As part of our ancillary products, we have been asked to create a Film magazine front page. Film magazines are a chance to review, interview and advertise upcoming actors and films. They also celebrate and provide information on films past and present and from the films we hate, to the films we love.
"Empire" is one of the UK s' best selling film magazine which focuses on popular titles attracting a wide target audience, usually high budget films. A huge percent of their readers are male and regular buyers fit into the stereotypical film fanatic. Common traits in Empire which may relate to the male association is the use of heavy imagery, very little text and any writing there is, tends to be big, bold and vibrant.
For any magazine, the front cover is the decider of whether they will find it interesting this week or even appealing enough to pick it up to read what they can find inside. Some of the main codes and conventions that you expect to see on a film magazine front cover are as follows:
- Mainly a close up shot showing the actor or a shot in costume from the film.
- A common convention in most magazines, the big bold mast header along the top of the page. Taking empire for example, it is a worldwide well known magazine and sometimes the image overlaps the header yet is still easily identified as being Empire.
-Film magazines tend to use dark, primary colours because they are simple and bold.
-The names of actors, actresses and famous directors are featured on the front to draw in all kinds of different target audiences.
-Only three/ four colours maximum are used on the front cover to maintain the simplicity of the magazine. Always fitted with the genre of the film their advertising.
