Final practical work

It's here! It's here! It's finally here! No, not Yandhi, my final audio visual piece! (Also the magazine cover and double-page spread).


I've attached images to this post, but here are the links to the high quality versions of them all:
https://youtu.be/GJIyQGpD6Jw
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n0Gb3GIUNKJDjKtSotHsGMcf3pC82Zr1/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G1ZYt2tdT9euwtjkZd0RhnfegEjEmtPJ/view?usp=sharing

Final touches to my audio-visual piece

I just wanted to post some quick updates about my audio-visual piece (a clip from a new crime drama, Partners). Since posting my rough cut and receiving feedback from a number of people, I have modified several elements of my piece. Firstly, I cut down the opening chase scene considerably by cutting faster and paying less attention to continuity, which I think adds a lot to the energy and overall pace of the scene. I changed the music used for this scene also as I felt that the original music was too hyperbolised and didn't feel like music which would be in an actual crime drama. I am very happy with the new piece which I have found, and think that it goes well with the other piece used later on in the piece. I also tweaked the confrontation scene and arrest scene slightly. I have begun cleaning up the audio, and don't think I will bother doing any foley as I have enough audio from on set.

I filmed a very quick flashback scene which was intended to go in the middle of the confrontation scene, however I tried this but it really didn't work - it came off as very comedic (a friend who I showed it to laughed at it) and out of place. In order to satisfy the specification that we must use at least two locations (and because it should make the piece a bit more impressive) I will be filming a very short scene (around 20 seconds) to go after the current end of the piece. It will simply show the main character, Dave, in his apartment, deleting photos on his phone of him and Michael. This will be filmed in my house at some point next week. I may also see if I can get an exterior shot of an apartment somewhere in Cambridge to use as an establishing shot (if I feel this is necessary).

I will be posting my fine cut on this blog as soon as it's ready! (I know you can't wait!)

Draft double-page spread

Here is the first draft for my double page spread article layout. I went with the mock-up design which I drew out, without making any changes. I have just used placeholder text and images for now to give a rough idea of the layout. My next step is to do the actual interviews, type up the copy for the article and do a photoshoot with the two actors. I will make sure to get lots of different poses and angles so that I have plenty to work with, as I don't want to be restricted to my initial idea for the photo. The text in the main body of the article is currently 855 words (far longer than my article should be), so I will probably have to use more images, but it's hard to estimate using placeholder text.

Men's lifestyle magazines - industry info

I have gone back and done some research on men's magazines which are similar to the magazine I will be making, and have looked at press packs for each magazine.


Esquire


Mission statement: Esquire is for men who are ambitious in their lives and determined to shape the world.

"Esquire is quintessentially a study in style, from the sparkle of its prose to the cosmopolitan cool of the way it looks. It is a thinking man's guide for the curious, confident, and cultured." - Jay Fielden, editor-in-chief

At a time when most brands are experiencing declines, our audience is still growing with a rate base that has climbed to 750,000 over the past two years.

• 757,535 Total Circulation

• 3.28MM AUDIENCE

• 96% Subscriptions
• 4% Newsstands

• 95% of monthly content is unique to Esquire.com
• Strong coverage around Style, Entertainment, News and Politics, Lifestyle, Grooming, and Culture
• More UVs and growth than GQ, Men’s Health, and Men’s Journal*
  *Source: comScore Multi-Platform August-September 2017
• Low duplication rate across print (only 2% duplication)

GQ
"British GQ is the only brand in Britain dedicated to bringing together the very best in men's fashion, style, investigative journalism, comment, lifestyle and entertainment.


British GQ global reach: 4.1 million gross reach print + online + social.
Online unique users: 2.4 million
Social followers: 1.3 million + 21% YOY
Circulation :115k (83% higher than esquire)
Readership: 365k (reaching over 2 times as many readers as Esquire)
Men's magazine advertising share 47% (the largest in men's lifestyle market)


Audience profiles:


Average age: 34 (magazine) / 36 (online)
Average HHI: £103k (magazine) / £86k (online)
ABC1: 80% (magazine) / 67% (online)
AB: 41% (magazine) / 37% (online)
London / SE: 49% (magazine) / 51% (online)

Magazine treatment

The Magazine: Modern Man (see: arcade fire)




Target readership: The Modern Man reader is aged 18-35 and is (unsurprisingly) male. They have a steady income (ABC1) - enough to afford a fairly pricey, high-end magazine. Although this is a male lifestyle magazine, the content itself isn't reminiscent of your typical body-building and car magazines, but instead focuses on male-centric issues and interests with a liberal touch. The average reader will be left-wing, probably a labour voter, and will have a forward-thinking attitude. Similar to the reader, the magazine promotes liberal feminist and egalitarian values. The reader is sophisticated and intellectual, whilst also being down-to-Earth and having an interest in topics like entertainment and fashion.


Form and style: The magazine has a sleek, glamorous aesthetic, reminiscent of men's magazines such as esquire and GQ along with the likes of Vogue and Vanity Fair. The cover page and individual articles will use simple, stylish colour schemes which communicate luxury. The cover pages will tend to have a fairly simple and minimalist layout with a main title and a list of the main articles in the issue. The cover model will normally be either an actor, director or musician. The magazine will sell at £3.50 - fairly expensive for a magazine but affordable for someone in the ABC1 bracket.


Themes and Typical features: The magazine will contain sections for fashion, lifestyle, culture and entertainment. Articles will often focus on social issues such as traditional ideas of masculinity and sexuality. There may be some articles written by readers of the magazine, such as think-pieces and letters to particular people or companies. The tone will be fairly formal but not newspaper-like - the articles will focus on discussion rather than just news and exposition.


Potential advertisers: There will be lots of men's fashion brands (mostly fairly high-end) such as Ralph Lauren, Charles Tyrwhitt, Levi's and Lacoste. As the magazine also focuses a lot on entertainment, there will be advertisements for films, TV shows and new music.

My mock-up double page spread

To start my double page spread, I drew out a mock-up of my initial design. This will definitely be altered in ways later on, but it's a good basis to build the layout on.

After making this design, I decided that it would probably be best to switch around the two pages. My initial thought was to place the main title and image on the right hand page, as the eye is naturally drawn to the right, however I then went back to look at various lifestyle magazines and realised that this goes against their conventions.

Draft magazine cover

Recently, along with fine-tuning my edit, I have begun working on the cover for my magazine. My main inspiration for this has been Esquire, which has a very sleek, elegant style that communicates luxury. My magazine will be a similarly luxurious magazine aimed at men.





This is the current design which I have - the title and all of the text are only temporary and will be modified later. The sketch is also just a demonstration of what the image will be like (I will be doing a photoshoot soon with the actors). I want the cover to be completely grayscale apart from the background at the top, similar to this issue of Esquire
.