Further Research into Magazine Covers - Brendon

The Bourne Legacy (Empire)

This cover of Empire is fairly sparse in the form of images and only really displays the main image from the featured film (The Bourne Legacy) however it is largely populated by text that either is directly to do with the movie or bears some similarities. The main image is placed centrally to every thing and has a very plain but textured background. The main image colours are very dark and stand out from this dull background drawing the viewer’s line of sight immediately. The crouching figure is holding a gun and staring directly out at the reader, a challenging look which helps to anchor the style of the film, as do the dark colours.  Although the main image is central the name of the movie and the text relating to it on this poster have been placed over the image, albeit with see through writing that is still readable from afar. The cover contains phrases like “Action Packed” and “Gangster Special” which draws the viewer in as they want to know more about these specific features as well as the main movie, enticing them to buy the magazine and read further. This magazine cover would have dramatically improved the sales of the movie as the promotion would have been seen by many existing readers but also by people just passing by the magazine and as it is such a string, clean image it catches the eye. The key word “Bourne” is in the largest font as this is such a popular and successful franchise and the change of actor means he is not the recognisable feature as would normally be the case.

For us, this shows how crowded a magazine cover can be in terms of text. As our film might not have the sellign appeal of a sequel, we expect there to be a lot of content on the cover.

 

The Amazing Spiderman (Total Film)

 

 

This magazine cover from Total Film is relatively empty with regards to text and promotions on the front. The cover focuses more on the main image of Spiderman and the title of the movie to sell the magazine, which shows us how established and known the franchise is and is expected to be as no further selling phrases or points are needed to be shown. The poster consists of a fairly plain background with a blue light produced that surrounds the main image being Spiderman in the centre of the cover. Under the title there are a few key words to re-iterate the new factor of this movie and to show that Spiderman is back. The other text shown on this cover is the title of the magazine and a small bit of text underneath stating the price and date of release. Although these are present and the title is large it does not distract the viewer from the cover at all.

This looks like an incomplete magazine. There is no barcode for example. This looks like a fan-made example or an early glimpse. This highlights how careful you have to be when searching the internet as there is now so much fan-made material that it is easy to become confused as to what is institutional and what is not. The second version contains much more text and is totally convincing as a Total Film magazine cover. This is useful to see how these kinds of covers are built up.