Film Magazine Overview

Film magazines successfully satisfy their target audience needs by not only providing them information on new upcoming films but also past films. However it is not only movies which feature within the magazine, interviews with the biggest actors and directors are also a favourite to read within the magazine. Currently there aren’t many film magazines in the UK but the most popular film magazine is ‘Empire’ and in second place is ‘Total Film.’ The target audience who read film magazines are mostly males who are hard-core film fans. To attract the male target audience, the front covers are usually heavily image based with little text as studies show men are more responsive to visuals.

Each magazine has a different set of conventions depending on their genre type. Film magazines follow the basic conventions of magazines, for example, the masthead dominating the top area of the poster, sell lines framing the main image, a main image, puffs, straplines and mode of address for effect. However there are some conventions which are inverted such as, the shots of the main will vary from a close up, medium shot and long shot and there could be a single model or a group. This will allow the magazine to keep originality and obtain a fresh and different look.  

Looking at the sample of eight film magazine front covers, it can be said that each of the magazines have a masthead which is placed at the top of the front cover. These mastheads are the largest text on the page as it is their trademark. The colour of the masthead depends on the magazine, for example ‘empire’ has a red masthead; this is a male associating primary colour which is eye catching, and ‘total film’ has a white masthead. However the masthead can change style/ colour to fit in with a specific movie theme, this is the shown in the ‘total film’ batman edition. Both magazine mastheads are bold, in upper case and in display font to represent the target audience’s personality as they too are strong, bold and dominant males furthermore the font is simple and readable. As the target audience are mostly males, the movie genres which are promoted are only action, sci-fi, thriller and fantasy. The masthead reflects the theme of theme of the movie. 

Another common feature which is shared is the main sell line; it is the second biggest piece of text which is usually placed on the bottom. This is due to the fact that in the western world people read from left to right and so the left hand third is where the human eyes naturally goes first. However film magazines tend to break this convention and place the main cell line at the bottom centre, this allows it to stand out which is important as the main sell line can be the deciding factor in whether the audience wants to by the magazine and it will anchor the main image.

The main image colours and graphics change depending on the featuring film. For example an action movie would have big graphics and dark, deep and rich colours; this is shown in ‘the total film’ Constantine edition which uses elaborate graphics of fire to indicate to the target audience the genre of the movie. However in the ‘total film’ Valkyrie edition, dark colours contrast with the bright blue and subtle graphics are used to show the audience that even though the film contains action it has a serious undertone. Even though each front cover will break conventions with the main image, the maximum amount of colours used for a front cover is up to three. The colours can also reflect the theme of the film or the characters featured such as the black sell lines in the 'Batman' edition. Three of the images, 'Hellboy', 'Sherlock Holmes', and 'Iron Man' are composed from a medium shot, which allows the audience to see the powerful expressions on their faces. Whilst the rest of the examples are composed of long and extreme long shots. This could perhaps be that they are actions movies and so the long shot allows the audience to see the activity and iconography in the background which then allows the audience to identify the genre. To draw in audiences, these film magazines use big-named stars as their unique selling point. By having someone famous on the front cover, the magazine will draw in their intended target audience and will also draw in the fans of that particular star. 

Another common feature which can be spotted is that all of the examples have a very small amount of sell lines. This could relate back to the fact that men respond more to visuals and so the front covers tend have a large image to text ratio. The sell lines will be promoting other films or interviews with people from the movie world.

It is interesting to see that four of the examples have a puff for promotion. They usually advertise a juicy interview or interesting article and so lure in the audience to buy the magazine. Another promotional technique is a strapline and six of the examples above use this to advertise the other movies which will feature in the magazine or to state how good the issue is.

Finally it is evident from these posters that the date, price and website are often place close to each other and are placed at the top of the page, near the masthead. This information is not majorly important to the readers but it is something that they need to know and so placed by the masthead as it ensures that it will be seen.

The barcodes are always placed at the bottom of the page and usually in a corner. It should not draw attention from the main image and sell lines as it is insignificant for the readers.