The document analyzes the cover designs of movie magazine issues focusing on Joker and The Suicide Squad. For the Joker issue, the masthead uses fading white and grey fonts to create a creepy effect, matching the colors of the character's makeup. It shows the actor with and without clown makeup. For The Suicide Squad issue, the large masthead grabs attention while the bright yellow title stands out against dull character photos. Both covers use color and design conventions to highlight key elements and attract readers.

1. Code and Convention
By Harrison Eastell-Kaye

2. JOKER
• CONVENTION - The masthead has been with a bold, sharp, and white/grey colour font. The
masthead has been faded out in colour going from a bright white to a grey/dark grey, this is a
masthead for a movie about a murderer and with the shadow effect on the text, it gives a
reminder of how creepy it is.
• CODE – On the whole page the colours white and green have been used for the masthead,
cover lines and small bits of text around the page, this is because the ‘JOKER’ in the movie
has white face paint and all green hair, this matches.
• CODE – The actors face is in the centre of the page with a faded image of him as a clown
and then the enhanced image is the actor without make-up or face paint, this shows the
reader that there are two sides to the movie, the personal life of the character without his
‘disguise’, and the mischievous and eerie side when the character has the clown make-up on.
• CONVENTION – The characters head is covering up the letters ‘MPIR’ in the masthead,
EMPIRE. This shows how important the characters head/face is in the front cover even
though the masthead is still easily legible.
• CONVENTION – In the front page of the magazine they have a small ‘Special spoiler’ and
with that they have a few words saying ‘inside the secrets of Spider-Man and Stranger
Things’. The words ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Stranger Things’ are both in the colour green whereas
the words other than them are in white. This brings the focus to those 2 film titles which
makes the reader look there straight away and that’s a marketing strategy so that ‘spoiler
special’ doesn’t get overlooked or little notice taken.
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3. TOTAL FILM
• CONVENTION – When making the front page, TOTAL FILM have decided to make their masthead extremely
big taking up roughly 1/3 of the front cover using a sharp and bold font and making it the first thing that the
reader sees when they look at the book.
• CONVENTION – The title of the film ‘THE SUICIDE SQUAD’ has been presented in a vibrant yellow/gold colour
with a nice soft font. This is important because the way this title stands out is incredible as the background
photo is a photo of the 4 main characters all walking in overall quite dull colours from this photo, whilst also
walking in a dark-coloured sea with clouds and storms behind them. The bright yellow/gold title really stands out
because of the dull background.
• CODE – With the 4 characters there are 2 male, 1 female and a shark-human character. The 2 male characters
have outfits on that enhance their male features, like their biceps, shoulders and chest, and the 1 female
character has an outfit that enhances her female features, like her chest, waist and her behind. This can be
used to target both gender audiences as there are 2 possibly attractive gender characters in the film.
• CODE – The background of the characters is a dull, stormy day and then the 4 characters are walking all
together in a ‘squad’ which brightens the mood of the whole background. The title is written in a yellow colour
which is known for being the colour of happiness, positivity, intellect and optimism. The characters in front of
that background shows optimism in their energy and vibe.
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