1. Film Magazine Overview
All of these six film Magazines have been created and
designed to effectively and successfully promote films
within the horror genre. Although all these Magazine front

2. covers all belong to different sub genres, all of them share
common similarities of conventions and how to use them
effectively. Through carrying out this further research of
these front covers and comparing them to one another, I
have been able to clearly as mentioned identify the
shared features and conventions within them and how to
establish repeated patterns.
All six of these magazine front covers feature typical and
expected magazine conventions. The expectation to see
general conventions in all of them such as the main
image in which dominates the entirety of the page, and
the masthead which always appears at the top right of
the page. The masthead is always the largest piece of
text in order to attract the audience’s attention, then the
main image follows dominating the rest of the page
exposing to the audience the film in which they are
promoting, allowing them to gain an insight into the film’s
narrative as they then realise that the main image will
have something important to do with the narrative of the
film.
As well as the conventions mentioned, there are many
others in which have been explored. Almost all of the film
magazine covers feature a main character, or
antagonists who are generally characters who play
leading roles within the film. For example, on the front
cover of TOTAL FILM they are promoting the horror film
‘Jenifer’s Body’ where she is not only the only female to
be displayed but the only antagonist to be featured on
the front cover who is being tormented by an evil and
demonic force. This is exemplified through the clear use of

3. mise-en-scene as her right hand appears to have blood
dripping from it, intriguing the audience into watching the
film to find out what has happened but also what
happens next displaying that a significant image is
effective in engaging the audience. The iconography of
blood has been used to the film’s advantage due to it
representing the sub-genre of Slasher. Another key
convention which has been effectively carried out within
five of the six magazine covers is that the protagonist is
used as the dominating main image instead of the
antagonist, displaying a comparison to film posters as
they tend to display the antagonist that features within
the narrative of the film. This could be due to the fact that
the audience who read film magazines are primarily
interested in the protagonist’s background within the film.
Megan Fox, who play’s Jenifer, within the film ‘Jenifer’s
Body’ displays a clear denotation of a ‘bimbo’ as her
appearance looks as though she would fit to the
protagonist role faultlessly due to her provocative clothing
and her face perfectly pampered with makeup, as she
stares into the camera with a fiery look creating direct
address.
Furthermore, Four out of the six magazine front covers
display a clear use of direct address to fully engage the
audience into reading the magazine. This use of mode of
address means that the audience are then able to create
a solid connection between themselves and the
character on the front cover, creating an element of fear
as they then want to find out the protagonists fate will end
within the narrative of the film as the use of the direct

4. address displays confidence on the antagonists behalf.
Dissimilar to the film posters, there are no children
displayed on the front covers of the magazines. This is
done deliberately as the audience of the magazines are
more interested in engaging with the narrative of the film
rather than to be instantly terrified.
All of the images which have been presented in the six
magazine front covers are created and designed solidly
for the audience to become engaged and persuaded,
as they then go on to question the front cover which they
will then later go and purchase reading and gaining
knowledge into the films synopsis. As an example The
EMPIRE magazine front cover which promotes the film
‘The Silence Of The Lambs’ features the famous actor
Anthony Hopkins automatically drawing in the attention
of the audience as he is well known, successful actor. The
title of the film. The name however has no correlation to
the image, hooking the reader into why the actor is
wearing some sort of mask which is in fact iconic for
horrors, and what this has to do with the chosen film
name.
Four of the six front covers do not feature any sell lines
which indicate that the featured film shown on the front
will be the main topic of the magazine content, again
appealing to the niche horror magazine audiences. This
appears to be a clear convention for film magazines that
are designed specifically to horror such as FANGORIA,
whereas when EMPIRE have promoted a horror or thrilling

5. film on the front cover, it is seen as a special edition as
these types of genres are not usually featured within the
front covers.
There is a clear and repeated use of colours within all of
the six magazine front covers, with the use of dark warm
colours such as dark blues, red and black all helping to
create an evil and mysterious tone to the magazines.
However in contrast to the others, the edition of EMPIRE
where it features the film ‘Jenifer’s Body’ the colours that
have been used are more colder colours with a pale
white nature in order to make sure the actress Megan Fox
stands out from anything else in the frame, perhaps
suggesting the reason as to why she has become an
antagonist as she stands out amongst all the others. In
comparison the rest of the five magazine front covers are
enclosed by more warm colours, portraying the idea that
their existence as humans has now been corrupted and
disturbed by evil leaving them with no hope or escape.
In each of the eight magazine front covers the masthead
is perfectly placed at the top of the page in bold lettering
so that the audience become aware of exactly what
magazine it is. The masthead is also the largest, boldest
text in order to entice the audience to pick the magazine
up before becoming persuaded to read further by
exploring the large, dominant main image. The magazine
‘FANGORIA’ is specifically designed and predominantly
aimed at the genre of horror with the title itself connoting
horror through the use of typography as there appears to
be fangs descending out of each end of the title, almost

6. reflecting a mouth, which again reiterates the genre for
the audience. The magazine ‘MONSTERS UNDERGROUND’
features a variety of skull imagery which is a common
feature within the genre of horror and in many cases is
used as a prop. By placing the title at the top of the
page it allows the audience to gain a full understanding
and insight into whether the magazine is a wellestablished and well known one such as ‘EMPIRE’. This film
magazine is a well-known and successfully selling film
magazine which does not primarily specify in horror, so by
the well branded magazine featuring and promoting a
horror magazine this would create an impression that the
film in which they have featured is of a high status and is
being recognised by successful magazines, gaining a trust
in the film from the audience. Whereas in comparison to
‘EMPIRE’, ‘FANGORIA is completely aimed in horror films,
so therefore the feature of this particular genre is not as
unusual. Majority of the film magazines placed above all
include the names of the films in which they are
promoting to engage and entice the audience into
picking their magazine up, wanting to read further
however some films differ as they choose to feature the
name of the actor/actress within the film for marketing
purposes, knowing that by featuring a well-known actress
or actor on the front their target audience will definitely
pick their magazine up. For example Megan fox is used to
publicise the film 'Jenifer's Body' whereas the front cover
‘FANGORIA’ promoting Insidious has no mention of the
actors that will feature in the film, meaning that the
directors and creators of this film have chosen to let the
narrative market the film but also maybe chose actors

7. and actresses that are not as well known to give the
narrative a sense of realism.
There are symbiotic links that occur repeatedly between
film posters, magazine front covers and trailers which
identify which film this promotional piece belongs to. For
example the ‘FANGORIA’ magazine promoting the film
‘INSIDIOUS’ continues the repeated colour scheme that
occurs within all three of these promotional pieces, Such
as the dark red, black and use of white tones that are
displayed throughout all three. By choosing these
particular colours not only stands by common
conventions but gives the audience an insight of
knowledge into the nature of the film insidious, giving
them a better understanding again enticing them to
watch the film. Another symbiotic link that features is
under lighting. The magazine front cover displays the
antagonist within the narrative, but because of the under
lighting a devious persona is revealed which is reinforced
by the dark colours. The film poster also uses dark lighting
to portray the possession of the young child who features
in the film. Therefore proves that by using symbiotic links
for a promotional package it allows the audience to
understand the narrative better whilst giving them an
insight into the world of the film, but also displays a clear
use of effectiveness and professionalism as everything has
been thought about in terms of fully engaging the
audience.