Eliza's Textual Analysis of a 'Magazine Front Cover '

For my magazine cover analysis I decided to do theindependent film company called Scars. There magazines are published monthly and due to high demand from there fan base they moved online in order to be accessible to their targeted consumers that of which are primarily Caucasian between ages 16-21 which are interested in that of indie and dark culture . They have partnerships with Universal as well as Lionsgate. Scars are noticed for there tagline ‘The Magazine That Leaves Marks’ and cover more than horror. They also help promote cult culture and focus on dark fashion trends.

The Masthead of scars is very vivid. The font is slashed in order to connote the horror like look , due to the name being ‘Scars’ primarily it ties in with the font as if it has scars . The font is white with red as the outline also trying to connote gruesome image. The Masthead is put in front of the main image instead of using the Left Third for its USP , this is probably due to the fact the magazine isn’t well known and isn’t on form with competing with well known horror magazines such as Empire and Fangoria. In addition seeing as Scars only target to a niche market could also be one of the reasons. Underneath the Masthead is the dateline for when the magazine is published, this allowing people who are interested into buying the regular issues, let them know what issue there on. Next to the date line is the price of the magazine, which shows that this is not a free magazine, and is up for regular buy, the barcode in the bottom left corner of the magazine also shows this.

The background of the magazine consist of two colours that of which are red which connotes warning , blood and pain , also black which connotes darkness , mystery and death. These colours are used in order to gain the attention of the readers as well as convey the genre of the magazine and first sight glimpse. The denotation of this magazine is a medium close up of a disfigured girl that is covered in blood; the girl is looking directly at the camera with her eyes slightly rolled back. Her hair falls on top of her face and seems to be drenched. The girls teeth seem to have been knocked out of place and Is covered in blood along side with her chest and parts of her face, from what the audience can make out she is Caucasian and rather pale . Her top is red from where she is soaked with blood. The lighting for this shot appears to be low key and the image is disturbing. From what the audience can make out, it as if the person has been badly injured. This is the main image of the magazine although it is kept to the right hand side of the magazine; the image is used effectively in gaining the attention of the target audience.

Along the left hand side of the magazine, is the Coverlines these are done in bigger font than that of the usually media conventions of most media magazines . The font is very hard to read , however it is very distinctive as to what is in the magazine . The Coverlines take up most of the page and the colours used are red and white , that of which matches with the Masthead also the bloody and gory effect the magazine intends on creating .