TASK 28 //
MAGAZINE REVIEW PLANNING
Magazine Formatting
For one of my ancillary tasks, I am making a magazine review to go with the coming of age short film I am planning to make. The format of the magazine review is crucial for the task to seem realistic and show professionalism throughout my final products. My templates for the magazine review follow similar patterns to those seen when analysing actual reviews available to the public in stores today. They feature common aspects of a review, including: the title of the film, an image, a tagline, a section which outlines the important information about the production (date released, age certificate, director, cast, screenwriter, running time and plot), the main body of text and a final verdict which sums up the entire review in a small paragraph. Following the analysis of existing magazine reviews in the market, I felt it was essential for the image to cover a large portion of the page, which would help capture the audience's attention and make them want to read further. It also felt necessary to include a capitalised title, which would be presented in a different colour and be the largest font of text on the page in comparison to the main body of text, highlighting the importance. In every magazine I researched upon, columns were used to present the main body of text. I plan on implementing this to my own ancillary task, as it can portray my attention to existing trends in the magazine market and will show a sense of professionalism. One particular magazine company which I had taken a further interest in, Empire, for it's success and the professionalism shown in their magazines, often add a 'Verdict' section to their main body of text, where they summarise the review, which I also plan on adding.
Typography Selection
The style of font which I choose to implement into my magazine review is critical to the response I would get back from an audience, as the main part of a review is the main body of text, discussing the positives of the film, as well as the writer's critiques. I am for the font of the title and film details to be simple and readable from a distance. The font should be different from the main body of text, as this trend was picked up upon when researching into reviews. The font of the title tends to be more simple and emboldened, whereas the main body of text tends to be in the style of a typewriter and is a lot smaller than the title. The main body is also presented in columns, which traditional newspapers and magazines have followed for years.
Film Details
As part of my magazine review, I am adding a block of text which will be able to immediately communicate the most important aspects of the film to the audience. This will allow the viewers of my magazine review to find out some information that may allow them to identify if they are interested or uninterested in the concept of the film and what it is about. The details will feature: the release date, the BBFC age certificate, the director's name, the bankable star cast members within the production, the screenwriter, the running time of the production and a brief summary of the plot. I have chosen for the font to be simple, yet bold. This will allow the block of text to stand out from the main body of text, showing importance to the audience and they will take this as a sign to read this part of the review first. This is ideal to be achieved, as the text box will show the main features of the film and could potentially influence audiences to view the production by itself.
Title and Film Details
Main Body of Text
I have created two versions of the film details text boxes with different colour schemes to give me a choice as to which one to use within my final ancillary task. I have opted to use the one with the red and orange colour scheme, as these colours could connote importance and will stand out largely from the rest of the black text presented on the page.
Main Body of Text
Sophie Hicks’ life is explored when revealing her troubles when attending her local High School. In Focal Productions’ ground-breaking short ‘Skin Deep’, themes of self-acceptance, violence, bullying and coming of age are clearly exchanged to the audience, whilst the underlying subject of escapism and relief are faintly touched upon. These topics are incorporated in the astonishing short to represent how the appearance of people is only the cover to every soul, bringing up the famous quote used time and time again – “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The short is reminiscent of short films which bring about the talk of appearance of individuals, much like Erin Sanger’s 2013 success ‘Bombshell’.
The film has a very distinct style which comes with it – the plot, characters and settings used throughout the production puzzle together expertly to create a thoroughly intense experience for audience members of various backgrounds. The use of the gritty, mettlesome streets of London incorporated within the shots of the short help see the environment which these characters have been brought up in and which they have been influenced by, gathering an audience of national locals who can relate to this setting and establishment. The accents are recognised in the same manner, building a relationship between the setting and the overlying characters.
The authentic story is fuelled from the idea that assumptions are made of people from their visible appearance, however these stereotypes which are associated with groups of people are not feasible in every situation encountered. The ‘goth-inspired’ teen is challenged when approached by the school bullies, who continuously abuse her for their own pleasure. You may have expected the black make up and chokers around her neck to be removed to avoid the daily confrontation, however the bold protagonist learns to take pride in her appearance choices and pays less attention to other people’s opinions as she progresses in life.
Sophie, herself, also knows that she is undermined, due to the stereotypes automatically labelled on ‘goths’, however she channels her naturally talented self through the art of violin, shown at the end of the production. This challenge against stereotypes sends across a message to the audience members that looks are deceiving to the eye and should get to know someone before they begin to judge them.
As an audience, it is easy to connect to the constructed short and may even be deemed relatable at points of the production – ‘Skin Deep’ is an inspiring work ingeniously filmed with outstanding use of cinematography, lighting and sound. The minimalist approach to dialogue conveyed throughout the short allows an audience to create its own perception of any situation, where the final assumptions are put to rest at the end of the short film. There will not be a moment when viewing this mindfully-gruelling short that your mind will not be full of thought and opinion.
This short is a timeless narrative presented skilfully with narration throughout, which only few can implement successfully. The dialogue used on screen is appropriately applied and depicted, shown through various mediums of auditorial exchange, such as voiceovers and regular dialogue. The use of diverse approaches to communicate thoughts and feelings helps unfold the drama to the audience clearly.
The musical additions only add to the intensity of the short with the use heavy-metal rock music, closely followed by a violin piece. These two opposites on the musical spectrum show the two separate sides to the protagonist – one which people assume she would be and one which she actually is.
Photography
The images seen on the left of this text are critical stages which were taken into allowing the photography for my final magazine review to be achieved. The first image seen at the top of the three images is the image I had initially taken with the Canon DSLR camera. However, this image was not white-balanced properly, therefore I had achieved a yellow/orange tint to the image. To remove this tint from the image, I had to reduce the temperature, skin tone and the vignette of the image using the features in Photoshop. This application allowed me to tweak colour levels and allowed me to achieve a more natural-looking image, which can be seen as the one in the middle. However, similar to the image for my poster, the skin tone of the image was seen to have a pink-tint, due to the pink walls surrounding the character. Therefore, to reduce the tint on her skin, I had followed an in-depth tutorial on how to adjust the skin tone of models in Photoshop. This allowed me to achieve a more natural, lighter image, where I was also able to demonstrate my knowledge on various platforms. These platforms include: a Canon DSLR camera, Photoshop and InDesign.