Magazine Front Covers

As I know I will be using the horror genre, I will be producing a magazine front cover as part of my marketing campaign. I will firstly need to see different horror publications to get an idea of the different cover lines, colour schemes and other details that will appear. I will them do some more research into mainstream magazines and see I could combine them both.

The first horror magazine I will be looking at is 'Fangoria'.

- The masthead is in a colour associated with horror, maybe signifying blood.

- In the cover line, two words directly references the genre.

- The main cover line links to the image, and references well-known horror film.

- The images on the side are of promotion for other horror films, e.g. 'My Bloody Valentine' and 'Underworld'.

- Lots of red is used on the poster, a colour associated with the genre.

- The dominant central image is of a well-known character holding a prop, wearing a creepy mask, his clothes are dull and look damp, giving an eerie and scary look to the audience.

The second horror magazine is 'Shivers'.

- The masthead again say red and looks like it has been scratched on.

- Colour scheme is very dull and degraded.

- Dominant central image is of a girl who looks drained and deathly, a woman is a typical victim in the genre

- Red and yellow are used throughout in both covers

- References another horror film

- Banner that has been shaped in a dramatically jaggered way, perhaps indicating genre

- The font on the poster looks as if they have been scratched on, possibly relating to the film referenced in the main coverline

  

To possibly link my horror genre to a mainstream magazine, I have chosen to find patterns for these 'Empire' magazines. 

  

Each one of the three 'Empire' magazines follow the same conventions:

- Bold, clear dominant central image of the main character from the film edition for each magazine. 

- Mastheads follow the same colour scheme as the overall film storyline, e.g. 'Hellboy 2' has a hell-like figure, therefore there are flames coming out of the masthead to reflect the character and Mise-en-scene of the film. 

- The film make is clearly printed 

- Banners relating to the same/feature films

- Main cover line linking the edition

- Banners also entire the audience to furthermore read

After looking at these two types of magazine covers, I have decided I will be linking my horror film to a 'special edition' mainstream magazine.