Audience Feedback on Storyboard and Mock-ups

Final Product: Magazine Front Cover

Mock-up of Film Magazine Front Cover

The idea behind our film magazine front cover was set in our minds from early on after researching existing products. "Total Film" and "Empire" are the main film magazines sold in stores, and both follow a very similar set of conventions and guidelines in regards to layout and style that have proved to be very successful, so we decided to take inspiration from them. Upon research, however, we also discovered that not many horror films are given the front cover of a film magazine, so in order to adhere to codes and conventions and still complete the task given, we decided that in order to create a realistic magazine front cover featuring a horror movie, we would have to create a special edition issue for Halloween that would be dedicated to horror films. Upon that decision, the design laid itself out with the stereotypical pumpkin for Halloween and the classic cartoon 'sludge' font for our banner; "Halloween Special".

Mock-up for magazine front cover:

Symbiotic Link

A symbiotic link needs to connect each product so that upon viewing, the audience immediately know which movie the product belongs to.  To achieve this, we will use the same tagline, main image of the antagonist, font, clothing and colour scheme across the entire package. The tagline, “She can’t be cured”, will feature towards the end of the trailer and the base of the movie poster, however it will not be featured on the magazine front cover as it is not a convention. The main image is of our antagonist wearing a Victorian-style white nightgown with a brown cardigan and this will feature throughout our products. Font and colour scheme will be the same in the trailer and poster only due to the fact that the magazines have their own colour scheme. The clothing would be the same throughout the production package that we will be creating; this is to represent her age and her ethereal like image.  In all three of the products the antagonist will always have backcombed, scruffy hair and white tinted eyes to create the possessed look. 

Masthead Brainstorm

The masthead of a magazine sets the standard for the entire magazine and also creates an opinion in the reader on the magazine and whether they would want to read it or not. Our magazine would appeal to our target audience, and would therefore need to contain aspects that would appeal to them. We created a brainstorm of potential mastheads in order to narrow down our ideas to a final decision. The options were varied, each trying to hit a certain target. Total Horror, whilst straightforward and powerful, it is to similar to an existing product, and therefore cannot be used. Now Horror, Movies 101, Box Office, Scene Stealer, Movie Galore and Blockbuster all seemed to be to cliche for our target audience. Frame was too ambiguous and could be mistaken for a photography magazine, as was Scene. This left us choosing between Shutter, Gore, and Shocker to choose from. Shocker seemed far too childish for our demographic, and so it was removed, however the choice between Gore and Shutter was more difficult. Gore would immediately connotate horror films, however Shutter encapsulates cinema as a whole. In the end, we decided to go with Shutter as it has a stronger connotation the film industry  and also provides us with a wide range of possibilities in regards to the design of the masthead. As Shutter is a film magazine, we decided to create a special Halloween edition to feature our film and focus on the genre specifically. This is so that we can play around with the fonts and colour schemes without having to adhere to codes and conventions as strictly as would be necessary with an average film magazine.

Analyses of Film Magazine Front Covers

Overview Analysis of Film Magazine Front Covers

 When discussing conventions of magazine front covers, they tend to overlap across many styles of magazine. The fundamental aspects of a cover, though, are included in all; masthead, dateline, main image of either a famous actor or the person featured in the main article and of course the price and bar-code so that the magazine can be purchased. The other elements can all be 'tinkered' and played with to make the cover more appealing. Whilst these are conventions, some can be overlooked in an effort to make the magazine more appealing to the readership. A strap-line featured above the masthead is often used as when magazines are laid on top of one another, or stacked in a supermarket shelf, the part of the product that is shown is generally only just past the bottom of the masthead meaning that it needs to catch the readers eye. The strap-line usually contains a deal in price, a competition or 'freebie' that comes with the magazine, or a feature article that is particularly alluring, such as "Greatest Movie Art Ever" on the Total Film front cover.


The mast head is the joint most important aspect of a magazine front cover along side the image as they both attract the audience to buy the product. In each of these products, and in most, a sans-serif font is used to make the magazine more attractive to a wider group of people. Magazines such as the "New Yorker" use serif typeface as it promotes an upper class image for it's demographic, however that makes it much less appealing to middle class and lower class. By using a sans-serif font, these magazines are appealing to all classes as they are sophisticated enough to not put anyone off. Generally, upper case is used for the title as it makes the magazine bold and eye catching, however "backstage"uses lower case in an attempt to look stylish and laid back, trying to appeal to the true cinema aficionados who would deem themselves to be too higher class to buy a magazine with bright bold colours across the cover. Each of these magazines use one, or both, of two techniques to name their magazine; either relating to the film industry, a buzzword, or both. "Empire" and "Total Film" magazines use a buzzword and a word that relates to the industry, or in "Empire"'s case, both in one word. "Total Film" is obvious, however "Empire" relates to not only an empire in the historical sense, of wealth and a mass of countries under one control, but is in reference to the famous Empire movie theatres across the UK. "Empire" has long been connotated with the British movie industry, and the magazine utilised that. "Backstage" is a clear link to theatre and acting and tells the audience that the magazine will show them the "inside scoop" of the acting world. "Fangoria" however is the exception. It is bold and eye catching as the other mastheads, however it is titled to attract a specific audience and to relate to a specific genre.

 On each of these covers, there is a main sell-line to attract the audience in a bold or large font and this almost always overlaps the main image. The table however specifies as to whether the sell-line goes across the image, and that aspect is split 50/50. Two covers have it just overlapping the model, and the other two are across them. On our cover, the choice between the two styles of this element will come down to which is more aesthetically pleasing in regards to the main image. However, whilst two magazines don't adhere to the convention of the left-hand-third, we shall as it is the first piece of text that the eye is drawn to on the cover and we wish the cover to seem alluring. Were we to not comply, then we would risk the chance of people skipping over the sell-lines and the cover seeming boring. This notion also applies to the use of a puff, buzzwords and punctuation and symbols. Whilst we want the cover to look professional, the magazine is aimed at a wide audience of age and the cover need to look fun as well as sophisticated. The sell-lines commonly used feature lists of films and actors that are featured within the issue as well as articles with buzz words in them to make it seem as if they are sharing a secret, e.g."Unseen posters" on "Empire", that makes the audience need to read so that they will know something that other don't. The magazines generally use an informal mode of address by using slang words and abbreviations that treat the reader as a friend rather than a consumer, and this makes them want to continue buying the product. 

  The images featured on the magazines each signal within which sub-genre of film they feature by differing in body language, camera angle, costume and colour scheme. Each of these factors combined in different ways can completely change the perceived sub-genre of an image. Taking the Natalie Portman covered issue of "Fangoria", were the body language to be less stern, such as a smile or her eyes lifted slightly in the corners to represent laughter, her red eyes to be taken away and her natural skin tone to replace the white, then the audience could interpret the film as a romantic comedy rather than a thriller.
The colour scheme and use of font have seemed to concur across all four publications. A masculine tone is often used with black, red, white, blue and even yellow. Each of these colours are used in a bold manner to stand out from the other magazines and attract the target audience. Likewise, the fonts used are generally bold and usually in upper case to make the text more prominent. These are two conventions that will definitely be used in our final product.

Codes and Conventions of a Film Magazine Front Cover

The conventions of a magazine front cover are almost the same for every type. The conventions of film magazines will be similar to women's magazines or sports magazines. This is so that the readers know just at a glance what it is they are looking at. However, there are slight differences between each type so that the reader knows at a glance what they're looking for.

Masthead - This is basically the title of the magazine. Dominant and striking, mastheads of film magazines tend to continue the masculine colour scheme of the front cover, or reflect the main feature article. The name itself tends to have strong connotations with the film industry (e.g. SFX), is a buzz word (see below for definition) (e.g. Empire), or a combination of the two (e.g. Total Film).

Buzzwords and punctuation - Punctuation such as exclamation points and buzz words such as "new" and "awesome" are used to excite the reader about article or features of the magazine. 

Symbols - This aspect is commonly used on magazines that are aimed towards males. It is scientifically proven that men respond better to symbols in regards to taking in information and paying attention. Lots of plus signs and arrows are used and other positive icons to show the reader where to look.

Strapline - Featured above the masthead, this is a sentence that can detail an important feature article, a deal in regards to the price of the magazine or something free that comes with the product such as posters or competitions.

Dateline - Generally written in small type beneath the masthead, this is a line of informaiton detailing, the issue number or month of release, the website of the magazien and possible the price.

Main image - This is the primary focus of the magazine front cover. Generally the element that draws in the audience, the image on a film magazine is usually of a famous actor that features in the main article. Depending on how many models the magazine has on the front cover, the tops of their heads may cover the title to emphasise the importance of them or their character. Also, the image of the film character is often the one used on the movie's poster and this creates a symbiotic link between the two pieces of media and makes it more recognisable for the audience. The image contrasts those found on lifestyle magazines as it usually features the model in a much more dominant pose that shows the strength of the character. The model will also be dressed to coincide with their movie, rather than just for fashion, and will be placed on a background of sorts, such as part of the setting of the film or in an action style shot, as opposed to a plain background used in lifestyle magazines as seen above to the left and right.

Feature article photographs - These images are designed to be the secondary attraction after the main image and shows the articles featured within visually.

Main sell-line - Placed centrally, below the main image, this short phrase either sums up an article in a witty fashion, or is simply the name of the actor or film in the main article.

Puff – This element is the circular, square or other shaped bubble placed atop the main image, usually towards the right of the page and at the top, to highlight a special feature of the magazine, be it an article, a competition or something of the like.

List of movies included - This is to attract the audience further to the magazine and establishes the type of magazine that it is and to what demographic they aim towards (e.g. mainly action movies aim towards a typically masculine audience). If the reader doesn't like the main article, they may like one or more of the other films featured and therefore still want to purchase the product.

Banner - This may be a strip of colour placed across the main image to highlight the main sell-line, or it may be, or may also be, featured at the base of the page as a way to show the images of feature articles.

Layout - The layout of the text, puffs and banners of a magazine is intended to frame the main image to make it seem more important.

Text - Generally in the left hand third of the page, the text is usually  between three and four fonts and three and four  separate colours so as to not confuse the reader and to not let the cover look too cluttered. The colours used in the text can also reflect the main image and sell line by reflecting a character (e.g. red, white, and blue for a cover with Captain America on it). The text usually follows a masculine colour to appeal to the primarily male target audience.