Ancillary taskAnalysis of 2 film

magazines

Font The font on this magazine cover is either in a very large, bold, sans serif style or relatively small, serif, and italic.

The more precise details, which do not necersarily initally draw the reader’s attention, are written in the smaller, italic serif style font because this is the information of the contents of the magazine which persuades the target audience to want to actually buy the magazine, as a pose to the large font which is used to initially catch the attention of the front cover.

The masthead, cover story, and heading are three major parts of the magazine cover, and what attracts a reader the most, and so these are written in a large, distinctive font to catch the attention of the audience while it is sitting amongst other magazines on a shelf.

ColoursThe colour scheme to this magazine cover consists of only red, grey, white and black. This is extremely minimalistic which connotes masculinity, maturity and is also very modern and not overpowering to look at. This simple scheme attracts the target audience for both the magazine and the film in the cover story, since it would generally consist of middle aged men.

The masthead is red which contrasts against the white back ground and also the photograph pictured in front.

The cover story is shown in grey which does not particular contrast against the background, however this adds to the simplicity of the theme and looks modern and professional.

The smaller writing and captions are shown in a contrasting colour to the colour of the background they are against, this is to compensate against the small writing so it is still easy to read.

ImagesThere are also three smaller photos in the bottom half of the cover displaying three still images of films which would also be featured in the magazine. These are smaller because they would be more insignificant but would still interest the audience if they were to read the cover.

One main image which includes the three main actors in the film featured in the cover story. By making this the centre image it attracts the audience through celebrity endorsement, who would also be interested in the main story.

LayoutRoute of the eye

This cover follows the route of the eye because the first thing they audience would look at is the masthead, they would then follow the route down to the main image and read the cover story. They would then read down towards the smaller feature and end looking at the barcode.

Principle of thirdsPrimary optical areaThis is the first area people would look when seeing the magazine cover. This is the reason why the masthead is located here, because the audience can automatically see the identity of the magazine.

Terminal areaThe terminal area is the area which people look at last and do not really pay much attention to, for this reason there is usually insignificant detail here, such as the barcode or a small piece of information on the magazine which people would want to take the effort to read anyway. In this case both of these things apply.

Central areaThe central area on this magazine cover consists of a large proportion of the cover story. The central area is usually the main focus of the cover and by placing the general main focus of the entire magazine in this area means it attracts the most attention and makes it clear what the main story is inside.

HotspotsThe hotspots are where the lines of the grid meet. In this case, the grid lines up where two of the featured actors faces are, and where a large heading is placed, advertising the contents of the magazine.This would be effective since these are some of the vital parts of the contents and what would attract the audience.

Conventions of form and genre The conventions include the minimalistic colour scheme of red, whites, greys and blacks which portrays masculinity and also fits in with the target audience and theme of the film.

There is one main image which is conventional for a magazine since it is not too cluttered and focuses mainly on the most dominant story.

Smaller images and text are usually displayed around the main photo since they are less significant.

Contains a range of both bold, sans serif font which stands out and is usually the larger text, as well as smaller italic, serif font which is conventionally shown in the smaller writing.

The barcode is conventionally displayed at the bottom right of the page, in the terminal area and where the route of the eye finishes, since it is out of the way and does not make a difference to the actual contents of the magazine.

FontThe smaller writing also follows the same theme as ‘Empire’ magazine, most of it is in an italic, serif style, and in this case in the same font style that is commonly associated with comic books.

The heading under the cover story is written in smaller writing, however it is capitalised which makes it stand out slightly more than the less significant pieces of information.

The masthead is much like the previous magazine cover. The font is a capitalized, bold, sans serif style which stands out from the background and makes it clear what the magazine is.

The same applies to the cover story, although it is a different font, it is still bold, capitalized and sans serif.

These sections are the bold prominent because these are what catch the attention of readers whilst sitting on the shelf.

ColoursThis magazine constrats against the Empire magazine, since this one portrays a range of different colours and looks extremely crowded and exciting. This differetiates the difference in target audience, since a more immature, younger audience would be interested in reading about comic books, and therefore would find splashes of colour more appealing to the matured audience who would be more attractive to a masculine colour scheme.

The masthead is written in white since it contrasts against the background more than any other colour. This often tends to be the most striking piece of writing since it is the identity of the magazine.

The cover story is written in yellow, as well as the headings in the last third of the cover. Yellow is a colour commonly associated with comic books and so this links with the comic theme of the cover. It also stands out against the background montage.

Images

There is one main image which relates to the cover story. This is a mid shot of two people clearly showing their bold expression.This photo is edited to make the saturation more enhanced and the edges are more defined to create a comic book-like effect.

The background to this magazine consists of a montage of images containing a variety of different comic book characters. Although these are the background images, they are still in colour with just less exposure, so the quirky, bright theme is still followed but it doesn’t distract attention away from the main two-shot.

LayoutRoute of the eye

This cover follows the route of the eye since the masthead is at the top of the page so this is the first thing the audience will read. They will then look at the two shot in the centre with their eyes descending down their bodies.The cover story is the next thing they will read since it is placed below the relating image.

The less significant information is placed around the route of the eye such as the headings to the right of the page, and at the bottom of the page where the italic writing and the barcode is.

Principle of thirdsPrimary optical areaThe start of the mast head is written in the primary optical area because this is where the reader would look first. This is effective since it means the audience can straight away identify the magazine.

Terminal areaThe terminal area consists of the smallest font on the cover, this suggests that it is less insignificant detail and would only be read by the readers who were extremely interested in buying the magazine.

Central areaThe central area consists of the most captivating and noticeable image of two characters. This would attract attention since it is in the middle of cover and therefore it is impossible to miss. This technique catches the attention of the audience and makes them want to buy the magazine.

HotspotsThe hotspots on this cover are the faces of the characters in the main photograph since these are the areas that will attract the most attention. They are also covering the over story, which is effective since this is the main contents of the magazine and therefore the audience need to be able to easily recognize this when looking at the cover.

Conventions of form and genre Again there is one main image in the centre area of the magazine which is conventional.

The masthead is placed at the top of the cover, with a section of the image overlapping to make it look more smoothly linked together.

The cover story is below the main image so when people follow the route of the eye they will read this straight after looking at the image. There are also subheadings placed around the main image which is conventional.

The large font is written in bold, sans serif font, whereas the smaller writing is written in italic, serif font.

The barcode is at the bottom of the page where it is out of the way and does not distract the audience from any of the main details.

Since this magazine is aimed at a younger, less mature audience who would still be interested in comic books, there is a very bright and distinctive colour scheme which would stand out on a magazine shelf.