Magazine Front Cover Overview

IntroductionIn this summary I will be giving an overview on film magazine front covers for Empire, Total Film, and Fangoria. Each of these front covers will normally follow general conventions of how a film magazine is supposed to look like, whilst also showcasing the mostly advertised film on the front cover in order to create a kind of personality and distinctiveness for the magazine. Common features will often include a masthead, main image, main sell line, feature article photographs, other sell lines, and a barcode at the bottom of the layout. All six of these film magazines have been created to effectively promote films to a professional and refined standard.

Main Image For the main image that takes up the majority of the cover’s frame, it is normally a medium shot, long short, or a close up, including a protagonist or an iconic scene that the audience will recognise from the film that is being promoted on the front cover. The less characters being used, the better, as this will allow space for other important sell lines to be positioned on the front cover to advertise other films.

The image generally will complement the main sell line and help to suggest the narrative of the film. It successfully does this by the combination of mise-en-scene elements such as makeup, lighting and costume. Makeup is used to help add effects to a person’s skin to show if they have been scarred or bleeding, which is the case with Harry Potter’s face on the cover of Empire magazine. With horror

films, this is to present someone being possessed through the use of contacts and makeup used to make the model’s skin pale. This is to create a shocking dynamic for the audience. Lighting is used to help show the personality of the character or set the tone of a scene, for example, profile lighting has been used for the main image to promote The Descent in Fangoria to present a dark and frightening character to the audience and to easily signify that this is a horror film being promoted here. Costume is used to help make judgements on who are the characters, such as their age and profession and also the time period of when the film is set. For example, Empire’s main image that promotes Sherlock Holmes 2 presents the two protagonists in old fashioned and vintage attire that helps to proclaim that the film is set in the past.

When a close up is being used for the front cover or when a face is the most focused part of the model for the main image, it is normal for the character to have makeup and certain facial expressions that are memorable in order to draw in the audience. A common characteristics of film magazines to definitely have the use of direct address in order to give off an attention grabbing effect, making the image look appealing to the reader. In other cases, the main image will also have the model giving off the opposite of direct address and look away from the camera to give off the feeling that action is taking place and the scene has frozen in time. This will make the audience a lot more engrossed in the film’s narrative. An example of this would be the main image to promote Resident Evil: Retribution on the front cover of Fangoria, as Mila Jovovich is seen holding a gun while looking away from the camera.

Colouring used for the front cover of film magazines will be selected in relation to the main film being advertised, reflecting the setting, genre, narrative, etc. of the film. These will be the trademark colours of the film featured, securing symbiotic links between this and other promotional pieces that are within the campaign. Fangoria’s cover for the Resident Evil film uses red, blue, and white colours in order to reflect upon the film being promoted in 3D, and the colours chosen being representative and symbolic of the 3D effect.

MastheadFor the each of the magazine front covers, the masthead has been placed at the top of the page. It is the largest, boldest piece of text in the frame in order to reel in and attract the audience to pick the magazine up before being further persuaded by the exploration of the dominating main image. Each masthead has a great importance and will be unique, having a consistency for every magazine front cover in order to maintain brand identity and recognition. However there may be some variation across the issues with the colours and effects used in order to reflect the genre of film being promoted and to compliment the colours used on the rest of the cover. Other masthead variations will be simple and clean so that there is no distraction being made from the main image and sell lines.

Sometimes the main image will slightly cover the masthead from the bottom. This is basically to imply that the magazine is well known enough so that even if the masthead may not be fully visible, the magazine will still be easily recognisable.

Main Sell Line and Other Sell LinesEvery front cover will have a main sell line that dominates across the main image, and is present in a various amount of ways to advertise the film that is being featuring on the front cover. Main sell lines will most commonly only state the name of the focused film, using the film’s signature font or one that would be similar to it. Fangoria’s The Descent magazine front cover has the main sell line using the signature font of The Descent. This will in turn create a symbiotic link and attract interest from people who want to see the film, recognising the font and then having an urge to buy the magazine.

There will be little to none amounts of sell lines that feature on the front cover, in order to avoid any kind of distraction from the main image and make it less attractive. Interviews and other films being listed are promoted through sell lines and the feel of exclusivity being focused upon so that this will entice the target audience to purchase the magazine.

Other Features Barcodes

Every front cover will have one. This includes the date and price of the magazine and helps to point out which issue is the latest for frequent buyers.

PuffsThese are frequently used to contain a sell line or to advertise content that the audience will find interesting while reading through the magazine. This will also help audiences not struggle when coming to find a particular piece of information on a crowded front cover.

Straplines and SkylinesBoth of these are normally placed at the top of the front cover above the masthead and are used in almost every issue of a film magazine, in order to establish brand identity and help the specified magazine become more recognisable.

ConclusionAfter looking at and analysing a variety of front covers from a range of film magazines, it has become clear that each and every one of them will follow the general conventions that I have listed, a main image to dominate the frame, a masthead, sell lines, and other key layout characteristics in order to maintain a strong sense of professionalism. Although each issue is different and unique, brand identity and use of key conventions will help audiences easily recognise the magazine that they are looking at.