Magazine analysis 1

The main cover image has been positioned central on the magazine cover with a mid shot used showing the top half of his body and his face. The subjects gaze is directly into the eyes of the audience which makes it more personal to them possibly causing them to feel more involved. His body posture is very 'business' like. He holds a very serious expression on his face which could make the target audience feel intimidated or take him very seriously. The fact that he is wearing glasses and smart old fashioned clothing also adds to the sincerity of the photograph. The glasses are held on the nose which makes his gaze appear more sincere. On the other hand some may view the glasses in a comical way as stereotypically it is women who are expected to wear glasses in that position. His image is made to appear very dark by the use of a much lighter background- this draws more attention towards the subject. The subject has cuts over his face which could be to highlight the fact that it is a form of action movie and there will most probably be violence.

The left justified cover line makes the target audience know what is going to be included when they read the magazine. The colours chosen for this cover line resemble the rest of the magazine front cover colour scheme which conventionally uses four main colours – red white black and blue. It is made more attractive and appealing to read with the colour changes for each line on this cover line. It is also in uppercase writing which makes it more eye-catching for the target audience.

The masthead used is very bold with the use of upper case, bright red coloured writing. This draws in audience attention immediately as the red is the brightest and most eye catching colour on the page. The fact that the subjects head is covering a lot of the title shows that it is a very popular magazine as people are so familiar with it, they will still be able to work out what the title says. This also shows that this particular issue is trying to sell this film to the target audience of the magazine.

The upper strap used at the top of the page follows a very different colour scheme to the masthead of the magazine. It is less appealing to look and the fact that it is in a smaller font shows that it doesn’t carry quite as much importance as the title. It is probably expected that the target audience will be immediately draw to the colouring of the title and then move onto reading the upper strap. The fact that the upper strap states “best preview issue ever!” could bring in a lot of attention from the target audience as they would be interested to find out more about the magazine and why it is so good. It is a good persuasive technique to get them to buy it. The fact that this sentence is made exclamatory also increases audience awareness as it appears fun.

The main cover line for the magazine has conventionally been placed central on the magazine. This makes it one of the first things the target audience see. The fact that this cover line has been placed over the top of the subject is way of introducing the character to the target audience. This further shows that the issue is trying to promote the film in the market. The font here is also traditionally grey in colour which stereotypically makes it appear conservative, suiting the style of this detective movie. There is a tiny description about the film underneath the name, making the audience aware of what type of film it is going to be- mentions the word ‘detective’. The name of the actor playing Sherlock Holmes has been scribed above which could have been done as he is an extremely famous, credited actor. This will make the target audience increasingly interested to find out more.

Here is another advertisement for a film which they have placed on the front cover which follows a similar trend to the main feature article; however it isn’t the most important story because it’s very small in size. This shows an advertisement of a different genre of film which would help in grasping even more audience attention.

Here is another featured story, very similar to the advertisement of Alice in Wonderland. They are both of very similar sizes. This will also get a bigger target audience because it is advertising another type of film. The fact that it has been placed behind the “must see movies” advertisement draws more attention to it as this is in red. It implies that this movie is also a “must see.” The “must see” section here is a very persuasive way of trying to grasp audience awareness.