Editorial Practice

Before we began to develop our own editorial designs for our magazines, it was important to attempt practice in this style. So, throughout the first couple weeks of this module we were set side tasks to do just that, here I shall be sharing such with you.

The Task:

We were given 2 hours to reimagine the front cover of one of a selection of magazines. I chose Empire magazine, an organization that specializes in the distribution of film and media coverage.

More specifically we had to do a front cover that celebrates the work of director Quentin Tarantino, either focusing on his films, dialogue, soundtracks or even a particular scene.

Here is what I produced:

Firstly, I created this striking cover revolving around the classic Tarantino movie, Reservoir Dogs. I wanted to keep this piece as simplistic as possible, having the imagery carry most of the weight.

I could have left the cut of our the subjects on its own, but to add another level of depth and interest I included a beaming of white light emerging from the characters themselves, in an almost zebra crossing fashion. Which I feel is quite fitting, as the way the men are arranged (one behind another), and all in suits, it reminded me greatley of the iconic Beatles image of the band outside abbey road studios.

What I think was most successful about this specific cover, was the colour pallette. I purposefully restricted myself with such, using a bold yellow to catch the eye, then of course black and white matching the suits, together they compose a visually prominent image.

Secondly, I created this cover, revolving around this long history of the directors movie, with intentions that the spreads inside would give us information on his process as such.

To show ‘history’ I brought in a painting from the romanticism period, doing this also allowed me to create a great comparison, in a statement that Quentin Tarantino’s work in itself is art. Hence the complimenting article title ‘ What’s the artistry of Quentin Tarantino?’

Then with the statement, I needed to reciprocate within the visual aspect of the cover, so how i went about this, was taking an image of the legendary character; ‘The Bride’ from Kill Bill; which is arguably of one the creators most famous films, hence why I chose to represent his ‘artistry’ through a cropped image of Uma Thurman.

To add another element of interest and depth, I decided to have the headcon overshadowed by the subject, keeping it at utmost importance. Striking imagery.