FINAL MAGAZINE COVER AND EVALUATION

We decided to come up with our own masthead name, which was ‘Top Feature’. We chose this name as it was short and snappy. We placed it centrally at the top of the cover. The layout for our masthead was similar to how ‘Total Film’ had presented their masthead. We choose to follow this design of one word within another as it was quirky and had already successfully worked well on the Total Film magazines.

Our main focal image was our two main protagonists ‘Clio’ and ‘James’. This image is similar to our theatrical film poster however slightly different. The theatrical film poster is more of a mug shot of the two characters as they are looking directly at the camera and appear shocked. The magazine cover shows the characters in the same position and proximity from each other but this time they are looking elsewhere. ‘Clio’ is looking into the distance whereas ‘James’ is looking down at ‘Clio’. This indicates to the audience a potential connection between James and Clio, however James might be fighting more for their friendship/ relationship. The same costumes and props have been used in this image as the theatrical film poster, all conforming to codes and conventions of a coming of age genre.

We have used two prominent colours for the different typography located around the magazine cover. Important information eg. the title of the film, the actors involved and quotes from the film are placed in either purple boxes or purple text. Any other text is black, for example the skyline. As a group we associate coming of age genres with fun, bright colours such as red, blue and pinks. Hence are decision to use purple as this is also a bright and bold colour. It also follows a pattern as the colour is used amongst text in our film trailer. Below the title of the film we have used a language code to entice the audience to pick up the magazine, it reads ‘Drink, drugs and depression’. This alliteration has been used to draw the reader in and encourages them to ask questions about the film itself.

We chose to locate our puff around the main focal image, this is because it is another eye catching piece of information. The written code which reads ‘On set with Orla Jordan’ reveals an exclusive offer which may excite audiences.

The bar code, price and issue number and placed in the bottom right hand corner. These features must have been included in order for the magazine cover to look professional.

In conclusion, we are extremely happy with our final magazine cover. Ultimately because it follows the tradition of what should be on a film magazine cover, but also looks appealing and exciting to a potential audience member. We took certain sections out of our draft versions such as the film strip. Originally we thought this gave the cover a edge however after re evaluating over magazine covers, we decided it looked tacky. Similarly we changed our main focal image as we thought it didn't follow the tradition of what should be on a film magazine cover and was potentially to personal.