This post is about the conventions of a magazine and how I implemented those into my piece, and also the conventions of noir.

1. Conventions of a Magazine &
Noir
Josh Clarke

2. Our Final Magazine
Conventions of a Magazine
Title/Masthead – This is typically
placed in top center of the
magazine, it should be clear,
sophisticated and unobstructed. It’s
primary purpose is to let audiences
know what they are buying.
Compared to magazines such as
Empire or Total Film the title is fairly
subtle.
These are the cover-lines, they
are usually placed underneath
the main masthead or the
headline, in our case the latter.
They give insight into what the
magazine will cover and should
entice the reader to buy it.
The headline is the main
story of the magazine, it
should be clear, larger
than the rest of the text
and should be something
that either is of public
interest/ will interest the
minds of the reader
This is the caption, it should
be associated with the main
headline and give insight into
what the main story of the
magazine is about, its role is
almost that of a failsafe incase
the headline is not attractive
enough for readers
Barcode
This is the puff, it is usually
bright and is something that
entices the reader to buy the
magazine
This is the slogan/Strapline, it
should provide something that
makes the magazine stand out
from the rest and can be
distinguishable from other
magazines. The slogan for our
magazine boasts its credibility
and so should attract film fans of
all types, therefore increasing
our target audience spread.
Issue number and Date

3. Our Final Magazine
Conventions of Noir
Smoke – This is a strong
typical convention of
noir, it connotes mystery
and dishonesty, it
symbolizes blocking the
view of something which
is often the case with
Noir as the protagonist is
usually mislead
Colour scheme: This colour
scheme is a homage to that
of classical noir, but more
than that black and white
connotes the binary
opposition (Strauss)
between good and bad. This
is typically strong theme
within noir.
Mise-En-Scene: The cigarette in
the directors mouth carries with
it many connotations that crop
up in noir as strong themes,
cigarettes are typically associated
with stress, this could be
interpreted as the stress from the
protagonist from what he has
done. Crime is also typically
associated with cigarettes as it is
usually bad people who smoke.
Whilst the protagonist may not
actually be a bad person, they
are, after what they’ve done, a
criminal.
The fact you cannot
clearly see our directors
eyes connotes the idea
that he is hiding
something from the
audience, this translates
well into noir as the
protagonist is typically
hiding something from
the law after his
encounters with the
femme fatale.

4. Influential magazine front covers
As you can see, there is clear
relation between this sight and
sound poster and mine. The
influence of this was mainly the
smoke and how it masked part of
Fassbenders face. It works to
great effect in connoting mystery
of the character, something we
hoped to achieve in our poster
also.
This, as you can see clearly
influenced the colour
palette of our magazine
cover and the shot
composition is very similar
also, with the centered
head. Another influential
aspect of this piece is the
fact you cannot see
Eastwood’s eyes, this was
really important for us to
convey a message to our
audience of deception,
and also to express the
genre.
This sight and sound cover gave
us the correct style and
structure of the new Sight and
Sound magazine, this allowed us
to include proper puffs, pugs,
mastheads, cover lines,
headlines, titles and slogans.