After creating a mock-up of the magazine for my promotional package, I developed it and improved certain aspects of it, and I think that I now have a completed piece. However it is important that you understand how I created it and each step that I had to make in order to construct it. In this post, I will be presenting you with step-by-step visual evidence. Below is the creation:
1. First I found a tutorial on Google that explained how I could create a very dark and eerie background. Before I could do this however, I had to obtain an image of some clouds and a few birds. I did this by searching "royalty free" images so that I could use an image that was copyright free. I then changed the saturation and brightness to make it slightly less vibrant. After this, I added a black rectangle below the image so that I didn't have to stretch it out and make it distorted.
2. I then applied this dark layer and made the opacity around 20%. The reason for this was because the image was still too bright and it didn't look sinister enough. This was an easy task and only took around 5 minutes.
3. After creating the background, I had to take a few images of myself with my air rifle - this would be the central image. After numerous shoots, I finally obtained the best image I could possibly have. I imported it into Photoshop and changed the contrast so that it fitted the background. I chose to look off-screen as this would make the reader wonder what I am looking at. (Possibly something bad?)
4. I then applied another dark layer to make the figure darker and less identifiable. It was important however not to make him too dark as the reader must be able to see who the main star is. Again, the opacity of this layer was around 20%.
5. This step was relatively time consuming. As you can see, there is rain across the whole image. This was difficult as I had to use a built in effect and then edit it to my preferences. I do think that it came out well though as someone asked me if it was actually raining when I took the image. To do this particular technique, I had to use a mosaic option and then create a sort of blurry effect over the top. I then increased the noise which made the particles much more detailed and then I overlaid it on top of the image. The other thing I did within this step was import the magazine name. I was considering creating it myself, however after asking my media teacher, I found out that I could just use one that was from a popular magazine company. I decided to use Total Film because the title is bold, eye-catching, and works with almost any image. I did however change the colour to white as this suited my colour scheme better.
6. In this step, I added in all of the conventional features of a magazine. These include a barcode, a top banner, the edge part of the magazine, and finally the price/date/issue number. The price/date/issue number and the top banner, I created myself and took inspiration from existing Total Film magazines. The edge part of the magazine and the barcode however were found on Google as I could not create this myself.
7. The next step to do was to create the title for the feature article. This took a long time as I had to find a suitable font from Dafont.com. After a while, I found a font that was black in colour and looked destroyed/eroded. This was perfect however the colour had to be changed to white as black blended into the background of my magazine. As you may also notice, there are zombie arms just above the "S". This is an image that I really wanted to include as many film titles are not just text - they are iconography. This factor alone could make the film more identifiable and easy to relate to.
8. I then inserted all of the tag lines, and the puff on the left. The reason for why the tag lines are black and red is because they easily stand out. The red is used for the main title whereas the white is used as the description of the title. I think that this works very well because the reader's eyes are instantly drawn to the colour red. I then created the puff. This was hard to make as I didn't know exactly what shape would fit the style of the magazine. I finally came up with the idea of a sticker that was slightly ripped. I created it and my first attempt looked very promising - this is why I kept it.
9. Finally, I obtained some images of past magazine covers from Google and arranged them in a way that looked like a collection. I then added the text below: "win a month’s subscription". The reason I added this feature in was because I had no other competition features on the magazine and a lot of modern magazines do include this feature.
1. First I found a tutorial on Google that explained how I could create a very dark and eerie background. Before I could do this however, I had to obtain an image of some clouds and a few birds. I did this by searching "royalty free" images so that I could use an image that was copyright free. I then changed the saturation and brightness to make it slightly less vibrant. After this, I added a black rectangle below the image so that I didn't have to stretch it out and make it distorted.
2. I then applied this dark layer and made the opacity around 20%. The reason for this was because the image was still too bright and it didn't look sinister enough. This was an easy task and only took around 5 minutes.
3. After creating the background, I had to take a few images of myself with my air rifle - this would be the central image. After numerous shoots, I finally obtained the best image I could possibly have. I imported it into Photoshop and changed the contrast so that it fitted the background. I chose to look off-screen as this would make the reader wonder what I am looking at. (Possibly something bad?)
4. I then applied another dark layer to make the figure darker and less identifiable. It was important however not to make him too dark as the reader must be able to see who the main star is. Again, the opacity of this layer was around 20%.
5. This step was relatively time consuming. As you can see, there is rain across the whole image. This was difficult as I had to use a built in effect and then edit it to my preferences. I do think that it came out well though as someone asked me if it was actually raining when I took the image. To do this particular technique, I had to use a mosaic option and then create a sort of blurry effect over the top. I then increased the noise which made the particles much more detailed and then I overlaid it on top of the image. The other thing I did within this step was import the magazine name. I was considering creating it myself, however after asking my media teacher, I found out that I could just use one that was from a popular magazine company. I decided to use Total Film because the title is bold, eye-catching, and works with almost any image. I did however change the colour to white as this suited my colour scheme better. 
6. In this step, I added in all of the conventional features of a magazine. These include a barcode, a top banner, the edge part of the magazine, and finally the price/date/issue number. The price/date/issue number and the top banner, I created myself and took inspiration from existing Total Film magazines. The edge part of the magazine and the barcode however were found on Google as I could not create this myself. 
7. The next step to do was to create the title for the feature article. This took a long time as I had to find a suitable font from Dafont.com. After a while, I found a font that was black in colour and looked destroyed/eroded. This was perfect however the colour had to be changed to white as black blended into the background of my magazine. As you may also notice, there are zombie arms just above the "S". This is an image that I really wanted to include as many film titles are not just text - they are iconography. This factor alone could make the film more identifiable and easy to relate to. 
8. I then inserted all of the tag lines, and the puff on the left. The reason for why the tag lines are black and red is because they easily stand out. The red is used for the main title whereas the white is used as the description of the title. I think that this works very well because the reader's eyes are instantly drawn to the colour red. I then created the puff. This was hard to make as I didn't know exactly what shape would fit the style of the magazine. I finally came up with the idea of a sticker that was slightly ripped. I created it and my first attempt looked very promising - this is why I kept it. 
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