Magazine analysis 1

1. Magazine Analysis 1:Masthead:
The masthead (title - ‘Total Film’) of this
magazine front cover 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. It
is conventional for person featuring on the front
of the magazine to be presented as the character
they are playing rather than the actor as it is
effectively promoting the film more and will
create symbiosis with the magazine front cover
to the movies own promotional package.
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! Another sell line that is present is “The World’s
Best Movie Reviews” - in a puff on the left hand side.
This suggests that the reviews that they give are
accurate and the audience should trust whatever they
read in this magazine. Furthermore, the puff is
presented with stars, further reflecting the “review”
idea and films are rated from 1-5 star.

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. Lastly, the
background colour is a silvery grey which looks
technological and futuristic, which connotes with
James Bond.
Rule of Thirds:
Rule of thirds is when the front cover of the magazine
is further divided, which it will be into nine smaller
squares - as I have present on the image to the right.
As you can see Daniel Craig is positioned right in the
middle of the page. This is effective as it means he is
the centre of the focus of the magazine and is the
thing that will draw the audience in the most. The
sell lines are presented in both the left and the right
third creating a clear structure for the audience to
follow and making the page look more structured and
attractive. The title of the magazine takes up the
majority of the top third of the page, indicating its
importance.
Anchorage:
The image is anchored by some textual features on
this front cover. For example, James Bond looks
cool, suave and evidently male readers would want
to be like him. Examples of text that anchor these
ideas is “swagger”, and “cool”. Furthermore this
text is representing the idea of James Bond and is
therefore anchoring the image and the film.
Mode of Address:
Mode of address can be described as “the ways in
which relations between addressor and addressee are
constructed in a text. The mode of address itself is
not personal, there is not form of direct address.
Suggesting that the magazine does not need this type
of relationship to draw readers in, they are already.
However, the language used can be described as
colloquial as “slang” words are used such as “cool”
and “swagger” this also suggests a young audience
who will be familiar with these terms.
Overall, the general conventions of magazine front
covers are followed. All aspect that you would
expect to see are shown for example; a masthead, a
main image, feature article photos, a main sell line
and sell lines.