By Angus McCabe

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO MAGAZINE COVER ANALYSIS

FONTS

The sans-serif font used for the masthead of the magazine will boldly stand out to the audience as it is the largest word and the most eye-catching colour. It is conventional for the title of the magazine to be the largest most acknowledgeable font on the cover. This would then appeal to the target audience of film fans who would acknowledge this as the font of Empire, a major world-class movie magazine and then be encouraged to view the rest.

Another bold sans-serif font is used for the title of the film featured on the magazine cover. The colour and distorted style is frequently seen on fonts for psychological thrillers and is therefore conventional for the genre of film being promoted. The font on this cover is one of the key elements in revealing to the audience the nature of the film being promoted and therefore attracting the target audience.

This sans-serif font is less conventional, both for the magazine form and the psychological thriller genre. However it catches the reader’s attention. It also creates the effect that the font is handwritten which adds a sense of immersion with the film’s themes.

COLOUR• There is a wide range of colours used on the magazine cover, some conventional and others

not. The black and grey colour films used on the image on the page connote the darkness and violence of the film, however they are contrasted by the bright colours used all over the text on the page. These are less conventional for a psychological thriller however the movie magazine is promoting a range of other films etc. meaning the different use of colours in the coverlines would encourage the audience to read about the different range of films discussed in the magazine and therefore broadening the potential target audience of the magazine. Different colours have been used for different parts of the magazine that are based on different topics meaning the audience would associate a particular colour theme with a particular section of the magazine. This is conventional for a magazine when discussing different items.

IMAGE

• There is one main image on the magazine cover which is a two shot of the main protagonist’s from the film the magazine is based on. The use of mise-en-scene in the image is conventional of a psychological thriller such as the dark costumes worn by both characters which adds a sense of sincerity to it. This is emphasised by the use of make-up on the female character which gives her a gothic appearance; this reflects the dark nature that is common occurrence of psychological thrillers. The shot is also taken from a low-angle looking up on the characters which connotes dominance and creates an intimidating feel for the magazine cover that would appeal to psychological thriller fans. The setting of the shot is also conventional as it reveals an empty room with rough and decaying walls which is a type of setting expected in psychological thrillers and also allows emphasis on the two characters. Because there is only one image on the magazine cover it puts the majority of the readers attention on this film which could lead to more people viewing the film. It is conventional that there is one primary image on the page however some magazine covers would include a smaller secondary image promoting a different item.

LAYOUTThe layout of this magazine roughly follows the route of the eye which reveals the important information in promoting the product such as the magazine name and the picture followed by the title of the film and then the coverlines. This method is a common convention of the form and ensures the audience are able to pick up information on the magazine and the film from a quick glance at the cover. The layout of the magazine could be considered overly cluttered but this creates the impression that the reader will have a lot to see and be entertained by. It also follows other conventional aspects of layout such as the masthead being at the top of the page, the image placed in a central location showing its importance and then coverlines on either side of the page which are all typical features for most magazine covers.