Constructing film magazine review pageJack Girvin

The text of the film review was already split into 3 categories so I looked to place them where I saw appropriate. I couldn’t have any text down the middle as there would be a supposed “fold” there, what with it being a double page spread. I also didn’t want to place much text over the character which meant the concentration of my text was to sit behind that cliff top. Font colour was a problem due to the background image being quite bright and having various colours. After a bit of thinking I decided to continue the formal white font style but I’d place a green rectangle behind it at 50% opacity so you could still see the background image and read the text clearly. I then inverted the other text. As for the review font, I chose Minion Pro, to follow the formal style and continuity of fonts I’ve used previously.

Text

Page numbers and style

The page numbers were similar style to what I did for my AS Foundation portfolio. A square box with a number centralised inside it. I like this style because it is very neat and clean. The lines at the top and bottom of the page are there for style and also serve a good purpose of focusing the page. So the page numbers come up and off it from bottom and at the top the title hangs off it and so does the author credit. I like the way I’ve used the white title and how it just sits off that white line, looks very clean and formal. The author credit is similar to the page number in the fact that it rests on a line and is a white rectangle with green text within. I decide to go for a colour scheme of black, white + one other, in this case green.

The ‘Verdict’ paragraph

Now this paragraph took a lot of care and attention as it is very important. I went with a “branded” verdict so used the phrase “Our DIRECTOR’S CUT Verdict” which implies it’s part of a regular piece and catalog of film reviews. Then the highlighted the score they had given the film and as with the other paragraphs enlarged the first character to a bigger font size. This was a 1.5pt increase. I aligned the text with the edge of the page number, allowing a bleed/safe zone around the whole double page. Then the green line was implemented as I felt without it this paragraph didn’t draw as much attention and there was a blank space between title and paragraph but it would be too cramped if I moved the text together.

Background image

Now the background image in my opinion didn’t need much manipulation or work to it as I liked the colours as they were however I did use the “Auto Colour” tool to fix the colours and preferred the fixed version. I tried using auto tone and auto contrast but didn’t like the results so I reverted it back. This is my favourite shot from the whole short film and I decided to use it for both my film poster and film magazine review page.