Analysis Of A Real Magazine: Total Film

The skyline of the magazine consists of text ‘10 coolest movies being made right now’ and right next to it there are 3 photos of movies with their names attached. The use of words ‘right now’ cause the audience to be intrigued in the movies listed and will want to read the magazine due to this.

The masthead is the largest title visible on the front cover, also, its positioning at the top of the cover is a convention of how magazines are laid out. It is overlapping with the main image character in order to put more emphasis on the focus of the cover which is the film, moreover, it is still recognisable and visible. The biggest font is ‘Film’ as it is presented in a white colour which contrast the blue background. The typography is san-serif and bold. This allows it to be easily recognisable to the audience. The ‘Total’ is engraved in the ‘F’ of the ‘Film’ which adds a stylistic element to the front cover, furthermore, this is a running theme throughout most issues of the magazine.

Below the masthead is the date of the magazine ‘September 2009’. This shows us that the magazine gets published monthly which explains the above average price of £3.99.

The key image presented in this issue is a medium shot of a well-known actor Robert Downey Jr who plays the lead character of Sherlock Holmes in the new upcoming film. The actor is positioned in the centre and looking straight at the audience which may cause them to notice the magazine more due to formed eye contact. The way he is dressed is quite informal and that is further emphasised by him having his hands in his pockets. His outfit ranges from different shades of blue which carry on the colour scheme of the issue. By portraying the main character on the front cover the magazine will maximise sales as even people that may not be aware of the new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out they will recognise the actor and due to this may be interested in the magazine. On top of the lower half of the image there is text relating to the main image. The largest text is ‘Sherlock Homes’ as that is the character portrayed. It is written in a serif font. The word ‘Sherlock’ is written in the colour white and in a thinner font compared to the word ‘Holmes’ which is written in a much thicker and blue font. This makes the cover a bit more interesting and may aide in catching the audience’s attention. Above the character’s name there is a pull quote from the article inside. This gives the audience a sneak peek in to what they can expect to see inside and therefore cause them to be more intrigued.

All the teaser titles are in a blue which matches the background colour offering continuity. The font of the teaser titles is sans-serif and quite thin, which nicely contrasts with the text below which is in black and is a bit thicker. The teaser allocation on the front cover allows empty spaces to be filled out while still making the magazine look clean.

In the bottom right corner there is a barcode which connotes the professionalism of the magazine and that it is not for free.