analysis of total film front cover

1. Magazine Analysis 1:
Masthead:
The masthead of this magazine front cover is
called ‘Total Film’, which is written in a display
font, making it large, bold and evident to the
audience that this is the title of the magazine.
This is heightened by the fact that is is the
largest textual font on the page. It is written in a
white font which connates with ideas of fresh,
new and original, with could relate to the films
that they are featuring within the magazine are
all of those things. The word total is inside the ‘F’
of film, this reduces the overall size of the
masthead, allowing for more sell lines to fit in.
Main Sell Line:
The main sell like is “Skyfall: Bond gets his
swagger back” This sell line is enticing to the
audience as they will be excited to see what is
written about Daniel in his new role. Because
the Bond series is largely watched and loved,
both the image and main sell line will attract a
large quantity of people to purchase the
magazine. “Skyfall” is written in gold,
suggesting wealth, which could relate to the
idea the film is about to premier on the red
carpet. Additionally, the film itself is very
classy and fits in nicely with the general mise-
en-scene of the front cover.
Main Image:
A convention of the main image on a front cover
of a magazine, is to fill the frame. I think that
total film have successfully achieve this, despite
the image being a long shot. The actor presented
on the front of the magazine is Daniel Craig, who
is famous for playing the 007 agent James Bond.
It is evident he is in character in this still shot,
as he is wearing a suave suit, just like he would
in the movie and has the prop of a gun down by
his right side. His facial expression also gives
this away as he is looking fairly serious. The
colours of his suit is black and white, which is
classic and traditional, just like the movie he is
starring in. His body positioning reflects that he
is confident in what he is doing, which is exactly
what we would expect from an agent.
Sell-lines:
Sell lines are used in order to further influence
and entice an audience to purchase the
magazine. In this particular edition of Total
Film, the sell lines are placed in the bottom
right hand corner, making them the last thing
the audience see. Well known and popular
actors such as ‘Ben Affleck’ are used in order to
further draw the audience in. Additionally to
this, on the right hand side of the frame, there
is five feature article photo’s further enticing
them to want to purchase the magazine. Above
the photo’s is a sell line that says “The Ten
Coolest Movies Being Made Right Now!” This
will allow the audience to be aware and up to
date on all the new films coming out, by having
this sell line, it will make them want to read
into this sell line in order to discover the other
five movies being made!

2. Layout:
The layout of this particular edition of
Total Film has a few differences to the
usual layout, such as the placement of the
sell lines. Despite this, it is not the first
time a layout like this has been used. I
believe it is presented like this based on
the image being a long shot, so there is
more plain background to cover up.
Nonetheless, I still believe it is effect in
drawing in the audience's attention.
Colours:
The colours on this front cover fit in
well with the James Bond theme of
the magazine. Black, white, red and
gold are all classy and sophisticated
colours. The black and white match
with the classic tux look Daniel Craig
is wearing in the main image. Gold,
gives connotations to wealth as well
as class. The colour red can relate to
the film itself, as in the premier, wear
Daniel Craig himself will be in the
spotlight walking down the red carpet.