2. Purpose Magazine Front Covers
• The front cover of a magazine is essential in gaining consumer
attention. If the cover is attractive and eye-catching enough, it
is more likely that the magazine will be bought by the
consumer.
• The style of the front cover will allow the potential buyer to
gain a feel for the magazine overall from its appearance, tone
and the articles that feature on that particular issue. If the
coverlines on the front cover are appealing to the target
audience, this will help to gain audience attention.
Similarly, the image also helps to attract the specific target
audience.
• Conventions of a magazine front covers include a striking
image, a masthead with the title, price, date, and perhaps a
website name with bold colours, a main
coverline, coverlines, straplines and an insert. These all help
the magazine gain a professional look and gain a sense of
verisimilitude.
3. About Cineworld Magazine
• Cineworld magazine is one of the
most popular film magazines in
the UK with a circulation of
400,000.
• The purpose of this magazine is to
work alongside Cineworld
cinemas to help promote
awareness of rising films. This in
the long run will help to increase
film profit as consumers are more
aware of the latest releases.
• Having recently moved into an
app for, Cineworld’s magazine has
a subscription of 640,000
subscribers a month which
reflects how being the only
magazine of this kind has
enhanced its success.
4. Masthead
• The masthead includes the typical conventions that is expected
of a magazine including the title, the date and the price.
• The title, “Unlimited” suggests that consumers are receiving all
the information that they could possibly need to know about
films that are due for release.
• Also, because the magazine is free, all cinema attenders have
the same opportunity of purchasing a magazine and receiving
this exclusive film information. This may appeal more to the
working class as they are most likely to be the ones who are
attending the cinema.
• By including the cineworld logo in the masthead reminds the
consumer that the information including is exclusive to those
that attend the cinema. The information included in the
magazine will not only help to increase cinema profit as people
are becoming increasingly aware of new releases but will in the
long run help a film to be more of a success.
5. Main Cover Image
• The main characters eyes stand out compared to
the rest of the image because they are blue and
this connotes the idea that the character may be
quite sad and cold which is fitting to the storyline.
• The character in this image shows little expression
as he appears quite distant and serious. This
creates a sense of mystery as it is unclear who this
character is or why he shows little emotions and
therefore it is more likely that someone will pick
the magazine up to find out more.
• The ghostly figure in the background may not be
properly noticed at first as attention is drawn to
the main character due to him being in the
foreground of the image. The ghostly figure
creates a negative and mysterious atmosphere as
it is unclear who and why this figure is there.
6. Rule of Thirds
• This magazine front cover does not
fit particularly well the rule of
thirds.
• There is no specific point of the
image that fits the intersections
and therefore the eye is not
necessarily drawn to anything in
particular.
• The only aspect of the magazine
that matches the intersections is
the word ‘ghost’ yet due to the
colours and striking image, this is
not really noticed.
• The image however, does gain
attention due to the character’s
facial expression and the blue eyes
which do fit the vertical lines of the
rule of thirds.
7. Composition & Lighting
• The main character is in the foreground of the image and because of this he is
unaware that the Woman in Black is behind him. This is an example of dramatic
irony as the audience can see that this figure is in the background there
whereas the character is unaware of this.
• The character is placed close to the left hand side of the magazine cover and
this creates a feeling that he is trapped as he is given little breathing room.
• The lighting in this image is quite dark and this creates a gloomy atmosphere
which highlights that this film is from the horror genre. However, one side of the
characters face is highlighted through the lighting and this perhaps shows that
there is two sides to this character as one half is in the dark and the other in the
light. The use of light on one side of his face perhaps suggests some hope of the
character succeeding in the film as often light is associated with positivity.
8. Mise-En-Scene
Setting & Colour
• The choice of using a cross in this image connotes the idea of
death and the way the cross is placed next to the Woman in Black
foreshadows that she is connected to this theme. This is
highlighted through the choice of costume of the Woman in Black
as from first impression the idea of the grim reaper is portrayed, as
the colour black and the cloak is often associated with death.
• The house can be seen in the distance of the image and the way
this has been placed in the centre of the image suggests that this
will be the main setting for the film. Even though the house
appears empty and abandoned, there is one light on in the house
which suggests that something or someone in the house.
• The grey cloud and fog used in this image creates a negative
atmosphere which using the weather is a convention of horror as it
creates a gloomy feeling.
9. Language
• In an article from Media magazine ‘Analysing Media Language in
Magazines’ it suggests that the text and images used on a front cover talks
to the reader. This theory can be applied to this Woman in Black magazine
front cover as various elements portray a message to the consumer.
• Firstly, the image used addresses the target audience, as the image of the
main character is similar in terms of age as the target audience and this will
hopefully entice them to look at the magazine and view the film.
• One of the coverlines on this magazine uses a quote, “Do YOU dare to see
this chilling ghost story?” The personal pro-noun, you, directly questions
the consumer and through using capital letters creates an intimidating
tone. The choice of the words “dare” and “chilling” has a feel that the
consumers are being challenged to go and watch this film.
• Underneath the main coverline, there is a small summary to explain the
main image. This implies that this version of the story is unique as it is
described as a “thrilling screen version” and the word “classic” suggests
that this version will be different to what is expected therefore, audiences
are more likely to pick the magazine up to find out more information.
10. Text Style
• The magazine uses white and blue text
for the main coverline and coverlines.
• The white text creates a ghostly feel and this
is relevant to the films storyline as the coverline that summarises
what the film is about suggests that this is a “supernatural” tale.
• A cold and chilling feel is created through the blue text that is used
and again, this is associated with the idea of ghosts and feelings of
the supernatural so here the magazine is foreshadowing the feelings
that are likely to be experienced when watching the film.
• The main coverline is made bigger and bolder compared to the rest
of the text and this makes it stand out more. This is more likely to
gain attention from a consumer as it appears quite mysterious who
the Woman in Black is so the magazine likely to be looked at.
• Similarly, Daniel Radcliffe’s name is made bolder compared to the
rest of the text and this perhaps entices the magazine consumer to
find out more because he is a popular actor having previously
starred in the Harry Potter franchise so the audience of those films
are likely to want to see how he performs in this film.
11. Influences
• From this magazine analysis, we have learnt how the image is
crucial to communicating a message to an audience. For
example, the style and mise-en-scene of this magazine image
instantly suggests that this is advertising a horror film.
Therefore, it is important that we consider using suitable
mise-en-scene when creating our magazine front cover.
• We have also seen the importance of how the text used must
match the image so that a house style begins to develop. On
this magazine front cover the text colours are suitable for the
atmosphere that is created as the white and blue create a
chilling feel. Again, this is something that we need to consider.
• Conventions of magazines such as a masthead, main
coverlines, coverlines, straplines and inserts will all help our
magazine to gain a professional feel so we will try to include as
many of these as possible.
