MAGAZINES AND FILM POSTER: Research & Analysis

Before the release of the film, either into the cinemas, onto Netflix or onto DVD, the film needs to gain as much publicity as possible to maximise viewing audience along with maximizing potential profits and gaining the highest gross income as they can. To do this they need to a buzz and anticipation for the films release. A recent example of this is the release of the new Star Wars film which my Dad hasn't stopped talking about, counting down the days to the release of the film on DVD as well as him spending money on reading magazine article and books on the film to find out as much information about it as possible. This hype is caused through advertising and promotional campaigns, which get the film out into the public eye through; posters, the internet, television, social media, radio, magazine advertisements, billboards, chat shows and interviews.

Magazine Covers:

From previous trailer research I have now began to look at the advertising campaign within film magazines; Empire, Sight & Sound and Total Film, to see the typical features of the films presentation on the covers.

To continue this research I am going to analyse the covers for 'Inception' which I found online in previous research. I looked at both 'Total Film' magazine and 'Empire' magazine to compare their approaches to advertising the film and the images that they had decided to include on their covers.

The Total Film cover uses the Leonardo DiCaprio image as a way of establishing an audience firmly from first glance, as DiCaprio already has a huge fan base it's likely to attract them to the magazine straight away.
The next thing you're drawn to, is the word 'Inception', rather than the Total Film title even though this has also been emphasized to stand out. This is due to the positioning, as DiCaprio is placed in front of the magazine title, showing how significant he is, showing his importance. Then on the top later, placed in front of him, is the title 'Inception', gives the word importance and appears most significant to that magazine issue.

The title 'Total Film' has been cleverly manipulated, to fit in with the theme of the film itself, as in the trailer there is a sequence of events where the buildings fold on themselves and people defy gravity. The word 'Film' has been made through the use of aerial imaging of buildings to link to this sequence.


The black suit that DiCaprio is wearing looks quite sinister and connotes power, importance and dominance, which can also be shown from his facial expressions. His shadowed facial expressions  indicates that there may be a more dark side to the film, creating a sense of enigma.


Next I am going to look at the film magazine Empire, looking at the same film. This cover uses the same colour scheme: red, blue and black, with the red possibly representing anger or danger, the black representing power and mystery and the blue representing the sinister tone that the film creates in not only on the magazine covers but the trailer as well.

The positioning on this cover of a similar format to the of Total Film magazine where the title of the film is in the middle, with the image of DiCaprio underneath and then the title of the magazine behind him, which like Total Film shows the importance of the film Inception. The background is again, city landscapes, this time with the text positioned around DiCaprio. It is harshly angled inwards towards DiCaprio, making eyes constantly moving back towards him.

Film Posters:

Film Posters usually feature a lot less text than a magazine cover, therefore meaning the image is the most powerful aspect of the poster. It needs to grab the attention of viewers straight away, being able to draw direct focus onto the films name as well as establishing the mise en scene of the setting and characters of the film. As my film has an element of social realism as well as Romance/Drama I decided to look at the This Is England film poster.

This poster is promoting a film an economically deprived group of friends from Northern England. It was directed by Shane Meadows, who is known for creating films that look at British culture and the issues that effect and influence the lives of every day people.

The poster has text which looks slightly as if it has been painted on, possibly similar to graffiti, fitting to the crime theme of the film emphasizing the gritty nature of social realist films. The text is large on the upper centre of the poster and uses the colours of the British Flag, reinforcing the ideologies that are held within the film, due to a strong sense of nationalism and pride within society at the time (of when the film is set). The dress codes of the characters themselves encourage stereotyping of 1970's British fashion, where there was a large trend of individualism and self expression through capitalism.

The main idea is for the poster give off all of the important information needed for the viewer while also giving an overall sense of what the film is about.