Analysis of Magazine Front Covers

Shah

These two magazine covers are from the Total Film magazine.
The first is the November issue and has the title of Total Film. This clearly
suggests the audience about the genre of the magazine and that it is a magazine
for film lovers. It also shows that it is related to the film industry. The cover also
uses hyperbolic text as it says Total Film and Our biggest preview ever. The
main image of the magazine cover is along shot of Megan Fox dressed in a short
cheerleading outfit looking straight at the viewer which interacts with the
audience on a personal and intimate level because it can be seen as direct eye
contact. She also has blood on one hand. This bloody hand with a blood trail
gives the image a sinister dark undertone, which is also present in the film. She
is positioned in the middle of the page and her gaze is very seductive and
alluring. However it could also be said that the characters facial expression is
very serious and almost aggressive. This combined with her body language of
her leaning on the background with her hands and left leg connotates she is
waiting for something to happen and she is trying to stay prepared and ready.
The colour palette used is mostly blue, yellow and red. The mood that is created
using these colours is very high school type which gives an innocent feel which
contrasts to the actual storyline of the film; being mischievous and possessed.
The date, issue number and price are in a small font near the masthead because
this is conventional for magazine covers. The price has a lot of influence on
whether the reader is going to purchase the product. It is in a small font because
the front cover attracts the target audience before they find out how much it
costs. The masthead is the largest text on the front cover that says Total Film
and stands out amongst all of the other text. This creates brand awareness and
attracts the audience to it first. On most magazine covers the convention is that
the masthead covers the image however in this case the image of the actress
covers the masthead making it seem superior to the magazine name. The colour
of the magazine is block red which could possibly have connotations for danger,

Analysis of Magazine Front Covers

Shah

death and passion. The left side third doesnt contain a lot of the information;
most of the information is on the right side third. This is unconventional however
I think this has been done to highlight the text that is on the arrow because it is a
more interesting way to represent a cover line. This also highlights the use of a
quote which is mainly advertised because it is not cluttered amongst other cover
lines. The cover lines are all different sizes and are blue, grey, black or red. This
makes the easier to separate each individual cover line and this combined with
the positioning makes them easy to read. The font colours contrast against the
white background because they are dark and bold. The overall layout comes
across as being formal. The largest text not including the masthead is the cover
line that reads the future 100 This is placed on top of a grey arrow that is
pointing to the image which highlights it and makes it stand out more. This is
where a conventional anchor line would be placed as this text stands out the
most amongst all the cover lines.
The second magazine cover is the cover for Total Film magazines August
2010 issue. It features Angelina Jolie as its cover model advertising the film
Salt. This again has the title of Total Film which indicates the target audience as being film
lovers. The main image is of Angelina Jolie holding a gun facing the cover but looking mysteriously
to her right. Her gaze suggests that something is up and that she is undercover. She is wearing all
black which covers her body fully and does not expose any skin. She is positioned in the middle of
the page. This cover follows the common conventions of magazines by having a masthead (Total
Film), a strap line (The Modern Guide To Movies), a cover photo (Angelina Jolie), an issue number
and date (August 2010, #170), cover text and a barcode (bottom right). The colour palette of this
cover focuses mainly on black, white and orange. Black and white is used to covey the idea of
secrecy and mysteriousness, since the movie it is advertising features a spy as the main character.
This can be learnt from the cover text, with the largest section reading Cinema just got a new
spy. The orange is used predominantly in the background in a blurry effect, to represent
something moving past at a high speed connoting destruction. The masthead has a
broken/shattered effect applied to it which again reinforces destruction and damage. The breakage
focuses around the main characters head, almost looking like the result of a gunshot. With the
presence of the gun being held by the model, we can assume that the character will be in a
firearms and fight in the film predominantly. It could also allude to the possibility of her killing
characters and fighting for her life. The left third includes a variety of font sizes, the biggest being
Angelina Jolie is SALT This reemphasises the focus on the film and how it has been featured on
the magazine cover. A comparison can be drawn between these two magazine covers as it shows
two very opposite representations on women. The first seems seductive, revealing more skin and
very feminine whereas the second magazine cover shows a more active and strong representation
of women and being fighters and undercover spies.