Creating the film magazine

This presentation takes you through step by step how I created my film magazine cover.

Magazine Cover Design 1This design will have a full cover image over the front. The Masthead will be on top of it, filling the width of the page. I will have only two sell lines as I like the look of film magazines that are simple with an effective cover image and colours. I could also add another image on top of the cover image showing another film. The barcode and issue price/date will be in the bottom right corner.

Magazine Cover Design 2This is my second design and it will have a full cover image over the front. The Masthead will be to the left and will stay on that side, it will not cover the width of the page. Therefore I can add a sell line if wanted beside it on the right. It could have four sell lines showing different information on what’s in the magazine which might help to draw other people in who go by the information given not the style and images. Also, film magazines tend to have a lot of sell lines so it would look more professional this way. However, as there would be so many sell lines I wouldn’t add anymore images as it would be too cramped if not. The barcode and issue price/date could be on the left and rotated on the side.

InspirationsI like the Empire Iron Man magazine for my second design as there are sell lines but not too many like film magazines tend to have. This way it’s not too busy which is better for people who can’t be bothered to read everything on the page. The colours all blend together well which I think gives a good effect.

The magazine cover with no sell lines is a limited edition which means it doesn’t need many sell lines and the cover

image tells you what you need to know. For a general magazine you need a few sell lines other wise it’s too

boring.

Ideas – layout, appearance, colours, features…

I am going to have my actor on the front cover in a suit. This looks more professional for the magazine as if looks as if a photo shoot has occurred especially for the magazine cover image rather than an image that looks like a still from the movie. I might take a picture for a background or I might just make the magazine background colour black or dark navy. I prefer the magazine cover design 1 for this cover with the masthead behind the cover image in places. I may use a lot of sell lines to keep it looking like a film magazine cover. I might also take another image of someone as a still from another movie or of an actress.

Names• Academy – “Academy of Motion Picture”• Motion – “Motion Picture”• Ozoner - Slang for a drive-in theatre

• These are all film terminology which will be relevant to the genre of my magazine.

Photos I might use (Cover image)

I like this image as it is a full body shot which you usually see on front covers. He looks smart and is out of character but is also posing.

This image is a serious shot of his face which I could use to look as if he is having a photo shoot. The watch being up close also brings in the concept of time which is a main feature in my film.

In this image the time is set to 11:11 on his watch which adds part of the film into it. However, as he is smiling this might be too off character.

Photos I wont use (Cover image)

In this image his tie is not in the centre which would look unprofessional on the cover. It is also taken too far away so some features on his face are not focused on.

Not being able to see his face properly in this image may not look good on a magazine cover. It looks like an unprofessional photo shoot and possibly a mug shot.

Other photos I will use

I took this photo on a trip to Warner Bros Studios (Harry Potter) in March 2013. I thought to use this image as it is film related and can be an ‘extra feature’ on my front cover. People who know Harry Potter well will recognise it. The dark colours of this image will also blend in well on the cover.

The model in this photo is wearing an Alice In Wonderland costume and holding a Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit prop. I will use this as an extra to advertise a new Alice film.

Final Image Choice

I chose this image as he is looking at the camera which draws you in. The mid shot also fills the cover rather than the image of him standing in a long shot.

This way the cover will look busy and have a lot to look at so it’s not dull or boring.

Creating the Poster

Photoshop

Here I used the background eraser tool and put the tolerance down to 14%. This made sure that by clicking along side my model it removed the background around him but not parts of his body. I did this in all the places it allowed me to and other wise I used the eraser tool to do it by hand.

After this I used the eraser tool and made the brush bigger to remove the background

by hand. This is a quicker way to remove the parts of the background that are away

from the part you want to keep.

Background eraser toolEditing

Here, I used the spot healing brush tool to remove features I did not want. By clicking on the parts of his face bit by bit it removes the feature gradually, for example a spot. Or in my case, the bit of facial hair under his lip, which I did not want as I needed him to look tidy and professional.

Spot healing brush toolEditing

Fonts for the Masthead

This font called ‘showcase’ is the font you see at the cinema showing the name of the film so it’s a very relevant font for a film magazine.

I think this font looks like the kind that would be on a magazine as it’s got bold capital letters and is neat,

clear and simple.

I like this font as it’s different but may not look very

effective on my magazine due to the curves coming off

of it.

Ideas – developed…After editing the background for my magazine I decided to try black as the background colour and it looks really effective against the models white shirt. Also, film magazines are usually quite dark and different and very rarely have a white background.

Final Font Choice for the MastheadI chose the ‘showcase’ font as it links to cinemas and looks the most effective as well as different and unique. The white stands out of the black background and so the title will catch your eye. I put the font layer behind the cover image as I think this looks the most effective with him in the middle. You can also see that it is a ‘T’ behind his head and doesn’t leave you having to figure it out. It will also show confidence in the cover as it doesn’t need to show all the letters in the masthead to be recognised. However I removed the part of the font which displayed the shape of lights as I didn’t think it would look right on a magazine cover and would stick out badly.

Barcode FontI got the barcode for my magazine from dafont.com. On this website you can choose a font and type in what you like, and then a preview of the text appears. I print screened this into Photoshop.

Adding other imagesScattering the images along the bottom looks better than putting them along the sides I found from practising and experimenting with different layouts. I’ve also had to lower the exposure on the images otherwise the colours were too bright and didn’t blend in well with the cover which I want to keep darker and not too bright.

ColoursFor colours on my front cover, I went for white fonts to match the colour of his shirt and red to match the colour of his tie. I also used black fonts where it can be seen to change it a bit here and there. However the red tie was too dark so after I used the eyedropper tool to copy the colour, I edited it to make it lighter. The colours stay the same throughout the cover just like other magazines tend to do. For example, this Total Film cover uses blues, whites and blacks apart from the extra images.

IdeasAfter adding sell lines to my cover I realised that only having a few makes it look too

bare, plain and un-interesting. Therefore I’m going to fill it up with sell lines as much as I can. I have made 2 new designs for the cover. However, I probably won’t stick to any

of them perfectly and will change things around a bit.

Fonts – sell lines…

This is a basic font that is easy to read which is what is needed on a front cover. However it might be too thick.

This font is simple and thin which would be

effective as it wouldn’t be too over the top.

This font is basic for sell lines and is easy to read.

I can use all these fonts on my front cover and mix them up so it doesn’t look too plain.

Adding sell lines

Firstly, I added text on where the other added images are to show that these images are what’s also included in the magazine. I also added a sell line to display a free magazine inside. The capitals make this stand out and it’s also a slightly large font.

Adding sell lines

I gradually added these sell lines starting with the ‘11:11’ sell line. I made this larger as it is the main focus of the magazine. I used the font ‘Pristina’ for the ‘make a wish’ part, from my poster on the cover to keep continuity and to help people recognise the film. Such as the Harry Potter font which is recognisable. I added ‘Catching Fire’ features as at the time of my magazine’s date (November 2013) this film was being released. Also as it is near to the end of the year I added ‘Films to see in 2014’. I mixed up the colours of red and white. The important parts are highlighted with the red font.

I prefer this layout as it has large sell lines which stand out and make the cover look full of information which is interesting and eye catching. Having the images at the bottom looks a lot better as the are tilted and scattered. On the other layout they were too precisely displayed and took up a lot of space. This is why I cut down to using just two images. Also, putting the images at the bottom gives me more room to make large sell lines. The other layout also didn’t look very much like a magazine cover whereas this one does.

The main font I used was ‘Markofontina’ as it looks professional, it’s easy to read and it stands out. I also used it for the title on my poster so the ‘11:11’ on my magazine looks familiar.

Fonts – sell lines…

Fonts – sell lines…

I used the font ‘In-House Edition’ for the ‘also featuring’ as its bold and stands out and would draw your attention to what’s

inside the magazine.

I also used the font ‘Vanadine’ to give a variety to the fonts I used and for certain sell lines to stand out in a different way. If I used the same font over and over all the sell lines would look the same and nothing would catch your eye.

Logo Fonts

To fill in the spaces I found a logo font from dafont.com. I used the Warner Bros logo and Disney

logo to match the smaller images I have at the bottom of the magazine. I then coloured them to make them look like the real logo. I also took the opacity down so

that it looked more effective.

Final Result