My Film Magazine- Planning and Research

There are many film magazines to choose from, the most popular British film magazines are Total Film and Empire. I have decided to go with Empire Magazine because I like the layout of the front cover and I think that the Masthead, which is coloured red, will suit my theme of horror as it relates to blood, death and gore. 3 different Empire Magazine front covers:

Below are three drafts of my magazine front cover, I decided to make three because it shows a range of compositions that I have thought about. All my layouts have to be similar to Empire Magazines as that is the magazine I am choosing to advertise my film and it shows synergy, allowing their audience to feel familiar with the magazine.

Layouts
The layouts below are my rough guides of my ideas for my film magazine front cover. 

1.

This is my favourite layout out of the three because I like the composition of the page and there is no negative space. I may have the central image behind the masthead rather than over it as the magazine is well known and will have a larger target audience than my film. The background of the magazine will be a dark colour to match the theme of horror. I would like the central image to be a mid-shot as this is common among Empire magazines and shows the body language of the character. The film name will be placed clearly over the top of the central image with some small information about the film, for example "You think you know your family...think again", just something to make the audience want to know more and read on. I have included, beside my image, small images and a small amount of information about other popular films that may increase the audience to buy the film along with text at the bottom of the page. I may change the text at the bottom to what things are featured inside the magazine.

2.

I am not so keen on this layout as I don't like the 3 boxes on the left hand side as they look as if they would stand out for the wrong reasons on a horror film magazines cover. I also am not keen on the negative space between the 3 smaller images and the central image. I do however like how there isn't too much information so the viewers can focus on the central image.

3.

I think this layout looks a bit too boring and bland because there's not much interesting text and only one image on the page which may not appeal to a younger audience where images catch their attention over text. This would make the central image stand out more but the magazine may not be seen if it was put up next to competitor magazines because it looks less exciting.

I have decided to go with layout 1 because I feel it is the most attractive out of the three layouts.

Below are three drafts with the same composition as layout one but contain different images and texts.

Layout 1

This is my favourite layout as I think it looks a lot more interesting than the other two and is more innovative in its design. The hands pointing towards the character draw the viewers attention towards the center. I also like how the cross links into my trailer and how it has been adapted.
The layout doesn't look to over done or too plain.

Layout 2

I wasn't sure on this design layout and there isn't a focus point n the image to catch viewers eyes. Everything looks a bit out of place especially the films title as it looks as if it doesn't fit in with the page. The bottom of the page looks pretty empty and the cover lacks some content.












Layout 3

I am not a big fan of this layout because it looks boring as there is not much text surrounding the image and the image itself isn't reasonably eye catching. However i do feel that the image of just the face covered by the villains mask creates a sense of mystery and vulnerability linking to my chosen theme of horror












I have chosen to go with layout 1.
I have recieved feedback from 2 peers on my chosen layout. They talked about what they liked and disliked about my magazine cover draft. (Natasha Bowman and Lauren Melchor)
They said they found the image quite busy and intereseting to looks at, especially the hands that they found to be eye-catching, but they did say they found the hands a bit confusing. They said the magazine cover follows horror conventions like the use of the colour red. They liked how the 666 number on the plus bar linked to my film. They stated that the hands are like an enigma code for the audience wanting to know more. They also said how they thought the composition of the magazine was good and central.