FRONT COVER OVERVIEW

1. This selection of six film magazines have each been designed to promote successful films
and to draw in an audience who enjoy watching them. By analysing and comparing the front
covers I have been able to identify patterns and similarities that feature on each magazine.
All six front covers feature general magazine conventions, for example the masthead being
the largest piece of text on the cover and the fact that it is always located at the top of the
page; there are many connotations that come from the choice of name for each magazine,
‘empire’ for example suggests that the magazine is so big it can entice and entire empire,
which is a huge number of people . On every single poster, red has been used to somehow
highlight or emphasise the masthead, this can also be connected to the fact that the films
may include, blood, danger or love.
On all six posters the antagonist or protagonist have been featured as the main image, this
is to furtherly draw in an audience as the main image features characters who are easily
recognisable or iconic in some sort of way. The genre of the advertised films are all made
evident by firstly the main image but also other features; for example on the cover of ‘Total
Film’ featuring ‘Inception’ the masthead is rather futuristic, featuring a bird’s eye view of a
city and the background as blue which reminds the audience of a sci-fi futuristic setting. The
genre of each film is suggested on the front covers; for example, on both Empire magazines,
Harry Potter and The Joker are featured, both characters are easily recognisable and
therefore entice a wider range of people. In three of the eight front covers there is a common
use of either a long shot or medium long shot which enables the audience to see the
background as well as the character, this may suggest that not only the protagonist is
important in the film but also the setting that they are in is important.
There are certain similarities in mise en scene which can be identified on each front cover;
on both Fangoria magazines, the characters are wearing black, this represents that they

2. have a dark personality and a darker past, this is an enigma code for the audience as they
want to find out who this character is and the reason behind their mysterious manner. Direct
address is heavily used on 5 of the 6 magazines, this makes it more personal for the
audience and makes it feel as if the characters are staring directly at you. Facial expressions
are just as important as they provide the audience with the characters emotions, for
example, the Fangoria magazine featuring ‘The Shining’ has the antagonist staring into the
camera with a lot of low key lighting and dark clothing, this portrays that he is an evil
character.
There is a consistent pattern in the way sell lines are used on the front covers, each
magazine features the names of other successful movies. This draws in a wider audience as
if they are not enticed by the featured film, the sell lines may catch their eye making them
want to read about the other films promoted. Statements in the skylines such as ‘THE MIND
BLOWING ISSUE’ are bold pieces of text in order to excite the audience and possibly
persuade them to purchase it. Not only does this particular skyline entice the audience but it
relates to the featured film ‘Inception’; this film is well known to be confusing and rather mind
blowing, therefore the skyline perfectly relates to the film. Sometimes when promoting a big
movie, magazines will not use a main sell line as the image can speak for itself. Mode of
address is majorly important as the audience determine whether or not they want purchase
the magazine based on language used to attract them. Words such as ‘you’ help to maintain
customer loyalty by making individuals feel as if they are being directly spoken to.
It is easy to see recurring patterns in the layout of the film magazine front covers as in half of
them, the actual name of the film advertised underneath the main image which could
represent that the main focus of the film is in the main image so they have to next to each
other. These similarities convey that it is conventional for the title of the film to be placed
here. In two of the six magazine front covers, feature article photographs are laid out on the
cover on the side. These are used to show pictures of other films that will be featured inside
the magazine which is effective because the audience can see what other films they could
read about and convince them to buy the magazine. In conclusion, all of the film magazine
front covers I have chosen are effective in promoting the films on their front covers as many
aspects will draw in a wider audience who will want to find out more about the movie. When
generating ideas and starting my practical i will take inspiration from existing film magazines
and emulate certain features in order to create a conventional and successful front cover.