- The document discusses conventions of film magazine covers such as mastheads, images, buzzwords, and anchorage text. It analyzes examples from the magazines Empire and Little White Lies. - A typical convention is a recurring masthead that creates brand identity. Empire uses a large red masthead while Little White Lies uses a white circle. - Images usually show mid-shots of main actors in costume. Empire uses these to represent films clearly while Little White Lies sometimes uses illustrations for a more artistic feel. - Text is placed around images without overlapping to keep the focus on the actor as the main pull for readers. Descriptions, quotes and taglines are used to entice readers.

1. Film Magazine
Research
By Chapelle Cooper

2. Typical conventions
• Masthead - features on all magazine covers, usually at the top of the page and
indicates which magazine it is e.g. Empire orVogue.This should be the largest text on
the page and it can reflect the audience it caters for.
• Image - this image should reflect the audience and also the style of the magazine.
The main image is usually a mid-shot and should reflect on what the film featured is
about.This usually involves the main actor from the film featured.
• ‘Buzz words’ - these involve ‘free’ and ‘exclusive’ which capture the readers attention
and want to buy the magazine.
• Anchorage text – the text that often overlaps the image to tell what the story inside
will involve, this could be a quote taken from the interview inside.
• Banner – gives overall information about the magazine and what will be found inside.
• Barcode, date, issue number – something every magazine has and is needed.

3. A typical convention of a film magazine is a reoccurring masthead at the top of the
magazine this is to create brand identity and catch the readers eye, as you can see Little
White Lies uses a white circle which surrounds the title, it also includes a bar code at the top
of the circle and the magazine tag line of 'Truth & Movies'.The masthead stays the same
throughout every magazine and doesn’t alternate in colour this creates a strong brand
identity.
Little white lies doesn’t includes much text in it surrounding the main image apart from the
name of the film it is promoting, this is used to keep all attention and focus on this film and
means the reader wont be distracted by other text, this isn’t a particularly typical
convention of a film magazine like Empire orTotal Film.
The image used on the front of any magazine is always the main feature, however with
Little White Lies the image shows viewers what type of magazine little White Lies is. Due to
most of the images being illustrations, its gives the front cover a more artistic feel to it as
Little White Lies also features film related art and photography.This isn’t really typical of
movie magazines, which gives Little White Lies a unique selling point. Most images used on
their front covers are close up portraits of the main character within the film this is to ensure
they are recognisable to the reader.
Little White Lies also promotes many different genres of film in their magazines. Because of
the typical convention of Little White Lies is for the main image to be posterized, people
may think that the magazine is focused on niche or cartoon films. However, the magazine
caters to most genres as shown by my examples of 'Black Swan', 'Drive', and ‘Kick-Ass’.
These genres are every mixed for example, horror, sci-fi, action and thriller.This shows our
genre of film could potentially be shown on the cover of Little White Lies.
Little White Lies Front Cover Analysis

4. The masthead used is the typical one used in most of
the empire magazine covers, it is n a bold red colour to
instantly grab the audiences attention from afar, the
main image is the focal point and placed in front of the
text as ultimately the film on the cover is the main pull
factor for the audience and will ultimately determine
whether the reader will pick up the magazine or not the
use of the bright colour for the title is used as although
the image is the main focus the audience can still notice
the title of the film magazine.The masthead is placed at
the top of the cover and is the largest text this means
empire follows typical conventions of a magazine cover
The magazine uses a tagline above the
masthead to give the audience some
information on the film it is promoting “
Wolverine has returned for…” this gives the
audience a hint to a feature of what will
happen in the film the ellipsis at the end
leaves the reader wanting to read more.
As well as the image the text will
dominate most of the space on the
front cover giving the reader hints to
what will be in the magazine, most of
the text will be in bold writing and will
be the information the editor will want
the reader to see first and will attract
them making them making them
purchase it.
The text related to the film on the
cover is written in white this stands
out the most against the background
meaning it is more likely to catch the
readers attention first.
The text is placed around the main image
to the side without any overlapping this is
used so the audience aren’t distracted
and the main character in the image is the
focal point.
The image used is a mid shot of one of the main
characters from the film, Empire use images of the
actors in their roles from the film, not only does
this represent them well are their magazines are
on films, but it also creates a grander image and
one that the reader is more likely to recognise the
actor is costume and make up than in plain clothes.
Wolverine is a noticeable character for a lot of
people and will attract the fans of the X-Men series,
he dominates the cover for this film, hence
indicating he is the character to look out for in this
film. Hugh Jackman is a very popular actor who has
been in many films meaning he will attract a large
audience for this film magazine.Review of the year article often features
in the ‘Empire’ front cover

5. Own Film Magazine
• To create a high quality media magazine cover for my film, it has to have a
strong representative image which the audience can immediately tell the genre
of the film, the image will be of the actor/actress portrayed as their character
from the film this means they will be more recognisable and attract the reader.
As well as that, the name of the film has to be mentioned in bold and eye
catching as well as a tag line that will leave the audience wanting to know more
leading them to purchase the magazine. From researching both Empire and
Little White lies and analysing the conventions of both, I have decided to use the
magazine Empire for our film magazine this is due to the fact that although
Little white lies is original and creative idea, Empire will allow our audience to
properly notice our film and will be clearer for them to notice genre and mise en
scene of our film.