Analysis of our Magazine Cover

This is a photograph of our magazine front cover. We took a lot of inspiration from the international film magazine- 'EMPIRE', as it had a lot of conventions that we feel fitted well to our magazine. For example, having a bold title and subtext on the sides of the poster. The cover presents the clown in the centre of the page, creating a dominating composition against the background of the image. We decided to use a long shot of the clown for the front cover of our magazine. This was because it helped to demonstrate to the audience the clowns body language, in which the clown is holding the prop of a balloon and stood as if its frozen in a particular frame. This gives the illusion of dehumanisation, as it appears like the clown is paranormal due to its posture, which successfully conforms to the conventions of a horror protagonist. We used the prop of a balloon on the cover, as we feel that this is a stereotypical convention that clowns have attached to them- usually to give out to young children to entertain them. We felt that this would be a successful idea to bring into the magazine. The MES of the costume can be considered here, with the colour of the clothing. The clown is wearing an all black outfit, which is a stereotypical convention of a protagonist from a horror film, as it almost blocks our any reconciliation of their identity. In the film industry, protagonists are usually not identified until the end, so the blocking out of their identity cements the idea of mystery, an aspect that is very common in horror films, because of the 'fear of the unknown'. In addition, the colour black connotes ideas of power and death, which are other aspects that are predominant in horror films. 

We used a bold title at the top, centre of the page. This makes the title appear dominating, and gives the poster an authoritative composition. Film magazine covers, usually have the title of the magazine in this location, as it helps to make it easy to locate on a magazine shelf. Makers want audiences to buy their magazine, so why not make it bold and eccentric? We decided to name our poster 'Diverse' Diverse means "showing a great deal of variety; very different."- Google Definitions. So this seemed like a good name to call our magazine cover, as it adds our own twist and individuality to the magazine. The font we chose was bold and had extended lines on the curves of the letters, adding an archaic and old fashioned feel to the writing, which contrasts with the historical conventions connected to the clown of being seen as symbol of entertainment. At the bottom of the page, we incorporated the title of our film 'Joke's On You'. This is an important convention to include, as film makers want the title of the film to be spread and talked about, especially on huge platforms such as social media, whereby fan accounts and hashtags get the word spreading. This helps to get the film grossing, the more people talking about it, the more people will want to see the film/watch the trailer. Therefore, we decided to make the font big, and the same font that is at the end of our trailer. The font is almost child-like and has a fun twist on it, which helps to play on the idea of the clown being a symbol for children. Again, we used the letter 'O' in the word 'Joke's' to be replaced with a balloon as we feel that this is a fun twist to add, as it helps to add the idea of the clown back into the poster. We also included a bar code on the bottom right hand corner of the magazine. All magazines have a bar code, and we wanted our magazine to look as realistic and professional as possible. We didn't want it to be too recognisable, as we feel that it is not that significant and important to have on the page.  The colour scheme on the poster is monochromatic. We feel that this added strong, tonal contrasts to the poster that would help to differentiate it, if it were on a shelf with other magazines. Furthermore, the idea of 'black against white' could be seen in a metaphorical sense as 'good vs evil' which is the predominant aspect that is demonstrated in horror films. We included subtext o the sides of our magazine as this is a convention that is used on posters to add extra information of what is inside the magazine. For example, we used subtext reading 'The recent remake of the 1990 hit' which is an effective way to invite audiences as this points and implies at Stephen King's 'IT' which was very successful in the film industry, therefore making audiences want to watch our film.