Lucy-Anne Richardson

Development Diary – Magazine Front Cover

I started by looking through the original images I took during the photo shoot, as it was both for the poster and magazine front cover. I decided to use a similar image to that of the poster, as I want the magazine to show her as the character instead of the actress. I chose an image of Amy with her hands up against glass as I thought it could look like her hands were holding against the page. I also liked it as she is staring straightforward meaning she would be staring at the audience. This could make them feel uncomfortable which would be the aim. I placed it onto Photoshop and used the magnetic lasso tool to go around it. I then used the quick mask tool in order to erase certain sections the lasso had missed. I then copied it and pasted it onto the already black background. I want to start of with a black background as it is in keeping with the poster and the genre. I also used it on my mock up designs, as well as white – connoting innocence - and red – connoting blood - as a similar house style. This also links in with the characters costume in the picture as she is wearing a white floral dress showing her innocence and naivety. Although I had used the quick mask tool to make the edges look better, when the image was up against the black background, the edges looked jagged. I went into blending options and used the inner shadow to soften the edges. It also blended it slightly into the background, which made it look much better. The image also seemed too bright which doesn’t fit in with the kind of atmosphere and message I want to get across. I went to image and adjustments and levels, in order to make the image darker and eerie. Also, by making the image darker, the edges didn’t stand out as much and made the eyes look strange as if she were possessed which worked really well.

I used the name ‘dread’ on my mock up designs for the magazine cover, however now looking back it is too similar to my production company name as well as being situated with the horror genre rather than the magazine. I asked a few classmates who are in the same process of creating a media product, which name they thought fitted the magazine including dread, reel, digital and take – which all relate to the film itself. The majority of people chose ‘digital’ which I also agreed with as not only does it include my trailer, it is also more realistic as the magazine would not be solely based upon The

Lucy-Anne Richardson

Swarm; it would have other films involved also. I liked the font – Trajan Pro – which I used on the poster so I tried it out for the title. If it doesn’t fit in correctly when I finish the magazine cover, I can change it as it will be easier to compare. From doing a magazine cover for an AS project, I had the idea to do two straplines, one at the top and one at the bottom of the page to make it more interesting, as well as showing the audience what the magazine can offer such as “exclusive interviews” etc. Also, hypothetically, once the magazine is sat on a shelf ready to be sold, the front cover be covered up, however it is possible that the top of the page can be shown so this is why I chose to use a strapline at the top as well as the bottom. I felt that as I carried on, the background was just too plain and boring. However, I did not want to use a background, as it would look too over the top. I found this when I tried using a forest/trees in the background, and changing the opacity. As I expected, it was too busy and looked amateur. I came up with the idea of creating a smokey effect on the black background. Firstly, I formed a new page on Photoshop and made the background black. I then chose a new layer and picked a white colour as it is in keeping with my house style as well as being a bold contrast yet subtle as the smoke colour will be white. By clicking on filter, render and clouds, it automatically created an effect on the page. However, it was too full on. The next step was to use the pen (making sure the colour was black) and make some marks – as seen below. Although the dots look strange and random, it did not matter as I had used a black pen so that once I put it onto the magazine cover, it would look different. Making sure I was on the correct layer, I went to the layer pallet on the right hand side of Photoshop and lowered the opacity, which made a smokey effect behind the actress.

This looked really effective, compared to a plain black background that I now realise was not a good choice. By looking at different film magazine covers, it has shown that the majority of them have the title of the magazine at the top of the page and the name of the film at the bottom accompanying the image. I decided

Lucy-Anne Richardson

to do this also as it seemed odd to have the characters picture there without somewhat explaining why. I didn’t want to have the text exactly the same as the magazine title so I wrote out the text ‘Swarm’ and went to filter, blur and motion blur. (Making it a 90 degree angle and 40 distance) which made a smudge smokey effect) which not only fits in with the background but also typical conventions of horror/scary films. I then went through the same process – but making the text white instead of black – and placed it behind the black text as I thought it looked effective and blurry. It is not obvious but it makes a slight effect. I found that I really liked the look of this effect and decided to do the same thing on the poster too. However, as the title in the poster is already white, I used the blurry white copy and moved it slightly to the side.

(As stated above, as I went through the process, I tried different fonts for the title of the magazine. Originally I had used Trajan Pro, as it was the same as ‘The Swarm’ text on the poster. However, now I have had the idea to include ‘The Swarm’ on the magazine cover as well, I now want to use this font for that instead of the masthead – also noting that I did not want the masthead the same as the film title. I have now used Impact for the title as it goes well with ‘digital’ as the text actually looks digital. By going into the layer pallet and right clicking onto blending options, I could use an inner shadow, bevel and emboss etc. which created a blurry red outline (the chosen colour being red to fit in with the house style and genre).

I took inspiration from Empire and Total Film, as they are very successful magazines. On many front covers that I have seen, they have used a film reel going across the page (examples below) which I think is really effective, not only because it gives more information, but also because it looks visually effective. I especially like the placement of the barcode in one of the sections. Top film reel image was taken from

the Internet as an example so I could create my own (above)

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I decided to create my own reel in Photoshop, as I can’t copy ones from the Internet or from magazines, as it would not be my own work. I used the shapes in order to create it. Once I had input all of the shapes in the correct place, I used the shift button and clicked each layer I had created, in order to link them all together – making it easier to move around. As stated previously, as I cannot take images from the Internet

because they aren’t original (taken or produced by myself) I thought I could use images from my own trailer, which I filmed in the boxes as an ‘insight’ into ‘The Swarm’.

As I was adding in the reel, I decided that the image I had chosen for the poster was a really good image with effective editing. I thought that even tough the one I have used for the magazine cover is good and editing exactly how I wanted it, I felt that the pose in the other picture suited it better. I inserted this picture and kept everything else in the exact same place just to compare. I am now going to use the same picture due to the pose as it suits both products effectively.

I was originally going to use ‘The Possession, Saw, Cabin in the Woods, The Swarm’ etc. for the strapline at the top of the page. However, as I wanted to use another strapline at the bottom, I have used ‘exclusive interviews new images competitions news” to let the readers know what the magazine holds. I decided to make the top strapline more interesting and somewhat colourful as it could be what the readers see first – on the shelf as explained above, for example. I wanted to use older horror as well as the new contemporary films so I used “From The Shining to Saw: The 50 must-see horror movies” which I think is an effective way to draw readers in. Especially a range of readers and adults will remember The Shining from the 1980’s, whereas younger readers would perhaps prefer Saw, for example. The use of the colour yellow on ‘50’ had made the number stand out. Especially as it is a large number, meaning the magazine has a lot to offer. A yellow star was then added to make it look like a brand new addition to the magazine, as well as the colour connoting excitement and contrasting completely with the red and black. I then looked at different ideas for the cover lines such as ‘Top 20 screams’ ‘Top 10 villains’ ‘Flashback to the 80’s’ and ‘Free poster inside’. I decided to use three cover lines as I did not want to make the page too busy as it already has quite a few aspects to it - especially as I have now included the film reel. I tried it in white, black and red and none seemed to work well, and it was also difficult to read clearly. I then used the same yellow I have used for the star and ‘50’ in the strapline, which worked out well as it was easily readable, links in with the other

Lucy-Anne Richardson

yellows included and was bright to attract the reader. I also used ‘Trajan Pro’ for the font as it linked in well with the other text – also I only wanted to use two different fonts on the cover so it don’t make it too over the top.