Magazine Front Cover analysis 1:

Fangori

The skyline which is shown at the top of the magazine front cover links in with the sell lines as they are promoting the content of the magazine. They promote the two foreign directors ‘Dario Argento’ and ‘Jorg Buttgereit’ it also promotes the films that are displayed within the magazine as they are all American films such as scream 4 and Insidious. It is very ironic that the typography is in yellow as typically we would associate yellow with the sun and happiness; but the rule of three is used ‘Horror, Terror and Gore’ which we most definitely would not connote to happiness because these are terrifying words that would scare us and chill us to the bone. The exclamation marks after each word helps to emphasise the fact that the content and films being portrayed really are scary and it also helps to emphasises the fact the effect the films will have on the audience.

The masthead sticks to the typical conventions of magazine front covers because the masthead is always positioned at the top of the magazine. It is big and bold and stands out on the page, the name also links to horror as it makes the audience think of ‘Fangs’ and ‘Gory’ both horrific words which give horrific imagery and are also conventions of horrors. It is also a play on words as the ‘F’ and ‘An’ on Fangoria both look like fangs and this helps maintain its symbiotic link. The fact that Fangoria is in white helps keep within conventions of horror colours which are red, white and black. But is also makes it stand out on the page so the audience is able to go back again and again because they know what to associate the magazine with. The red outline also connotes the fangs as it is almost if the blood is dripping of, of the fangs again showing another typical convention of horror which is blood.

The black background really helps the typography stand out from the rest of the page. It also gives a really mysterious and scary look as the audience want to know what is lurking in the dark; it gives the audience chills as at any point something could just appear or jump out at them. It is also a typical colour used through the genre of horror; it connotes evil and darkness again two conventions typically used throughout horror. The black background is also very effective because it makes all of the other images and colours really stand out so the audience is able to clearly see the content of the magazine.

The product information is placed here, this helps the audience know more about the magazine. From this they can tell that the magazine is distributed monthly, therefore they know when to go back to get their horror fix. It also gives the issue number, this way the audience will know if they had missed an issue and can then go back and order or catch up on the ones they have missed out on. The typography is small because it is not the first thing that the audience looks for when buying a magazine, as this would not typically draw them in to buying the magazine because they are more interested in; what is inside the magazine rather than the product information. The white also helps it stand out from the black background. So the audience know where to find it when they are looking. The product information is located in the first third and the last third of the page because the human eye scans from left to right when they first look at something.

The smaller feature image of the antagonist in scream is placed in the right hand third of the page. It is linked with the sell line which is advertising scream 4, this way the audience is able to see visuals to emphasise the text which makes the film immediately seem more appealing to them. The image also links in with horror as it is very scary when looking at it, the mask is a huge convention of the sub-genre slasher, as typically the antagonist is masked and a lot of the time the audience does not get to see who the murderer really is. The colours used in the image are also again very typical of the genre of horror, again sticking to the reds, blacks and whites which all connote horror. The image can easily be associated with slasher, not only because of the mask but because of the blood splatter across the mask; the audience are easily able to identify that this film must be violent and gory.

The other smaller feature images which are placed along the bottom of the page all link in with the magazine, as they can all be linked to horror. Each one of the images all contain a person or image that has blood somewhere in the frame, from this we can tell that these films are all predominately slasher. None of the characters in the images seem to be looking at the camera which is effective as it leaves the audience wondering why they are not looking directly at us as this is uncommon for images to do. A close-up has been used for each of the images which give the audience more detail of the image. Again all of the images use the predominant colours of red, black and white. The images allow the audience to have an idea of the type of content that they will see in this magazine, which persuades them to buy the magazine. Ambient lighting is used which makes it look more natural, and real to life which gets rid of the audiences self sense of security.

More product information is shown, as the barcode is usually placed on the front of the magazine, but it is either placed in the right bottom third or the left as this is usually unimportant information for the audience, they don’t tend to look at this.

‘Insidious’ written across the bottom of the page is in the exact same typography as on the film poster and in the film. This creates a symbiotic link between the film and the advertisements as the audience is automatically able to associate this with the film and know what they are going to be reading about. If the film has caught the audiences eye, and they then see this magazine they know that they are able to pick up the magazine and buy it if they would like to find out more about this film.

The colours used are again typical conventions of horror films as the used of red and white is shown. But this again also shows how they create a symbiotic link, as they use the same colours in the film and poster. The colours also match the masthead as it too is in while and red linking it back to the magazine as it again tells the audience that this is a horror film within a horror magazine.

The small strip that boarders the top of the smaller images on the page makes the audience know that this is a film magazine because it is connoted with film. It looks like the big lights typically seen in film on the red carpet during the premiers of films. But the lights could also be associated with the negatives from a camera or the film reel which again gives this movie look about the magazine. It is as if the reel is movie along letting the audience know the new up and coming films.

The image of Parker (The spirit from insidious) is holding a candle in this image and many things can connote with the candle. The positioning of it on the bottom of the image under the face could be done to highlight the image and make it seem more terrifying to scare the audience and it draws the attention of the audience to the face. Also when telling ghost stories typically you would shine a torch underneath your face to make yourself seem more scary which is kind of how this image has been presented; it could also link to the fact that Parker is a ghost and he is from the past. This also links to the social background of the candle as the candle used to be the only way of lighting up the room which again shows that Parker is from the past. A candle is supposed to be a symbol of light, and light is supposed to be happy and bright and help people in darkness but this candle seems to be doing the complete opposite as it is leading them into evil and instead of helping them it is about to harm them.

This magazine does not follow typical conventions of magazines; as most tend to position the mast head across the top of the page going from the left to right thirds. The main image then tends to cover part of the typography, but the audience is still able to recognise the magazine from the common features that crop up again and again. Whereas this masthead is overlapping the main image which brings more attention to the actual magazine and sell lines rather than the image itself. The fact that ‘GOR’ is placed right above the main images reminds the audience of ‘gore’ and their first thoughts would be that the image is quite ugly and gory, but also links to the narrative of the film being quite gory. It also matches the smaller images as most of the images show quite horrific and gory settings such as the blood and chopped up bodies and scratched eyes and faces that are shown in these smaller images.

The image of Parker itself is extremely scary as they have used an image straight from the film which the audience are easily able to link to the film. Instead of using the protagonist as the main image they have used the antagonist to create fear and tension for the audience. The audience then want to know what will happen next and why is this character the way they are. This would persuade them more to buy the magazine as they hope by buying it they are able to read more of what the narrative of the film will be. Because of costume used in this image the audience would first think that the character is female when really the character is a male creating even more mystery for the audience to solve. The veil Parker seems to be wearing could lead the audience to thinking the reasoning behind this mystery is because of a wedding there are many different ideas behind the narrative but the audience will never really know until that have watched the film or bought the magazine.

The image is a close up as close ups are typically used in horror to show the emotions of characters and the detail. The close up of Parker allows the audience to see his real appearance and it has been used to create more fear for the audience as the image becomes scarier when they are able to see the antagonist in more detail. It also makes the audience feel close to the antagonist as if he is right there in front of them, making them lose their self sense of security.

The puff that is in the left third of the page links to the type of magazine. This is because the red is a typical horror colour that is predominantly used throughout the genre of horror. The darker shade of red also makes the puff look like splats or spots of blood which would lead the audience to think of horror and blood and gore. The magazine itself is very horrific and gory as the predominant use of red, white and black and the gruesome pictures used give the magazine a very gory feel and look to it. The puff looks as if someone has been shot and these are the splats of blood that have been left behind, therefore leads the audience to thinking that this magazine is predominantly a slasher based horror magazine.

The use of the colour yellow for the typography brings more attention to the puff and therefore brings more attention to the giant posters that the audience will receive inside when buying the magazine. This also draws the audience into buying the magazine as they will want these free giant posters to stick around their rooms especially for those who are huge horror/slasher fans. It is a good way to boost sales of the magazine; otherwise the audience would be bored if they were only able to purchase the magazine with no freebie element, audiences love having some type of freebie as they then know they are getting more for their money and that it is a good purchase.

The sell lines to the left hand third of the page, stand out because of the typical white and red colours used; which stand out against the dark black background and really stand out in the audiences eyes. They are able to clearly see and read what will be in the content of the magazine. The font that the typography is written in matches that of which the, ‘Insidious’ is written in and shows a symbiotic link across the magazine front cover, also allows the audience to see a correlation between the magazine and the content inside it.

The sell lines that are positioned on the right hand third of the page again follow the same colours as to the ones on the left, and each sell line then links to either another image or other typography on the page. Such as, ‘Dario Argento’ is an Italian director and links to the skyline when is says ‘Italian Horror’. Also ‘Jorg buttgeriet’ is also a director who is German and this then links to ‘German Gore’, and other things such as Hobo with a shotgun links to the image of the man whose face is covered in blood. Then scream 4 which match the images of the mask which from the collection of slasher films, and is also a American horror movie which could be linked to the skyline ‘American Terror’. They both don’t cover the main image which is good as the audience can see the image clearly and everything is laid out on the page in a suitable place.