RESEARCH: Conventions of a Film Magazine Cover

Film magazine covers follow certain conventions helping the magazine boost sales and make it look more appealing compared to their competitors:

1) The title is almost always at the top of the cover in bold writing, which is usually generic to the film magazine cover. E.g.  Empire always has the same layout for their title: red, in capitals, bold and using the same font. However, whenever there is a special edition issue out such as the Skyfall edition, they change the colour of the title to gold showing readers that it is a special addition.

2) The main image of the cover is usually a mid shot of one of the lead characters/actors in the film which it's promoting for that months issue.

3) There is always a barcode, issue number and release date.These are essencial.

4) On most issues of film magazines there is text around the image telling the viewer what the magazine features within. This is so that a potential reader can pick it up and straight away see what is inside the magazine without flicking through all of the pages.