Research and Planning - Film Magazine Analysis 1

Genre


The genre of this magazine is a film magazine. I can tell this is a film magazine as it has the following media language features in the layout which are typical of a film magazine:

• Masthead
• Positioning statement
• Cover lines
• Medium close up shot
• Barcode
• Issue number/date
• 3 colour rule (red, white, yellow)

The genre of the film depicted in the magazine appears to be horror as the medium close up shot appears to follow typical horror conventions, as the actor has broken glasses and blood on his face suggesting something bad happened or he was in a dangerous situation (typical of the horror genre) and the background of the picture is really dark (also typical of the horror genre as darkness is what often provokes fear). However this film is actually of the action/fantasy genre as it is Harry Potter, however I do believe to someone who was not familiar with the film they would say it was possibly of the horror genre.

Narrative


Through the use of blood on the actor's face it suggests that the character experiences some pain and terror throughout the film he is in - the broken glasses lens also suggests this. The darkness surrounding the character also suggests that the film its self will be rather dark.

Representation

The character on the magazine cover appears to be quite a strong character, despite his young looking age, as he appears to be injured and yet is not crying or looking particularly in pain.

Target Audience

The typical target audience for Harry Potter is between 6 and 25, however this film magazine will not have the same target audience as a typical 6 year old is not going to be buying and reading a film magazine. The target audience for this film magazine is most likely to be between 16 and 25, the typical student/new-postgraduate age who have an interest in films and a spare few pounds to spend on a magazine. I would suggest the gender of the audience would be male, as typically males visit the cinema more/prefer films, however with the magazine depicting Harry Potter (a film predominantly loved by females) I would suggest the audience of this particular film magazine has no gender preference.