Creating Our Own Magazine Article

Our first job after looking at the common conventions of articles, was to do to create the article itself. They key to every magazine article is a griping piece of writing that engages the reader, and will hopefully make them want to read more articles, and go on to buy the magazine each week. It's important to use intellectual language that makes the article look very professional. The article mentions the director, the actors, the cinematography and the sound effects. This media terminology helps the reader the get a feel for the film and whether the actors/director/editors did a good job or not. This is what we came up with for our article:

'This film is an example of extremely effective cinematography. The way that tension is held between shots really resonates with the audience and leads to a long lasting feel of paranoia even after the experience has ended. While the stop motion animation of the demonic puppet is perhaps a little primitive, it provides an inhuman quality to the thing, which, when combined with its haunting sound effects enhances its fear factor tenfold. Overall the film is very well shot, making use of effortlessly executed tracking shots, and establishing shots that really are testaments to the director’s many talents. On a different note, the actors in this piece come across as if this is their first motion picture role, however, this translates well in their role as naïve and frankly scared boys, who are being haunted by a terrifying figment of their childhood past. Finally, it is worth giving credit to this films score and soundtrack, which, combined with what you see, provide a chilling background to each of the scenes, enveloping you further into this world that has been created. All in all, from the large scale cinematography, to the intensely gripping effects, this film provides an experience that you will want to witness on the big screen.'

The next step to create our own magazine article was to create a background for the page. For this we want to use dark colours and reds to portray the conventions of blood and danger, as well as blacks and greys to allow the red to contrast the background and stand out. We are also using red to match the colours of the Golliwog, as the article focuses on the film, and the main central image will be of the Golliwog. The image will need to be large enough to grab the audiences attention, but not so big that it takes up most the room on the page, leaving little room for the article.

Along the top of the article will be the masthead, normally a question to title the article. This is used to compel the audience into reading the piece. A rhetorical question is a very useful tool to make the audience think, and hopefully create an interest in the text because they want to know an answer to the question titling the article. Alongside the masthead we can put some star ratings and quotes from people who watched the film to show off the production. This will of course be biased to promote the film to be amazing and hopefully make more people watch it.

Along the side of the article we may want to use some puffs. Just like on the front page, we can highlight key pieces that the audience are likely to enjoy if they are reading a piece on our film. By showing what else the magazine has to offer, the audience are likely to feel that they got better value for their money and so are more likely to make repeat purchases. They can also be used to generate ad-revenue either via the online magazine or the paper copy. This can create extra money which can fund future editions of the magazine and improve their profit levels.