Codes and Conventions of a Film Magazine

The main objective of any media text is to make money. To do so they must create something that would attract their target audience and will them into buying the product. The conventions of a film magazine do just that through a variety of techniques. 

To begin with, their needs to be a title of the magazine which is more than usually, if not always, shown in the top left hand corner of the magazine. This is called the masthead and it is a key feature in any form of magazine, film, music, gaming etc. The examples of film magazines I have used are ‘Total Film’ and ‘Empire.’ A convention of the name of the magazines in that the masthead is never too long and is kept short. The reason being is because it needs to be short and snappy and easy to remember in order for the audience to be able to familiarise themselves with the product. For instance other examples would be ‘Play’, ‘Nuts’, ‘Zoo’ etc.  

The next main convention is the main image. These images range from a medium shot to a close up and usually feature one character, the protagonist. The reason being is because they are acting as ‘the face’ of the film and when the target audience see the image they will instantly recognise who they are and then decide whether or not they are interested in reading further. A convention of these images is also they are the character they play as in the film with the costume and everything, this way the audience can see that the main topic that they will be discussing is the film they are recently starring in.

To go alongside this main image is the title of the film. This is the headline of the magazine, an example of these two conventions working together is the picture of ‘Martin Freeman’ and the title of the film ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ underneath the image. Together these work well in showing the main story of the magazine and help advertise it further. Another aspect of the headline is that the font of the text is usually typical of the film and this creates a theme. On the examples I am using, the font differs in the headlines from ‘Skyfall’ and ‘The Hobbit.’ This adds to the main story and makes the magazine more aesthetically pleasing. 

Since the headline is not the only story in the magazine, there are also cover lines that show many other parts of the magazine, although not the initial selling point of the magazine these help advertise it further and show many more reason for the audience to purchase the product. Usually, these cover lines surround the main image and are on the edge of the cover. The font is typical of the magazine but also conveys to the theme of the magazine, for example the ‘Empire’ magazine featuring ‘Inception’ shows the cover lines being warped and on an angle, this would not usually be like this but due to the headline and main story they are conforming to the theme of the magazine in order for it all to look appealing.

Although not seen on every front cover, another convention is several thumbnail images that coincide with the cover lines. These help sell the other stories and with images the audience can see further what will be featured inside. Images do help when it comes to advertising however it is not always necessary.

Other techniques used to advertise the product are skylines and teasing contents. These are few words that do not stand out but do show more information inside. The skyline is at the top of the page whereas the teasing contents are found at the bottom. This adds more detail to the front cover and shows that more and more is going on inside the magazine, allowing the audience to see they are getting their money’s worth.