AS Film Magazine Cover (Gossip!)

Magazine cover for AS teen-angst opening.

The masthead- 'Watch', is the biggest font on the page. To make the title I used, the font, impact and edited some of the letters to make the font original and unique for my magazine. I chose a word that is linked to film as to let my audience know what genre this magazine is. The white capital letters create a big contrast against the background meaning it stands out and shows its importance. As my magazine is unknown I have kept the main image behind the text as to not obscure the title. This is because unless there was a big audience for my magazine, no one would know what to look for.

The background of the main image is a plain, solid colour which could suggest that they are at a school. The girl on the left is wearing a school jumper which reinforces this idea. 

I have tried to create my magazine cover to look as close to a real cover as possible. I have done this by using headings for my cover lines and using exciting words to attract an audience to the content. I have used a 'girly' pink colour for the main headings and strapline to reinforce my genre of teen-angst. Teen girls are stereotypically associated with the colour pink. This also creates synergistic links to my AS film as this colour was used for titles and credits. Exclamation marks are used in the cover lines to excite the audience and exaggerate the contents.

The main image is the focal point of the magazine. The image shows the main characters from our film. The girls are wearing the same outfits from the opening of our film which creates contexts and synergy between the formats.

The image is a casual mid-longshot. I directed the actors to not pose, but still, have an expression that conveys their character in the film. this is because I wanted to show both the happy and dramatic sides of the film. I think that having the actor look directly at the camera connotes a serious, intimidating mood which wouldn't conform to the teen-angst conventions.

The iconography of a school jumper and smart-casual clothes connotes that the characters are at school. This representation of the characters will help convey the genre of the film to an audience. I think that this magazine will appeal to a female audience because of the use of colour and the contents. However, I think that the gratifications of interviews with directors will attract a male audience as they are stereotypically more interested in the making of films than women.

I think that the main cinema demographic for this magazine is 12-28. I think this because the main feature film of the magazine has a BBFC certificate of 12 although children under 15 are stereotypically represented as not wanting to read.

Pugs can be found at the bottom, left corner of the page. The pugs show three images of what will be included in the magazine. I have used stills from two other film openings from my class and an image of one of my peers to show visuals of what is promised to be inside. Pugs are where an image from the inside of the magazine is shown to tell the audience what can be expected. This catches a reader’s eye as and promises more information than you can find anywhere else.

The barcode and publication company are small in the bottom, right corner. I made my own publication company logo in Photoshop and included it next to the barcode. The issue number, date and price is found under the masthead with the website address. All this information is small on the cover as it is not very important in relation to the rest of the cover. The website address can be found just below the title so readers can access more information. This is aimed at a younger, contemporary audience as they are more likely to use technology.

The USP of this magazine is that the audience is promised an insight into the meaning behind a cryptic film 'affliction', behind the scenes and an interview with a new director. Gratifications are what makes magazines popular and unique. I think that this magazine cover attracts attention by the bright colours used on the cover.

This cover is good as it effectively communicates to the audience the genre of film and what will be in the magazine. If I was to remake this magazine cover I would maybe use less pink as I think that this would attract more women than men.  I would have used a background that connotes a school setting more obviously.