Project Development: Magazine layout for film review

Once I have completed my film review, I will put it in a magazine format. Recently, I read an article by Shumi Perhiniak about the 'anatomy of a magazine layout'. I found this article quite interesting, as it was a great reminder of the key components that make a good magazine. From reading this article, I decided to gather some thoughts and design my magazine layout.

Before I start designing my magazine cover, I need to consider the following (Pehiniak, 2022): 

1. Purpose: The purpose of my magazine layout is to help engage reader's to read my film review. The idea is to keep it formal, image-based yet entertaining to read. Is it image-based, story-based, formal, funny? etc.

2. Balance: I will make sure my content is evenly spread on my layout, to make sure there is a great balance of images and text to help maintain the reader's interest. 

3. Hierarchy: The most important pieces of information will need to stand out, for example the headline, introduction and pull-quote. This will help illustrate the priority of these vital bits visually. 

4. Readability: I need to make sure my text is easy to read for the reader, so I will use a serif font for the main text, to help ease the eyes on print form. I will aim to use the traditional Times New Roman font, as most readers are familiar with this, and will use font size 12, as this is the minimum number considered to be legible for users (health.gov.uk, 2022). I will aim to use a black font as this will contrast against the white background, and make it easier for one to read. 

I have created a sketch of my intial idea of how my magazine layout may appear. I aim to use Adobe InDesign to create the layout: 

            

    Initial idea sketch for potential magazine layout for film review

References:

Display content clearly on the page (no date) Use a readable font that's at least 16 pixels. - Health Literacy Online. Available at: https://health.gov/healthliteracyonline/display/section-3-3/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022). 

Perhiniak, S. (2021) Anatomy of a magazine layout, Yes I'm a Designer. Available at: https://yesimadesigner.com/anatomy-of-a-magazine-layout/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022). 

Project Development: Initial ideas brainstorm for film review

To create my film review, I will start conducting research into how to write a film review. Recently, I read an article by M.G. Jasper about '10 essential components' for writing a film review. I found this article fascinating and straightforward. From reading this article, I decided to gather some initial ideas, and brainstorm some thoughts based on Jasper's essential components that I could potentially include in for my film review on Avatar. As I read more articles, books and journals on how to write a film review, I will gain a more clearer idea how to write one. 

Initial ideas brainstorm for the film review on Avatar

References:

Jasper, M.G. (2022) 10 essential elements for movie reviews, Medium. Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@mgjasper/10-essential-elements-for-movie-reviews-921230d7fb1e (Accessed: November 22, 2022).

Avatar (2009) - imdb (2022). Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/ (Accessed: November 22, 2022).

Further Research: Roger Erbert

 

Roger Erbet (Time, 2011)

I am looking at the late Roger Erbert, who was a renowned, successful film critic. He was considered to be "the most powerful pundit in America" (Forbes, 2007). He was also the first film critic to win the Pulitzer prize. Erbet focused on using creative metaphors in his work and his love for movies evidently shows in his work (IMDB, 2007). I am looking at this film critic as his style of film criticism will inform how I write my film review on Avatar. Erbet's style of writing is known to be simple yet effective. He chooses to use simple words, so that his message can be conveyed easily and is accessible to all. Erbet reviewed hundreds of movies, all ranging from diverse genres, but one factor that all his reviews have in common is that they all have a personal touch. Erbet clearly voices his opinion yet he chooses to use a friendly, conversational style which draws the reader into his review and genuinely talks about the characters, film making and audience reactions as an enthusiastic film critic. His experiences as a screen writer can be evidently seen as his cinematic knowledge about the movie making experience does show in his work, no wonder he is considered to be a highly esteemed film critic.

To be continued....

How has it informed your work? Go into the research

References:

Ebert, R. (2009) Avatar Movie Review & Film Summary (2009): Roger Ebert, Avatar movie review & film summary (2009) | Roger Ebert. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/avatar-2009 (Accessed: November 16, 2022). 

Feeney, N. (2014) 7 of Roger Ebert's most brutal movie reviews, Time. Time. Available at: https://time.com/2957019/roger-ebert-life-itself-brutal-reviews/ (Accessed: November 16, 2022). 

Roger Ebert (2022) IMDb. IMDb.com. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001170/bio (Accessed: November 22, 2022).

Website creation: Home page

 I decided to change the design of my original template, as I felt I needed to create a website that was more visually appealing and showed a bit more of my personality and passion for the multimedia design.

Hence, I began creating my website again on Wix and I opened Wix and chose the 'begin with a template' option as shown in the screenshot below, for my multimedia design website. 

Followed by this, I looked at a range of template designs and decided to go for the 'food stylist' template, as I liked the design style of the template and felt I could modify it to make it more relevant to multimedia design. I did have a look at many graphic design, photography, marketing and creative website templates but felt this one was the best one.

Once I was happy with the template selection, I decided to change the colour scheme of the website to personalise it. I chose to go with the 'mature' colour pallette by clicking on the 'choose your theme' menu. I tried different colour schemes, but felt this was ideal as it went well with the website.

Once the colour scheme was selected, I decided to rename the site to 'Milan Multimedia' using the 'text settings' menu and placed the title in the navigation bar. I changed the font to Quicksand with font size 24, as it gave the site a modern look.

I changed the colour of my text to a deeper shade of purple to go with my theme. I also chose to use a bolder font, to make the my name stand out to the user.

I then focused on editing the navigation bar design by choosing the 'menu designs' option. I selected the first option for the 'discover more menus' drop down under the themes for the horizontal menu. I chose this option, as I quite liked the design and felt it gave my website a modern look.

After I edited the navigation bar, I edited the mid section of the page. I started by adding my full name using the Quicksand font (font size 18 with the paragraph 1 text theme) to maintain consistency.

 

I then changed the word 'food' to 'multimedia' as I wanted my website to reflect on my multimedia work not on food! Again, I used the 'text settings' tool and changed the theme to 'heading 3', font 'Quicksand' with the font size 45 in capitals, as I wanted to place emphasis on the word 'multimedia'.

Once again, using the text settings I changed the word 'stylist' to 'designer' with a full stop as I wanted to place more emphasis on the word 'designer' compared to 'multimedia'. I chose to use the 'heading 2' theme as this was bigger than 'heading 3'. Again to maintain consistency, I chose to use the Quicksand font with the font size 60. I also changed the text on this row to bold.

Once I was happy with the text, I then decided to change the picture of the model to my own, to personalise the website.

I then uploaded my image using the 'choose an image' option and uploaded my own image.

Once I was happy with the image, I experimented with the position of the image using the settings and my mouse to get the following result.

I then added the 'my gallery' link using the text settings drop down menu, with the font size 23, font Quicksand to maintain consistency and encourage users to check out my work on the 'my gallery' section.

I wanted to make my image stand out more, so I decided to experiment with the image frame design settings and finally chose the polaroid frame as it went well with rest of the layout.

I then selected a copyright free image from the Unsplash website to use as a background image for my home page, instead of the current image of cookies. In my mind, I wanted to use an image that was high resolution and reflected my work space. I wanted an image that showed a desk with a laptop, possibly with other gadgets, and that somehow reflected my love for books, coding and graphics. I was fortunate enough to find the image below. I decided to use this image temporarily as my backdrop, and then will hopefully take a picture of my work space using a DSLR later on.

Once I was happy with the image, and saved it on my desktop folder, I right clicked on the mouse and the selected the 'strip background' drop down menu, which then presented me with the option to replace my background image. I then uploaded my image using the site files option as shown below.

I then found that the image clashed with my multimedia designer box, so I clicked on the image settings and experimented with the image opacity. I then settled for the image opacity at 60% as I felt that the image could be seen vividly and wouldn't clash with the text box in the centre. I wanted less attention to be drawn on the background but more on the main text box.

Once I was happy with the opacity, I clicked on the settings to change the design for the 'multimedia designer box'. I selected the 'box design' drop down menu and experimented with the range of layout and finally settled for the shape as indicated below. I then changed the box outline to a deep purple using the colour picker tool. I made sure the shade of purple matched the navigation bar to maintain consistency.

This is the how the homepage now appears in preview state.

Mobile view of homepage....

In conclusion, I am happy with the home page of the website as it reflects my sense of style. The home page took a little longer to edit in comparison to the contact me page, however the effort was worth it as I am pleased with the final result. 

Website Creation: Contact Me Page

I then edited my contact page, by adding a contact form and then clicking on the form to set notifications to my email and I adjusted the design by adding an image and changing the text on the page. See below 

First of all, I clicked on the 'add section' button on the left, and selected 'contact form'. I then added the second contact form, as I liked the design and felt it would go well with the theme of my website.

   

I then clicked on the form settings, to set my notifications to my email. Followed by this, I then clicked on the 'text box settings' and changed the placeholder text to personalise the form a little and make it easier for the user to type in their text. I also changed some of the fields as a requirement for the user to type in their text.

I then edited the text for the 'contact me' section. I started off by selecting the text settings for the footer. I personalised the footer by adding in the copyright symbol alongside my company name with the year. I changed the text settings to the theme 'paragraph 2' with the font Quicksand. I decided to make the text a little smaller compared to rest of the text and changed the font size to 15, to draw less attention to the footer and place more emphasis on the 'contact me' title.

Following this, I deleted the text on top of the 'contact me' title. I then edited the text below the 'contact me' title to help make the form more user friendly. I changed the text settings to the font 'Quicksand', and changed the font size to 15, the same as the footer to maintain consistency.

 

Followed by this, I changed the font size to 59 of the title, selected the bold setting on the text settings for the title, and made sure the theme was 'heading 3' with the Quicksand typography, to maintain consistency with rest of the page and make the title stand out to the user.

Once I was happy with the title, I decided to make the social media icons a little larger by selecting the 'social bar layout' settings and changing the icon size to 30px. I felt the social media icons needed to be a little larger and required more spacing, so I changed the spacing to 12px.

Once the size and spacing of the social media icons were altered, I then 'set the social media links' and connected all the buttons to my social media links as shown below.

I then deleted the 'let's chat function' as I wanted to keep my social media page simple yet effective.

Following this, I wanted to add a relevant picture from the Unsplash website to go with my contact me page. I chose a picture with a person typing on the laptop as I felt it was appropriate for my website. I downloaded and saved the laptop picture on my desktop folder to use for my website. Followed by this, I selected the 'add elements' button on my contact page, and then selected the 'image' icon and then in the drop down menu selected the 'upload and import button', as shown below.

I selected the laptop image from my dektop menu and uploaded it onto the Contact page.

The image was placed on the left hand side of the Contact page as shown below.

I then used the 'cropping' tool to crop my picture to a rectangle smaller size, to make the page more visually appealing.

Once I was happy with the placement of the picture, I altered the alignment, by shifting the text and contact form a little to the right. This is the end result of how my page appears. I am pleased with the result, and felt the contact page was the quickest page to customise in the website.

I will now add the mobile view of the contact me page....

Project Plan: Film Review on Avatar

My project plan can be found below. I'll complete the project tasks on a weekly basis and explain them in further detail in the project blog posts.

Project Sign off: Film Review on Avatar

I have now completed my project sign-off for my project. Below is the movie trailer of James Cameron's film, Avatar. This is the movie I will be writing a review on. Before writing a review, I will conduct research and explore the work of film critics such as Mark Kermode and Roger Erbert to get a better idea on writing a review on Avatar.

    

                                                        Movie trailer of the film Avatar (2009)

Please find my project sign-off here.