Magazine covers

Magazine Covers

The Multiple Issues

Film magazines will often have multiple cover image for the same issue. This is particularly when there are a few key main characters as opposed to a single main character or a duo that would appear on the same cover. It means that the magazine can also make more money as people will want to collect all editions of the issue, especially if it is a high budget or highly known franchise such as Star Trek or Tron. They will use the same text layout but simply change the background image in Photoshop. I could do this for my film if I was making a big action film, but if I was making a smaller independent film it would be more likely to appear on magazines such as Little White Lies which have a much smaller readership so are less likely to have multiple covers for one issue.

The Mid Shot

In film magazines the front cover is nearly always a celebrity or character promoting their film, it will almost never not have a person on the front. They are usually mid shots from the waist to the head, to ensure that you can see their costume but also clearly see their face. If they had them in the distance or full body, people may not recognise them at first glance, which is what the magazine needs to sell itself.

Exceptions

There are exceptions to this, often when a character is wearing an iconic costume they will have a full body shot to get all of it in, or if the character uses their body for sex appeal such as Megan Fox will include the full body shot to attract a male audience. They may also have a close up of the main character if they are easily recognisable.

Horror

Genre films such as horror films tend not to appear as much on the cover of mainstream film magazines such as Empire and Total Film, which tend to show more action and adventure films (though it does happen when a film is particularly popular or influential) but instead appear on genre magazines dedicated to horror such as Gorezone. Front covers featuring horror films tend to keep it very simple, having one main character in a head and shoulders shot with a dark background.

Empire

Empire is arguably the most famous film magazine and claims on the front that they are the ‘Worlds best movie magazine’. Because of this they will only have extremely popular mainstream film on the front of their magazine to capture peoples interests, as opposed to Sight and Sound magazine who feature more arty, less popular films.Because they are so well known, Empire are not as bothered about getting their name at the forefront of the magazine, as it is already well recognised. They often play about with the title on the front, placing characters in front of the letters, making it appear more three dimensional, or change the font and styling to match the film featuring on the cover.

Sight and Sound

Sight and Sound Magazine is part of the British Film Institute (BFI) and is a much more sophisticated. The magazine reviews all kinds of film, including those with a limited (art house) release, as opposed to most film magazines which concentrate on films with a general release. Their magazine covers reflect the seriousness of the magazine and they don’t often have special effects or CGI on their covers, they are a lot more simple and natural with simpler fonts and colours.

Total Film

Total film takes a very similar approach in its layout and style to Empire magazine, however there is usually much more going on the cover of Total Film to try and attract as many people ass possible, whereas Empire magazine is already extremely well established and may not need to try so hard to show off all the different articles it has in an attempt to get people to read, as it has a large and loyal following already.

Premiere Magazine

Premiere magazine is an international film magazine that focuses more on the actors and the film industry and less on film reviews. Because of this the style of their covers is much more like a fashion magazine and the actors often wear normal clothes and are in a plain studio, as opposed to being in character.

Little White Lies

Little White Lies is a British independent magazine that is released every two months, that features writing, illustration and photography related to cinema. It features very iconic and not necessarily mainstream films, taking a much more artistic approach than just trying to sell as many copies possible.Little White Lies always have illustrated cover art as opposed to photographs of stars on the front cover to get across this image of a more arty serious magazine.