Film magazine analysis

1. Film magazine cover analysis

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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’.