Comparative AnalysisFilm Magazine Front CoversTotal Film | Empire | Sight & Sound

For Total Film they follow most conventions for film magazine front covers; the masthead is at the top and in their front covers the masthead is either in front of the main image or at the back, they also keep a house style, where there is one font and one type of colour scheme for the whole of the magazine, also the featured articles are on the side and do not block any of the main image, the same with the main feature of the magazine (STAR TREK) where it is at the bottom of the page as to not block any of the main image.

The main image is black and white, and this is effective as it makes the masthead, articles and sell lines pop out, and to compensate the articles and sell lines are situated around the actor’s face so that it is still the main focus of the magazine

For the magazine EMPIRE most of the magazines have their mastheads behind the main image.

This magazine is cleverly designed as the articles and the sell lines are to the side of the main image and are warped and distorted, which accompanies itself with the movie Inception (where the movie is about distorting dreams). Furthermore since the articles and sell lines are all to the side of the front cover, the main article (INCEPTION) is in the middle of the page and in front of the main image.

For the magazine Sight & Sound they conform with most magazine conventions in that the masthead is at the top and the main article is at the bottom and stands out.

However it seemingly does not follow it’s house style (white, black, orange) in terms of its articles and sell lines where they are bright red. They might have done that to make the articles stand out more as if they were to follow the house style it might not stand out as much.

With this front cover it is different to all the others as its design is much more creative as the sell lines sort of follow the theme of the featured movie (Inception) where they warp around the image of Leonardo DiCaprio. Also the main image of the actor is looking away from the camera, this suggests some aspects of his characteristics, such as him being intimidating and him having a high status

For Sight & Sound, it conforms to the conventions of film magazine front covers as the featured article is at the bottom whereas the main article for the magazine ‘EMPIRE’ the featured article is in the middle of the page.

In most of the magazine front covers for S&S the mast head is either in front of the main image or very little of the masthead is blocked

Furthermore as compared to all the other magazines, this magazine cover approaches it with a minimalistic style.

Compared to the magazine EMPIRE it is slightly bare, where the sell lines and masthead are all around the edges of the magazine front cover. Another subversion of the front cover with others is that the main image is a close up of the actor’s face whereas with the others it is a mid shot of the actors.

Another way the magazine subverts with other magazines is that the main image is in black and white, which is weird as the movie featured is a sci-fi movie so it is expected to have lots of neon colours however the black and white is still pretty effective as it highlights the masthead and the articles around it

Total Film EMPIRE Sight & Sound