Woman in Black Magazine Front Cover AnalysisCharlotte Page

Purpose Magazine Front Covers • The front cover of a magazine is essential in gaining consumer

attention. If the cover is attractive and eye-catching enough, it is more likely that the magazine will be bought by the consumer.

• The style of the front cover will allow the potential buyer to gain a feel for the magazine overall from its appearance, tone and the articles that feature on that particular issue. If the coverlines on the front cover are appealing to the target audience, this will help to gain audience attention. Similarly, the image also helps to attract the specific target audience.

• Conventions of a magazine front covers include a striking image, a masthead with the title, price, date, and perhaps a website name with bold colours, a main coverline, coverlines, straplines and an insert. These all help the magazine gain a professional look and gain a sense of verisimilitude.

About Cineworld Magazine • Cineworld magazine is one of the

most popular film magazines in the UK with a circulation of 400,000.

• The purpose of this magazine is to work alongside Cineworld cinemas to help promote awareness of rising films. This in the long run will help to increase film profit as consumers are more aware of the latest releases.

• Having recently moved into an app for, Cineworld’s magazine has a subscription of 640,000 subscribers a month which reflects how being the only magazine of this kind has enhanced its success.

Masthead • The masthead includes the typical conventions that is expected of a

magazine including the title, the date and the price. • The title, “Unlimited” suggests that consumers are receiving all the

information that they could possibly need to know about films that are due for release.

• Also, because the magazine is free, all cinema attenders have the same opportunity of purchasing a magazine and receiving this exclusive film information. This may appeal more to the working class as they are most likely to be the ones who are attending the cinema.

• By including the cineworld logo in the masthead reminds the consumer that the information including is exclusive to those that attend the cinema. The information included in the magazine will not only help to increase cinema profit as people are becoming increasingly aware of new releases but will in the long run help a film to be more of a success.

Main Cover Image • The main characters eyes stand out compared to

the rest of the image because they are blue and this connotes the idea that the character may be quite sad and cold which is fitting to the storyline.

• The character in this image shows little expression as he appears quite distant and serious. This creates a sense of mystery as it is unclear who this character is or why he shows little emotions and therefore it is more likely that someone will pick the magazine up to find out more.

• The ghostly figure in the background may not be properly noticed at first as attention is drawn to the main character due to him being in the foreground of the image. The ghostly figure creates a negative and mysterious atmosphere as it is unclear who and why this figure is there.

Rule of Thirds • This magazine front cover does not

fit particularly well the rule of thirds.

• There is no specific point of the image that fits the intersections and therefore the eye is not necessarily drawn to anything in particular.

• The only aspect of the magazine that matches the intersections is the word ‘ghost’ yet due to the colours and striking image, this is not really noticed.

• The image however, does gain attention due to the character’s facial expression and the blue eyes which do fit the vertical lines of the rule of thirds.

Composition & Lighting • The main character is in the foreground of the image and because of this he is

unaware that the Woman in Black is behind him. This is an example of dramatic irony as the audience can see that this figure is in the background there whereas the character is unaware of this.

• The character is placed close to the left hand side of the magazine cover and this creates a feeling that he is trapped as he is given little breathing room.

• The lighting in this image is quite dark and this creates a gloomy atmosphere which highlights that this film is from the horror genre. However, one side of the characters face is highlighted through the lighting and this perhaps shows that there is two sides to this character as one half is in the dark and the other in the light. The use of light on one side of his face perhaps suggests some hope of the character succeeding in the film as often light is associated with positivity.

Mise-En-Scene Setting & Colour

• The choice of using a cross in this image connotes the idea of death and the way the cross is placed next to the Woman in Black foreshadows that she is connected to this theme. This is highlighted through the choice of costume of the Woman in Black as from first impression the idea of the grim reaper is portrayed, as the colour black and the cloak is often associated with death.

• The house can be seen in the distance of the image and the way this has been placed in the centre of the image suggests that this will be the main setting for the film. Even though the house appears empty and abandoned, there is one light on in the house which suggests that something or someone in the house.

• The grey cloud and fog used in this image creates a negative atmosphere which using the weather is a convention of horror as it creates a gloomy feeling.

Language • In an article from Media magazine ‘Analysing Media Language in Magazines’ it suggests

that the text and images used on a front cover talks to the reader. This theory can be applied to this Woman in Black magazine front cover as various elements portray a message to the consumer.

• Firstly, the image used addresses the target audience, as the image of the main character is similar in terms of age as the target audience and this will hopefully entice them to look at the magazine and view the film.

• One of the coverlines on this magazine uses a quote, “Do YOU dare to see this chilling ghost story?” The personal pro-noun, you, directly questions the consumer and through using capital letters creates an intimidating tone. The choice of the words “dare” and “chilling” has a feel that the consumers are being challenged to go and watch this film.

• Underneath the main coverline, there is a small summary to explain the main image. This implies that this version of the story is unique as it is described as a “thrilling screen version” and the word “classic” suggests that this version will be different to what is expected therefore, audiences are more likely to pick the magazine up to find out more information.

Text Style• The magazine uses white and blue text

for the main coverline and coverlines.• The white text creates a ghostly feel and this

is relevant to the films storyline as the coverline that summarises what the film is about suggests that this is a “supernatural” tale.

• A cold and chilling feel is created through the blue text that is used and again, this is associated with the idea of ghosts and feelings of the supernatural so here the magazine is foreshadowing the feelings that are likely to be experienced when watching the film.

• The main coverline is made bigger and bolder compared to the rest of the text and this makes it stand out more. This is more likely to gain attention from a consumer as it appears quite mysterious who the Woman in Black is so the magazine likely to be looked at.

• Similarly, Daniel Radcliffe’s name is made bolder compared to the rest of the text and this perhaps entices the magazine consumer to find out more because he is a popular actor having previously starred in the Harry Potter franchise so the audience of those films are likely to want to see how he performs in this film.

Influences • From this magazine analysis, we have learnt how the image is

crucial to communicating a message to an audience. For example, the style and mise-en-scene of this magazine image instantly suggests that this is advertising a horror film. Therefore, it is important that we consider using suitable mise-en-scene when creating our magazine front cover.

• We have also seen the importance of how the text used must match the image so that a house style begins to develop. On this magazine front cover the text colours are suitable for the atmosphere that is created as the white and blue create a chilling feel. Again, this is something that we need to consider.

• Conventions of magazines such as a masthead, main coverlines, coverlines, straplines and inserts will all help our magazine to gain a professional feel so we will try to include as many of these as possible.