Magazine: Draft 3

Cover

These is a final draft of the magazine cover. There are a few details:

- Marie-Claire magazine often feels a tad crowded- so I tried to emulate that even though I'm not a fan of the look. I still kept a fair bit of white space- I didn't want this to be The Sun magazine.
- Almost every single cover on Marie-Claire magazine has some sort of reference to sex in it- and even though my magazine has a younger lower threshold of audience age, I found a way to put a reference to a sex symbol in there.

Some things I think I need to fix on evaluation of this are:

1. It needs to be clearer that this a women's magazine. I feel like it isn't feminine enough for the name it has- especially compared to Marie-Claire. That doesn't mean I want it to be based on nasty stereotypical representations of women, which shockingly enough Marie-Claire magazine seems to employ sometimes. Too many of their covers have irrelevant references to marital problems or infidelity or sex; I highly doubt that a majority of women even care about having these issues at the forefront- so why the focus on this? I won't.

2. The colour scheme could be better. The titles could do with more colour in them. Perhaps the spacing could be better.

3. I am happy with the text in the title and subtitles, but some could be better. I've used a variety of uppercase and lowercase texts with some consistency. I am not a fan of completely upper-casing everything.

4. I'm yet to pick between the cover images, but my personal favourite is the first image looking into the camera. It feels much more feminine, and is very engaging. The reason I created a second cover is because the second image does also have a sense of power to it that I quite like.


Double Page Spread

Below is the text I will be putting in the magazine double page spread. It is 1108 words.

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Rebecca Adis

At only 17, Rebecca Adis landed her first major drama role, through a scholarship, on a Young Victoria production. That was the spark to light a fire, as since then, her career has only sky-rocketed. Now, at 21, Rebecca has just been announced as the lead actress on a Netflix’s & Warner Brother’s film production, sci-fi thriller “Freud”. Just 6 months ago though, Rebecca was new to TV. We talked to Rebecca about the role that started her screen-career, her BAFTA nominated performance on ITV’s recently broadcasted “Paramnesia”.

I met Rebecca at our studio, on a “heat-wave summer” morning in July. The sweltering weather didn’t hinder Becca’s passion for her work- it was easy to see why she has become so popular with the casting directors. Never skipping a beat, she tells me the story of her life-long passion for drama while modelling for today’s cover shoot. She recounts how having both parents work in theatre gave her the early exposure to drama that she now treasures. Growing up reading scripts and watching all varieties of stage performances were experiences that softened the learning curve for when she herself began working on stage, and later, on set. She isn’t self-made, she humbly points out, noting that her parents' continuous support was essential to her becoming who she is now. It appears this modesty runs through out; given the option to have lunch anywhere after the Madeleine photoshoot, we found ourselves in the local Greggs: “I really miss this when I’m in New York”. Over some “consistently brilliant” pastry, as Becca put it, I found some time ask her a few questions about Paramnesia.

Madeleine Magazine: A little over 6 months ago, you took your first role on ITV’s Paramnesia. Today, you’re constantly travelling between New York and London. What does it feel like to be propelled to the Hollywood life in such a short time?

Rebecca Adis:  You know, I thought I was prepared. Like, you watch interviews of actors and they say how odd it is to live your life on the road. But it’s been crazy, to not have a home to come home to everyday. It’s a fine balance between how much I love my job and the stress of being constantly moving. I have so much help with it though- I’ve not had to worry about anything, my agent is so wonderful.

MM: You haven’t really been able to talk about the worldwide success of Paramnesia yet- let’s start at the top. How did you land the role?

RA: I had just finished a production of “Iphigenia In Splott” at the National Theatre. I think it might’ve been the last one. I was backstage meeting everyone when my friend introduced Grace- she’s my current agent. Grace gave me her card and we traded numbers, she said she might have something I’d be interested in. I didn’t know who Grace was specifically, back then, till she phoned me up about two days later asking if I’d ever thought about TV acting. I said I’m open to anything, because my best friend from drama school, Florence [readers know her as Florence Pugh- star of Little Drummer Girl] had done a few TV roles and really enjoyed them. So, I thought why not, and soon I found myself meeting all sorts of wonderful ITV execs and writers like Mark Denton, and now, here I am really.

MM: That’s amazing! Filming took around 2 months I hear? You filmed primarily in Bournemouth- what was that like?

RA: Just under 2 months! We filmed everything in and around Bournemouth. It was really wonderful. Stan, my “co-star” is actually from Bournemouth. His grandparents are the sweetest. With our filming, we were working with Bournemouth Uni, so we had many students working and learning on set. We’re all the same age really- so I’ve made some wonderful new friends. It was never boring there, we had the time to go to some parties, nightclubs, you know the deal. I really enjoyed it. I heard a lot of directors can be restrictive about cast after-hours, but Thisath went as far as to encourage us. He said he wanted us to get a feel of the place- after all, the show was set to explore the city of Bournemouth as well.

MM: I was just going to ask you about working with Thisath Ranawaka. This was his first television production- a stunning debut suffice to say for a short film director. How did you find the production?

RA: Thisath was amazing! There’s definitely a bit of a difference between stage directors and screen directors but Thisath was very mindful of that in the beginning. I caught on quickly though. He was passionate about the project and it was infectious really, we were all in love with what we were making by the time we came to be filming. He never let us handle the stress, he tried to keep it as easy on us as possible- like with all the food he always made sure was available behind the scenes. It was a learning experience for him as well, given the nature of directing he’s normally used to, but our producers were experienced, and they were always around for support whenever we came to a problem. Overall, it was such a fabulous initial experience into working in the TV industry, and if it wasn’t as incredible as it was, I don’t think I would performed as well as I did. Apparently, some people think it’s BAFTA worthy!

MM: What did you think of Paramnesia when you saw it broadcast?

RA: I watched it after it had all finished airing, one night on ITV Player. It was so much better than even I thought it would be! You can really see Thisath’s vision in it though, and I was so proud to have been part of it. My parents called me afterwards that night too- they finished it on the same day as me. They loved it. That’s what matters most!

MM: Very true! So, with a BAFTA nomination under your belt and a major Netflix film coming up, what’s next?

RA: Really? I’m looking forward to a bit of break after all that! I haven’t had time to stop and appreciate everything that’s happened since this journey began. I’m only 21, and as my mum says, success aside it’s good to get your bearings every now and then. She just really wants me home for a bit I think!

We made some brilliant videos with Becca at your request- check out our brand-new IG TV channel @madeleine, and our YouTube MadeleineMag for more!

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Here's a very rough draft at what the double page spread looks like spread out on InDesign so far.

Things to fix:

1. The text is too long. Preferably, I want to be closer to 800 words. To achieve this, I will be removing the section about the director, and condense the introduction.

2. I need a better title for the article. I'll have to do some more research on what Marie-Claire does with their title.

3. Need to arrange the pictures in a better order.