Film magazine cover analysis

Little White Lies• Publisher/Owners: TCOLondon • Cost: £6 to £30 each, subscription is £29 for 6 issues• How often it’s published: 6 times a year• Target audience: people who are really into films and appreciate quirky, creative collectable designs, most likely alternative young professional adults with a disposable income• Typical content: niche market indie films but some appeal to the mass audience e.g. ‘On the Road’ was featured which is a niche, indie film yet a film like ‘Black Swan’ appeals to a larger mass audience, not genre specific but does focus towards more indie drama films•Analysis: I love the name of the magazine as it is very quirky and memorable despite not directly referencing something associated with films, the logo once again is quirky in the fact that only some of the barcode is revealed and the white circle looks retro and clean, the font of the title is very simplistic to create that clean, minimalistic look and the monochrome colour scheme keeps it looking retro and indie. The pop of purple colour on the lips helps to give the page some life and is very eye catching to the reader as it looks bold, the design looks like a drawing and the feather style effect on the girls face links to how she is a swan in the film. The key cover line font links to the scrolled, fantasy style design of the drawing which once again is artistic and eye catching. The layout and design of the cover is very minimalistic only having one key cover line and one focal image, which is effective as it looks artistic and fresh despite not following typical conventions of having multiple cover lines which can bombard the page and make it look clustered with text.

Empire• Publisher/Owners: Bauer Media Group • Cost: £3.99, subscription is £34 for 12 issues • How often it’s published: once a month • Target audience: lovers of mainstream and art films, male and females, aged 16-30• Typical content: film reviews of current popular mainstream films that cover all genres, they also feature interviews with actors and talk about current film news• Analysis: the name of the magazine ‘Empire’ suggests it is the best and biggest magazine out there which covers everything and appeals to the masses, which is true as it is the biggest selling film magazine, the logo is bright red which is very eye catching as it stands out from the dark background and the font is very large, basic and bold to once again make a simple yet eye catching look which is easily recognisable to the audience. The use of primary colours makes the magazine gender neutral and the use of bold white text highlights the text from the darker background. The design and layout follows conventions as there is a large key cover line in the sweet spot, one central key MCU focal image and also the title is the largest font on the page and it is at the top. There are also secondary cover lines which in terms of hierarchy of font size are smaller so they don’t distract from the key cover line. The tag line of ‘The ultimate exclusive’ links to the name of the magazine as it once more suggests that this magazine is the best and over rules all the other film magazines.

Total Film• Publisher/Owners: Future Publishing• Cost: £3.99, subscription for 1 year is £28.49• How often it’s published: 13 times a year, every 4 weeks • Target audience: lovers of mainstream films, male and females aged 15-30, focuses on the celebrity culture of interviewing stars in the film• Typical content: mainstream films of all genre that appeal to the mass audiences, focuses on epic blockbusters with a sci-fi edge such as ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Godzilla’• Analysis: similar to ‘Empire’ magazine the name of this magazine suggests that it is the ultimate film magazine and the best, showing that these magazines are most likely competing with each other. The logo is quite basic yet effective as the letters are very thick, bold and white which stands out from the blue background. I like how the word ‘total’ has been cut out from the letter F as this gives it a unique, quirky design feature which differentiates it from magazines such as ‘Empire’ which will therefore catch the reader’s eye. Likewise to ‘Empire’ the colour scheme is primary colours which keeps it appealing to the masses and it is quite a reliable colour scheme that isn’t too daring. The design and layout does follow typical conventions as the logo is the largest font on the page and this is at the top and there is a key cover line which is the second largest font on the page. However instead of the key cover line being left aligned in the sweet spot it has been placed across the key focal image in the style of the banner below it, this makes the key cover line stand out but it distracts away from the key image as it is being covered up in places.

Sight & Sound• Publisher/Owners: British Film Institute • Cost: 12 month subscription is £45, per issue is £4.50• How often it’s published: every month• Target audience: serious film enthusiasts who like a broad range of film genres, gender equal and young adults and older are the likely readers• Typical content: reviews all films from each month including full cast and crew credit lists, also does polls to find the top films• Analysis: covers mass and niche films including art house releases as well as blockbuster mainstream films and therefore isn’t genre specific with its content, the name of the magazine uses sibilance which sounds catchy and the words used are related to films and therefore it is a genre appropriate and relatable name to associate this magazine with films, the logo is simple giving a fresh and clean look to the front cover and the colour scheme uses mostly primary colours of yellow and red which appeals to a broad range of people as these colours aren’t generally gender specific, the fonts used are quite basic and standard once again giving that professional and minimalistic look to the page. The layout follows usual conventions as there is a main key image with the logo at the top being one of the largest font sizes, also the body of text is in the sweet spot and the key cover line is at the bottom which breaks conventions however this text is still one of the largest on the page so the reader is drawn to see this first, the overall design is quite basic and not too creative which appeals to the masses but not necessarily art lovers

SFX• Publisher/Owners: Future plc• Cost: 6 issues for £37.81, each issue is £4.99• How often it’s published: every 4 weeks• Target audience: lovers of science fiction and fantasy films, both genders, more targeted at younger readers• Typical content: science fiction, fantasy and horror film reviews, awards are given out to films called the ‘SFX awards’• Analysis: covers genre specific content focusing on science fiction, fantasy and horror films, these are usually mass market films such as ‘Spider Man’, the name is simple and effective as it is easily identifiable and relatable to the genre this magazine specifies in, the logo is huge which instantly catches the readers eye and the silver bevel and emboss effect looks very fantasy which once again links to the content of the magazine, the white text stands out amongst the darker blue background and primary colours are mostly used to be gender neutral and appeal to a larger audience, the font is quite basic across the whole page as to not overwhelm the page and make it look anymore cluttered than it already is. The design is quite cluttered looking and messy but on the other hand this makes it informative as it contains a lot of information to entice younger readers, the layout follows conventions as there is one key image, a banner running along the bottom and the key cover line and the logo are the largest font sizes on the pages so the hierarchy of font size means the reader will be drawn to these texts first, also the key cover line is in the sweet spot which is where the reader’s eyes will be drawn instantly

Summary of research

• I have learnt that the key images used are usually images of the central character or main actor who is starring in their main film review that week or month, this is often a close up or a MCU of them. The key cover line is usually just the name of the main film review of each issue or a line relating to that film. These 2 factors together help to promote the film as the reader can instantly associate the key image and the key cover line with the genre of this film and therefore they are enticed to find out more about it.

Summary of research

• A specific film has been marketed on this cover as the key image is art work solely for this one film, as well as the key cover line mentioning this film.• They have used a close up image of one of the main stars of the film (Kate Winslet) and made it look artistic with an Andy Warhol style block colour drawing which looks eccentric, creative, unique and eye catching.• The colour scheme is bold and playful which links to the film as it is quite a bold, retro, quirky and funky film. The text on the page however is quite simple and basic which doesn’t link to the film but it does keep the page looking clean and doesn’t overwhelm the page due to the key image being very striking.• They key cover line anchors the image as it has the title of the film in it as well as dedicating the issue to it which suggests that the whole issue will focus heavily on this film and features things that are related to it or inspired by the film ‘Romance and Cigarettes’.