How I made my magazine

Finalcut from briewe25

Changes made because of the feedback, continued

1. First draft

2. Final draft 

"The subheadings don't stand out enough, even though they are all different topics it appears as though they all say the same thing. However the colour scheme goes really well I like that the smoke seems to go around the main actor." 

1. Another target audience member see the problem with the subheadings this is a major problem as it lets down the whole magazine piece as the text takes up so much of the magazine layout. 
2. I changed the colour of the sub-headings as it was recommended in the audience feedback, I chose yellow as it seemed to match the colour scheme, as a another shade of red would've blended into page too much. 

Changes made because of the feedback

1. First draft

2. Second draft

3. Final draft

"The title of the film Th1rt3enth stands out but because it is written in typical font is makes the film title blend into the page. I think you should change it to the same font you used in your trailer."

1. From this piece of constructive criticism I realised I had spent a lot of time making the main image look professional, and seem to let the text be a after thought. These are the stages to the change magazine title, the first title looked clumpy and the red seemed to be not the right shade. As well as this it lacked character and this meant it stood out more. 
2. The second draft had more character and the red was more intense, but it seemed to blend in with the rest of the magazine. I listened to the criticism and used the same font to the trailer. 
3. The final draft made the title stand out far more and drew attention to the film. It also gave the audience of the magazine clues about the genre of the film. 

First draft of magazine cover

This is the first draft of my magazine cover, I deliberately used colours of red as it is associated horror. I used Photoshop CS5 to create the magazine as I was very experienced with it. I decided to get feedback from my target audience as they are the people who will buy the magazine. 

"The overall appearance of the magazine is good, especially the main image but the text lets it down."

From this comment I totally understood what they meant as the text could appear almost all the same except for the title of thirteen. I feel I should give subheadings a different font or colour to make it stand out more. 

"The subheadings don't stand out enough, even though they are all different topics it appears as though they all say the same thing. However the colour scheme goes really well I like that the smoke seems to go around the main actor." 

Another target audience member see the problem with the subheadings this is a major problem as it lets down the whole magazine piece as the text takes up so much of the magazine layout. 

As I compare my magazine subheadings to a August 2015 Film magazine I can understand that my fonts do not stick out, this is important as the subheadings draw the audience in as it lets them know what is in the magazine. 

"The title of the film Th1rt3enth stands out but because it is written in typical font is makes the film title blend into the page. I think you should change it to the same font you used in your trailer."

From this piece of constructive criticism I realised I had spent a lot of time making the main image look professional, and seem to let the text be a after thought. 

"There are no social media links or even a website most film posters contain at least one."

This is something else I will be adding as it is a key convention in a modern day magazine.

To conclude, the feedback from my target audience review I received many comments on the subheadings so this is something that I will be amending, as well as this I have decided that the title for the film on the magazine will be changed to the same font that was used in the magazine cover. It keeps a certain level of continuity to both of the ancillary texts, as well as this I will add a web address for the magazine too.

Poster layout changes

Del chose to change the layout/mock up positioning’s of the poster. Before I featured the protagonist, antagonist and "Marlo", this created a busier design which left too much space featuring dark areas wasted space. 

Therefore Del chose to take inspiration from film posters such as Scream, Carrie and Woman in black; Del felt their posters were effective in simply conveying the genre of horror as well as just including the protagonist. Del decided to to use the same layout for my poster with the protagonist, "Hannah". We also realised that the extreme close up shot made certain characters instantly recognisable so it made sense to put the protagonist on the front as she drives the plot.

New poster layout

As you can see Del decided that the poster should only contain "Hannah" this was due to her being the protagonist. Hannah had most of the screen time in the trailer this meant that it allowed for her to be almost instantly recognised by the audience who have seen our trailer. Del and I also decided to make Hannah the center pieces for both of our ancillary texts to further illustrate her major role in the film. 

While to old mock up of the poster used three characters we realised from our audience feedback that it could was slightly disorganised and in an attempt to draw the characters together we had to add very dark shadows. In one sense the overall darkness fits the genre of Horror but our target audience found the darkness took up so much of the page it was hard for the characters to stand out individually.  

Credit: Del

Photo shoot for magazine

click left and right keys to navigate:


Some of the shots were selected to be used in the magazine.

Credit: Del

Magazine layout

Here is a basic mock up of our magazine we decided it would more realistic to go with an already well known magazine brand than creating our own. I felt that Total Film magazine would be more fitting as it showcases all genres of films and it adapts seamlessly to each film it shows. This was something that made choosing this magazine seem far more attractive it meant that I was able to be far more creative as the magazine is too. This meant that although our magazine was in fact an imitation of the original it would still appear to realistic and of a high standard, due to the flexibility of the original magazine.  

Examples of some of Total Films issues, showcasing their creative particularly the difference in the title to suit each film. 

When picking a total magazine to focus on and to compare to. I took inspiration from many magazines but tried to focus on magazines that had two people as their main image as this is how I intend to layout our magazine. With the Masthead usually staying in the same place remaining at the top of the page this meant that this convention of the particular magazine would have to stay the same. Other features of the magazine such as the positioning of the film title were interchangeable as they varies from cover to cover.