1. Ancillary Task One Magazine Front cover

2. Before choosing what type of magazine genre and style to follow I studied several styles of magazines from different genres such as ‘Little White Lies’ and ‘Total Film’ magazine. However I believe that Empire magazine is more suited to my target audience. I found this because I asked 20 people (15 – 24 year olds) which film magazine, if they were to read one would they most likely read or purchase? 80% of my target audience then revealed that Empire was the most popular. I also wanted to know why this was the case. I re-asked the people who responded to choosing Empire magazine as their favourite, to see why they chose this magazine. As you can see from the chart on the left 76% said that even though they don’t often read film magazines, Empire would be the one they would choose as they are most familiar with it. The other 24% said they were attracted by star personas and the style as a whole. I have therefore chosen to base my magazine on the style of ‘Empire’ as my target audience, whether reading film magazines or not, this is the most recognisable film magazine for them.

3. As I found that ‘Empire’ magazine is the most recognisable film magazine for my target audience I decided for my magazine front cover plan to keep the bold, red masthead so that my target market is aware of the magazine. After researching the layout of film magazines in general, I have followed the conventions of positioning a mid shot of my star personas in the centre of the page with the masthead above them. I have then placed the cover line near the bottom of the page in the centre which has been emboldened to relate the text with the image. I have also included a tagline which claims that this is ‘THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MOVIE MAGAZINE’ which indicates that this is the best magazine to read which encourages them to buy it. Selling points ‘PLUS! WIN TICKETS TO BLACK SWAN PREMIER!’ encourage reader to get involved and ‘FREE! TWILIGHT POSTERS’ encourage people to purchase the magazine as they think they are getting something for free. The barcode, date and price are also conventional with the added website address to inform where the audience can find out more. I have also used a limited colour palette as too many colours can make the magazine look over crowded. I have used green and yellow to relate to the forest theme in my film and red for the cover line to link with the red masthead, which connotates blood, death and danger which also links to the horror genre and with my ghostly characters for my graphics.

4. I then began experimenting with different shots for my magazine front cover. After looking at a variety of magazine front covers in both film and other types of magazines such as fashion and health magazines, I found the conventional shot was of a mid shot or close up of the star persona. The front covers of Empire, NME and Total Film magazine gave me some inspiration on how to position my 3 characters. I noticed that many magazines which use 3 people on their cover arrange them in different height orders and also mostly with a direct mode of address to entice the audiences attention. I then took a variety of shots using my ghost girl characters to emphasise that my film is of the horror genre. I had them pose in height order looking lifeless to embolden their characters. Also with using low angle shots, popping out from the side of a tree in the forest location where the film was set and also long shots just to see what it would look like if I broke the conventions of the graphics. On the next slide you can see some other images too.

6. I then reviewed all of the shots I had taken and narrowed them down to the best ones. Which are shown on this page. I then printed them out and shown them to another 20 people to see which one my audience liked the most.

7. 13/20 said they believed the image on the right looked more conventional because of the positioning of the girls is similar to shots which they have seen in real media texts, so therefore appears more conventional. However, 16/20 people said they actually liked the image on the left as they liked the angle of the characters. Some suggested that this image made them feel as if the characters were superior to them as they are looking down on us. Although there is still a direct mode of address to engage audiences. I also believe that this magazine would be suitable placed at eye level or above on the shelf to emphasise the superior idea.

8. These two images show my first two drafts of my magazine front cover. I first began using the image which my audience believed ‘fit the conventions’ of a magazine cover but not necessarily thought it was their personal preferred image. I have come to the conclusion that these drafts are of very poor quality as the dark photo does not fit with the contrasting light, forest background. I also believe that it is a struggle to read some of the text and its not very eye catching which is essential in order to sell this magazine which is why I am going to re-draft my front cover.

9. I first took the same image that was used for my poster and changed the colour balance to achieve the red filter look and changed the contrast. I thought this would produce a stronger link between my products and not confuse my audience. In a separate file I had to cut out my image and then copy it on top of my background image. I also changed the colour balance to highlight the red tones so that it didn't look out of place against the background. I then began to add my film title, masthead, bar code and sell lines to introduce the major conventions.

10. This image shows my final, completed copy of my magazine front page. I am very happy with the results and I am extremely happy that I decided to re-draft its appearance as it looks a lot more conventional and like a professional quality media text.