ANCILLARY TASK: MAGAZINE FRONT COVER- PROGRESS

I am producing a magazine cover that is unique and specific enough for the lighter mood I wanted to portray in contrast to the darker tone of my film poster. The name of the magazine is 'Sporting World Now' and I used this title as I want to appeal to a mass sporting audience. I took inspiration from the real magazine 'Rugby World' but I felt the size of my potential audience could be maximised distributing to as large as possible sporting demographic.

Typically film posters will differ from magazine covers as they provide another angle for viewers. one of the ways in which they do this is by offering a 'behind the scenes' perspective. Often for films with posters that deliberately try to create a sense of mystery. The consequence is that a different group of people are appealed. some people might not be interested in the mystery film posters and my lighter magazine cover appeals to a wider audience.

This post will show the developments that I made using Adobe Photoshop and explain the thinking behind the different features of my magazine cover.

This was a draft in the initial stages of my magazine cover production and I thought it was a good image as it showed his isolation and was also mysterious as you couldn't see his face.

However, after feedback from my peers and my own further research into sporting magazine covers it became clear that the central image was typically a close up of a single sporting star and in some cases the main protagonist of a film. I kept the title font the same but changed the image to follow the generic convention of the main protagonist being the key focus of the cover. 

As you can see above, this is the image I chose. This was because it looked more professional and realistic to magazine covers in general but principally sport and film. For example, Rugby World and Empire magazines. As seen above the character's head is superimposed over the masthead. This is conventional for magazine covers where the focus is on the individual. Danny Care, England rugby player, is seen below in the Rugby World magazine striking a similar strong and pensive pose.

I used the magic wand tool to remove the bland background of the picture. This allowed me to deploy a more sharply contrasting background. This gave the individual emphasis, and the cover a greater sense of depth.

I researched a possible background image and experimented with the filter effects available on Adobe Photoshop. I wanted the background to be a stadium as it represents the nature of his dream in the film and doesn't significantly draw focus away from the individual. I used the 'glass' blurring effect on Photoshop to further contrast the resolution between the two images.

I then added the blurred stadium behind the key figure and the title, which I also enlarged and modified to make it look crisper and more professional. The space around the central image means I can add certain features to make the cover realistic and smarter and the white t-shirt allows me to be able to put text over him.

I believe that the white of his shirt contrasts well with the golden colour of the title and the size of the central image and the colour of the title draw the attention of the audience. The title is bold and unique to me  and appeals to not just an audience of rugby fans but those interested in sport in general.

Puns and short questions are characteristic of magazine covers for popular interests. I implemented these features in the single phrase 'Is Alex March on the ascent this year?'. I also added a barcode and price at the bottom of the page as this is in line with the convention. 'Our top 10 sports' also offers the opinion of the magazine and readers may feel they can relate or learn from these opinions and want to look inside.

I added a 'special edition' tag at the bottom to increase the appeal to the audience and the 'also inside' feature is utilised on my cover to offer content to the mass sporting audience.
The co-star in my film trailer also has an exclusive interview, seen below the 'Exclusive!' on my cover and this appeals more effectively to a female audience as she is representing them in a sporting production and detracting the perceptions that sport, and rugby in particular is male dominated.

This is still a work in progress but I believe I have a strong cover to develop on and I am happy with how it is turning out. I have learnt a lot through my research of magazines and this has very much helped the production of my own product. I will take feedback on board and make any changes where I see fit.