Magazine Cover Research

By Katie Hall

Film Magazine Covers

There are many important elements to a film magazine cover. Unlike other magazine covers, film magazines have their own unique layout, not too different from other covers, but film covers are generally more spaced out and have less on them. Here are some examples from different film magazines showing what elements they include and how they are laid out.

Examples - EMPIRE

Main title

Website

Skyline

Slogan

Headline

Barcode

Plug

Main image

Cover storiesSummary

Examples – Total FilmSkyline Secondary images

Title

Main image

Barcode

WebsiteDate and price

Cover stories

Headline

Quote

Summary

My Layout

My examples have highlighted some key elements which I will incorporate into my layout draft. Here is a basic draft of how I plan, from looking at my research, to set out my magazine cover.

Colour SchemeAs the film that I am promoting is a horror film, I need to look into the colour schemes of covers promoting horror films. Here I have a cover from TOTAL FILM and EMPIRE. It is clear from these that my text needs to be red and white. Red is a conventional colour of the horror genre as it is the colour of blood and connotes danger. A contrasting colour to this is white which can also be seen on the text in the examples. The background is usually made up of darker

colours such as blues and greys, and often features fog or mist over the top. I will try and use this feature in my magazine cover in order to make it more conventional. The dark background reflects the genre and contrasts with the bright colour of the text.

ImageThe main image for my magazine cover will be my main actress as she plays the main, and therefore most recognisable character from the trailer. The examples show that this is a popular convention as the image on the cover is of the main character from the featured film. A mid shot is usually used so that you can see most of the character without taking up space by including the lower body which is not important. This also means

that the face stands out

with a focus on the facial

expressions. This gives an

insight to the genre and

character.