A2 Media studies

1. MAGAZINE COVER
OVERVIEW
By Rebecca Dahl

2. The main image on this magazine cover features a
hellish looking character positioned in the centre of
the page, which is used to grab the audience’s
attention. The red colouring makes it appear bold,
and links with the connotations that hell is full of
fire. The two wooden circles in his head add to the
fear factor which comes with this magazine as it is
quite a gruesome accessory, and would therefore
make the audience interested to find out more about
the movie. The use of direct address from the
character is an effective way of drawing the
audience in. This character is also featured on the
film poster for the movie which creates a symbiotic
link between the two texts.
The masthead is ever changing on Empire in
order to keep the audience interested and
entertained. The masthead also links with the
main image of the devilish character, as the text
is flaming red. This continues the red colour
scheme which is featured, making the cover look
organised and well arranged. The fire coming off
the text captures the reader’s attention as it is a
unique choice and is well edited onto the text
making it look highly realistic, therefore showing
the magazines professional side.
Sell lines are used to entice and interest the
reader further by showing them what else will
be featured inside the magazine. The use of
exclamation points makes the sell lines look
more exciting, therefore generating more
interest, and the white writing used makes the
text stand out and easily readable against the
background.
The colour scheme for this magazine
cover is prominently black and red,
linking with the feature article being
on the movie ‘Hellboy’, as these colours
reflect the colours of hell. The text has
been written in a white font in order to
allow it to be easily red and visible
among the other colours. Overall this
colour scheme has been effective in
displaying the information and looking
well presented.
Layout:
The character is positioned in front of the masthead in
order to draw more attention to it and emphasise the fact
that he is an important character in the movie. Most of the
sell lines are placed on the left hand side which makes the
magazine cover look less busy and well structured. The
magazine’s website, issue date and price are all shown
around the masthead which prevents the audience’s
attention from being distracted from the image, and adds to
the organised structure.
EMPIRE COVER
ANALYSIS

3. FANGORIA COVER ANALYSIS
The masthead for ‘Fangoria’, like
Empire, links with the main image.
The font is written in red, linking with
her red lips and eyes. The font itself is
written in a Dracula-like fashion, and
demonstrates the fact that the
magazine is aimed particularly at
horror enthusiasts. The masthead is
placed over the main image, making it
one of the most bold and eye catching
parts of the cover, which is similar to
some of the older editions of Empire.
The main image on the cover of this
magazine features the villain from the
movie ‘Black Swan’. Her red eyes give
the character a devilish feel along
with her very pale skin. The blank
expression on her face indicates that
she is almost proud of her evil side.
This character is also, like Hellboy 2,
featured on the film poster with the
same costume which makes the film
increasingly recognisable for the
audience.
The layout for this magazine cover has
been designed to draw most of the
audience’s attention to the middle
section of the cover. The left hand third
and right hand third have less
information which makes the page
appear less cluttered and more orderly,
and also emphasises the fact that the
two main parts of this magazine are the
masthead and the images (this means
the ones added to the bottom as well),
making this cover very visual.
The sell lines used for this magazine are
fairly simple and basic, allowing most of the
readers attention to be drawn to the main
image. They each name a different horror
film or celebrity involved with the horror
genre which has been done to create
excitement among horror enthusiasts, as
they will instantly recognise and be
interested in these names.
The colour scheme used is
based around the character’s
makeup, for example the red
eyes and lips link with the
masthead and the film title
‘Black Swan’. In addition to
this, the colour of the
makeup used on her eyes is
used for the sell lines.

4. TOTAL FILM ANALYSIS
The masthead for this magazine, like
Empire, has been placed behind the main
image. It has been written in a red font,
making it bold and obvious in contrast to
the other text on the page. The first word
in the magazine name ‘Total’ has been
placed inside the second word ‘Film’ which
is a unique and creative way of
professionally presenting the masthead.
The main image used for this
magazine is of the antagonist.
It is not immediately obvious
that she is an antagonist as
she appears to look fairly
normal, but it is only when
you notice the blood on her
hands that you notice she is
in fact the villain. Antagonists
are usually the characters to
be featured on film magazine
covers as they generate the
most excitement and
speculation among viewers.
The sell lines for this cover have been
placed on both sides of the magazine in
a grey font in order to make the text less
overpowering. They have used quotes
and some parts have been written in
bold to show that they are exclusive.
Exclamation points are also used to
emphasise sell lines as well.
The colour scheme for this
cover has been focused
around the colours of her
cheerleading costume
which goes with the plot of
this movie being centred
around a high school.
The layout used on this cover has a
lot more text than the previous two
magazine covers, making the page
look full of content, indicating that
the inside contains the same. The
subtle use of red shows that the
movie will probably contain gore,
indicating the genre of the film. The
sell lines are placed around the
outline of the character and there is
less text towards the bottom so that
the page isn’t completely full of
writing.

5. FANGORIA ANALYSIS
The main image for this cover displays
the ghostly antagonist from the movie
‘Insidious’. The character’s eyes have
been mostly blacked out displaying
how she has no soul, and her skin is
very pale and lifeless. Using this
character as the main image will scare
the audience, therefore appealing to
horror fans.
The masthead’s font colour is white
and red linking to the alternating
colours of the sell lines. The ‘fang’ like
font used clearly indicates the genre
and content of the magazine as it has
sharp edges, along with the name
‘Fangoria’ itself which sounds like the
word ‘gore’ , continuing this
representation of the horror genre.
Sell lines used are again to advertise
celebrities and new movies which
have been released as these will
quickly and effectively allow the
reader to know more about the
content of the magazine.
The layout for this Fangoria
magazine cover shares a similar
layout to the other addition of
Fangoria. There is a collection of
movie images placed at the bottom,
and the main image is featuring the
antagonist from the featured movie.
The name of the film is placed
underneath the character’s face
making a clear indication where the
character is from and the sell lines
are displayed in alternating font
colours.
The colour scheme used here is
predominantly black, white and
red. These three colours being
used together all link with the
movie being about possession,
and are also a highly popular
colour scheme used on horror
film posters. The white used
represents the innocence of the
characters prior to the
possession, the black represents
the evil which goes alongside the
good and the red indicates the
gore and shocks which will be
within the movie.

6. EMPIRE ANALYSIS
The masthead for this older edition of
Empire magazine, like Fangoria, has
been placed in front of the main image,
making it one of the boldest parts of
the page. The font colour for this
masthead is red which makes it stand
out against the background and makes
it clear that it’s the most important
piece of text on the page. The white
outline of the text gives it a more
interesting design.
This main image, along with the
other magazine’s main images have
been placed in the centre of the page,
with the character using direct
address to draw the reader in. His
orangey-brown eyes link to the fact
that in the movie he plays someone
who appears to human but really
isn’t. It also adds mystery to this
dark character which would increase
the reader’s interest in the movie. It
additionally links strongly to the
film poster as he appears to be
wearing the same costume.
The sell lines on this magazine
cover like many other
magazine covers are
advertising other films and
actors. They attract the
reader’s attention by
displaying the film titles in
bold, along with the fact they
use bright, eye catching
colours such as yellow, green
and white which contrast with
the black background so
therefore stand out more.
The layout for this magazine
cover shows two main pieces of
text (the masthead and the
feature article) at the top and
bottom of the page in bright, eye
catching colours. There are sell
lines surrounding the main image
on both sides making the page
appear full of information, giving
the reader the impression that the
magazine is good value for money.
The colour scheme here is mainly
brown and other earthy colours such
as green and black, linking to how
the movie is in a forest setting, and
also is similar to the film poster.

7. TOTAL FILM ANALYSIS
The masthead of this edition of
‘Total Film’ magazine has been
placed over the main image, as
opposed to the previous edition. It
has been displayed in a white, bold
font with a cut out of the word ‘total’
on the word ‘film’. The design of
this masthead goes well with the
colour scheme of the magazine and
adds to the older look.
The sell lines here all link to the
genre of the magazine being a film
magazine. In addition to this, the
‘world exclusive’ written about the
name of the feature film is displayed
in red font, adding emphasis on how
unique it is.
The colour scheme for this
magazine is predominantly
black and white, which again
is a unique design choice as
usually there is a wider
variety of colours used to draw
audiences in but here the only
other colour used is red on,
though this is still effective in
making the magazine look
professional and well
structured.
The main image is displayed in
black and white which is a
unique design choice for a
magazine, but works well with
the close up of the well known
actor’s face who would be easily
recognised by film fans. By using
a close up and direct address it
makes the magazine feel more
personal to the reader.
The layout of this magazine cover
is mainly focused on the actors
face, though there are sell lines
surrounding him which breaks the
page up a bit. The use of buzz
words such as ‘boldest’ and ‘coolest’
is another way this magazine has
drawn the reader in. This layout is
very similar to the ‘Fangoria’ cover
with the dark swan on it.

8. EMPIRE ANALYSIS
The masthead of this magazine cover
has been displayed in a bold font
which is larger than the other pieces
of text on the page, making it the
most prominent. The text has a green
outline to it which links to the main
image’s character having green hair,
and also adding to the overall theme
of the cover.
The sell lines used continue the green
theme on this cover. Each of the sell
lines at the bottom begins with the
film name then follows with what
part of the film the article will be
focused on which gives the reader a
clear indication of what they will find
inside.
The main image shows the villain
from the movie ‘Dark Knight’,
which is what all of the other
magazine covers have done except
for the one featuring Twilight as
the character of Edward has
qualities of both an antagonist and
protagonist. The direct address
from this character with his head
tilting slightly down and a low
angle shot shows how he has an
evil and villainous side to him.
This colour scheme has been
built around the character on
the main image which is what
all of the previous film covers
have done, as it emphasises the
movie being the main feature
and makes the cover appear
well structured. The main
colours used are green (linking
with the character’s hair) and
black (like the character’s eyes)
which present him as being
twisted due to the weird and
unconventional colours used.
The layout of this cover is
slightly different to the others
as the film title has been
written above character, when
it is conventional to have it
displayed beneath the
character’s face. The fact that
the film title is placed so close
to the masthead indicates
that the magazine will be
focusing a lot on this movie in
particular.

9. CONCLUSION
• From looking at and comparing these varying magazine covers it is clear t see the
various qualities which they share, for example using similar main images to that
on the film’s poster, using the protagonist as the character for the main image, using
the colour red and black for horror film posters and using brighter colours for the
sell lines. From this I aim to use these conventions of magazine covers in my own to
make it the most appealing to audiences and successful in attracting their attention.