Film magazines often have multiple covers for a single issue featuring different main characters to increase sales and collections. Covers usually feature mid-shot portraits of celebrities to clearly show their face and promote their film. Exceptions include full-body shots for iconic costumes or sex appeal. Genre films like horror typically appear on dedicated magazines using simple headshots on dark backgrounds. Larger magazines prioritize popular mainstream films, while more artistic magazines review less popular arthouse films with simpler designs.

1. Magazine Covers

2. The Multiple Issues
Film magazines will often have multiple cover
image for the same issue. This is particularly
when there are a few key main characters as
opposed to a single main character or a duo that
would appear on the same cover. It means that
the magazine can also make more money as
people will want to collect all editions of the
issue, especially if it is a high budget or highly
known franchise such as Star Trek or Tron. They
will use the same text layout but simply change
the background image in Photoshop. I could do
this for my film if I was making a big action
film, but if I was making a smaller independent
film it would be more likely to appear on
magazines such as Little White Lies which have a
much smaller readership so are less likely to have
multiple covers for one issue.

3. The Mid Shot
In film magazines the front cover is nearly
always a celebrity or character promoting
their film, it will almost never not have a
person on the front. They are usually mid
shots from the waist to the head, to ensure
that you can see their costume but also clearly
see their face. If they had them in the distance
or full body, people may not recognise them
at first glance, which is what the magazine
needs to sell itself.

4. Exceptions
There are exceptions to
this, often when a character is
wearing an iconic costume
they will have a full body shot
to get all of it in, or if the
character uses their body for
sex appeal such as Megan Fox
will include the full body shot
to attract a male audience.
They may also have a close up
of the main character if they
are easily recognisable.

5. Horror
Genre films such as horror films
tend not to appear as much on the
cover of mainstream film
magazines such as Empire and
Total Film, which tend to show
more action and adventure films
(though it does happen when a
film is particularly popular or
influential) but instead appear on
genre magazines dedicated to
horror such as Gorezone.
Front covers featuring horror films
tend to keep it very simple, having
one main character in a head and
shoulders shot with a dark
background.

6. Empire
Empire is arguably the most famous film
magazine and claims on the front that they
are the ‘Worlds best movie magazine’.
Because of this they will only have extremely
popular mainstream film on the front of
their magazine to capture peoples
interests, as opposed to Sight and Sound
magazine who feature more arty, less
popular films.
Because they are so well known, Empire are
not as bothered about getting their name at
the forefront of the magazine, as it is already
well recognised. They often play about with
the title on the front, placing characters in
front of the letters, making it appear more
three dimensional, or change the font and
styling to match the film featuring on the
cover.

7. Sight and Sound
Sight and Sound Magazine is part of the British Film Institute
(BFI) and is a much more sophisticated. The magazine
reviews all kinds of film, including those with a limited (art
house) release, as opposed to most film magazines which
concentrate on films with a general release. Their magazine
covers reflect the seriousness of the magazine and they don’t
often have special effects or CGI on their covers, they are a lot
more simple and natural with simpler fonts and colours.

8. Total Film
Total film takes a very similar approach in its layout and style to Empire
magazine, however there is usually much more going on the cover of Total
Film to try and attract as many people ass possible, whereas Empire
magazine is already extremely well established and may not need to try so
hard to show off all the different articles it has in an attempt to get people to
read, as it has a large and loyal following already.

9. Premiere Magazine
Premiere magazine is an international film magazine that focuses
more on the actors and the film industry and less on film reviews.
Because of this the style of their covers is much more like a fashion
magazine and the actors often wear normal clothes and are in a plain
studio, as opposed to being in character.

10. Little White Lies
Little White Lies is a British independent
magazine that is released every two
months, that features writing, illustration and
photography related to cinema. It features very
iconic and not necessarily mainstream
films, taking a much more artistic approach
than just trying to sell as many copies possible.
Little White Lies always have illustrated cover
art as opposed to photographs of stars on the
front cover to get across this image of a more
arty serious magazine.