The Making of my Magazine Cover

5th and Final Draft

Taking the feedback from my target group on board, I added the glow and wind effects to the film title. I also enlarged the Empire tagline "MOVIES' BIGGEST YEAR EVER!" After showing my magazine cover to all my target group, they agreed that it was complete and looked like a conventional horror Empire edition.

4th Draft

After adhering to the advice given to me from my target group, I added "ESSENTIAL 2012 PREVIEW!" to the bottom right hand corner and enlarged the font from "THE LAST LAUGH". I replaced "2 COVERS TO COLLECT" with "MOVIES' BIGGEST YEAR EVER!" as I felt that it is more conventional. I then asked 10 different individuals from my target group about their opinion on my magazine cover. They felt that the film title should have the same effect as the title on the poster did. This would aloow continuity.

3rd Draft

This is my 3rd draft. I got my inspiration from the "SAW" cover below thus my image is placed in the centre. At first I had decided to use an extreme close up shot of the villain but it looked peculiar as the eyes were not visible. I then took a close up shot of the mask and found that it looked better with the text on the magazine cover. The black background makes a good contrast with the white mask thus making the mask stand out. The shadow effect on the mask was created through the Adobe Photoshop software and the green and red colour was added to aid the green colour theme. I asked 10 individuals from my target group from the ages of 15-21 to give me suggestions and any feedback. They felt that the right hand side was quite empty so I should try to add something there. They all decided that the font of the film name should be made larger and the tag line "2 COVERS TO COLLECT" should be enlarged and it could be replaced with something else.

2nd Draft

In my second draft I have experimented with different styles to see how they appear on the page.

1st Draft

This is the first draft of my magazine cover. I have used the photoshop software to edit the image and have chosen a green colour theme similar to the "SAW" Empire cover. The effect on the title "THE LAST LAUGH" is the same as on my poster as I wanted to create continuity between both media texts.

Inspiration for Magazine Cover

This is a typical Empire horror magazine cover and I will be referring to it throughout the production of my magazine cover. I feel that the extreme close up shot of the villain is eye catching and direct eye contact creates intense fear. There is not much writing around the cover as the focus is on the image. Similar to the "Friday the 13th" poster, I prefer the image being of the villain than the hero/heroine as I believe that evoking fear in the readers through the image will make them more likely to buy the magazine rather than through a powerless female protagonist. For my magazine cover, I would like to create a similar product where there is not much text to divert the attention from the focus image. I would like to use a striking image, preferably a close up shot or extreme close up shot of the mask where I will edit it using the Adobe Photoshop software to create mist/shadows. Overall, I would like to create a simple Empire horror magazine cover which focuses on the power and sadistic nature of the villain to engross the readers.