Magazines Codes & Conventions

Brief annotationMagazine mastheads are usually placed at the top of the magazine in bold font. This so readers and audience identify the magazine instantly.

The main character is always in role (in costume) and usually featured in the centre of the magazine.

The title of the movie has its own unique font, which is usually the same as the movies font.This is so the readers can instantly identify the movie

The strapline usually usually featured at the top advertising a unique selling point.

Straplines & Main image

Usually in popular magazines a main character or popular actor is featured at the centre taking up most of the space. The character usually overlaps the masthead as it is the key selling point and advertisement. The character is usually a famous actor so that readers recognise them instantly.

Straplines are placed at the very top of the magazine, just above the masthead. Strapline are used to advertise a unique selling point, informing readers about interesting features. The colour of the font is usually different so that it also stands out and the use of ‘Buzz words’ are usually used.

Puffs & BarcodesBarcodes are mostly featured on the front cover of the magazine.

In Film magazines puffs usually include information about other famous franchises.

Cover lines are usually short statements found on the cover of the magazine, however in film magazines the films title is usually the second largest text. This describes what the article is about and advertises the film to gain interest. Their purpose is to entice the reader into picking up and/or buying the magazine. Generally there's one main larger cover line and then a few (or lots of) smaller ones.

Font: Usually with film magazines the font that is prominently used is San- serif.

The background behind the character (explosions) sometimes also gives information to the reader about the tone of the film.

Date/issue number: Are always featured on the magazine cover, this is usually the smallest text on the page.