We decided that we would place the masthead mostly in the top left-hand terminal area and allow it to cross into the middle. This design is similar to that used on ‘Sight and Sound’ and was done intentionally as the reader begins viewing the magazine from the top left-hand terminal area before travelling across the masthead through the conventionally placed date and issue number, along the top of the main image and into the second terminal area. The top right-hand terminal area shows a selection of articles, interviews and reviews that are featured inside the magazine. This is conventional as magazines often display inside features on the cover, however we broke conventions through our positioning of the text as stereotypically the text is placed on the left, dominant side of the page as the eye focuses mainly on the left-hand side of the page as demonstrated on the covers of both ‘Sight and Sound’ and ‘Empire’.
We broke conventions in order to gain a desired effect and make our own magazine cover unique. The text itself is conventional of magazine covers, yellow colouring of the sub-heading separates the text and attracts the reader’s attention while the white colours were intentionally chosen as ‘Red Room’ is a psychological horror and in this genre white is a stereotypical colour as it connotes heaven and thus death. The masthead stands out off the page to attract the reader’s attention. It is coloured red and white as they are contrasting colours and ones that relate to all genres of film. As this is a film magazine cover, not just a psychological horror film magazine cover, the colours were intentionally chosen as red may connote romance, love and emotion as well as action, danger and blood. Furthermore, white may connote innocence or purity as well as heaven or emergency. The strip of film was an additional feature to the cover as we felt it created more verisimilitude for the buyer and tied in cleverly with the title of the magazine.
From the top right-hand terminal area, the line of vision takes the eye down through the first hot spot, which in this instance is the edge of the forehead of the character and into the Primary Optical Area (POA). The POA is intentionally lit more heavily than the rest of the magazine cover as this is the spot what the viewer spends the majority of their time looking at. This is also the area which most often will attract the attention of a potential buyer before they begin reading the page. In the POA is the face of the main character of the film, ‘Red Room’. He is conventionally looking away from the camera as he refuses to be objectified and demonstrates his masculinity. This relates to Dyer’s theory of objectification. The face is coloured almost white, this is not only used to provide contrast to the dark background but also to give an insight into the film. As previously mentioned, white lighting connoted heaven and ultimately death. The four hotspots border the characters face and draw the reader’s attention to the POA. The expression of the main character suggests he is scared, the dark background and long path leading away illustrate that he is alone, both conventional devices of the psychological horror genre. The eye is the main focal point of the cover. The eye is the “window to the soul”, often in films of this genre the soul of the innocent is captured by another person or being. This shot is conventional of the genre. Shadows are used on the face to add mystery.
The eye of the reader moves along the line through the hotspot and to the beginning of the title of the main article on the cover, ‘Red Room’. On the dominant side of the page is a feature, the second most important feature of the cover as it is an ‘exclusive interview’. Often ‘exclusive interviews’ are big attractions to readers because of the exclusivity of the interview and possibility of secrets being publicised. The white text of the article separates itself from the yellow of the sub-heading. The eye moves across the film title and the tagline, ‘Piper has no escape’. This is conventional as it provides an insight into the film which taglines are stereotypically used for. The attire of the main character carries over into the film to illustrate continuity. Lastly, at the bottom of the page, the last thing the viewer reads is the additional features section. This gives an insight into the stories and articles inside the magazine, it is conventionally placed as demonstrated on all three of our analysed magazine covers, ‘Empire’, ‘Sight and Sound’ and ‘Total Film’. The eye finishes in the dead area in the bottom right-hand corner of the page with the barcode.
No comments:
Post a Comment