Empire Magazine Inspired Review

Writing Enlarged

Evaluation

Evaluation

Question One - In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I was able to create, brand and distribute my product using media technologies. By using a range of technologies I was able to defy conventions of the drama genre in my short film (A female football player as the protagonist) but by using conventional patterns I was able to invest my audience into this new development (The Underdog convention, for example) and reach a wider audience. 

In Question One I will discuss: 

• Statistics- How my film defied sporting conventions
• The underdog - using conventions to make my film relateable  
• Development of Female Football 
• My Trailer conventions 
• Poster Analysis- Defying conventions of the sport genre

Below is an annotated piece of my work, which goes through my film, revealing the reasons for my choices and how it either subverts or reverts the drama genre:

Statistics

In my research I discovered that from the years 2000-2016 only 4 films surrounded the topic of football with a female lead- compared to 21 films with male leads.  Female Football is hugely under-represented within the medium of film, and the conventions of these films do not replicate the narratives of their male counterparts. She’s the Man, for example, follows a girl acting as a boy in order play on the school’s football team, all the whilst falling in love with one of the male players.

There were three further documentaries on female football (The Other Sport, The 99ers and Dare to Dream) compared to the sixteen documentaries surrounding male football as a sport (Referee and other job related positions were not counted). This gave me an insight into how the sport is perceived by the media and how I could defy the expectations of the spectator.

My product challenges the conventions of the film format by having a sport orientated film driven by a female character. I wanted to challenge the convention of the female sport stereotype- usually framed in a chick flick narrative or with a large supporting cast. Films such as She’s The Man abide to this convention, conveying this through its poster and roster of actors. I wanted my film to focus on a singular character, which would enforce her isolation from the team but also heighten the emotional attachment the spectator would feel for Stephanie, the protagonist.

Drama Convention with a Twist: The Underdog

I decided to use the Underdog convention for my narrative because I felt it emulated the psychological concepts The Impossible Goal aims for:

Underdog (Definition) - ‘A competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest’ 

I developed the theme further by having the underdog theme should be more personal, such as trying to score a  goal. This humble goal is portrayed as a huge feat for the protagonist due to her dialogue at the beginning of the narrative:

 Jane: It’s not the end of the world

  Stephanie: It is for me

I thought the underdog narrative would fit in well with my film mainly because of its view on the role of female football. The character is isolated from the beginning of the narrative, which gives the audience a sense of the battle Stephanie must undertake to score her goal.

This also allowed my audience to emphasize with the character. Stuart Hall’s theory comments on how a negotiated reading can be seen in films when audiences have to compromise on particular images. Even though female football is a growing sport, it is still a niche area, so the underdog emotion allows the audience to sympathize with her and want to follow her path to victory. 

Development of female football

 I was impressed with the poster for Gracie (top left) as it showed the protagonist in a positive light whilst playing football. I liked the kinetic energy in this shot as the back lighting for the poster allows the protagonist to stand out whilst she runs towards the camera:

However, as production on filming continued I decided to move away from the conventional joy and hope these posters convey, and instead move into a much darker tone, placing my character in a stasis of insecurity through the black and white effect:

Background: Unlike Bend It like Beckham, I decided to have a non-photo shopped background in order to convey the realism my film was encompassing. As I have annotated in the photo, the black background allow the reader to focus on Stephanie more, reading her emotions and giving the audience the sense of the drama genre this film abides under,
Quotes: I put the quote on the left hand side due to the design I went for. I wanted the spectator’s eyes to be drawn in a ‘Z’ shape, in order to glide through the photo and naturally land on the quote ‘A film where anything is possible’. The quote not only sums up the film but gives the spectator and idea for the tone the film is associating itself with.

Colour choice: I wanted to create a texture to my film in order for the audience to understand the difference in representation my film was promoting. I used the colours of cream, black and white in order to inform the audience that the representation of the footballer is different to those from my research. I felt the black and white helped sell the films genre, and the cream matched well in giving definition to the words without taking away the impact of the black and white. 

While I didn't want my film to be melodramatic like Gracie (Poster Top left-The narrative follows the protagonist after her brother is killed in a car accident) I wanted to portray an true character in realistic events. I ensured that the audience aligned with Stephanie by having an array of wide and close up shots. The wider shots conveyed her isolation in the world, whereas the close ups gave the audience insight into her thoughts and feelings. 

Trailer using the conventions of other dramas

         

                             

Trailer Breakdown

With my trailer I decided to show the football elements of the film more than the character. This completely juxtaposed the conventions. The Bend It like Beckham trailer shows the characters in detail, with dialogue extracts, which is a normal convention for a female football trailer. My trailer is much shorter due to the length of the film, but the images that I reveal during the trailer reveal the tone to the audience. I decided to only show three shots from my film which would allow an enigma around my trailer to commence. This would add to the drama of the narrative and convey to the spectator the tone I am aiming for.

It is understandable in Bend it Like Beckham that such a large cast must be shown in order to give a tone to the film, but with The Impossible Goal the central focus on the character creates suspense as to the narrative and Stephanie’s involvement of it. The running times also differ, so in order to create enough impact I decided to have a 10-15 second trailer outlining the ideologies of the character and what the audience could expect from the film.

Below is an example of the conventions of a drama trailer I follow, whilst adding a twist of my own:

Above: The Impossible Goal's Titles

Below: Bend It Like Beckham's Titles

Both trailers use the text font to add drama to the images. By having the words in purple and yellow the director is able to convey the comedic drama elements of the film.

In The Impossible Goal I steer away from these colours because they do not connote the drama genre, and instead went for a cream font with a black background to convey the realism that embodies my narrative.

I played down the convention of a pun here to engage the audience in the work. ‘The Score Is Settled’ references the football that is prominent in the short film, and the tone of the words conveys the drama genre that the film fits into. By using these words in a conventional manner I was able to spark interest in my film.

I believed that this helped the promotion of my product because it used enigmatic elements in the trailer, therefore enforcing a new attitude to football on the spectator and sparking their interest in the film.

Question 2: How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

I studied sports posters and decided to use the same stature, because of it's connotations of victory. I then looked into analyzing particular posters, investigating whether the woman was running or posing, where the titles where placed and how the logo was placed in the shot.

I took inspiration from the 2011 short films Pressure Makes Us, where I was impressed by the representation of female football. I investigated into posters and decided upon this medium close up, in which I used the lighting and gaze in my own poster.

                             

Above: I used the cream font like in the Pressure Makes Us photo in order to play on the black background.

Below details the analysis I completed in order to Create the finished EMPIRE style product:

I felt that my Ancillary texts and my film coupled well together because:

• The posters use of black and white gives the audience insight into the tone of my film
• The placement of my credits give the audience information that Ellie Turner is the star of the film
• The Quote gives my target audience reassurance of the films quality, as the market I'm aiming for are also the target audience of EMPIRE
• The Photoshop edit 'The Impossible Goal' title gives and interesting design element to the poster, drawing the reader in to the product.
• Because Stephanie (Ellie Turner) is focused on through the framing, the poster draws attention to the niche female lead in sport, which sparks intrigue to go watch the film. 

Question Three: What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Pick Monkey Feedback

I used Pick Monkey in order to gain audience feedback quickly and effectively. I liked the fact that Pick Monkey gave me graphs with my information already set out, as it allowed me to analyse the differences in the responses: 

When I wrote my Questionnaire I was sure to add two similar question relating to male and female sport: 'Can You Name Football Films with Male Leads...Can You Name Football Films with Female Leads?'. Surprisingly, more people could name a female football film than male, in light of the percentage of male football films (84%) compared to female (16%). Even though that the majority of audience members could name a female football film, the only option that came up was Bend It Like Beckham. This revealed to me the lack of representation of female football in England. 

I understood from these results that not only is my film a niche subject, but it is not in the public interest. I hope to use a change in concept through the focus of the girl in order to reach a new audience. 'On a Scale of One to Ten, What is the Possibility that you Would Watch a Sport Related Film?' I found the results leveled an average of 5.5/10. I believe this is because the use of drama in my film will increase interest because the film is not just about playing a football match, but about a girl who wants to prove something to herself. 

From these reviews I have seen a decline in interest in sport related films. This could be due to the way the kinetic energy is presented on screen or the fact that sports people are not interested in the cinema. Either way, I the feedback from my audience was a mixture of helpful.

FEEDBACK AND TROUBLESHOOTING -PowerPoint

Question Four: How did you use Media Technologies in construction, research and planning Ideas?

I used an array of media technologies to improve my work from previous films, such as using a Canon 750d in order to explore depth of field, and using editing techniques in order to make the montage have greater impact:

  

Below details my creative process in previous blog posts with reference to the Media Technologies in my Prezi. In them I discuses an array of technologies, such as how my analysis helped me brainstorm my narrative and genre conventions (Page One) and framing and it's connection to my main film inspiration, Pressure Makes Us (Page three):


Early creative Process Analysis

Framing with my Canon 750d

Kinetic energy analysis- Using YouTube to pick out key moments of Pressure Makes Us

Using my Camera Settings in order to Create Atmosphere.

Using Lighting and Camera Techniques to create a Dramatic Atmosphere

Using Media Technologies During Distribution

YouTube

For me, YouTube was the best format to publish short films on as the community and following on the website allows for social interaction and promotion of my films. I used the same techniques from my As short film GRID (2015) but I decided to use tags during the publishing process in order to make my film easier to find. This was so the audience could have quicker access to my film through the search bar, making the video more accessible and user friendly.

YouTube was easy to use, and allowed me to choose a thumbnail that would summarize the film. I used this tool to show Stephanie looking up to an item out of shot, football in her hands. I felt this reflected the piece because of its cold tones (Reflecting on the drama genre), the football (The sports themes occurring in the narrative), and the main protagonist, Stephanie (depicting who drives the action of the narrative) 

Facebook

I used Facebook as part of my distribution in order to bring my product to my target audience (18-24 Year Old). I found this was the perfect platform for my film because of the aims at connecting friends together, which would allow The Impossible Goal to spread quickly through the news feeds. 

I found that after posting a link to the Impossible Goal on YouTube, people would start sharing and linking the posts. This helped with the awareness of my product and helped sell the media text through peoples positive recommendations.  Comments such as 'Please watch Shona Kinal's amazing short film 'The Impossible Goal' where helpful in gauging the response my film received, as well as how to better market my product next time.

By using Facebook as a distribution method, the film got far better recognition due to its aim at the teen market. It's positive message was engaging to audiences, and I found people coming up to me in person and giving positive feedback to my film. Most of them had seen a friend post the film on Facebook before checking it out on YouTube, others had been subscribed to my channel and received a notification. Others had word of mouth and checked out the trailer and the film because of the 'buzz' the film created.

When I release my next theme, I intend to use these same media outlets again due to their popularity, but begin to use other media technologies such as Instagram and  Twitter. This would spread the name of my film further to my audience and include more views to the film. 

Review- The Design Process

Review- The Design Process

Before Photoshop

Before beginning the editing process, I investigated into EMPIRE's layout and the tone of the film. I looked into the colour scheme of the fonts and the creams, which helps the readers see the writing without straining their eyes. 

I also picked out a photograph I would use for the poster, one in which both characters are shown in the photograph. The image above (top) was not only suitable for this but gave great depth for the film, summarising the fear and bravery of the protagonist. The depth of field suggests Jane's importance as a aspirational character and the influence she has over the character.

Editing Process

Proportion: In my design Process I began with blocking the image. I placed grey boxes measured to the size of the page (cm) in order to have to correct scale of my font. I used the 'Measure' and 'Snap' tools in order to give the correct measurements of the text boxes. 

Background: I used a white background to resemble the paper that would be used in the printing process. The grey tiles (mentioned above) helped give depth to the image and give an interesting layout to the article. I used the combination of these design elements as a skeleton, allowing me to experiment with the tone of the article without having to worry about the placement during the writing process. 

Main Title: I was able to use the selection tool which gave me the most accurate font colour possible. I went through the font options and matched the style of the font to the one seen in EMPIRE. I could not find an exact replica and instead focused on the art Deco style.

T: The letter 'T' enforced the font in 'At Cinemas' giving the article a house style that made it look professional and less distracting. 

Picture: I used the photo mentioned earlier and placed it in a similar style to the Revenant Review. I felt the combination of framing and placement in the article was pleasing to the eye and gave the reader the affirmation that this was a professional product in which they could trust the article at hand. 

Stars: I used a splash in my review in order to aim the magazine at my target audience better. I felt a splash would draw in the readers attention and give them insight into the review, and combined with the photo the tone of the article. 

Title: I placed the title above the stars to give prevalence to the film, connecting the rating to the name. This makes the review more remember able and stick in the readers mind afters viewing, allowing them to either recommend the film/ review to friends, or as an option to see it in the cinemas. 

Black Font: I decided on a neutral font that would not distract from the 'In Cinema' or the photo. I wanted the reader to be engaged in the text and felt that if the font was dramatic it would make the article harder to read and turn readers away. By choosing 'Goudy Old Style' as the font the text became easier to read, even when at a size pt. 

Black Lines: I used the black lines in a similar way to EMPIRE, enforcing the retro house style that my article is replicating. I used the shape tool to draw two lines, and then stretched a rectangle in order to get a thicker middle line. I placed these with the help of the Snap and Measure Tools           (blue lines) which helped me stay in proportion and framing during the editing process. 

Text and Tone: I went for a light-hearted tone that EMPIRE are known for using in their reviews. In 'The Revenant' Review, the writer uses the cliche 'Revenge is a dish best served cold' I decided to use these puns in my review, using the term 'Anything is possible'. I chose this because, like the Revenant review, it links into the films title and themes of the film. The Impossible Goal is about achieving the Impossible, and the themes of reaching a goal are spectacular.

Summary: I also used the cliche in the introduction, tiring in the tone and the colour theme of my article: 

I wanted to juxtapose the media typical idea of success and use it in a narrative that was realistic. I used the technique of listening whilst playing on 'Blood, Swat and Tear' to 'Mud, Sweat and Intense Pressure' to play on the psychological concepts of Stephanie's goals and the team that ignore her. 

Initials: I added initials at the end of the text in order to add as a bullet point at the end of the review. This signified the end of the review and gave the reader the personal touch of the writer.

Width of the white border: I kept a 5 cm gap between the border and the grey box in order to keep space for overspill and allow for the printing process to flow easier. 

Conclusion:Upon final inspection, I decided to change the font of 'In Cinemas' as readers felt it gave more of a circus vibe to the magazine. I realised that I could not find a font closer to the art décor of EMPIRE's so I went for a simplistic font. This helped reinforce the professional feel of the magazine. 

Poster- The Design Process

Poster Write-up

Attempt 1: In my first attempt I tried mixing the text and the face together, but I was curious to see the effects of the image without the transparent text. After editing I liked the look of the text beside the stature of Stephanie, but I felt the text outweighed the protagonist. I also felt that the quote overtook the title and I wanted to add more prominence to the title, either through a bold title or italic font. The blackness of the background helped sell the illusion of the drama genre, and I was pleased with the overall tone the poster expressed. I wanted to play on this dark tone more, as I felt it reflected Stephanie's fight against adversity in her effort to score her goal. Overall, I felt this first attempt was a good insight into the placement of the wording, but I wanted to see how prominent I could make the cream text without the transparency effect. 

Attempt 2: In my second attempt I tried using an italic font for the title and also add a board for the credits. I found that the italic did help with the cream font in standing out, but The title did not have the impact I wanted. I added a credit block at the bottom of my poster in order to see how it changed the posters framing. After editing I realised this made the poster look messy and unbalanced, and the credits took the impact away from the quote. Although I did like the framing of Stephanie in this poster, I felt that the poster was now too clustered without any relevant information being visible. 

After creating this photo I decided that the cream font needed to be transparent like the one in the tutorial, as it would create a more atmospheric approach to the film. 

Attempt 3: I was very impressed with the transparent text because of the dramatic connotations it exuded. This gave the audience insight into the tone of my film without having seen the trailer or full short film. The effect also solved the balancing issues I had with the earlier posters, and I knew that this effect would be something I would continue to experiment with in the future poster. My only issue was that the background was too dark for the text, and this made the beginning of 'Impossible' hard to see. I felt that the black background was too prominent in this poster, which outcast the protagonist and gave her less prominence because of the texts dark highlights. I decided to attempt the poster again, this time using a highlight tool to bring up the contrast on the darker side of the image (left) which would make the text easier to see. 

Attempt 4: The Dodge Tool helped with the issue of visibility, but I found that the tool was only useful when some light was bouncing off the coat. The neck, however, was surrounded in darkness and therefore had no effect on the text, even with the Dodge Tool in practice. I now found myself in a difficult position as I liked the transparency effect, but I needed my audience to be able to read my text in order to gain a basic understanding of the film. It was important for me that a spectator could gage whether the film was of interest of them by reading the tone of the poster, such as the colour scheme and the tilt of the photo. The spectator needed to at least be aware of the name of the film, otherwise the poster would be pointless. I decided the best thing to do would to be experiment with other Images I had captured and see if this solved the issue at hand. 

Attempt 5: The good side of this image was that the black and white contrasted better, allowing Stephanie's face to be more prominent and allow for her character to be prominent within the poster. The downside was that I found the image too awkward and cropped, which did not give Stephanie the confidant stance that I wanted to portray to my audience. That way they would understand that a change would occur in the narrative and intrigue them into wanting to watch what happens to the protagonist. The 'I' in 'Impossible' was nipped at the beginning,and although this could have been solved I felt that it was not the picture that was the issue, but the placement of the font. I decided I was going to use the original photo, but erase the quote and focus on the main title. This would ultimately reduce the cluttered feeling of my poster, and reduce the problems with the black background, as the words would not overstep the borders of Stephanie's face. 

Attempt 6: Upon further inspection, I found that if I placed the text vertically, I could enforce the length of the poster and create a sense of height of Stephanie, therefore depicting her confidence in adversity. I cropped the left hand side of the issue, which solved the problem of the black space, which gave prominence to the right hand side of the frame where my quotes could go. I experimented with this text placement and found that having the Titles in a triangle effect allowed for a natural gaze to occur, leading the reader to the quote below. 

On the other hand, I still felt that the poster needed the black space on either side. I liked the idea of the black space being consumed by a quote, not only levelling out the poster but complimenting the vertical text in the middle of the poster.

I had a small issue with the 'The' which was resolved using the fill tool. I had an issue with the darkness of the word, similar to the issues beforehand. However, due to the length of the word and it's placement near the head, I found that I could use the Select Tool to pick out the white of Stephanie's forehead. I was then able to write 'The' in the same colour as the skin tone, giving the illusion that it was light from the protagonist's head. 

Attempt 7: In this photo I can be seen experimenting with the black background, but this time implementing the cream text as part of the credits. I liked this mixture of transparency and cream, as it gave prominence to the title that I was looking for in Attempt 1. The Dodge Tool was more effective this time around, with the 'Impossible' being fully visible and the neck being increased in contrast to make the 'S' visible.

The titles where much more simplistic than in Attempt 2, and I felt that this was better at capturing the tone of the film, because it could play of the black barrenness of the poster and enforce the themes of strength over adversity in the film. I liked the idea of a simplistic title because of the complex transparent text in the middle, and I felt that both styles complimented one another. However, the double vertical lines felt too much and left me with a huge space of black bars.

Attempt 8: At attempt eight I found that the balances of text, background and photo was able to give off the effect that my film emulates. I changed the placement of the credits from the left side of the frame to the top of the frame, giving the text enough space to be prominent and also allow the reader to naturally gaze from the actors names onto the transparent title. After the previous experiments I found I still liked 'The Impossible Goal's placement and font, and found that combining the Dodge tool and the vertical font helped highlight the title whilst giving prominence to the protagonist. The quote was used in the middle left of the frame, which filled out the gap between 'The' and 'Goal', which prevented the poster from looking clustered and confusing. I used the 'A-' spacing to give the EMPIRE quote the tone that readers would recognise, therefore drawing in an audience and giving reassurance that the audience would be interested in. This couples well with my movie review ancillary, as it not only quotes the review in question but aims at a market audience that the film would aim towards. 

The Impossible Goal (2016)

The Impossible Goal Trailer

Tone and Address: EMPIRE Magazine

EMPIRE Tone and Address of articles 

Target Audience Research

Who is my target audience?

During the process of creating the Impossible Goal I took influence from previous female football films in order to have my own style and opinion on the subject. My target audience is between the ages of 9-12, as Stephanie is the age that I am trying to expose to sport. I like the idea of having a strong female character that is in her early teens, as this is area that is not covered by the film medium as much as I would like it.

When I investigated into female football films in the last decade I noticed a gap in the market for my target audience. There is a lack of female football films in the film industry, mainly because of its suppression and lack of media coverage from 2000-20010. From personal experience, I didn't have a female football player to look up to until April 2010, when the official women's Super League started. I believe because of this lack of coverage football films with female leads where scarce, but I was able to track down three films that embody the attitudes of the media to female football at the time, and how this effects my target audience.

Films/ Documentary that focus on women in the last decade

Bend it like Beckham
Released: 2002
Genre: Comedy/ Drama

Pressure Makes Us
Date Release: June 2011
Genre: Documentary/ Promotion

The 99ers
Date released: 2013
genre: Documentary

How do these products market themselves towards my target audience?

With all three examples, the films vary in how they market themselves towards the audience. With the 99ers was released as part of an ESPN breakfast show special, showing a one hour documentary on the development of football in hope of aspiring fellow youth players. ESPN began screening female football in 2010 after the surprise success of the Super League. This not only opened up the sport to young girls but also conveyed the rise of the US women's football team way before mainstream success.

I was disappointed with the representation of women in Bend It Like Beckham, as the girls are not taken seriously in the sport. The girls can be seen walking around in sports bras, whereas comparing this to the many male football films, few show skin so explicitly. I was impressed however, by the diversity of race and religion in the film, and felt this was a good moral message to convey to younger audiences in order to prevent social prejudices in later years.

Pressure Makes Us is by far the most motivational and impressive of the last decade. Produced by the sport brand Nike, the idea behind the marketing is to focus on the women's talent rather than a particular brand. I was impressed by this representation which took football seriously, creating new role models for females and young girls.
This is something I have included in my own film, giving the audience a role model that they can follow until the end of the narrative. I wanted by audience to be invested in my protagonist even if they are not into the sport particularly. I used the drama convention of the underdog in order to stimulate the audience:

Underdog
Definition: A competitor thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest

How did I use this convention to interest my target audience?

 

I used the cinematography in these shots to allow the audience to align with their hero. By having a shallow depth of field I allow the audience to hear what Jane is saying but not allow her to have any power in the scene. This reflects Stephanie's physiological status during the scene and manipulate the audience to follow Stephanie with her battle. 

 

This help magnitude the effect of the goal as Stephanie attempts a shot. The goal outweighs her, but Stephanie's action to carry on anyway gives the audience a reason to retain interest in her character. By doing so the younger audience members can become inspired by the protagonist's efforts, even if it is not in the context of football but simply standing up for yourself. 

Empire Hard copy: Layout

Empire Hard copy: Layout

Opening page: In Cinemas

Title: The opening page consists of the title, slanted on the side of the page. This draws attention to the opening image, a striking shot summerising the movie in one image. In this example, DiCaprio stands defiant as he battles for survial in a long shot, which enforces the battles he is about to encur in the narrative. the titled angle of the shot gives the audiernce an inishgt in the dominance of the character and the role DiCaprio will play in the film. By doing so, EMPIRE give important infomation to the reader in order to help them make a well informed choice at the cinema.

My Magazine: I plan to have a page spread similar to this house style, using the image to summarize to the reader what my film embodies in terms of themes and style. The title 'In cinema' is interesting and I hope to experiment with this in my later drawings

Borders: Three lines separate the font, giving the house style a retro take on art deco. I liked this choice of art because it combines with the 'In Cinema' font, which I will use in my final review print, enforcing the House style of my magazine.

My Magazine: A house style that uses a cool colour palette would suit my style better, as it allows the eye to be drawn onto the image and see the visual clearly:
Page Numbers: the numbers match the colours of the red house style, which is plan to emulate in my designs.

Above: the Splash for EMPIRE

Star rating: The rating gives the viewer an idea of the review at a glance, allowing them to decide whether to invest their time into the material. This is an interesting use of the splash as it allows the browsing reader to judge the look of the review before investing in it, giving them a sense of achievement for showing it.

My Magazine: I plan to use this star rating to draw the audience in, using the

Brief information: Underneath the stars the text gives information on the release date/ certificate number/ run time (minutes). This gives the reader the impression of the film and the audience it is aiming at, for example, Spotlight is aimed at a mature audience (15 cert.), letting the reader know of it's serious subject matter.

Director and Cast: This source of information is valuable for the niche of EMPIRE readers, as it gives the magazine change to reel in its audience with the attraction of an all star cast or an award winning entourage. 

My Magazine: I want to take influence from this theme because my audience would read a magazine similar to this layout. However I am using unknown stars for my film, so I will experiment with the placement of this information, say, at the side of the article rather than before it, due to the lack of audience engagement in this particular category. 

Plot: I like the use of a turquoise colour for the font since it clearly defines it from the following text. The font is simple enough to read and does not distract from the message of the film.
My Magazine: As mentioned above, the use of colour is effective in catching the readers attention, and I plan to do this in order to draw my audience into the new material. I am aware my narrative is not a mainstream blockbuster, but I plan to have the audience not drawn in by the celebrities but the idea of a stereotypical narrative (the Underdog) being told in a new perspective (a Female Footballer)

Above: Added Details

Bold Font: A simple bold font with a side rectangle plays on the art deco theme of the piece as well as defining the text from the other sources of information. 

My Magazine: I plan to use the bold font in my spread, allowing the audience to define the difference between my spread and the review.

Distance: The distance between each set of texts prevents the eye from being cluttered from a glance. This gives the layout a sleek first impression that is organised and planned.

My Magazine: I plan to use the spacing to give my magazine a sense of order and structure, possibly using breaks in between the stanzas rather than clunks of text. I shall experiment with this in Photoshop during the creative process.

Above: EMPIRE ending

Writer: The writer is placed at the end of the text, acting like a punctuation mark for the end of the text. I liked the placement of this because it allows for the hours colours to be reinforced once again, but also acknowledges the writer, allowing the consumer to judge the work and be attracted to the authors next spread because of the themes in their text.

Page Number: A simple number at the side of the page. This prevents distraction from the page and allows the reader to focus on the important details of the image.

Logo: Inspecting closely, the EMPIRE logo can be seen in the margins of the grey background, This gives a professional look to the magazine that I intend to emulate, giving the impression of a long time running magazine that can be trusted in its resources. 

My magazine:  I intend to use this to give my magazine. The 'March 2016' is a good touch to add to the magazine, as it gives the impression of a house style that is constantly changing with the times and gives the user gratification that they have chosen the correct product.