This is a presentation on all of the magazine front cover convetions and my analysis of how Empire, Total film, Little white lies and more specifically Sight and Sound use them.

1. MAGAZINE CONVENTIONS AND
ANALYSIS
Specifically Sight and Sound

2. Masthead
This is a convention that is displayed on all
magazines as it clearly indicates the exact film
magazine that it is, by being bold and large.
Sight and sound always has the masthead in
black and yellow and at the top of the front
cover. This rejects usual conventions of a
masthead being brightly coloured in order to
stand out as ‘Empire’ and ‘Total film’ have
theirs. However Sight and Sound’s masthead
stands out in comparison to the rest of the
text.
In our film poster as we are recreating the
Sight and Sound front cover this is a
convention we will definitely need to comply
with in order for it to reflect a real media text.
We will use Photoshop to design our own
version of the masthead; attempting to use
the same font and colouring.

3. Image
A magazine front cover always tends to have a focal image that
takes up the majority of the page. The form of this image differs
from each magazine. However a usual convention is to have a
photograph as Empire, Total film and Sight and Sound do. Sight
and Sound always have a singular photo that is simple but eye
catching. This example differs from most Sight and Sound
images as it is in Black and White, this is in order to capture the
persona of the director, Clint Eastwood as he is known to
produce quite morbid, negative and foreboding films. This is
something I would like to use for our front cover as it would
capture the genre of Neo Noir with the cross over of the classic
noir convention of black and white. Differently, Total film always
have quite ‘busy’ front covers by having multiple layered
images and a one focal image that appears in the foreground.
This is to reflect how this film magazine wishes to draw in
young audiences that are interested in mainstream films. One
film magazine that rejects the convention of a photography is
Little White Lies. This magazine always has illustrations as it’s
focal image. This is in order to stand out as a magazine as it has
a creative take. Furthermore another convention of Sight and
Sound is to have an image of the director rather than an actor like
most other front covers do. This is to give more of an insight on
how detailed the magazine is with film, and how that is it’s sole
purpose

4. Buzz words
A common convention of magazine
front covers is buzz words. These
include large words such as ‘Free’ or
‘First look’ this is in aid of drawing in
an audience that would be
interested in added free features or
giving the magazine a sense of
gossip. However Sight and Sound
don’t tend to use this convention as
they are a magazine that is directed
to niche, mature audience.
Alternatively, as shown in this front
cover their buzz words include
‘Interview’ which would appeal to
the film focused audience of the
magazine.

5. ANCHORAGE TEXT
Anchorage text runs alongside the
image. Here you can see the actors
name in a bold large font, that
coincides with the main image. It also
goes on to give more information
about the actor and his film without
giving too much away. A bit of
advertisement in sometimes involved.

6. BANNER
This is not a convention that Sight and Sound
comply to but it is a common convention across
the more mainstream film magazines. For
example Empire use banners that will address a
specific film ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ or ‘Bond is
back’. This is in order to draw in an audience by
addressing more films that what is depicted
through the image and anchorage text.
Alternatively they could use banners such as
‘Movies’ biggest year ever!’ that is more broad
but will engage film fans as it creates an exciting
tone.
However as Sight and Sound reject this
convention we will not be including a banner in
our front cover. Possibly Sight and Sound do not
use a banner as they already have an established
niche audience and they don’t need any more
assistance other than the image and anchorage
text.

7. TAGLINE
On the other hand another reason for
Sight and Sound not using a banner is
because they have a tagline and with a
banner it would become too busy and
clustered (Sight and Sound like to have a
simplistic, minimal front cover). The tagline
‘The international film magazine’ is there to
support the magazine and clearly show the
readers that they are a high end,
established magazine that responds to
global films and issues. This would appear
to more niche, mature audiences that are
interested in all the issues and
developments in the film industry and not
just the mainstream ones.

8. Barcode/release date
The date, price and
barcode is an essential
convention for a magazine
front cover as this is the
way in which the magazine
can be purchased and it
gives out all of the relevant
information regarding this.
A convention of Sight and
Sound is to have the
barcode in a yellow box
with the BFI logo. We
would like to incorporate
this feature in our front
cover in order for it to
represent a real media text.