Sunday 29 May 2011

Analysing Film Magazine Front Covers - Total Film


Layout
The layout of this front cover is the typical layout for a magazine. The masthead is at the top, the image centred covering some of the masthead, and the text arranged around it. There is also a lure and some additional image above the masthead. The layout of this cover is quite clean cut and symplistic and is not over crowded with images or text. I think this layout works well because it is clearly set out making it clear and easy to read but also means the image and each bit of text stand out individually.

Sell Lines/Cover Lines
At the top of the front cover there is a sell line lure "OUR BIGGEST PREVEIW EVER". This encourages the audience to pcik up the magazine because it is suggesting there is lots of films featured in the magazine, and that it is "bigger" then any other issue they have read before. There is also a sell line in an arrow in a very bold type face that looks like the font on American football teams shirts. This works well with the image that has been used of Megan Fox in a cheerleader outfit. This particular sell line stands out above the rest, so I think it can count as another cover line. Under this is a short sell line "everything that matters over the nest 12 months" which encourages the audience to read the magazine because they want to know what these important things are in order to be up-to-date with films. There is another sell line to the right which is in a bright blue block "a ton of exclusives" then listed page numbers with the articles. This seems to again be using casual language with the use of "a ton of". The list of articles encourages the audience to read the magazine as they may see something they are interested in. Below this there is then another sell line leading off the previous "and 94 more movers, shakers, movies & makers!" The use of ryhme makes this sell line memorable and also makes the magazine seem fun and interesting. The use of a number tells the audience there is many more things to read within the magazine, supporting the previous sell line "a ton". Lower down there is another sell line "plus" suggesting there is even more things to be read in the magazine, making the audience think they have to buy it. Under this there are more articles with page numbers listed. There is also another cover line which is placed in the bottom corner with a quote from Megan Fox "I don't want to be the Jar Jar Binks of a movie..." This is a bold statement saying she wants to be taken seriously, which some people may agree or disagree with, either way encouraging them to read what she has to say. This cover line isn't as big as I would have expected it to be and I dont think it stands out as much as it could do. Below this cover line is "#6 talks Jonah Hex, Fathom, and Jennifers Body (among other things...)" This is a clever sell line because the use of #6 rather than Megan Fox makes the audience either read the other sell line to see what is on page six, or turn straight to that page to find out who #6 is. Things the audience may be interested in have been included in the sell line, Jennifers Body especially standing out because the audience will obviously be film fanatics. The "(among other things...)" in brackets creates a slight mystery, as if there is a secret that the audience will find out in the article.

Masthead
The masthead is very large at the top of the magazine. It is in bright red and a very, very bold sans serif type face. The word FILM takes up the majority of the space, making it clear it is a film magazine causing the audience of film fanatics to become interested. The word TOTAL is then placed on top of the F in white so it can be seen but not as boviously. The image of Megan Fox is covering part of the masthead which makes it look more interesting and still allows the masthead to be read.

Colours
A colour scheme has been used for this cover consisting of red blue and white, which relates to the American theme. These colours have been chosen to work with the image of Megan Fox. The masthead is in red, which is keeping the house style of other Total Film covers. The parts that are wanted to stand out on the cover are in colour such as "The future 100" and "a ton of exclusives" in blue and "plus" in red. I noticed that certian words relating to Megan Fox in sell lines are made to stand out by being in red such as "The deadly Megan Fox" and "jennifers body". The article on megan fox has been highlighted in the list because it is the cover image and is the most important feature. Jennifers Body is in red because the audiecne will probably know about the film and will want to know about it, encouraging them to read the magazine.

Images
The main image of Megan Fox is quite sinsiter. She is looking at th camera, which makes it very direct to the audience. When we see a girl in a cheerleader outfit we think she is probably innocent, or perhaps the perfect popular girl as usually stereotyped in American films. However as we look closer at the image we can see her hand is covered in blood which she has pressed aginst the wall, dripping on to the floor. This tells the audience it is a horror film and makes them recognise it from Jennifers Body, if they already know about the film. The blood on her hand juxtaposes with her cheerleader outfit and are not usually two things we put together, making the image ever more intruiging. There is also three over smaller images at the top of the magazine with the sell line "our biggest preview ever". These images are screen shots from other movies which the audience may or may not recogn8ise, either way encouraging them to read about these films in the magazine. The images have the name included on them "Tron Legacy" "Iron Man 2" and "Inception". By using screen shots the audience are seeing a small preview of the film, relating to the sell line the images are paired with.

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