A2 Media CourseworkMagazine Cover

Idea behind Magazine CoverAs my main actor for my Teaser Trailer is a young boy I thought it a little inappropriate to put a photo of him on the cover of my magazine. Plus looking at other covers from existing magazines, there are rarely children included on them and if there are, an adult actor is usually with them (see The Golden Compass cover for Empire Magazine)

I therefore decided that following the recent success of Katherine Bigelow at the Oscars, I wanted to do something a little more topical so I chose to photograph the ‘new, up and coming female directors’. With a little help from my media teacher, I came up with a fitting cover line that worked well. I then took photographs to match that cover line.

Originally I wanted to have just one person on my cover but I couldn’t get the right kind of photo that would work on a Magazine Cover. This is a selection of the photos I took.

After realising what I wanted my cover line to be I knew I needed three people

for my photo. However these photos don’t work because my models were a little uncomfortable and wouldn’t pose.

After taking a succession of unsuccessful photos like the examples I have included on this slide, I finally found one that I thought would be suitable for my Magazine Cover.

I chose this image as I feel it was the strongest one out of the many I took. They are all

looking at the camera and the composition is interesting

I used the Quick Selection tool on Photoshop to cut

them out so they are on a white background

I chose to use the Empire Magazine as my masthead because I like their

magazines and after looking at some of the other magazine covers,

I feel that Empire gives me more creative scope.

Both the website and some sort of comment are featured on all of their

magazine covers so to make professional I have included them too.

I then added the top part as it was a little empty and many of the

magazines have something similar to this on them. I chose black and gold

because they work really well with the red.

As I had come up with the cover line before I took the photo, it was easy

enough to make. I wanted the title to be big and stand out. I chose to write it in red as it links with the

masthead.

I have also added a date to the top of the magazine in the style that

Empire magazine do theirs.

Many of professional publications stories can be included in different shapes so I chose to do a circle as I think it stands out well. I chose to make it gold to link with the text at the top. The red and black text stands out against the gold but also links with other areas of the cover.

The other articles of the magazine have been written in red and gold to again

link with the rest of the magazine.

I have added a few things to my magazine cover. I added a black

edge to the gold circle as I think this makes it stand out far better.

I have put halos over the B and A in my cover line to link with the text and I think this works really well.

I have put gold lines under the articles and I think this makes them

stand out more.

There is a barcode in the bottom left-hand side to make it look more

authentic.

Finally I added the words ‘AND MUCH MORE in the bottom right to make readers want to find out what else is included in the magazine.

I have made a few adjustments to my magazine cover here. When looking at other existing covers I realised that the cover line is usually more closely linked

to the picture so I have moved it up. However this meant moving the rest of my text around to ensure it all fitted and

didn’t look too busy.

I have added the text at the bottom left as this is commonly included in

professional covers.

I have made the two circles smaller and moved them down to fill the gap I

created when moving the cover line. I also moved the barcode up to fill the

gap under the web address.

I have added a drop shadow the the majority of the text as this is something

professional publications do