The document discusses several key design elements of film magazine covers, including the masthead, main image, puffs, banners, sell lines, smaller images, barcodes, and issue dates. The masthead is the largest text located at the top of the cover. The main image takes up most of the front page and features a mid-shot of the main actor or character being promoted. Additional elements like puffs, banners, sell lines, and smaller images are used to advertise and provide information about other stories and articles inside the magazine.

1. By Joy Sawyn

2. 
Every film magazine has a title, this is called the
Masthead. The Masthead is usually located at the top of
the cover and should be the largest piece of text on the
page.
 Although the
Masthead is
important
sometimes parts of
it are covered up
with the main
image, this is done
to emphasis the film
or actor they are
trying to promote.

3. 
The main image is almost
always a mid-shot of the
main actor or character
from the film the
magazine is promoting.
The image fills up most
of the front page, putting
the emphasis on the main
film over all the other
content within the
magazine. The mise-enscène should reflect the
film and the style of the
magazine.

4. 
A puff is either a textual or graphical overlay
which hints at the other stories within the
magazine. These are a good way of enticing the
audience, making them want to buy the magazine
to find out what the content of these stories are.

5. 

Banners are usually located at either the top or the bottom of
the magazine and are used to give the reader information
about the other articles inside the magazine.
Sell Lines are located down the
sides or at the bottom of the
magazine, these are used to
give more information about the
other articles and entice the
audience into buying the
magazine by using buzz words
such as ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Only
in...(magazine title)’.

6. 
These are images on the
front page that relate to
other smaller articles.
The pictures draw the
attention of the
audience as it gives
them a sneak peek of
what the article is about
but in a picture, words
usually accompany these
to further explain what
the article is about.

7. 
These are on almost every
magazine cover. The barcode
is used to scan the magazine
for people to buy it,
underneath the barcode the
price of the magazine should
be stated as well. Issue dates
of magazines are also put
near the barcode as these
show what date the magazine
was produced, also this lets
collectors or readers know if
they have each months
magazine.

8. 

Unlike trailers, magazines don’t have to be
submitted to an organisation which certifies
them before they are released. Magazines can
publish whatever they want to target their
audience using articles and pictures.
Although some magazines are age restricted
such as adult magazines, this means that
when purchasing the magazine ID has to be
shown as proof of age.