MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

The image used on this magazine cover is a head-shot of the main character of the film, Harry Potter. The nature of the head-shot, being quite close up and direct, ensures the audience sees it first and makes them drawn to the cover. The eye contact with the audience makes it more personal and adds to the attention it gets from the viewer, making them more drawn to the image. The serious expression creates a atmosphere for the film, showing there will be an action theme in the film and there will be a disequilibrium. The symbolic coding of the blood connotes danger and action, making the audience question what is going to happen in the storyline due to the blood being on his face and around his eye. The lighting is coming from the left and mostly highlighting one side of his face, giving a supernatural or fantasy type atmosphere, as well as giving the character importance. There image is quite blue toned, which further adds to the fantasy, and creates an eerie glow, as well as linking to the character's blue eyes and neckline on his t shirt. The blue contrasts with the red that is used for the blood, as well as the colour of his jumper, with the colour red being bold and striking as well as connoting danger. His glasses are symbolic, as they are his character motif from being part of his costume throughout the films in the franchise. This makes him instantly recognizable to the audience, which will draw in fans of this film.

imag

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The masthead is the name of the magazine, Empire, and is used red, which is bold and bright making it one of the most striking headings on the cover because of the importance as it is a recognizable name and the audience will be drawn to it. The font is sans serif but is quite unique with pointed edges and an unusual shape to the text, which may make it stand out against other film magazines. Around the masthead is important information in a smaller font, such as the website, date and price, which should be on all magazines. The tag line, “worlds biggest movie magazine” is featured to the bottom left of the masthead, which again draws the audience in because of the statement that is the most popular film magazine on a global scale, increasing the interest and making the audience more likely to purchase it.

Masthead

and tagline

Subheading

and contentThe heading used, “massive preview special” addsimpact by implying there is special content that the readers will be able to see before other people, and that there is essential information in the magazine, reinforced by the subheading, using text like “need to know”, as the readers arelikely to want to know a lot about films that are coming out as it will be a main interest of theirs, therefore making it appealing to the target audience. Furthermore, the list of films added underneath emphasises this, drawing fans of specific films in as well as the general target audience by listing content and saying “many more”, making the audience more likely to buy the magazine.

Additional

image

There is also a smaller image used on the cover, in the bottom left corner to add more to the layout, creating something else for the audience to look at. This can be another attention grabbing factor, especially if the viewer is not a great fan of the film depicted in the main image because it shows other films and characters that will be included in the magazine. The image shows three characters all from different movies, therefore appealing to a wider audience and making it easy to see what will be inside without reading the content, making it more effective to the target audience.

banner

There is a banner used along the bottom of the magazine, with additional film names and content listed, separated with dashes. This further appeals to the audience, as if they see a film name they like or are interested in, they are more likely to buy the magazine. The banner is effective because it uses up a small area at the bottom which would otherwise be quite bare and adds more information onto the cover without looking crowded, and it is a common convention used by film magazines as well as other magazines genres such as music.

image

The image used for this cover is a mid/long shot of the protagonist of the film, Pirates of the Caribbean. The use of this shot makes has been chosen to encode meaning to the text through mise en scene, mainly through the use of costume and props. The costume connotes the pirate/adventure themes of the film and lets the audience know the type of character and film that is being depicted, which will attract the audience if they are fans of the particular genre or film. The use of the gun further adds to this, with connotations of action which is emphasized by the actors pose, as they have chosen to use an image that makes him look as if he is in mid action and doing something active. The setting behind him is of sea and sand, further linking to the themes within the movie. The hair, costume and props combined are effective in creating a atmosphere and background for the film before you have read anything about it, making it more effective to the audience, especially if you recognize the character. We can tell the impact of the technical codes used in the image because there has been no need to use a large heading with the name of the film. The direct eye contact is used, a common convention of images on magazine covers because it draws attention of the audience and it is in a different context to film posters, trailers and the films themselves as it is a separate format which is the magazine, providing information and reviews of the film and often interviews, so the direct contact adds to the more personal format.

headings

The headings on this cover are used to attract the audience by using wording like “essential”, and “biggest year ever”, to make the viewer feel as if there is important and exclusive information in the magazine that they can find out which would appeal to the target audience of film fans who want to know more about films that are coming out. The more important words are also used in yellow to make them bolder, which will draw the audience in so they look at them first.

Subheadings

and content

Similarly to the last magazine, there is a list of films and articles that are features in the magazine, again to make the reader more likely to buy the magazine. There is also a serif font in between the house font, for words like “plus” and “102 more!”, to show the reader there is more inside.

The main colour scheme is red, black, white and yellow, which is a common combination of colours for magazines as it can create impact through bold and bright colours as well as the more plain colours for text, while using the brighter colours to emphasize important words that will attract the target audience. I will probably use this colour scheme for my magazine, as it is an effective method to make it comparable to other film magazine covers on the market and to appeal to my target audience.

Colour scheme

For this magazine cover, the image is slightly less conventional due to the fact the character is facing away from the audience, not only without eye contact but with the whole body facing away. The use of this pose is interesting, as is differs from the conventional look of other film magazine front covers. The choice to have the character facing away with an over shoulder long/mid shot adds enigma to the character as you cannot fully see his face. As well as this, the character motif of Spiderman's outfit can be seen with the recognizable costume and logo on the back. This makes it easy for the target audience to see the character's identity without the conventional face on mid shot with eye contact. Using this technique, the target audience is instantly drawn to the magazine cover, especially fans of superhero or action films because of how well known Spiderman is, making it effective. The character is also backlit in a striking way, with a burst of light coming from behind him with the light spreading around the page graduating into dark from light. This lighting technique is commonly used in different ways, such as a dim back light that highlights only parts of the figures face for horror villain posters. When used in this way, with streaks of light in a blue tone, it connotes action and the supernatural. Additionally, it is used to highlight the importance of the character, and when paired with the text about it, it could signify his return.

image

The masthead for this magazine is in a very large, bold sans serif font. The name of the magazine, total film, is created by the larger text saying “FILM” with the “total” being placed within the F and the white colour being inverted. This is an effective logo because it uses a slightly unconventional technique and stands out to the audience. The banner is placed above the masthead, making it more noticeable than the usual placing at the bottom of the magazine, therefore it can be used as a selling point to draw in the target audience.

Masthead and

banner

The main heading is linked to the image, andis placed in the mid centre of the page, makingit a main focus. The small banner saying “exclusive!” highlights the importance of the article, as well as the use of “amazing” and the bold red and yellow used. The subheadings summarize the new things that will be seen in the spiderman movie, creating enigma because the audience want to know what will be happening and who and what is new.

headings

stories

The headlines for the stories attract the audience further, by naming actors and films that will be inside the magazine, hinting about content that the target audience will be interested in. additionally, they have used enticing language that makes the reader feel as if they are getting information that other people don’t, with phrases like “Simon Pegg spills” and “first word on”.

sticker

The sticker style shape used for this headline grabs the viewers attention as it looks different to the format of the other headlines. As well as the circle shape, the use of bright red makes it even more emphasised on the page, especially with the use of the yellow text. It adds variety to the image of the stories, and leads the viewer to look at them all because of the different looks. Again, the language used makes the reader more likely to buy the magazine, by implying that the information and stories inside are exclusive and important.

bannerThere is additional information in the bottom banner, listing other stories that may influence the reader to buy the magazine. The red and white makes it still bold, but doesn't take attention away from the other headlines. Alliteration is used to add a humorous and catchy tone to the text making it seem more informal and appealing to a young target audience.

When looking at film magazine covers I have found conventions that will help me when I create my own and achieve a more professional look by following current conventions. Firstly, a main convention that is almost always used is a portrait of the character that has eye contact with the audience. This makes the image as well as the cover as a whole more effective and engaging. The most commonly used shot types are close ups/head shots to show emotion and the face's characteristics for impact, and mid/long shots to show more of the characters body, costume, post and setting. Secondly, a main convention is the colour scheme. It is often red, white, yellow and black, or blue white and black. The colour scheme usually reflects the colour of the clothing or eyes of the character, using an accent colour from the photograph in some of the headings to tie in the cover and make it look professional. Other noticeable conventions are banners at the top or bottom of the page, lists of films that are in the magazine, sticker or banners with an article on. I will relate back to these conventions while creating my magazine cover in order to make it as successful as possible and be effective to my target audience.

conventions