Before we create our own magazine cover, we took on the task of finding some other magazines to analyse first. We decided that if we knew what other magazines usually did, we would be able to make ours look realistic and professional.
Key words for analysing a magazine cover...
Empire magazine
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal.
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Analysing an Empire cover...
- The strapline of this magazine advertises a free double poster which would make the magazine appear more desirable because the audience feel like they're getting being treated to a gift and rewarded for buying the magazine.
- The menu strip at the bottom of the magazine is one of the last things that the target audience see because of its positioning. The text matches the colour and font of the title, however the size has been decreased . This is because the menu is not one of the key hooks for the audience on the menu page, however it has been kept in red because it is still important and can draw readers in more once they have picked up the magazine and started looking at it.
- The masthead is the biggest text on the front of the cover and is in a bold colour compared to the background so that Empire's target audience's attention will instantly be attracted to the magazine. The magazine want their name to stand out above everything else because many people pick a magazine by name rather than by content and will also stand a better chance of being more memorable. The title partly covers the image and has the image overlapping so that when people's attention is attracted by the picture, they will also be forced to read the magazine's name.
Total Film magazine
Total Film is a UK-based film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004 which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers cinema, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features. Total Film is available both in print and interactive iPad editions. In 2014 it was announced online that Total Film's website would be merging with GamesRadar's website and all Total Film content would now be located on the GamesRadar website.
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Analysing a Total film cover...
- The cover line that says 'epic blockbuster issue' arouses curiosity because of the word 'epic'; it implies to the audience that the blockbuster films being talked about in the magazine article are so brilliant that they can't be missed. This makes the audience feel as though buying the magazine is a necessity so that they will be sure to find out what films are mentioned in the article.
- In the feature article photo, Angelina Jolie (starring in 'Maleficent') is looking directly into the camera which engages the target audience as it is the closest thing to real eye contact. The character is noticeably Maleficent which the audience can see because of how her headdress is highlighted with the use of lighting and editing techniques. This would be helpful in attracting a target audience of people who are Disney fans as 'Maleficent' is a Disney film. It could also be helpful in attracting Angelina Jolie fans.
Odeon magazine
Odeon is a trading brand name of cinemas operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In 2016, Odeon was the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share. The first Odeon cinema was opened by Oscar Deutsch in 1928, in Brierley, Staffordshire, although initially called "Picture House". Through a number of sales and acquisitions in the early 2000s the company was purchased by its current owners Terra Firma Capital Partners. Terra Firma absorbed Odeon into UCI Cinemas to form Odeon UCI Cinemas Group. Most UCI cinemas then took the Odeon brand name in 2005. Odeon cinemas provide their own magazine filled with articles about the films they are showing at their cinemas. This gives the customers a better cinema experience because they have something to read for entertainment when they go to the cinema and it also helps to increase Odeon's ticket sales because they advertise the other films to the reader and make them come back another day to watch them.
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Analysing an Odeon Magazine film cover...
- The strap lines make the magazine more desirable because they advertise all the interesting stories that are inside, people buy magazines with the hope that the content will be informative and entertaining so if the strap lines are interesting they will be more convinced that the magazine will be a good one and therefore worth looking at!
- Odeon is a cinema chain in the UK and their magazines are free to pick up when you go to the cinema. Odeon have made their name the masthead in the hope that it will make the consumers remember the name of the cinema and spend money there again. Arguably, the point in making the whole magazine is to convince people to come back to the cinema and spend more money there.
Ideas for our magazine cover...
- After analysing the magazine covers, we understand that one of the main things we need to do when we make a magazine is to make the name of our magazine the masthead. We want it to be the biggest text on the page and we want it to be a colour and font that will stand out on the front cover.
- We also see that gripping strap lines are important for drawing the readers in.
- We will make sure any images that go on our magazine cover are bright, eye catching and recognisable for the audience to identify and and engage with.
- We will offer a free gift inside, it makes the magazine more appealing if the consumers think they're getting something for free.
- We may advertise the chance to win something exciting in a competition like some other magazines do. This makes people pick up the magazine it as makes them curious about the competition and how to enter it.
- We will ensure that the colours on the magazine highlight the type magazine it is ands the type of film it focuses on.
The images we took for our cover...
Our finished cover...
-CH