Before I dismissed the current appearance of my review page, I wanted to add more of the features so that I could see it from a more completed perspective. The screenshot above shows how I have come up with a heading and subheading for this section of the magazine within the wider context of the publication. If this page was in a proper magazine, then the contents page would promote the 'Wild Reviews' section as the place to find the film reviews. I settled on the title 'Wild Reviews' because it is a continuation of the name I would use for the magazine (Screen Wild) and so the word 'Wild' is directly continued from the magazine name but also has connotations of excitement and entertainment within the reviews themselves.
The subheading for this reads:
'All the latest releases seen, summarised and scrutinised'
I think this works effectively because it establishes trust between the reader and the magazine by stating that 'all the latest releases' are being reviewed, thus showing how they are keeping audiences up to date on the film industry. I also wanted to use alliteration and a list of 3 because it becomes more rhythmic to read, so the 'seen, summarised and scrutinised' shows the progress of the critic, who first watches the film, then summarises it, then is critical about it. I think that both the heading and subheading provide a balance between audience engagement and professionalism.
The captions for the photograph needed to be written in a colour which wasn't intrusive but wasn't invisible either. White provided the subtle but noticeable presence needed and when placed in a darker area of the image it became a distinguished label. Also relevant here is the colour change of the background. I swapped to green because I felt that it was brighter and more illuminating, helping to add to the 'wildness' of the magazine.
This is a full shot of the current state of my magazine page. I have arranged the layout to mimic that of my flat plan and placed each review into its own, cordoned section, with the white boxes helping to segregate each article slightly without isolating them too much. I pasted all of the captions, stars and taglines into the necessary positions for each review, as well as a promotional website reference in the top right of the page.
Remembering that the review sections never appear at the start of the magazine, I chose the page numbers 34 and 35 to show that I had considered the conventional position of my page within the figurative context of the full magazine. Additionally, as is common throughout magazines, I wrote the title logo next to the page number to repeatedly promote the magazine, as well as the month and year of the publication.
Another change of colour, and this time I think it is the best fit for the overall tone of the page. Since I have written the verdicts, the magazine title, the stars and the section heading in blue, using a sky blue backdrop helps to create cohesion between the features on the page and so the whole appearance looks more synchronised. With blue as the main colour, varying it slightly for each part of the page was a good way to express how it would have functioned as the ongoing theme for the magazine.
This is now the completed appearance. The promotional website along the top reads: 'Not a member yet? Subscribe at www.screenwild.co.uk for exclusive content, interviews and sneak peeks.' Using direct address at the start with 'Not a member yet?' is an encouraging and slightly pressurising rhetorical question promoting the subscription service offered by most magazines.
On inspection, I realised that I hadn't included the convention that Empire use, where they capitalise the first few words of each review. Therefore I changed the opening words of my fours reviews so that they were in capital letters and consequently more imposing. The large gap going down the centre of the page signifies how this would unfold as a double page in a magazine. Overall I am very satisfied with the appearance of my magazine page. It clearly demonstrates more structural awareness than my double page spread last year because I am positioning four separate topics into the same space, thus showing a broader understanding of layout and a better creative approach to balancing the whole tone of the page.
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