A thin film structure in the form of, for example, a magnetic recording medium having a deceased C-axis distribution is provided. The structure includes a substrate having a first surface and a second surface non-parallel to the first surface, a seed layer overlying the first surface and the second surface of the substrate and a magnetic material layer on the seed layer. The magnetic material layer has a C-axis tilted with respect to an axis perpendicular to the magnetic material layer, i.e., a surface normal of the magnetic material layer. The seed layer has a columnar structure oriented generally perpendicular to either the first surface or the second surface of the substrate. The columnar structure of the seed layer acts as a template to epitaxial growth.