Magazine cover anaysis

I have analysed and compared 2 very different horror magazine covers to take inspiration from as I have looked at their layouts and which conventions they have included to see their effectiveness:

This magazine cover follows conventions as it has the film name, a bar code, buzz words such as 'Giant fold out posters inside' for the target audience, and a colour pallet of red and white to symbolise both hope and death to create enigma for the audience. It also consists of a dominant image which is of the main antagonist. However, the low key lighting hides part of the characters identity to intrigue the audience to watch the film even more. Finally, even though you can't see the character's face clearly, it still looks as though it is looking at you to meet 'the gaze' convention. This makes the audience feel uneasy before they have watched the film, therefore it also clearly shows the genre of the magazine. 

This magazine cover has a different layout to the Insidious one as it is very empty on one side to ensure the audience can see the characters identity. However, this magazine cover is unique as the quote which is used in the film stands out more then the actual film title which suggests to the audience that this is iconic to the film and if people hear this quote they will think of the film. Therefore, this is something I need to consider doing with the quote my group and I want to include in our trailer to also ensure all 3 products link. Finally, this magazine cover also follows colour conventions like the Insidious magazine as it has a red colour scheme. The eye of the character is the same red as the mast head, tagline and film name to link them all together and to show that the character featured is part of that film.

What have I learnt and how will I use this research?

From this research I have learnt that the mast head is always the biggest text on the page so the audience can see what magazine it is, which like both these magazine covers, it also also shows the genre due to the colours or shapes of the font. Therefore, I need to consider what font style I use for the masthead as I need to make sure it links in with my genre, not necessarily my actual film as the magazine would feature other films. Both of these covers feature a close up of a character as the dominant image from the film name on the cover, therefore this is a shot type I need to consider using on my magazine cover.  I could use the 'final girl' which features in our film as this will attract both my male and female audiences.