Poster and Empire cover development

For our ancillary texts we chose to make a poster and a front cover to an Empire magazine. I originally decided to put my ideas on paper before recreating them on photoshop. This allowed me to make changes and go through several ideas before deciding on the final two.

The image above shows my initial concept art for my films promotional poster. In my poster I had the idea of using a fridge to represent the normality of the main character. This would then be covered in fridge magnets and various other objects connoting a recognisable sustainable life whilst also creating a contrast for what is about to be thrust upon him. This would give the audience hints at what happens in the film. I also wanted to try and show how these objects got in the way of his 'Freedom'. To do this I planned on having A in the foreground and a hole in the rear wall showing a city as a 'Goal in the background. However due to various limitations and problems I wasn't able to create the desired product on Photoshop. I decided to keep the idea that someone or something was stopping A from achieving his 'Freedom', but I also tried to think of things that could represent freedom.

The above image is of my final poster. It shows A’s arm in the foreground, with A standing on a path through a field. The Path shows that A is following it to somewhere and connotes to the reader that his destination must be at the end of the path. The field however is used to represent freedom. A’s fist is also clenched and glowing suggesting to the audience that he is angry and ready to fight for what is should rightfully be his. This idea is reinforced by the tagline and the central image of an armed Lt. Kenneth.

I used already existing posters as a refernce. for example the poster below i used as a reference on how to create the glow around the arm but also the nanotech arm.

Above is my initial concept for my Empire magazine front cover. I decided to go with a circuit board and robotic theme and to feature silver detailing on a dark blue background. This would allow the cover and the robotic detailing to stand out on the shelves but would also connote how our character stands out. I even decided to turn the Empire masthead into a circuit board to accompany the theme. I decided that I would try and break the regular rule of having the central image looking directly out at the reader, this would allow me to show how A is trying to keep himself hidden but also to keep some mystery for the reader as to whom the character is. I would also place a glow around the nanotech arm, this would make it stand out and show that it is the main driving force behind the films narrative.

The above image shows my final Empire magazine cover. I decided to stick to the robotic theme and use the dark blue and silver as my main colours. I however had to change the central image, as my initial idea didn’t work very well in reality.

I felt that the image hid too much of the characters face and didn’t convey the idea that he is trying to hide or escape from someone. Because of this I changed the image to the one featured in the cover above. I felt this image was much more suitable as it clearly shows the main character. I played around with poses and decided that I liked idea of the character mimicking Hamlet when he finds Yorik's skull. I also feel that the characters pose and expression convey the anger he has for being treated as an experiment.I chose to use the tagline ‘meet the hero on the run’ this allows the reader to pick up on the plot and creates an enigma for the reader, making them want to pick up the issue and read on. Because I mentioned A as being a Hero I decided I would turn it into a special issue, featuring reviews and previews for the latest action hero and super hero movies.

I also tried to use as many of the features found on real Empire covers as possible. For example from the above image I used “//” to separate the different articles found within the magazine.i also placed the barcode on the right as to not intrude on the central image.