To produce my magazine, I have chosen to do the genre of film and TV, with the attempt and purpose to entertain my audience. To start the production of my magazine, I am going to look at a range of magazines within the genre of film and TV to find what codes and conventions they all have in common and what makes them a film or TV magazine. I will look at both the front covers and double page spreads from magazines within this genre and examine them in detail to make my magazine fit appropriately into this genre.
I plan on having my magazine be targeted towards teenagers, between the ages of 13-17. I have chosen this age range because this age range is statistically less likely to watch films daily, so hopefully targeting my magazine towards them may alter this statistic and may encourage younger audience members to watch film and TV more often. The socio-economic class I plan on aiming towards is C1-C2. This class is statistically most likely to watch a wider genre of film and TV, so are exposed to more types of genres, meaning that no matter what the focus of the magazine, whether it be silent films, superhero films, horrors or anything else, this socio-economic group will more than likely be intrigued by it.
I intend on enticing explorers to read my magazine. Explorers are the most likely group to discover new things and are drawn to newer brands and products and seek discovery. Aiming the magazine towards them will benefit me, as explorers are already seeking new products to indulge in, so making the magazine about something they might not have had any interest in before would possibly draw them to it for the prospect of a new interest they could take interest in.
The first step to making my magazine front cover was creating a background. The background I chose was a blue to white gradient, going from the top to the bottom. I chose this design as gradients are visually appealing to many, as the use a neutral colour into a colour usually assosicated with boys is a way of showing that they magazine is for both genders, hence the neutrality of the while, but it is aimed at males, with the blue taking up more of the page.
After some careful considerations, I decided to scrap the coloured image, and opted to have a photo of my celebrity, who part of the magazine will focus on. I decided to change the main image was to add a central figure to the magazine, something visual for the audience to look at and know that thay is going to be the focus of the magazine. Using an image as well also means that there is less chance of colour clashes later on when putting text on the page, as the colours in the image arn't as contrasting as the blue and white used before.
I then decided to change the photo to a close-up photo of the same actor, to create a more personal experience when reading the front page. The photo has the actor standing in a more impersonal pose, leaning on a wall, looking straight into the camera, creating a direct address to the reader. I also gave my magazine a title: Through the lens. I chose this title as the use of the word 'lens' is associated with movie cameras, and the phrase makes it seems that the readers are involved in the behind the scenes of the movies, and that the magazine is going to give them all of the information that isn't shown in the movies, or 'through the lens.'
Next, I decided to give the magazine a headline, advertising what the main focus of the magazine will be about. I decided to make the focus about who will be replacing Daniel Craig in the James Bond franchise, as at this current moment, we don't know who will be taking up the role. Through the use of language and typical magazine layouts, I hope to try and convince that this random person is in fact a future celebrity.
As I found the main image was creating some issues with choosing contrasting colours, I decided to change the background to a dull, faded colour, and leaving the model as the only coloured part of the main image. This not only makes the text fit with the main image even more, it brings even more focus to the model, who is the ain focus of the entire front page. Making him one of the only things in colour on the page would draw an reader to check out the magazine, as they would want to find out what makes him so special. I also deleted the text, as I want to move them around, but havnt found where they should go.
Once I changed the background, adding text was made a lot easier, due to a lack of contrasting colours. I added my main cover line, which had a contrasting background to the colour of the text, which draws attention to it. But the cover line doesn't make sense on its own, as it is just the name of the person on the front cover. To understand the context around the cover line, the text around it needs to be read. Making the cover line stand out, but not make sense entices readers to pick up the magazine, and then they are force to read on to understand what the focus is, and why it is a big deal.
I decided to make the most important cover line about a TV show that is relevent at the moment, as if it were a real magazine, then featuring trending news would be a sure fire way of higher sales. I used an enigma code, as to give the reader an insight into what the article will be about, but also makes them need to buy the magazine to read the article for it to make sense. It's placement on the front page as well puts it over to the side, as to not hinder the main image. The main image needs to remain as clear as possible, so moving the cover line around it is necessary.
After working on the front page for a while, I found that what was missing was how it looked more like a fashion magazine, with the main image looking more like a model than a spy. So after researching other TV and movie magazines, I saw that their front covers wern't filled with the actors, but the characters in their costumes. So, after seeing how much better this looked, I decided to change my main image to him wearing a suit and bow tie, just like James Bond is known for doing in many of his films. This instantly made it look more like a film and TV magazine, as he looks like the character he is potraying, not the actor playing him.
So after trying to photoshop my actor in a suit to make him look like James Bond, and it not looking good enough, I thought that it was a good idea to hold another photoshoot, this time with a different actor, and have him actually dress like James Bond, so I won't need to photoshop a suit onto him. This pushed my schedule off by about a week, but I found that it was a nessassary move, otherwise the final product would have been worse off. I then colated all of the images I found that I would be happy with replacing the front cover, and chose one image from the four images I selected.
So after deciding which image I wanted to use, I decided to use this one, where my actor is standing in front of a tree, with a dulled background, just like my previous model. I decided to use this one as all of the other photos had the actor facing towards the camera, or in the camera's direction, and I felt that this type of direct adress wouldn't work with the traditional codes and conventions of a TV and movie magazine. I also found that the backgrounds in the other photos didn't work as well, as they created too much of a contrast, mostly due to the lighting and exposure across the image.
After choosing my main image, I placed all of my taglines and other features back on top, and found that some of the pieces of text needed moving about, as the actor was in a diferent pose to my placeholder image. I moved them around into a format that looked visually appealing, whilst not covering too much of my main image. I then decided to print off my front cover to see how it looks in person. I found that the font size was perfect, as well as the main image wasn't blurred. But there was next to no colour, so it looked very un-appealing.
After finding that the cover was lacking a lot of colour, despite having changed the text boxes to grey, I decided to change them back to red, which reflects the double page spread which uses red as a feature colour. Adding the colour to the front cover makes it look much more appealing to readers passing by.
After finishing the front cover to my magazine, before planning the layout for my magazine, I wanted to have all of my information first, so I am planning on writing up my article first, as well as gathering any more images I want to use, and then when I have it all, I wil then work out a layout for the spread. I will write up my article, and will record the progress on the blog as plain text, instead of screenshotting paragraphs of text. When I write my article, as I am planning on adding an interview to my article, I need to make sure I am complying with the IPSO codes of practice, which state that the information in the article must be factual and accurate, and not misleading in any way. When I am writing up the article, which will be transcribed from an audio recording of the interview, I will need to make sure that nothing is taken out of context, and everything said is written down, as to not mislead readers through mis-information. As well as transcribing the interview verbatim, I will also confir with the interviewee, and make sure that they are happy that no information is missing or misconstrue.
"After nearly 18 months with no marvel content whatsoever, fans were eagerly awaiting the next project from Marvel studios, their debut TV show, Wandavision. It follows the characters of Wanda Maximoff, and her cybernetic partner, Vision. The show was described to us by the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige at D23 in 2019, as being “half classic sit-com, and half full MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] spectacular.” And with the season finale airing a week ago, we thought it would only be right to talk about the show, as well as its place in the wider MCU story. And who better to talk to about Wandavision, than the Scarlet Witch herself, Elizabeth Olsen."
"After nearly 18 months with no marvel content whatsoever, fans were eagerly awaiting the next project from Marvel studios, their debut TV show, Wandavision. It follows the characters of Wanda Maximoff, and her cybernetic partner, Vision, as they try to live a normal life in Suburban New Jersey. The show was described to us by the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige at D23 in 2019, as being “half classic sit-com, and half full MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] spectacular.” And with the season finale airing a week ago, we thought it would only be right to talk about the show, as well as its place in the wider MCU story. And who better to talk to about Wandavision, than the Scarlet Witch herself, Elizabeth Olsen.
So, our interviewer had some questions lined up to ask Elizabeth, and we recorded her answers to put in this magazine.
Q: What was it like finally being the main character, after being in the Marvel family for nearly 6 years?
A: “It’s a weird feeling. After being a side character for so long, being told that you are the main character of this entire TV show was… different for me. But it was a good ‘different.”
Q: Which episode was your favourite to film, and what was your least favourite episode to make?
A: “ooo, that’s a tough one. I think I’d have to say my favourite episode to film was the finale, just because it is so action packed! Katherine Haan was amazing as Agatha, Wanda finally got to show off her powers, fully, and I got a sweet new costume! It was just so much fun, and even though we knew it was the end of the show, we didn’t feel sad. We all felt ready to move onto the next project. But my least favourite episode has to be the Halloween one. I know the costume was meant to be Scarlet Witch’s comic book costume, but the leotard was so uncomfortable, and the headdress kept falling off and was just really annoying to film with!"
"After nearly 18 months with no marvel content whatsoever, fans were eagerly awaiting the next project from Marvel studios, their debut TV show, Wandavision. It follows the characters of Wanda Maximoff, and her cybernetic partner, Vision, as they try to live a normal life in Suburban New Jersey. The show was described to us by the President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige at D23 in 2019, as being “half classic sit-com, and half full MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe] spectacular.” And with the season finale airing a week ago, we thought it would only be right to talk about the show, as well as its place in the wider MCU story. And who better to talk to about Wandavision, than the Scarlet Witch herself, Elizabeth Olsen.
So, our interviewer had some questions lined up to ask Elizabeth, and we recorded her answers to put in this magazine.
Q: What was it like finally being the main character, after being in the Marvel family for nearly 6 years?
A: “It’s a weird feeling. After being a side character for so long, being told that you are the main character of this entire TV show was… different for me. But it was a good ‘different. Like, not only is your script A LOT bigger, but there is a lot more trust on you. Being the main character means you are in a lot more scenes, so you understand a lot more of the plot of the entire show, so there is more trust in you to keep it all secret. I’m just glad that I can talk freely about it now.”
Q: Which episode was your favourite to film, and what was your least favourite episode to make?
A: “ooo, that’s a tough one. I think I’d have to say my favourite episode to film was the finale, just because it is so action packed! Katherine Haan was amazing as Agatha, Wanda finally got to show off her powers, fully, and I got a sweet new costume! It was just so much fun, and even though we knew it was the end of the show, we didn’t feel sad. We all felt ready to move onto the next project. But my least favourite episode has to be the Halloween one. I know the costume was meant to be Scarlet Witch’s comic book costume, but the leotard was so uncomfortable, and the headdress kept falling off and was just really annoying to film with!"
Q: When filming episode 5, were you told about Evan Peters’ appearance as Quicksilver?
A: No, interestingly. so, when filming that scene, it said in the script that Pietro would be at the door, so I knew that bit, but not once, during any of the table reads or practice shoots was the actor actually there. It was all very top secret sorta stuff. So when you see my face look at [Evan Peters], that is my genuine reaction. I had no idea that they were gonna bring him of all people to play my brother.
Q: Being the main character, did you ever feel like you were stealing the spotlight from your co-stars?
A: Not really, no. Like, the show is called Wandavison, so the spotlight is automatically shared between me and Paul Bettney, and then the supporting cast were amazing. Like, Katherine [Haan] was just so good, I felt like in the final two episodes, she out shone me! But, no, I feel like we all did as good as each other, and all played our roles as we were meant to.
Q: Do you think we can expect to see Wanda anytime soon?
A: Well, Im sure they already announced that I’m going to be in Doctor Strange 2: Multiverse of madness, which releases March 2022. I hope I can tell you that, otherwise Kevin [Feige] is going to be giving me a very angry phone call tonight! I’m not particularly sure where I’m going to be after that. I kind of just get told where I’m going on like, a last-minute basis. I just get a phone call, and then within 24 hours im in another country. It’s a very hectic lifestyle, Ill tell you that. But I could pop up at any point, just make sure you look closely.
With my article done (the write up anyway) I am now ready to sort out the layout of the pages, and will put all of the text in later. I will set out the layout, using blank shapes to represent photos and text, and then will insert the information. I feel this will make the page look better, as I have already planned the design, without it being too late once the contents is already on the pages.
So, I found it easier to lay the double page spread out using boxes to represent the information going into it. This way, I have an idea of everything I want on the spread, as well as where it is going to go. I already have my article written out, and that just needs to be copied and pasted to fit the design of the page. I have also decided on an image to accompany my article, who is going to be acting as Elizabeth Olsen, the actress who the interview was with. I will next add all of the information and images, and see how they look on the page.
Now with the title in, I found that having all of the text on one page was no longer possible, so I took the final question and moved it to the white space above the main image. This not only helps the text all fit across the double page spread, but also makes the main image feel more inclusive, and like it's actually related to the magazine.
After speaking to a focus group, they found that the format of the double page spread didn't feel authentic enough. So looking at more examples of TV and movie magazines, as well as normal traditional magazines, I founnd that the thing that was wrong was the main body text. In not one example did I find text going from left to right, the whole way across. So I split the text into collumns, and found that the double page spread looked so much better.
So, after printing out my double page spread, I found that depsite technical things, such as font and image size being ok, the actual design and layout was nothing special, and was slightly mundane. So, I stripped everything away and started again. I have decided to keep the information, but have scrapped the photo of Elizabeth Olsen in favour of screenshots from the actual TV show instead.
Unlike the last version of the page, I havn't placed in placeholder boxes, as I feel this restricts the design overall later down the line. So I am going to go through the spread like I did with the front page and do it as I go. I have kept the headline, and the main introduction body of text is in the same place, but everything else will be moving around them. I also coloured the word 'Wandavision' in red to make it stand out.
I am planning on holding another photoshoot, focusing on stills from the show, instead of the actors themselves. So, until I can do that, I have left a space open for the image. I have also given it a subtitle, explaining to the reader what the picture below wil be. The main text is the exact same, but its layout and placement on the page will be in a different place and order to what it was.
Moving onto the other side of the spread, I have added another subtitle to a photo I will be taking at my next photoshoot, as well as starting to place more of the text back onto the page> Instead of just having text be placed on the page, I have tried to change up the physical layout of the placement of the text, having them be placed around photos instead of next to or below them.
I kept adding the text back to the page, and I left space for another photo I will be taking. After adding the final piece of text at the bottom, I found that I had some ugly gaps of white space left, so I need to find something to do with that.
After seeing a lot of white space near the bottom of my right hand page, I decided to add a review from an actual critic and placed it just above the final piece of text. This not only filled up the white space that looked weird, but it also added an extra part to my magazine that makes it seem more realistic. The review fits the colour scheme so fits in well, despite its centred placement compared to the text.
So after my photoshoot took place, like with my front cover, I need to decide which image out of all the ones I took I want to use. I chose my favourite four images, and then decided to use the photo in the bottom right. I chose this one because the framing of my actors in relation to the background, mainly the door and windows is perfect. It's not angled wrong or crooked, it just firts right. The others all feel too intimate, and too friendly, when the image is meant to be of a maried couple, not best friends.
As part of the aformentioned photoshoot, I had two images to chose. The second set featuring different actors was slightly easier, as less photos were taken. I narrowed it down to four photos again, and chose the bottom left photo, as this one doesn't have the actors facing the camera, as it is mean to be a screenshot from the show. The actors look like the characters they are meant to be playing, who are brother and sister. Despite having no dialouge, the photo captures the essense of the characters perfectly in my opinion.
After my final photoshoot, I placed my chosen photos in the double page spread, and I am happier with this version. The previous version, like I stated, wasn't anything special, and it relied on pretty much only text. This new one mixes up the formula, as text is placed in different places, there are more images, and reviews are placed on the spread to make it seem more authentic.
Evaluation:
When designing my front cover, I took inspiration from magazines such as TotalFilm and Empire, as they are also TV and movie magazines. I saw that they both featured a large photo in the middle of the page, and everything else around the page was placed around it. But unlike most magazines, the images wern't of the actors, but of the characters in costume. So when I was making my front cover, I decided to borrow this idea, and changed my main image from my model in regualr clothes to my model in a suit to represent a traditional James Bond costume. I found that this change made my front page look more like a TV and film magazine, instead of a fashion magazine, which is how it looked for the first half of the process. Having the magazine look like the intended purpose will help my target audience recognise that the magazine is meant for them, whereas if I kept it looking like a traditional fashion front page, they may have thought it was aimed at someone else.
After deciding what my main image would look like, I wanted to add taglines, which I felt would add to the autentic look of a TV magazine. I planned on advertising new films and TV shows that would be relevent at the monent, as a normal TV magazine would do. I thought that the advertisment of new TV shows and movies would be an ideal way to draw readers in, as seeing a new film advertised may draw the explorers to look at the magazine, as they are more inclined to watch new stuff. I made sure that my taglines didn't intrude the main image, as this is the main selling point of the magazine. The main image also went through a detailed screening process, as during the photoshoot, there were around 70 photos taken, and I had to limit that down to 1. I did this by looking at the pose of the actor, if the backgroud was going to contrast any of the text colours and other things like that. I think the image I chose if the most effective out of all of the photos I took, as it isn't distracting to a casual viewer, and looks good with the dulled background against the coolours from the mastheads and other pieces of text.
So after completing my front page, and being happy with the final product, I moved on to my double page spread. I found it easier to have all of the information already written, so I wrote out the text for my entire spread that I could copy onto the page later. At the start as well, I decided to layout all of the information using blank boxes to represent images, text etc. Looking back, this restricted me too much, as if ever I came into an issue which would need me to move things around, such as an image clashing with the colours of text, it became more of a task, and slightly redundant to set out the whole format just to change it around again. So, I filled my page with the pre-written text, as well as an image of the main actress from the show the article was about. But when I completed the spread, I found that it didn't look that good. There was nothing special about it, with just text on one side and an image on the other. It was boring to look at, so I decided to scrap the whole page and start again. This time, I was more experimental with the layout, such as having text at different height levels from others and having it wrap around images. When it all came together, I found it made the page look far more interesting to look at for a casual viewer. Overall, I found that despite it taking more time, re-doing my double page spread was beneficial for me, as it gave me a chance to make the spread as good as it could be.
In conclusion, the process of creating my magazine was a smooth one for the most part, but a lengthy one at that. Creating the front page was the easier part, as most of it seemed to work first time. The only issue with it came from when i switched the placeholder image to the perminant one, as the change in colour pallte reuqired some of the taglines and text to be moved around to suit the new pose shown by the actor, as if I was to keep the original layout, parts of the main image would be obstructed. The double page spread was slightly more tricky, as I had to reset my progress half way through, but like I previously expressed, I feel like this was for thr better in the long run.
