Magazine Cover Analysis: Fangoria

This magazine cover is Fangoria’s January 2011 issue, #299, featuring Natalie Portman as its cover model. This issues main feature is the horror-thriller film ‘Black Swan’, in which Natalie Portman plays the character Nina Sayers. First released in 1979, Fangoria is a movie magazine that focuses on the horror genre. Focused in the U.S.A, it is published monthly by The Brooklyn Company Inc. and has a circulation of 46,000.

The general conventions of magazines are followed by this cover with the masthead (Fangoria), the strapline (Darren Aronofsky’s Dance of Death), the cover text and the barcode (bottom-left).

The colour scheme focuses mainly on white, red and black. White, which commonly represents innocence, is the main feature of this cover photo. This presents the idea that innocence is a main feature in the film. However, the black and red intrude violently against the white, raising the possibility that the characters innocence will be intruded upon or damaged. This is further enforced by the fact that red represents danger and that black represents death. The use of red against white is also cleverly used to grab the viewer’s attention. In a sea of magazines, the massively white cover could at first glance be considered blank. A second glance would then reveal that it is not blank. The use of red, as highly visible colour, for the masthead, which is almost always red in all of its cover history, helps grab the viewer’s attention and hold it too. It also helps allude to the type of magazine it is; being a horror magazine the red could represent blood, a common staple in horror movies.

The cover photo is of the actress Natalie Portman, dressed as her character Nina Sayers from the movie ‘Black Swan’. The main focal point(s) of this photo are the eyes of the subject. The red, a highly visible colour, layered against the black which is layered against the white makes the eyes stand out the most out of the entire cover. This piercing stare forces the viewer to stare back, paying more attention to this magazine than others it is sat next to. Also, because the eyes are faced straight forward, no matter where the cover is viewed from, they will always be staring at the viewer. 

Magazine Cover Analysis: Total Film

This magazine cover is the cover for Total Film magazine’s August 2010 issue, #170. It features Angelina Jolie as its cover model advertising the film ‘Salt’. The main feature of this issue is the ‘total access!’ of information related to the film ‘Salt’. Total Film magazine was first released in 1997 and is published every 4 weeks, totalling to 13 times a year. Owned by Future PLC, it is sold for £3.99 per issue and has a circulation of 60, 912.

 This cover follows the common conventions of magazines by having a masthead (Total Film), a strap line (The Modern Guide To Movies), a cover photo (Angelina Jolie), an issue number and date (August 2010, #170), cover text and a barcode (bottom right).

The colour scheme of this cover focuses mainly on black, white and orange. Black and white is used to covey the idea of secrecy, since the movie it is advertising features a spy as the main character. This can be learnt from the cover text, with the largest section reading “Cinema just got a new spy”. The orange is used predominantly in the background in a blurry effect, to represent something moving past at a high speed. With the model clearly visible and the rest of the photo blurry, it could be assumed that this character will be the centre of the film and the subject of the audience’s attention. It could also show that the character will show a high level of focus and concentration in the film, further enforcing the ideas that they are a spy. The rest of the cover text and ‘stickers’ are in black and white, standing out clearly against the background. The masthead, however, is almost transparent and has a broken/shattered effect applied to it. The breakage focuses around the models head, almost looking like the result of a gunshot. With the presence of the gun being held by the model, we can assume that the character will be in a firearms-fight at some point. It could also allude to the possibility of this character dying in the film, or killing another character. It may also represent their effect on the world around them and the people they encounter.

The cover photo of this magazine is of Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt in the movie Salt. The main focal point of this photo is the subjects face. Framed by her hair and clothes, her skin stands out brightly against the black and dark brown around it. This stark contrast also makes it stand out against the brightly coloured background that it may have faded into. The positioning of the model is very straight, almost making the photography symmetrical. This straight-line down her face and along her arms and gun draws the viewer’s eye-line continuously up and down the cover, almost forcing them to take in every detail. 

Magazine Cover Analysis: Empire

This magazine cover is Empire’s February 2011 cover, featuring Johnny Depp as the cover model. This issue’s main feature is the exclusive behind-the-scenes look at ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’.  Empire magazine was first released in July 1989 and is the biggest selling movie magazine in the U.K, as well as being published in several other countries internationally, including the U.S.A and Australia. Owned by Bauer Media Group after its purchase in 2008, the magazine sells for £3.99 per issue and has a circulation of 145,117.

This cover follows the general conventions of magazine covers by having a masthead (EMPIRE), a strapline (Movie’s biggest year ever!), a cover photo (Johnny Depp), a barcode (bottom right, out of the way of the photo and text) and cover text, to advertise the contents.

The colour scheme focuses on black, yellow and white. The red masthead is a commonly used staple of Empire magazine that features on almost every single one of its covers. Red is a highly visible colour which grabs the eye, therefore when a viewer looks at the cover, they will very quickly be drawn to the title. If they are already a fan of the magazine, this will allow them to easily pick it out from the hordes of other magazines. The black, yellow and white colours are also highly visible, making them easier to read against the tropical background of the photograph, while at the same time matching it.

The cover photo of the cover is of Johnny Depp as the character Captain Jack Sparrow from the movie franchise ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. The face of this photograph, specifically the eyes, are the main focal point of the cover, drawing the viewer’s gaze in, piquing their curiosity with the way the subjects own eyes stare straight out. This technique makes it seem like the subject is staring directly at the viewer, no matter where the viewer is standing. This forces the viewer to hold the gaze for as long as possible, meaning they will be staring at the magazine for longer than the other magazines and as such, will be more likely to buy it as they are already interested in it.

Poster Analysis: Prometheus

Prometheus is an American-English action, sci-fi, horror film released in 2012, focusing on a research team following clues about humanity’s creation to a mysterious planet. Once on the planet, they find strange contraptions and end up in a battle that will ultimately decide the fate of humankind.

The main focal point of this poster is the giant head in the centre and ranging to the top. It dominates the majority of the poster, meaning the viewer’s eye will automatically be drawn to it. This insinuates that this head, or whatever it represents, will play a large role in the film. After this, the viewer’s eyeline is dragged down by what appears to be torchlight, which almost forms a straight line down. Following this ‘line’, the viewer reads the tagline “The search for our beginning could lead to our end” next. After this, they continue down to the person, presumably a human, who is shining the torch up at the head. The combination of the tagline and the person holding the torch creates the assumption that this person is the one doing the searching in this film. During their search, the come across this giant head. The result of the overall search ends with the potential for the death of all humankind. It can then be drawn from this that the head either is or represents the main antagonist of the film, and that this person, presumably the protagonist, finds them during their search, setting the antagonist on their path of destruction. The aspect of the search is further reinforced by the use of mist and the torch. Torches are commonly used by people investigating things or exploring places and mist is commonly used as a device to convey mystery. The combination of these two devices insinuates that the protagonist will be searching through a mystery which will result in the finding of the antagonist.

The colour scheme for this poster features two main colours: black and white. Black is the overarching colour in this poster, taking up the most space and encompassing the head and the person in an oval. Black is commonly used to represent death, so such a large amount of black on this poster suggests there will be a large amount of death in this film. However, black also represents mystery and the unknown. The fact that a search features as the main narrative device in this poster backs up the use of black as a tool in enforcing this theme of mystery in this poster and the movie. White is commonly used to represent innocence, and the fact that the black is encroaching on the general area of the white suggests that innocence will be lost in the film, most likely through death. White also represents safety and, again, because the black is encroaching on the area of white, it can be assumed that the characters in this film will not be safe.

After analysing this poster, I would say the target audience would be females and males aged 16 – 24.

Poster Analysis: The Collector

The Collector is an American crime-thriller-horror movie released in 2009 about an ex-con who breaks into his employer’s house to rob him, only to find another, more sadistic criminal has already targeted the house for their own devices.

 The main focal point of this poster is the head of the person, specifically the gap in the back of their mask. This character is the antagonist of the film, a fact that can be coined from the fact that they are the main subject of the poster and that the title is ‘The Collector’. The tagline ‘He Always Takes One’ highlights the sinister aspect of this character and since we know it is a horror film, it is very unlikely that this character is good or positive. From the tagline and the title, we can assume that the film will involve some sort of kidnapping. This is further enforced by the antagonist wearing a mask and gloves to hide his identity and that he is facing towards a home, suggesting that a home invasion features in this film, a common aspect of kidnappings. Also in the background, we can see what appears to be people in the windows, further enforcing the idea that the antagonist will be breaking into the home forcefully. The positioning of the hands gripping the lace almost looks like the antagonist is holding piano wire, a common weapon for people sneaking into places to kill people. From this, we can gather that death will be a main feature of the film. This is further enforced by the gap in the mask, which almost looks like an open wound. The lace tying it shut could be seen as stitches, showing that there may be a medical aspect to this film, so maybe people will be hurt and then stitched back up. It may also allude to the presence of torture in this film, as in many horror movies featuring torture, medical tools are used.

The title ‘The Collector’ is in white, to stand against the black background of the antagonists clothes. White is commonly used in films to represent innocence in characters, however the title has a damaged effect applied to it, looking like it is breaking apart. This could represent that the antagonist is going to destroy the innocence of somebody in the film by killing them or someone they care for. It could also mean that the antagonist themselves has lost their innocence in one way or another and as a result, has begun to hurt and/or kill people.  Overall, the colour scheme in this poster focuses mainly on black and yellow, with small sections of white. The white is mainly being dominated by the black, again to show the destruction of innocence, the dull yellow could represent sickness or decay, aspects commonly connected with death. This could, again, allude to the presence of death in this film and the effect death has on those connected to those who are deceased. There are also two small sections of red in this poster. The first is the line “From the writers of Saw IV, V & VI”, which are highly successful horror movies, which is meant to entice fans of those movies to see this one. The second section of red is the website name, placed so those interested by the movie can seek more information. The use of red here is used to connote blood and danger. Saw IV, V and VI are very blood-filled movies and the use of red when mentioning them connects the level of bloodshed in those films to this one, suggesting that fans of those movies will find this film just as entertaining.

After this analysis, I would consider the target audience for this movie to be males, aged 18 - 24

Poster Analysis: The Strangers

The Strangers is a 2008 American horror mystery-thriller film. The main image is of three masked people, one wielding a knife. This violent image automatically makes us assume these three people are the antagonists of the film, the killers. The use of masks adds to the disturbing feel of the poster, as if these people have cause to hide their identity, they must be intent on causing harm or death, as evidenced by the presence of the knife. The angle used is a straight-on close up of the killers faces, or rather masks, with their black, empty eyes staring straight forwards. Using this style of shot, wherever the viewer looks at the shot, it looks like the killers are staring straight back at them. The image of the killers dominates the poster, implying that in the film, the killers have a large influence in the event and the outcome. Overall, this poster does not give us a large amount of information regarding the film, its location or the events within. It does not even tell us who the protagonists are. However, the fact that the killers, the antagonists, are the main feature on the poster implies that they may be more important than them, implying already that the protagonists may die and the antagonists could continue on their killing spree.

The colours that dominate this poster are grey, black and white. The use of these colours are to make this poster look like an old-fashioned movie poster. This may be to show that this movie will scare people like old horror movies scared people in older times, or it may be used to fool people it is less scary than modern horror movies in an attempt to catch people off guard and scare them more. It may also allude to the idea that the film could be in black-and-white or that the plot could be ‘black-and-white’ in the sense that it is easy to follow.

There are only two fonts in used in this poster. The first is used with the tagline, the title and the line claiming the movie is based on true events. The second font is used for the smaller writing at the bottom which details actors, directors, producers etc.

The tagline of this poster is ‘Lock the door. Pretend you’re safe.’ This tells is that this movie obviously has intentions to scare its viewers, to make them feel vulnerable and in danger even though they’re only watching a movie. This is a form of psychological horror used to make the audience connect with the movie more and make it feel more realistic. It also alludes as to what happens in the movie, that there may be a home invasion, ‘lock the door’, or that people may not realise that there are killers until later on in the movie, ‘pretend you’re safe.’

The target audience for the movie would be a male and female audience aged 18 to late-twenties-early thirties, mainly English and American.