The document provides information about several film magazines, including Empire, Little White Lies, and Sight & Sound. Empire reviews both mainstream and art films but focuses more on mainstream. Little White Lies is theme-based and features an illustrated cover. Sight & Sound is published by the BFI and requires a subscription. The document also discusses magazine conventions like placement of the masthead and use of different fonts and images.

1. Magazine Cover
Ancillary
Project Research and
Analysis

2. Basic Research on Film
Magazines
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by
Bauer Consumer Media. Empire reviews both
mainstream films and art films, but the the feature
articles concentrate on mainstream.
Some Things in it:
• Film news
• Previews
• Reviews
• “Classic Scene” (a transcript from notable film scenes.)
• Top 10 (ex: 10 Best Chase Scenes)

4. Little White Lies is a bi-monthly independent film
magazine produced by The Church of London.
Each issue is themed around a single cover film which
inspires the design (an illustration of the lead actor) as
well as the content for the entire issue.

6. Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine
published by the British Film Institute.
To buy this magazine you have to have a subscription.

8. Since I’m doing romance, a lot of film magazines don’t
focus on this genre. A lot of romance films end up with
their main characters on the covers of fashion
magazines instead.
Elle for instance has Actresses from numerous films (Ex:
Jennifer Aniston who generally acts in romances) I
found one cover that had Justin Timberlake and Mila
Kunis together, but the reason for this is they are dating
in real life now.

10. Terms & Conventions
masthead-position (usually at the top), size (largest font on cover) and style (should match the genre of your magazine
and appeal to your target audience)
After the masthead, the next largest font on the front page will belong to the most important cover-line, the smaller the
text the smaller the importance.
There should be a mixture of fonts, although generally three or less.
To make text stand out: capitalization of individual words or phrases, key words in color or a different font or font
style-italics)
tagline- the description of the magazine brand normally found under the masthead
cover lines- summaries of the most enticing features and articles which are inside the magazine, headlines sort of
The image is usually a mid shot
mode of address- the image looking directly at the camera, or a way a magazine speaks to its audience
Consider the rule of thirds.
left hand third-conventional to put a lot of the cover lines down the left side of the page.
buzz words: free, exclusive, only

11. Analysis
Goes against the convention that
the title of the magazine (Little
White Lies) is the biggest writing
on the page.
There’s a barcode, price, issue
number which is at the top of the
page, in it’s usual spot for this
magazine, though in an
unconventional spot as far as on
other magazines.
The image is both conventional
and nonconventional as it is a
direct mode of address
headshot, but they’ve put an
effect on it so that it looks as if it
was pencil drawn.
This magazine doesn’t have any
cover stories on the title other
than the main “Black Swan”
story, as is normal for this
particular magazine.

12. Analysis
Goes against the convention that
the title of the magazine (Little White
Lies) is the biggest writing on the
page.
There’s a barcode, price, issue
number which is at the top of the
page, in it’s usual spot for this
magazine, though in an
unconventional spot as far as on
other magazines.
The image is both conventional and
nonconventional as it is a direct
mode of address headshot, as are
many of this particular magazine’s
images, but they’ve put an effect on
it so that it looks as if it was silk
screened.
This magazine doesn’t have any
cover stories on the title other than
the main story, as is normal for this
particular magazine.

13. Analysis
The image is conventional as there is
direct mode of address.
They make it look somewhat sci-fi by
using the grid behind her, the blue, and
a font that looks like the spy computer
fonts.
The title of the magazine (Empire) is the
biggest text on the page, as is
conventional. There are also cover
stories on the cover, which is also
conventional.
There is a barcode as well as other
information such as month/edition/price
of the magazine.
There are also buzzwords such as
ultimate, 3 collector’s edition, plus,
special which are there to attract people
and make them feel they are getting
more for their money.