2. Magazine Production.
Picture Editing- Mise en scene and
lighting
For my first step I began with creating a portrait
layer for my main image and then added a black
and white background of a city landscape to convey
the genre of my magazines featured film included in
this months issue which is also the movie my main
cover star Harry will feature in. As my featured film
of this months issue is a period action/ crime thriller
Called Gun Smoke I have designed the magazine
cover to conform to film genre conventions of a
crime thriller and edited lighting to make the overall
image black and white to again reference to the time
period the film is set in and re establish the classic
film era codes and conventions. I then added gun
shots cracking glass to signify the featured films
action connotations linking to the films name Gun
Smoke and create a rugged look, this design feature
inspired by such cover photos as Empires James
Bond Skyfall issue. As my film is called Gun Smoke
i have created a smoky effect with my main images
opatency, fading the stars form to give him a smoky
ghostly look as though disappearing into the
background conveying the stealthy personality my
stars portrayed as the character. I have made sure
the stars costume is black and white in pre
production to fit with my magazine genre. I have
then added a film reel at the bottom to contain
images of other featured cover lines within my
magazine to be added later.
3. Step 2
Adding key shapes and a bold Title
I continued to add key shapes and banners to
my cover image as well as a masthead and
skyline which relates to important events in the
film world ( The Oscars) in an iconic graphic font
adding an extra element of interest to the
advertisement of my magazines publication. I
used the opatency tool to fade my main banner/
shape cutting across the middle so the image
beneath is still clearly visible taking no attention
away from the main image cover star as he is the
focal point of my magazine. I proceeded to use
the magic wand tool to erase the white boxes
inside my film reel to make room for other images
relating to my sell lines and added a splash/puff
outlined in gold to signify importance as used
with the gold skyline, gold connoting glamour and
wealth as well as importance.
4. Step 3
Adding Text/ Sell Lines
Sell lines and a sub heading were added including a bar
code and and visual effects such as the bullet through
the sub heading to connote action, the bar code added to
keep with the traditional layout of a magazine cover and
include a price element for publishing needs. The fonts
included kept with the overall genre conventions and
classic film era text taken from the online website
DaFont.com, the text was then screenshotted from the
original homepage, cropped and then the magic wand
tool was used to erase any remaining white background
behind the text. I have repeated this technique for the
rest of my main sub text and for smaller sell lines have
kept the white background behind the text and used the
paint pot tool to change the background colour to make
any remaining text stand out no matter how small so all
sell lines are given equal importance on the page. Any
remaining imperfections such as incomplete cropped text
boxes or copy and pasted images edited with the magic
wand tool are corrected with the eraser tool.
5. Completed Cover
Final cover- with pictures for sell-lines and bar code
For my final touches to my completed cover I have added key images
to draw the attention of my target audience such as through the
previews for different films and ads on my puff for included
merchandise inside when buyers purchase my magazine, adding an
extra element of interest for my consumers as they feel as though
they will be receiving ‘more for their money.’. For other sell lines such
as for my bottom right ‘Previews’ Heading allows audiences to see a
wide variety of genres featured which appeals to all personal
preferences instead of only the genre featured through my main
cover image. Bullet pointed stars have been added to signify
importance and iconic symbols such as the Oscar ties in with the
featured Oscar gold edition news. I have also taken away any other
primary images which were not mine and replaced them with more
cover lines and anchorage texts.
