Our Second Magazine: Oblivion Productions

For this magazine we have kept it more basic. The poster includes similar features to the last one, but gives a very different effect. The font used for the masthead is a lot thicker and more spacing between each letter, making it fit across the page and stand out to the audience. The puffs for this magazine front cover are scattered around and are in different shapes around the page. The white shapes contrast the black background and stand out to the audience. These puffs advertise free stuff and an exclusive look into the film itself. This creates a feel for the audience that they are finding out secret information and so an more enticed to buy the magazine. The main central image is the golliwog and takes up the majority of the page. The idea is that the image draws the readers attention to the magazine in a stand of many other magazines. In the bottom corners are a barcode and a QR code to try and connect with the younger, more technologically aware audiences better.

Our First Magazine: Oblivion Productions

This is our magazine. We combined the key connotations of magazines with our own style to create this front cover for the first edition of Oblivion magazines. The main central image is the golliwog, with the left hand side given a shadowing effect. This makes the right side look a lot brighter and stand out. The bright reds are in the centre of the page and so draw lots of attention to the poster and the surrounding text. The masthead is a bold white font which contrasts the black background and so stand out to the audience. Under the masthead is our web address, which will hopefully be looked at by some audience members who then may want to connect with us more as a brand.

In the top right are the prices for our magazine. We are charging £4.99 or $8.99 for a copy as we need to charge a higher price because the reality is we won't ever sell many copies. However we didn't want to price it too high that no one would want to buy it. In the bottom right is the barcode and a QR code. The barcode is so that it can be stock checked and bought in stores, and the QR reader will hopefully interest the youth to see where it will take them.

The colour scheme for the poster is white, black and red. These colours were used as they match the colours of the golliwog, but also are typically used in horror genres, so using these colours helps the audience to quickly come to the assumption that the film is a horror. The puffs on the right hand side use these colours in alternation to show they are different and help them stand out individually. The puffs have details as to what will be in the magazine so the audience may be enticed into buying a copy.

Magazine Re-Creation: Scream

This is the magazine we've created as if we were the creators of Scream and our short film was featuring on the front cover. We have kept to the similar themes and conventions of the magazine company so that our magazine looks similar and to the same standard of quality. We have used the same font for the masthead, and used puffs in the same way with boxes along the side of the front cover. Along the bottom we've found a few articles that we want to feature inside the magazine and done this in a similar style to the number 1 horror magazine. We have made this magazine to represent Scream magazines in general and for it to look like scream made the magazine we created.

Our first step to recreating the magazine was to remove the background from the masthead and then change the colours to suit our colour scheme better. We then had to edit around the image of the golliwog so that we could use it as the main central image and have a background behind it. After this we found some blood splatters via google to use as a border to our puffs. We used multiple different blood splatters so that it has variation and looks more like a long line of blood. We then edited these so they were of different lengths and sizes and so each box would look different. The next step was to find images for each puff and then decide on the text that would caption the image. We then created some other article ideas using upcoming horror films to make the poster up-to-date. The last steps were to apply the finishing touches, such as the strap line, the pricing, the barcode as well as any other little pieces of text. The very last thing we did was apply a gradient to the bottom of the golliwog so that the text for the main article could stand out against the golliwog's legs.

Creating Our Own Magazine Front Cover: Oblivion Productions

This is an initial rough draft of our own magazine. It will feature our work that we produce as a film company. We will target the magazine to those of all ages, as films can reach a wider audience as films are for people of any age. By targeting a larger audience, we can hope to make more revenue and profit as well sell more copies.

Along the top of the front cover will be the masthead. 'Oblivion Productions' will be in large, bold font so that it stands out to the audience. We will use a darker colour for the first edition, but this may change for each issue of the magazine depending on the colour scheme and the main central image. It is important for us to create our own brand image so we want to use the same font for each masthead so that the audience can spot our magazine easier when it's surrounded by hundreds of other magazines on a shelf. The title is often the only thing you can see as the shops normally layer magazines, overlapping them slight over other magazines so they can fit more on a wall.

The main central image for the first edition will be a Golliwog as it's our first production and we hope that the magazine can create some attention for our production. The golliwog will take up most of the front cover as we want it to grab the audiences attention and hope they decide to purchase the magazine. We will match the colours for the magazine's front cover according to the main central image, so edition one will be predominately red. however edition two may have a different colour scheme.

Around the main central image will be multiple puffs describing what is inside the magazine, highlighting key articles that the audience are more likely to enjoy. These puffs can hopefully make the audience want to read the articles inside and therefore much more inclined to buy it. One puff may suggest free things inside such as a poster. Stating that something is free is more likely to entice those of lower socio-economic grouping, especially those that are unemployed or have very little disposable income. Hopefully by advertising something as free we can attract a larger audience to buy our magazine, and increase our sales revenue.

To the side of the masthead will be the edition number and the price. The price is important for customers as they want to know how much it will cost them to buy the magazine. The issue number is also very important as it can tell the audience how many editions there have been, and they may be interested into buying other issues if they have missed a few of the previous editions. In the bottom corner there is the barcode. This is crucial for sales of our magazine so that the product can be scanned in stores.

Along the bottom we will advertise our website and social media accounts. We believe that social media is a very useful, effective, and more importantly free way to market our products and improve our brand image. We have given our website address, our Facebook page and Instagram account in the hope that we can get some followers and increase the amount of publicity we get for our short film. As we understand the youth get along with technology very well, we have put a QR code on our magazine so that, once scanned, can take the reader to a website, perhaps showcasing an exclusive interview or maybe a shortcut to our social media platforms.

Creating Our Own Magazine Front Cover: Scream

We looked at magazines from Scream and Empire and looked at their common conventions and themes so we could replicate something to a similar standard. We began by drawing up an initial draft of how we might create the magazine if we were to feature on Scream. We made the golliwog the image and made it nice and big so it would be eye catching. We used the boxes on the side to showcase what else features inside the magazine. Along the bottom are other articles that feature inside the magazine including games, comics, news and competitions. These need to also stand out as they are key parts of the magazine.

The colour scheme for the magazine is likely to be red. This is due to the Golliwog's red jacket so the magazine should complement the colours. On top of this, red connotes blood which suggest horror and death. We will have blood dripping from the title and the border to the boxes will be blood splatters. This links to our production as we have gone for a short film based around an evil doll. We will use red for the masthead and all the headings on the page. This helps them all to stand out and be vibrant, which will help attract the audiences attention. The titles need to be eye catching because these are what the potential customers need to see to become interested in the magazine.

As this is a 'Scream' magazine, we will use the font they use for every masthead on all their magazines. To do this we will have to photoshop the masthead from a magazine, remove the background and then change the colour to math the colours on our 'Scream' magazine. This will make sure that the masthead we use is in theme with the rest of their range of magazines. It is important for a business such as Scream to maintain the same brand image across all their magazines as the masthead is the first thing the audience will see when looking for the magazine on a shelf with hundreds of other.

Scream's Brand Image

Magazine Analysis: Empire

Empire is a British company that publishes magazines each month about films. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Portugal, Turkey, Russia, and Italy. Each month it looks into multiple films and some film festivals. They have a logan just under the masthead stating that it's "The world's biggest movie magazine" which is a very broad claim.

The image on the left is the front cover of the magazine. This is the first thing the audience will see when they look at the magazine. It is very important that the magazine stands out to the audience and grabs their attention early on. The title font for Empire is bright white which strongly contrasts the image and background to the front cover. The image used of Daniel Craig as James Bond is very enlarged, showing a close up of his face. the image covers over half of the front cover, and does not include all of his face. On the left are puffs, showing the audience what features in the magazine. This particular magazine shows spectre in great detail, behind the scenes to Jurassic World, Fantastic 4, a look into Fast & Furious 7, the British version of Evil Dead and a special on the Sundance Film Festival. Along the bottom are three famous actors who all have a segment in the magazine. At the top of the magazine is a TV preview to the biggest shows in 2015. The front cover of the magazine shows off what is inside with the most interesting elements bigger to attract the audience to read the magazine.

The font used for the magazine cover is large and bold so it grabs the audiences attention. In a world with 30 different magazines on a single stand all bunched up together, it is important that it is easy to recognise the magazine and for it to stand out amongst the other magazines. Every Empire magazine has the 'EMPIRE' across the top, covering the whole width of the cover. This is important as it makes the magazine easy to recognise. On some magazines, the image on the front cover will go in front of the 'P' but it's still clear that it says 'EMPIRE'.

The magazine cover is dominated by the main central image of Daniel Craig as James Bond. The image is highly zoomed in which allows the image to be placed in the top right hand corner of the magazine cover. This makes the image look very clean and professional. Daniel Craig is holding a pistol in front of his face which represents the film as a whole with its stereotypes. This helps the audience to associate Daniel Craig to James Bond instantly. The gun also reaches out to the male mainstream audience as guns are stereotypically masculine. This goes hand in hand with the readership statistics, as the majority of the readers are male (548,000 males opposed to 187,000 females). 

The lettering on the left alternates colours each line so each line is distinguishable from one another. This is important as some articles may appeal more to certain audience members than other articles do. For example, Fast & Furious 7 may appeal to lots more of people than the British remake of Evil Dead. By being different colours, Fast & Furious 7 can stand out and be seen as separate. The main article of the magazine is in larger font and is located at the top of the list. 'SPECTRE' stands out to the audience and is likely to be the first thing they see. Magazines need to grab the audiences attention on the front cover so they purchase it, so they will have the magazine focus on what is likely to be the most popular articles, in the case it's "the worlds first look at spectre".

Magazine Analysis: Scream

Scream is the number 1 horror film magazine. It is available in shops and online, allowing for them to get a wider audience. The website address is displayed above the masthead, and the price of the magazine is shown on the right of it in both US dollars ($) and UK pounds (£). This shows that the magazine

Scream always has the masthead SCREAM in the same font, but does change colour some weeks. This makes the magazine easy to find and creates a strong brand image. The skyline for this magazine is "Blood, Guts, Gore & More!" which indicates instantly that it is a horror magazine. This is heightened by 'THE HORROR MAGAZINE" to the right of the title. this really helps indicate that this magazine is different to other film magazines that cover multiple genres. Above the title is the website address so that the audience of the magazine can also find it online, which is likely to have a subscription where you pay in advance for copies.

Each magazine has a very similar layout. The Scream magazines normally have four boxes or circles down the left hand side, showing the articles that feature in the magazine. These puffs all have their own pictures which can catch the audiences attention and entice them to buy and read the magazine. They are used to draw attention to certain elements of the magazine.

The most eye catching part of the magazine is the main central image covering most of the front cover. Each magazine made by Scream features the main article in the middle, layered in front of the background image. This interests potential readers and is likely to be the most popular article out of all of them.

Along the bottom of the magazine is a box with "PLUS" on the side. Adjacent to the box are lots of different articles that feature within the magazine. These are against a black background with bright green font to stand out. Below that it generalises what else is in the magazine such as "Comics, Games, Books, Competitions, News, Reviews & more!" These are used to show off what is in the magazine which could interest people to buy the magazine who may previously not have bought it. These sell lines help to entice the audience by telling them what is available inside the magazine.

Readership Statistics

http://www.nrs.co.uk/downloads/pdf/general_magazines_201611.pdf

This website shows magazine companies readership statistics in many categories, highlighting to the businesses the amount of males and females reading each magazine, the age of their readers and the socio-economic positions of their audience, helping them to produce a magazine that will appeal to the most possible people. They can also use the information to see how other magazines are doing and potentially research what they do so they can take ideas to improve their own work. The statistics show weekly, fortnightly, monthly and quarterly magazines in a wide variety of genres of magazines.

Empire has a predominately male audience, with 548,000 readers being male. This is nearly 75% of their audience as 187,000 readers are female. This mostly male audience allows Empire to target their magazines towards men, using certain things that males closer relate to, for example bold text, big images and large fonts. These can help attract a male audience, which is clearly their main readership area.

Out of their 735,000 readers, 502,000 are in the economic class of A, B or C1. People in these class are upper middle, middle or lower middle class, and are likely to be in a managerial role. This suggests that two thirds of their audience have high levels of disposable income. The other 234,000 readers are in C2, D or E classing, which means they have not got large amounts of income, and some are also unemployed. This could mean that the sales from the lower economic classes may not have subscriptions to the magazine as some months they may not have the capabilities to buy luxuries.

The age of the readers have a huge range for Empire. 383,000 of their readers are between the ages of 15-34, with the other 352,000 being over 35. This tells Empire that they have a very diverse audience range, potentially making it very difficult to create a magazine that appeals to those of all ages. Films are enjoyed by the youngest children, all the way to the oldest adults, meaning that anyone might want to buy a copy of the magazine. However, the research shown on the website could be used to presume that half their audience are likely to want to buy the magazine online, where as the older readers may prefer a tangible copy.

For our magazine, we will want to make it suitable for all ages as shown with Empire, the readers have a wide age range as films are enjoyed by all ages, young and old. This means that we need to make our magazine enjoyable for elders as well as the youth. What is more likely is that the older generation are more likely to want a tangible, physical copy of the magazine, where as the younger generations are more likely to read it online as the youth are more knowledgeable with technology and the internet. This means that the colours, fonts and images on the paper copy may be directed to older ages so that they enjoy the magazine more. Online we may direct the colours, fonts, images and advertising to younger ages. This could be more applicable to the advertising and images online as these are more likely to grab the attention of the youth as well as generate more advertising revenue.

Golliwog - First Draft

This is our first draft of our production of Golliwog. Whilst on the editing software, we did not notice many issues with the production. Once published however, we quickly noticed the audio was too quiet and couldn't be heard on phones when on max volume. This is something we have improved in the finished production so that the audio volume is at a good level if on a middle volume, so that it can be adjusted to be made quieter or louder when watching the short film at home.

Another issue we came across was the order of our scenes. After showing our work to family and friends, we got feedback as how we could move a few scenes around to give them more importance and give a better impact of each scene. We will move the scenes so that the narrative fits better. We will also add flashes of the golliwog during a conversation between the brothers as the angry younger brother played by Rory smiled a few times. By flashing the golliwog a few times throughout the scene when he smiles, it should keep the audience from seeing him laughing and continue to portray his anger.

By moving the scenes around, we will have to move the audio around too so that the music fits with the scenes and the timings of cuts etc. This will take some time and is likely to be the most time consuming improvement we will have to make as the music gives such a large impression on the production and can really change the meaning of a scene, making the audience think a certain way.