Textual Analysis: Magazine front covers;
As I am creating a film trailer, I also have to create a magazine front cover, and a poster for the film, and as I am creating a trailer I am going to analyse three different magazine covers; so I can understand the conventions of magazines, and also last year we had to create a music magazine, and I can use my knowledge from my AS project to help me with my A2 project. As I am creating a film magazine front cover, I have decided to research three different film magazine covers, and these are Entertainment magazine, Empire magazine, and Total Film magazine, and I am also going to analyse one T.V magazine front cover, as sometimes T.V magazines have film listings in, and it also widens my knowledge of front covers, the T.V magazine I am analysing is Radio Times.

The conventions of most magazine front covers, is to have a masthead, usually at the top of the cover in big bold letters, they usually have an image of an actor from the film they are advertising, and this usually takes up the whole of the cover. All magazine front covers have cover lines referring to the particular issue, and are usually also about celebrities as this is what the audience want to read, they also have dates, and numbers, and the barcode, these are all conventions of magazine front covers.

Entertainment magazine:
This is am magazine that advertises different types of media, it advertises radio, film, T.V and also T.V and film awards and conventions such as Sundance film festival.

Masthead: The masthead is at the top of the cover, which can be seen in most front covers as it is a convention of front covers, and this is done to attract the audience, as the readers can see the masthead at the top and it draws attention to the magazine, which leads the readers to buy the magazines. Most mastheads are in bright colours to attract the audience, and usually are in the colours which are a running theme throughout the magazine. The masthead on Entertainment is in black bold letters, and the colour theme of the cover is black, grey, red and white, and the colour of the title goes with the colour theme, and most magazine front covers use this convention, and the fact it is in black against a pale grey background makes it pop, and therefore draws your attention straight to the title. The image of Ellen Page on the cover also covers some of the masthead, and this shows the popularity and identifiability of the magazine, that even though it is partially covered the audience can identify the magazine and still want to buy it, this is seen on most well known magazine front covers, whereas on small magazines they do not do it as their magazine is not recognised enough. They also have the word weekly spelt out in the big black letters, as the word is in white it can be seen against the black background, and is another technique to make the masthead pop, and to draw the reader in.

Image: The images on most front covers are the focal point of the cover, and they usually take up most of the cover, and this is the same for this cover. Ellen Page takes up most of the cover, and this is a way of connecting with the readers, but also for promoting her and her film, because as the image is big it draws our attention straight to her, and the cover line right next to her. The image also shows her whole body, and this makes her seem quite powerful as her whole body is on the cover, and it also makes the image seem much bigger, and it focuses our attention much more than if it had just been a mid-shot of her. She is also dressed in colours that are representative of the theme of colours running throughout the magazine, she is dressed in a black and white jumper, which reflects the colours of the masthead, and she also has a bright red scarf on which draws our attention to her face, and as she is smiling it makes us warm to her and read the magazine, and her pose is also quite shy and unassuming, and this again makes it seem like she is friendly, and this again is a way of making us read the magazine, as they have friendly people on the cover and this may reflect the rest of the magazine. Also the target audience for entertainment is around 20 above, and by having her on the cover it is a way of connecting with younger readers, as she is young they can relate to her, and this is also a way of widening the audience range, which in turn brings more revenue to the magazine.

Cover lines: The cover lines of this magazine all reflect the genre of magazine, as this is about T.V and film, it lists stories to do with it, such as Rambo, and Sundance, and Rambo is a very famous action film, which draws the attention of the male readers and young male readers, and it also talks about Sundance which is a film festival, and this appeals to all film fans, as they want to read about the new films out. The main cover line reflects the main image, and is about the character Ellen Page plays in the film Juno, and this is a film aimed at young people, and this therefore appeals to younger people as they want to read about it, and they can connect with the story of the film. As that cover line appeals to younger people the other cover lines appeal to the different audience, Rambo appeals to males, and they also have a cover line about Michelle Pfeiffer and this appeals to the older audience, as she is 52 she appeals to the older people who remember her older movies, and they can relate to her, and this is a convention of most magazines, the cover lines reflect the target audience of the magazine. The cover lines are also in the colours what are a theme of the magazine, the titles of the cover lines are in black, as they stand out against the pale grey background, but the Juno cover line is in bright red. This is as it is the main cover line they're drawing the most attention to it, and it also links with the image as she has a bright red scarf on, and it also promotes the film, as red is seen as fun and vivacious, and this suggests the film is fun.

Extras: Also on the front cover there is a small grey box talking about Heath Ledger and his unfinished film, this immediately attracts all his fan base, which are prominently females, as they want to read more about him, and it also attracts the fans of The Dark Knight, which are prominently males, and therefore it widens the audience as it is attracting both genders. Also Heath Ledger died surrounded by mystery it intrigues readers who were not his fans, or fans of the film, as they want to read about his death, and again this widens the audience as they want to read about his death. The text is also in white, again representing the theme of the colours, and as it is quite an exciting story, the white stands out so the audience can see it.

Date/Issue number: The date and the issue number are featured on most front covers, and they are a convention of front covers. The issue number help the readers and editors, because if a reader wanted to look back at a certain issue they just need to know the number, and in some magazines readers write in referring to past issues and if the issue number is at the top, it makes it easier for them, and it also helps the editor because if they need to look back at an issue or write up about a past issue in the magazine, the number helps the audience to understand which issue they're talking about. The date is also a convention of front covers, as in some magazines with a T.V guide it refers to the date the guide is valid for, and also on monthly magazines it represents their particular issue, such as the September issue. The front cover of Entertainment does not have a barcode on it, and this goes against conventions of most magazine front covers as they usually have a barcode on it, typically in the bottom corner, so it is out of the way. The cover of Entertainment does follow most magazine front cover conventions.