CONVENTIONS OF A FILM MAGAZINE

Good afternoon young bloggers!

Apart from my main task I have to produce two additional ancillary products, these include a poster for our film and a front-page of a magazine.  So first things first, I must find out conventions for all of these and inform you on the different types of posters and magazines out there.

For this, my focal concern is to find out more about film magazine front covers, I already know some background knowledge from AS, although Nuts magazine is a 'lads mag', making it a different genre from a film magazine, however it still meets up with certain expected conventions. I have been brain storming and looking for inspiration to include in my piece and have found quite a few good examples.

My initial strategy was to find out conventions of a magazine with this information i am able to see the visual layout of a magazine and how it breaks and meets with expectations from its readers. My starting point is here, magazines are there to sell, every magazine provides a different type of service. For example wedding magazines provide potential venues and dresses etc. Hair magazines will provide hair styles and hair colours so that readers are able to choose or become inspired with a particular hair cut. Also my all time favourite, gossip magazines! there purpose is to be subjective in fashion garment, spontaneous in there writing and deliver celebrity highlights. They usually gather the most famous celebrities and place them on the front covers, my personal addictions would have to be OK magazine or heat, but every person has a certain taste and the front cover reveals all. Point being, the magazine name and figure stays the same the front cover and feature varies in every edition. Each magazine varies in price to meet with social class and status of the reader, for example VOGUE magazine costs £4.99, this is aimed at those in the middle to upper class interested in fashion, it is one of the more expensive magazines available and the quality of manufacture and paper also highlights this. Finally the longer a magazine has been around, the more it has the potential to become a global success and a British classic. 

Traditional layout and conventions of a film magazine front cover: 

They usually start with a mast head, this is the straight line above the title. This can advertise offers, or an interesting captions, this depends on the type of film magazine it is. 

Secondly, its the colour pallet each magazine has its own colour scheme that represents its originality. This includes the type of fonts a magazine might use, some may use one define font type, others might use a variety to show a creative effect that sponsors its originality. Colours that contrast like yellow and purple help to compliment each other and appeals to potential buyers. The last thing you want to portray is a colour scheme that clashes and disturbs a readers eyesight. Size of font is important to make certain text stand out. 

Film magazines keep there audience as wide as possible, they attract all classes and genders, simply because everybody is interested in movies, its a integrated hobby. 

Each cover has a main body image, this can be creative and over lap with the title or be placed in a creative position on the page with effects (black and white). The hero shot, always looks directly at the audience to ultimately make the readers a personal target. 

A bar code, price and date also some include a issue number is vital for selling purposes but also informs the readers of the price and date of issue. Typically these are placed in the corner of a magazine in smaller size font in comparison to everything else on the page. This is done so that the readers start by looking at the images and features and become hooked, so that when they find the price tag they are determined to by it at any expense. The readers think the magazine is worth when it is the last thing they place there eyes on. 

The type of language a magazine decides to use is very important on grasping attention of the readers, for example words like 'inside' 'exclusive' 'starring' instantly intrigues the audience into reading the content of the magazine. 

Some may include puffs and inside those may say 'voted magazine of the year' etc. This simply is a certificate of achievement, impressing the readers and also making them want to find out for themselves the reason behind the success rate of the magazine. This makes a magazine seem more attractive in comparison to others. 

This is Total Film magazine and they are featuring King Kong in there front cover. This clearly justify's there target audience, simply those that are interested in film on a deeper level, for example producers insights characters thoughts of the film. Also it is aimed at King Kong fans that want to read into the film and are interested in the images the magazine will provide inside. The magazine is visually enhanced in many ways. One particular way is through its colours, the bright yellow immediately becomes eye catching and stands out from other magazines on the shelf. The designer has clearly taken into consideration its competition against other magazines and its need to sell and ultimately make profit. Yellow is the brightest colour on there, therefore the caption 'ULTIMATE WINTER PREVIEW' is the main purpose and selling point of the magazine.   

I have chosen this magazine as it is a film magazine  but the culture it is aimed at is global. It attracts the Indian/ Asian culture as Aishwarya Rai features in Asian movies, but the fact that it is written in English and sold in England means that other cultures are interest and connected to these type of movies. The golden, copper colour scheme makes her look important and valuable, readers are meant to immediately notice this. Also she is a profound actress in Asian culture, so much so that she has been in English and American films such as, Pride And Prejudice. 

Sherlock Holmes is a well known established detective, the colour scheme of blue and his simple glancing facial expression seems to  show him as a 'cool' individual. They use an ironic feature as blue represents 'cool' and they highlighted this through the use of there statement sentence '10 COOLEST'. He is meant to be a character everyone admires and likes. I'm sure fans of Sherlock would stick that image on there wall. The use of white and blue compliments there theme. Also the designer has decided to use other smaller images across the top, this doesn't make the cover look cluttered, but actually tries to attract more readers by presenting other films and included in the magazine. A clever way to get more customers! 

I have many ideas now on the type of layout and magazine i want to produce, i would like to attract my target audience of teenagers and young adults.