The document summarizes the author's research into film magazine covers. They analyzed covers of Empire magazine to understand conventions like typically featuring one main image, a red masthead, and centering the movie title. The author then examined Scream magazine covers, finding they usually include multiple images and a variety of fonts, shots, and layouts compared to Empire's focused style. Deconstructing a cover from each, the author gained insights into professional design and horror-related iconography to apply to their own horror magazine covers.

1. RESEARCH INTO FILM
MAGAZINE COVERS

2. EMPIRE
To starts off my research into Film magazine covers I went on Google images and searched for
empire magazine covers. I decided to conduct research on ‘Empire’, as they are a well
established movie magazine company. By looking into the house style I am able to gain an incite
of what makes a professional cover, I will also try to use similar conventions for my own
horror magazine. By googling the cover I was able to compare all of the companies issues. The
large selection of the magazines also allowed me to spot out the common magazine conventions
that ‘Empire’ uses as well as learn the house style of the covers. I found that the majority of
empire covers have one model within the cover image. This model usually either the antagonist
or protagonist. Their masthead are usually red, but it is sometimes altered according to the
issues topic. The name of the movie being presented is typically placed within the centre or
bottom centre of the page. The name of the movie is also the second largest piece of text on
the cover, after the masthead. The company also sticks to two fonts, usually serif, this gives
the work a more professional feel.
On the following slide I have deconstructed an ‘Empire’ magazine cover, I did this to gain a
deeper understanding of magazine conventions so I can use them when building up my own horror
magazine.

3. The Cover image- The cover image is a long shot
of the Protagonist of the movie–’Man of Steel’.
The angle of gaze is towards the audience, this
factor draws the audience in. The actor is also
dressed in the costume of the character he plays
in the movie being advertised.
Masthead- This is the
largest font on the
cover , this is because
it is the name of the
magazine company. The
colour of the masthead d
is red, this flows with
the colour scheme of the
cover, which is red,
grey , white and black.
The masthead is also
placed behind the cover
image, this is so more
attention is drawn to
the actor on the cover.
Movie-It is clear which
movie is being advertised,
as the protagonist of the
film as well as the movie
title is the centre of
attention. The name of the
movie is the second
largest text within the
cover. This is eye-
catching and demonstrates
to audience what this
magazine includes. The
colour of the font is also
a silver/grey which stands
out in front of the cover
image.
Cover Lines- The
magazine also holds
the names of other
relevant movie
titles. The movies
link to the
magazine cover as
this issues
specifically
advertises
‘superhero's. All
the movies
mentioned link back
to this theme.
Colour scheme- There
is very minimal colours
within this cover. The
magazine colour scheme
consists of red, white,
grey and black. The
red stands out and
brings the right amount
of attention to the
cover. Overall there is
not too much going on
for the cover to be
overwhelming.

4. SCREAM
As our brief for this project was to create a horror magazine cover, I choose to look at a
magazine companies which specialize in horror. I researched into ‘Scream’, after looking
at the images of the magazine covers I found that every cover has more than one image
being displayed. This is a complete contrast to Empire magazines, as empire typically has
one model within the cover image. There are typically four or more images found on a
‘Scream’ cover, the majority of these images depict the villains of the horror movies.
There is also a range of camera shots, within the cover image. There is also a range of
fonts. There is no set layout, so each issues is different in smalls ways. There cover has
a lot to look at and a lot of content for audience members to engage with compared to
‘Empire’ which focused on one topic. The colours scheme for ‘Scream’ is red, yellow, black
and white The colour red may has been used as it can link to the iconography of blood. The
magazine also has a blood splatter effect amoungst the images. Overall you are able to
noice the contrast between empire and cream as both media text has different house styles.
I liek both magazines but I feel that Empire has a more proffesional feel, but I do like
‘Screams’ use of iconography and common horror movie conventions such as the blood.

5. Cover Image- There are 5
different images on
this cover, all are
different sizes. The
majority of these
shots are close ups of
the characters face.
For the largest image
on the cover, the
angle of gaze is
towards the audience,
this would draw
audience members in.
Masthead- The mast
headd is red and the
font of the text
appears to resemble
dripping blood, this
shows the links to
horror, specifically
the slasher genre.
Banner- On the
cover the words
‘Blood, guts, gore’
are used. This
helps to build a
horror magazine as
these words link to
horror conventions
and subgenres of
horror, such as
slasher and gore.
Movie- The movie title in
the magazine is placed in
the bottom left part of the
cover. The text is very
large and this helps make
it stand out against the
cover images.
Exclusive- The use of
the word ‘plus’
suggests that the
magazine has extra
content. This would
interest audience
members to pick up the
magazine as it has
extra content which
related to horror.
Fonts- There are
multiple fonts used
within the cover,
they are all
different sizes.
This may make the
cover more
interesting as it
has more aspects to
look at and engage
with.