I have chosen
three magazines that review a variety of films while the other three only
concern itself with horror. I will therefore be able to compare the repeated
patterns of the horror film magazines with the patterns of the generalised
magazines. Both however appeal to their targeted audiences with a variety of
techniques involving using conventions within their genre.
The mast
head of the horror film magazines tend to be less of a focus either being quite
small compared to the image or in fact being behind the image. This is because
the image needs to be the main focus because horror films tend to be more
visual than others. However, apart from ‘Horror Hound’, the colours of the mast
head contrast to the dark background making the masthead visible but not too
prominent. The fonts used in the mastheads are quite bold as well so they do
not just fade into the background. The font in ‘Scars’ looked as if it has
jagged edges giving negative connotations, something that’s worn down or sharp.
On the other hand the generalised magazines are very big and bold also in
colours that contrast to the background causing them to be the main focus.
Especially in ‘Entertainment’ which is over the main image and in bright yellow
making it the first thing the eye is drawn to. This convention could mean that
because so many different types of films are being promoted within the magazine
it is better to promote its name as it does not have a specialised genre.
The colour
schemes with the horror magazines do not stray far from black, white and red.
The conventional colours of horror because the connotations of these colours
are almost always negative and link to the posters of horror films and the
actual horror films themselves. Using a conventional colour scheme signals to
the target audience what the content of the magazine is therefore appealing to
its right target audience effectively. The spooky, disturbing main images also
clearly promote what genre the magazine is covering. The fact that they are all
males shows that the magazine is appealing to a male audience hence why they
use the colour blue in the background of some as it is seen as a more masculine
colour. This is not unlike the colour of the background for the generalised
films which are very masculine in their appearances again with the character on
the front being male with a very dominant pose. ‘total Film’ and ‘Entertainment’
both use red within their colour scheme, another masculine colour, which is
very conventional for film magazines to use as it is attention grabbing and
signifies something is urgent. The use of red within the horror film magazines
is used differently however as it is there to connote danger and blood. Seen in
‘Fangoria’ where there is actually blood in the main image.
The sell
lines of the generalised film magazines seem to take over the image. This is
because it needs to appear as if it has as much to offer as it possibly can in
order to appeal to a wider target audience which is its main aim. While the
horror film magazines have very little sell lines and a very simple layout
because the audience will not need too much to attract them to buy it as
because it has such a specific target audience they would have probably sought
out the magazine itself so the desire to buy it is already there. Also while
the general film magazine uses promotion words such as ‘massive’, ‘mind-blowing’
and ‘ultimate’ to appeal to its masculine target audience as they are all
attention grabbing, the horror film magazines uses words such as ‘dead’ and ‘horrifying’
in order to appeal to its specific target audience that need to be reassured
that what is being reviewed is actually scary.
Overall all
these magazines fulfil their objective in attracting their target audience and
I hope to do the same as I create my own general film magazine
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