Peer feedback

In today's lesson, I received peer feedback on the work I'd completed so far (both covers mostly completed, layout of contents page, website started).

From this feedback, I feel comfortable in terms of the branding, fonts and photography, and except perhaps adding more coverlines to Edition 1 and reviewing the colour schemes, I am happy to move on from the front covers.

My next focus will be the contents pages, and from the feedback it seems that the layout is suitable and aesthetically pleasing, but I have also realised that I need to have a strapline for the magazine. But most importantly, I need to work on my website a lot, but now that my covers aer largely complete, I will be able to ivert lots of attention to doing so. 

Progress - front covers

 

First mock-ups (contents pages)

 

First mock-ups (front cover)

Over the last few lessons, I have been choosing some of my favourite images for the front covers of my magazine. I have made very quick mock-ups using some of these images in order to experiment with the composition etc quickly and easily.

Photoshoot 4

Inspiration: Bergman, Tarkovsky, The Lighthouse

Best photos: 

Some briefly edited photos

Photoshoots 1-3

Photoshoot 1

In the first photoshoot I conducted, my model, Ruby, first dressed up as an actress. I took lots of photos of her which I can use for part of my magazine and website which will be about an actres promoting an upcoming film. I am happy with how some of these turned out, and I will likely use one of them for the front cover. Next, I also took photos of Ruby in character for her film, so I can use stills from the movie inside the magazine and on the website. I took inspiration from various drama films, including One Fine Morning and A Good Person, as well as from the poster for Call Me By Your Name, as I love how striking the low angled shot looks against the bright blue sky. 

  

  

Photoshoot 2

In this photoshoot, I took lots of photos of my second model, Aahna. The images taken in the studio set-up are promotional images for the film and those taken outside are the "in character" ones. I am also happy with how these photos turned out, as some of them are close to the mafia tone I was going for, especially when put into black and white. I took inspiration from the many mafia/ crime films over the years, like Goodfellas and The Godfather for their moody, striking cinematography. 

Photoshoot 3

For this photoshoot, I thought it would be useful to photograph a wider age range of "characters", so I asked my mum, who is Japanese, to wear traditional Japanese clothing (a kimono) and took photos of her in a woodland/ marsh area. The inspiration for this was old Japanese arthouse films, in particular horrors, so although the raw images didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, I knew I would edit significantly to create a highly stylised look. I was inspired by films such as Orochi (1925), Kuroneko (1968), and Onibaba (1964) for their vintage, ethereal aesthetic.

Planning notes

Magazine name - Cinematic

Names of original films made up for the magazine/ website:

- Ruby's film: not yet decided

- Aahna's film: not yet decided

- Vintage Japanese horror/ slasher: not yet decided 

- Concept original Studio Ghibli film: The Missing Piece

- The House in the Sky

Magazine 1 - Ruby

Front cover - her as an actress

Contents (no order)

- old-style Japanese horror x2

- 4 more photos of Ruby both in and out of character

- anniversary column: Schindler's List, Return of the King, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels  - one or two small images (non-original)

- lots of articles, interviews, reviews etc

Magazine 2 - Aahna

Front cover - in character (bw) side profile leaning on railing

Contents (no order)

- Ghibli-style film poster

- in-character photo of Aahna leaning againt wall (bw)

- 1 to 2 photos of Aahna's actress photoshoot (colour)

- anniversary column: The Exorcist, The Wicker Man, The Outsiders

- lots of articles, interviews, reviews etc

Website

Latest story - large image at the top of the page - Ruby leaning on wooden stairs (in character)

Studio photoshoot - another image of Aahna

Ghibli promo images - 2nd drawing?

Member exclusive alternative cover - Japanese horror

Still from Ruby's film - looking at mirror

Still from Aahna's film - leaning against pole (bw)

Another story - Roman Holiday at 70 (non-original image)

Another story - Robert De Niro turns 80 - looking back on his career (non-original images)

Another story - New York filming locations - own image

Another story - Review of house in the sky film - own image

Another story - "The eyes, chico" close up of Ruby's eye - article about iconic eye close ups in cinema over the years - 2001 A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner etc 

Another story - Oppenheimer/ Barbenheimer impact?

This month's issue - Aahna

Last month's issue - Ruby

Cinematic's 50 greatest films of all time - The Godfather/ Harakiri/ Citizen Kane etc

Merchandise - Cinematic exclusive Ghibli pins, phone cases, Cinematic hats etc

Editor's letter

Potential cover lines/ copy

How the bombshell and the bomb-maker saved cinema

The eyes, chico - how those gorgeous close-ups have been used in film over the years

"It's about time" - [Aahna's film's director] on her female-lead mafia thriller

Japanese horror - A lavish call-back to arthouse Japanese horrors of the past which thrives in its ethereal trickery and deliciously gross gore

Roman Holiday at 70 - a timeless tale of true but tempoary love

The Return of the King at 20 - still a trailblazing triumph

Schindler's List at 30 - as important as it's ever been

dressed as an unassuming coming-of-age flick, [Ruby's film's name] is a zeitgesity tale of loneliness and peservering optimism for our climate of isolation.

Studio Ghibli release first promotional images for the hotly-anticipated "The Missing Piece"

30 second video: director/ cast/ critic discussing?

Script:

Studio Ghibli film poster

Considering all of the images in my magazine and website will be from either live-action films, locations or actor photoshoots, I thought it would be interesting to have some animation as well. This would widen the magazine's coverage of different forms of film, and would also increase the aesthetic range. To do this, I took inspiration from Studio Ghibli films, as they are loved world-wide, feature nostalgic, comforting animation, and would also enable me to represent part of my identity, as I am half-Japanese. So, I came up with an idea for a future Studio Ghibli film and used a digital art app to draw my own original poster for a film I have called "The Missing Piece", which is about a girl who visits her grandmother in the countryside. Here, she finds a mysterious red and blue mask which has a missing piece in its forehead. Curiosly, she herself owns the missing piece and has worn it on a necklace for as long as she can remember. When she places it back into its rightful place, the mask seems to come alive. She then goes on a journey of discovery where she learns that she is the heir to a magical forest kingdom and can control elements like water and the wind. She is forced to use these powers to protect her new-found kingdom from outside forces which threaten to disturb their peace. 

Inspiration:

Screenshots of the different design stages and the final poster:

Flatplan sketches

 Website:

Magazine covers:

Magazine contents pages: