ANCILLARY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD RESEARCH

MARCUS THOMAS

•Just like in my research on silent comedy film posters, I decided to research only silent comedy film double page spreads as they may be certain approaches taken my magazines promoting silent comedies which I could take on board.

•I found it hard to research two double page spreads of magazines subjecting silent comedy films. Instead, I researched one double page spread based on Charlie Chaplin and another double page spread on a poem by Carl Sandburg which mentions Charlie Chaplin. Both of these double page spreads were published during the 1920s which was the silent era.

The first silent comedy double page spread I researched was based on Charlie Chaplin…

The main image in on either page consumes around 25% of the double page spread telling the reader that the images are of sheer importance. The reader wouldn’t just flick through the pages of the magazine because two large pictures including Charlie Chaplin are seen so the reader may to stop to think about reading the whole article.

The main image is anchored with a caption which the reader may want to read before actually reading the article as a brief summary of what the article is going to be about. When creating my double page spread I will need to employ a large main image of an actor to grab the readers attention because the actor will be a famous person, a fans favourite which the target audience will want to read about.

The long shot of Charlie Chaplin shows the clothes he is wearing and emphasises the way he is standing. A sense of comedy is seen on his face with a frown which flows with the silent comedy subgenre.

The headline “Charlie Chaplin’s Marital Mix-Up” will tell the reader that this article is not about a silent comedy but about Charlie Chaplin’s life. This will appeal to his partisan fans not just fans of his movies. The Alliteration is effective in this heading because it makes the sentence flow with a rhythm so it is catchy which is a quick way of getting the readers attention. This technique is one I could use when it comes to creating my double page spread to grab the readers attention but making it relate more to the silent comedy we are promoting.

The bodycopy of the subheading is quite small maybe to conserve space so that more text or pictures could be utilised on the page. The subheading is used to keep the reader reading by doing this they could get to know even more about the subject of the article which will keep them intrigued.

The expressions on Charlie Chaplin’s face relates to the subheading “Famous Comic Adopts Role of Tragedian in Real Life” as he has face which shows that he has experienced tragedy which the writer of this article has done cleverly.

A technique which is used that I may want to use is the caption curving around the image. It looks stylish and saves room allowing more text to be used in the article.

The article has three columns which spreads across the two pages. This shows that there is a lot information to be read about Charlie Chaplin’s life because it is on two pages. The bodycopy is small so that a lot of text could be used for the article which Is something I need to take into consideration when designing my double page spread. If my article has a lot of information I will need to make the bodycopy smaller to save as much space as possible.

The drop cap is a conventional element used in a double page spread which is employed here to tell the reader where they should start reading from. Because this is so formulaic, I would need to employ the drop cap for my double page spread I'm going to create.

The second double page spread I researched was based on a 1920s article of a poem by Carl Sandburg…

This magazine uses the title of the poem as the headline maybe to tell the reader that the double page spread isn’t just any article but it is a poem. The subheading is seen in the first line of the second paragraph so maybe this a technique the writer used instead of using a pull-out quote to bring out the line “Charlie Chaplin playing for his friends after dinner”. The poem may have so much words which will need to fit on to two pages and including a pull-out quote will consume space. In addition to that, The bodycopy of the article is small to allow the whole poem to fit on screen.

The folio is written at the top of the page maybe because the contents page said what page the poem is on and they wanted to make it even easier for the readers to navigate to by putting it at the top of the page where it is visible.

The article has more than one Drop cap suggesting where the reader should read from. It is used to emphasise what is happening in the poem, for example “knock, knock” from this point onwards you know something is going to happen with the use of the onomatopoeia.

This image represents what is being read in the poem, however the image is quite small unlike the two images in the last double page spread I researched because the poem is supposed to be more important than the main image especially as it is an animation and not somebody who is famous.

•Although both of the double page spreads I researched wasn’t about a silent comedy film itself, they were still related to Charlie Chaplin and published in the 1920s.

•Both double page spreads includes a lot of text and maybe I should employ this technique to give my target audience a thorough read on the topic which I am covering so they could know as much as possible about my silent comedy I‘m promoting.

•I would also need to make the main image stand out by making it the same size of a column and by making an actor or a few actors who are featuring in the film be in the main image.