Print Production Research

Task

1) Key conventions. Look over the magazine cover key conventions notes sheet and ensure you can confidently identify the key aspects that are found on a magazine cover.

2) Write an analysis of this BFI Film Festival programme front cover. How many of the 12 key conventions of magazine covers can you see? In what way does this print product differ from a traditional magazine cover? How have the designers made this programme visually interesting?

3) Find at least 5 arts centre or cinema programmes/brochures aimed at a similar target audience to your project (arthouse cinema). For each one, pick out one design idea that you could use in your own print work.

4) Find at least 5 contents pages from arts programmes or magazines. How are contents pages designed? How do they use a combination of text and images to create an effective design?

1) How many key conventions can I identify?

2)  The British Film Industry front cover differs from the traditional magazine front cover because the title of the publication does not actually reside in the top third of the cover. In addition, the front cover does not have a central image to follow the title of the publication instead; it has a merged collage within the writing of the title. The title of the publication has been carefully created to be eye catching and placed in the centre of the page making it the key focus of the cover. This helps to make the front cover more aesthically pleasing to the public eye among all other magazines on the shelf.  

Another aspect is the placing of the date on the front cover; typically, the date is placed in small font at the bottom of the page with no real significance. However, in the BFI front cover the date has been placed directly underneath the title of the publication. This is because the dates are the dates for the festival, which is an important piece of information for the audience.  The BFI front cover is also different in comparison to the traditional front cover because it is very simple and is not overloaded with information.

On the other hand, the BFI magazine front cover also does match a traditional magazine as the BFI logo has been placed in the top left of the page, which is typical of any magazine logo. 

3) The Phoenix Cinema Brochure

-- Placing the title in the bottom third of the page 

-- Having a central image, close up of half a characters face 

Salisbury Arts Center

 

-- I really like that the central image is the key focus of this brochure with minimal text

-- I also like that the brochure issue is located as vertical text to the right of the page which is something that I could use

-- I could also use the idea of putting the BFI logo in the top right as a gift tag with accompanying social media and other information directly below. Rather than having it in the bottom left of the page in small font

The Plymouth Arts Center

-- In this brochure I like the way that the title of publication differs from the traditional format of consuming the top third of the page and instead it is in the top left of the page.

-- I also like the fact that the front cover is not over filled with text, which is something I will consider doing. This is because, less text on the front could make a audience want to read in more detail.

-- I also like that the central image is in black and white rather than colour as it helps it to stand out from competitors brochures such as the Salisbury Art Center which is consumed by colour above

Glasgow Film Theatre

-- I really like that this film contains all the generic key conventions of a film magazine front cover where you would expect them. For example, the title of the publication is in the top third of the page

-- Ideas that I would use: I would use the idea of a brief listing of the upcoming key events on the front cover and the fact that the image consumes the whole page and writing is placed on top but it is not overloaded with the key characters faces still clearly visible.

Film house cinema Edinburgh

-- From this publication what I like about it is that it is landscape page orientation 

-- I also like that fact that the front cover promotes what the cinema has it tells readers that there are " 3 cinemas and a cafe bar"

4) Contents Pages

-- I like that this contents page is not overloaded with images and follows a very simple layout

-- This contents page holds ideas that I could use because the words "contents" are not at the top of the page as you would typically find them. Instead they are vertically written down the left hand side of the page.

-- I like this contents page because rather than squeezing the information onto on page and the text is on the bottom half of the two pages with two eye catching images above to grab the attention of the audience.  

--  I like that this contents page because it focuses on the features of the magazine rather than overloading it with images. However, I think that this contents page is too common and is not very appealing to audience to make them want to read more. 

-- Finally, I like this contents page because the text isn't just down one side of the page but it is also on the left hand side surrounded by images on a simple black background. This is definitely something I am considering using for my print production. I think it is a bespoke way to present the main features of the magazine that follows.