Finished Magazine cover

Finished Magazine Cover

The photograph above shows our finished product. In the end we decided to go with Empire as it seemed more of a challenge and we could do more with it. We used Photoshop to create it as it allowed us to do layers which meant we could decide on the order in which things were placed on the magazine, as well as having more options with what we could do.

Initially we opened up a blank canvas in Photoshop and put in a photograph of Chloe we took in a photo studio against a black backdrop. We had difficulty in choosing a photograph as there were a number that we wanted to use but we eventually settled on this one as it covered enough of the screen without having the potential to get in the way of all the titles that were going to be put there, and it also made her look vulnerable and isolated. We didn't bother to change her attire as it wasn't needed and her white outfit meant that she would stand out more against the dark backdrop. We decided on a black background as it made her look more alone and vulnerable. As well as this, darkness is seen as highlighting fear so the audience will perceive it as frightening and isolated.

This print screen shows us starting off our magazine cover. Here you can see we've put in a background that looks like scratched glass or material under the photograph of Chloe. Initially we were toying with the idea of using just a plain background but we decided to stick with the same background as we used in the poster so that the film could be associated with a common theme that people would remember it by. On the left hand side, you can see that we have opened up the type tool which is what we used too insert all the text and here we used the title as a starting point. We had some trouble deciding on fonts, but eventually decided to use the Chiller one for the main title as it helps the audience determine the genre.

The next thing we decided to do was to add a glow around the outside of Chloe's photograph and the main title, so that not only did they stand out, but it also made them appear eerie and spooky. We did this by going to the paint tool and creating a white outline around them, then reducing the opacity to make it look like a glow.

From here, we added all the rest of the titles. From studying previous Empire magazines, we noticed that the main 'Empire' title tends to go behind the persons head and decided to follow in this tradition.
As well as this we realised the price, issue and date usually went in between the top triangle of the 'M' and so we also did this.
We once again used the text tool to put all the text in, as shown on the left hand side. We went to the odeon website to see what is currently being shown in cinema's so that we had some ideas as to what to include on the cover, and most of this can be seen on the right hand side in the section titled 'Plus'. Most of the other text is focused around our trailer as that is the main focus of the cover and helps advertise 'No Escape' to its best potential. We decided to go for a red and white theme with a black backdrop adding a black theme as well.

Finally we added any other pictures we needed such as the big film strip down the bottom with frames from the film as we thought it was a good way to make the trailer stand out on the cover. We also tried to fill up the cover with as much content as possible to make it look more clustered rather than empty. This made it look as though there is a large content inside the magazine, and also made it appear more exciting and interesting, which is how Empire usually layout their magazine covers.

Creating the magazine cover was not as difficult as I had first assumed. Having prior experience with it, I knew what I was doing and understood the concepts of layers as well as knowing the various tools on offer, which made it a fairly easy and enjoyable process.