Research into Film Magazines

Part of my media A2 level course is producing a film magazine front cover featuring my film. In order to produce one of quality and having the conventions and codes of a magazine front cover i need to research into other film magazines, mainstream and underground, to understand how to produce one and also to choose what type of magazine i wish to produce.

At first glance on the Internet the two major film magazines appear, Empire and Total Film, these two are both very similar in the actual features of the magazine, choosing similar film genres and major Hollywood films to try and promote their product and get it to sell. By choosing to use big budgeted Hollywood films they therefore target a large target audience, by having a large target audience it allows them to maximise sales and allow their magazine to grow. As both magazines are well known they usually compete with each other to get the exclusive on new films. Both magazines this month have an action film on the cover which has not been released yet. This is usually because the consumers are excited about these new films, both the films being featured are sequels of a previous successful film, this is makes it less risky and easier to sell as the consumer is already with the first film and are excited for the next one. It also acts as a tease to the person walking by as they know this film and they knew there was another one coming out, but now its here and the only way to know about it is by buying there magazine. Obviously both magazines are about selling to produce a large volume of sales and gain market share from their competitors, they do this by catchy titles, exclusives and pictures of famous celebrities.

Both magazines use a dark colour as their main colour on the front, however they brighten it up with vibrant colours this attracts the persons attention and draws them towards their magazine instead of any other. These colours also make the magazine appear different to the main other genres of magazine like fashion, women and health magazines. These magazines tend to sit either slightly above or below the eye level of the consumer. The magazines racks are all stacked with magazines in a different way, there is a theory about the eye level of the consumer that the consumer is more likely to buy a product at eye level than below or above, superstores often follow this rule and it costs more for a company to have their product at eye line level and less expensive the further above or below. Which is why you will find the most common products at eye level such as coca cola and walkers crisps. The same rule applies to magazine stands, fashion and women's magazines are at eye level and then above this or below you find the other popular genres such as film. Therefore these magazines have to catch your eye and both magazines try to do this with dark colours which contrast with the bright and simplistic women's magazines and then having vibrant eye popping colours. I will have to think about the positioning of my own magazine and where it will be on the stand as this plays an important part in the design of a front cover.

However there are underground film magazines that aren't as popular, or well known magazines that focus more on indie films such as Little White Lies and FilmMaker. These magazines try not to follow so many conventions of a mainstream magazine. As seen below the Little White Lies magazine uses cartoon images on its front cover. This is attract a particular target audience of comic book fans, on every one of their front covers is a cartoon image, so quite gory and some more normal. They have little writing on the front, which doesn't attract an audience member. Me personally looking at this magazine believes it is more 'word of mouth' magazine, they don't want to be mainstream and only let it grow slowly by the general public. It is a fairly new magazine and has only had 37 issues and the kiss-ass issue is number 28. The FilmMaker magazine is a little bit more conventional.  It has all the subtitles and main image and layout however they aren't standing out and achieving their main purpose. This is because this magazine is more independent and about making the film than promoting it. The titles seen on the front mention the directors of the films rather than the actors names. The magazine cover gives off a more sophisticated look and aims at a different target audience such as independent film makers and consumers of a more mature film. Where as Little White Lies seems to aim at a much younger audience. FilmMaker has differentiated itself from its competitors very well and aims more at a niche market. Both these magazines seem to want to be seeked out by their target audience than promoting themselves, i personally have never heard of either of these magazines today but will consider buying one now after looking at them. However i am more of a mainstream target audience member and known Total Film and Empire quite well.

All of these magazines that i have spoke about are also online. All of them have an app that allows you to read their latest magazine on your smart phone or digital device. This i believe is actually important as their target audiences like everything new, they like new films and new technology and keep up to date with it. It is vital for the magazine to stay alive with this technology, even the more independent magazines have this app. The Little White Lies magazine had an online magazine version of it where you can skip through the whole magazine online, this keeps with their ideology of being independent and in it for the art making not the money making. All these film magazines have given me ideas for my own and i will take influences from them in my own one. Films are also features of many other magazines including mens, women's, technological ones and motors. However they don't often feature on the front of these magazines, usually the actors involved in them, but film is a major part of the magazine industry.