Film Magazine Front Cover Overview

The eight magazine front covers I have chosen have been designed to promote successful films and to draw in the audience to buying and reading the magazine so they learn more about the film. By analysing these front covers and comparing them to each other, I have made it

achievable to pick out similarities between them and to establish repeated patterns. This can be seen in the types of films that are promoted on the magazine front covers as they are all popular films that will most likely be very successful when released.

All eight front covers feature regular film magazine conventions which we can quickly recognise such as the fact that the masthead in all of the front covers is the largest piece of text on the cover and sits at the top above the main image. In six of the eight posters I have chosen, the masthead font colour is red which could have been used to make the front cover stand out more or link to the fact that the films feature blood and intensity. Plus, the fact that the main image takes up all of the frame in each front cover and gives a hint to what the films narrative will include. For the magazine Fangoria its masthead will show of its brand identity as the title font is in the style of fangs which is associated with horror. This helps to distinguish it from other film magazines as the audience will recognise the font and know which magazine it belongs to. On each of the magazine front covers, the mastheads are all in uppercase and this is effective as it helps them stand out and it also emphasises the importance of the magazines in trying to grab the audience’s attention. However, you can distinguish between the mastheads of Fangoria, a horror film magazine and the others (Empire, Total Film) which are regular movie magazines. The Fangoria masthead design is more specific to the horror genre so the audience recognise what type of films are going to be advertised in the magazine compared to the other masthead designs which are more simple and universal.

You can see other repeated patterns such as in all eight front covers I have chosen; the main protagonist/s are featured in the main image. This is so that the audience will instantly recognise the characters and therefore be more persuaded to buy the magazine. The genre of the films are suggested on the magazine front cover as in The

Hunger Games and Terminator Genisys the audience are given a hint to the genre as the characters have weapons in their hands which indicates that the genre is action adventure. In Tron Legacy and Black Swan the camera shots are close ups of the protagonists faces, this shows us that the films will most likely be centred on those characters and their journeys. In three of the eight front covers a common use of the camera is to have a long shot or medium long shot which shows some of the setting too which may suggest that it is not just the protagonist who is important in the film but also the situation they are in may affect their worlds as a whole.

It is commonly seen that in the main images on these film magazine front covers the models will be presented in character, not as the actors themselves. This is done so the audience link the character in the main image to the film that is being promoted. Also, the settings are presented in the background of the main images showing the location that the film is set in and this does not occur on lifestyle magazines as in their main images, the background is usually a blank background.

You can identify similarities in the mise-en-scene for these magazine front covers as in seven of the eight front covers the character in the main images costume is black which suggests that they have a dark personality and a dark past which will draw in the audience as they will want to know the reason behind their mysterious demeanour. Also on all of the magazines except Shutter Island the protagonist is giving direct address to the camera which makes it more personal for the audience and makes it look as if they’re being directly targeted.

As well as this, you can pick out patterns in the colours chosen to feature on these magazine front covers as in Tron Legacy, Shutter Island and Maleficent the colour blue mainly appears around the main image which could link to the Science-Fiction, Fantasy genre or to the fact that the tone of the film will be cold and detached. Whereas on the other five front covers the colours white, black and grey are presented which could indicate that in the films who the antagonist is, is not always clear so it could leave the audience guessing or trying to find out what the mystery is. The colours used on the magazine front covers are also used to create a symbiosis with other promotional material for films such as posters, etc.

There is a consistent pattern in the way which sell lines are used on the magazine front covers as in all eight front covers I have chosen; they feature the names of other successful films on them which is used as a technique to draw in a wider audience as if they are not interested in the film advertised on the cover they might want to read about another of the films promoted inside the magazine. Plus, on seven of the eight covers there are bold skylines at the top of the magazines featuring statements like THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MOVIE MAGAZINE or THE HITCHCOCK LEGACY and THE 3D EVENT OF THE YEAR. These pieces of text contain common skyline content which is used to attract the reader to the magazine as it will get them excited about the articles that are shown inside the magazine and could persuade them more to purchase it.

It is easy to see recurring patterns in the layout of the film magazine front covers as in half of them, the actual name of the film advertised on the front is placed to the left next to the main image which could represent that the main focus of the film is in the main image so they have to sit side by side. In addition to this, on the other half of the front covers I have chosen, the title of the film advertised is placed underneath the main image. This could be because the magazine wants to draw in the audience first then present them with the film’s name once they genuinely want to learn what the image is promoting. These similarities could mean that it is conventional to place the name of the film like this on a front cover. The majority of the barcodes on the magazine front covers are positioned in the bottom left corner with others being placed on the right side.

In three of the eight magazine front covers, feature article photographs are laid out on the cover either at the bottom of the cover or on the side. These are used to show pictures of other films that will be featured inside the magazine which is effective because the audience can see what other films they could read about and in turn convince them to buy the magazine.

In conclusion, all of the film magazine front covers I have chosen are effective in promoting the films on their front covers as many aspects will draw in a wider audience who will want to find out more about the movie. When generating ideas and starting my practical work I will take from this the many repeated patterns that are used and will apply them to my own film magazine so that it can be successful in advertising my film also.