and is not the central text we have to read. We will look to take inspiration from this one as we like the idea of having the text written in front and in the style of the films genre. This cover also has different images (not just the actor) which are from the film. The images work in conjunction with the overall feel and look of the cover, giving an idea to its narrative and genre. The character himself is very dominant and is in the centre of the magazine cover, indicating that he is the main image and should be the focus when people look at the cover.
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We really liked the style in which this feature was written out for one of the upcoming films. Its as if it has been written in a box format, stretching the text and title to make sure it all fits. Another thing about this is that is has been linked in to the genre of the main film, which is sci-fi; a theme we saw that came up in their other magazines as well. This, we feel, makes these magazines very successful as they are able to stay true to the genre they are presenting to the audience.
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Here we can see that the title of the film has been given a glow effect, making it stand out more; but more importantly giving an indication to the genre, and conforming to the overall feel and tone of the cover. The one thing we noticed in this was the text above it. "Bond & Indy" gives the audicen an indication as to who is in the film. Since we see Daniel Craig on the cover, we can assume that he is the protagonist and there is the "Bond" bit of that element. The "Indy" we can assume is referring to Indiana Jones, and so Harrison Ford, who we can guess will also be in the film. So the text here has helped us to get an idea as to who is in the film and what the film is about, even though there is only a picture of Daniel Craig and a title of the film.
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This poster incorporates the sci-fi nature of the film with the intellectual side, shown through the 3 dimensional background and the powerful, moody figure of Leonardo Di-Caprio. With this poster the title of the film is the centre point, above all of the images seen. This conforms with the usual conventions of the sci-fi. There is also a metallic hue feel to the poster which creates a fantastical feel. The actor skin is quite light but with touches of blue to signify that the film is a sci-fi. The addition of similar movie titles on the sides also work well with the poster as they are all science fiction. There is this element of being in a box gained from this poster that works and also relates to our film where the main character is inside a metallic container. The images of the city blurred out in the background in a light blue, blurred fashion creates this sense of imagination which is prevalent in this poster.
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In this part you can see that the director's name is given and the title is written underneath it. In other covers we saw, we noticed that they would have the director's name either on the bottom, or not at all. We liked this one because it gives the audience an indication as to who the film is from, and if they know their previous work, would be able to assume if the film would be good or not. We will try and use this technique as we want to make the film seem like a massive Hollywood blockbuster, and so want to give the Director credibility by having his name before the film title.
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Here we can see Leonardo DiCaprio standing face on, in a way that makes him seem powerful and confident. Again, he is in character and we know this because he looks very serious and has a gun in his hand, indicating to the audience about his character and what role he might play in the film. We can see that his picture has been given a slight blue tint, this helps establish the fact that the film he is in is a sci-fi, and the gun gives an indication in to it also having a thriller element to it.
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Planning.
Initial Plan.The first thing we thought about when planning our magazine cover was what title we should have for it. We wanted to give it a name which would suggest from the onset that it is film related, and so came up with three different name: View, Capture and Scope. We decided to go with Capture for two reasons. The first was because it is a word that links in to cameras in the sense that a camera captures images, thus giving the sense that the magazine is a film related magazine. The second reason was because it is a magazine that has interviews and previews and so "captures" the actor and what they are in the film, again giving a sense that it is a film related magazine. The nest thing we thought about was how we would compose the magazine, in its layout, colours, images, e.t.c. We took inspiration from magazines we had seen and came up with 2 close up and 2 mid shot magazine styles. As a group we decided not to use the close up as we though it wouldnt give the feel that we were looking for, and so decided to go for a mid shot. Then we had to think about where the picture would be, whether it would be on set or in front of a green scree, also taking in to account whte
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