Avatar Magazine Cover Analysis

The mast head has been placed top central of the front cover underneath the top of the feature article photograph/image. In this edition Total Film have the place the mast head underneath the actor who in is the feature article photograph/image to make inform the reader instantly the power and dominance this character has within the film they star in. They have also cleverly used white for the colouring of the font to make it contrast with actor’s dark brown hair and deep blue complexion doing this makes the imaging more eye catching to the target audience.

With the first look at the magazine it is clear that there is a fair amount of a variety of plugs and puffs on the front cover with are flushed right and left of the page also containing smaller information of what is featured in the magazine. Plug is used to identify the actor’s featured on the front cover and to also inform the target audience what else is appearing within this Total Film magazine edition.

In this Total Film edition the impression communicated to the target audience about the main featured is a mature, powerful and out of this world. This is due to the actor on the cover having special effects used to make him look like he is some form of creature, although this has happened it is a still clear it is a male and human based. The mature and powerful impression comes across due to the colouring being used because blue is a calm and simple colour. Also the way he has positioned himself to the camera and is looking down on it which instantly gives over a dominating impression to the audience. His serious and stern face also implies a sense of drama to the film being advertised with the magazine. Although there is a lot of colour of the cover it has remains either blue or white to stop it being over powering but still remaining to be eye catching. Although white has been used in the background of the feature article image you are still able to see the text on the page but the colouring just allows the feature article image to draw the audience in (the main focus of the magazine). Although the front cover contains some plug and puff it has been kept at a reasonable minimum otherwise too much information and text won’t interest the target audience to buy the magazine because they will see everything on the front page. It also takes away some of the power the image has. On the cover there are a few rhetorical questions to also draw the audience successful for it allows them to think and get involved with the magazine.

The plug used at the top of the front cover and above of the mast head has been designed to catch the target audiences eye whilst the magazine is on shelf because it high lights within the magazine itself.

The overall layout of the Total Film front cover is very basic but very effective as it draws all attention the iconic feature article photograph/image of the main characters in Avatar. Not all film magazines will allow so much coverage for the feature article photograph but because the film was such a hit in the cinemas the magazine didn’t need to place too much text to draw the target audience in for the image would do that for them. Also compared to other magazines film magazines are the only ones who tends to have the feature article image to be an actor/actress where as others have the photograph of the person instead. But with films the audience want to know about their character and not them, that’s what music/gossip magazines are  for.