The main target audience of this magazine are male, clearly because of the use of dark colours and the films that are featured are all slashers which are mostly enjoyed by the male audience. Because the magazine’s target audience are male, it makes sense to promote films that also have the male target audience.
The masthead is placed at the top of the magazine, the name ‘Fangoria’ rings the bell of vampire and gothic horror, telling the potential readership that it specifically a horror film magazine. The colours are red and white, red representing blood and the horror genre. The colours of ‘Insidious’ are also red and black, so the white on ‘Fangoria’ locks in with the colours of the title of the film that is the main subject matter, because normally the colours of ‘Fangoria’ are red and white but the main colour is red and the outline is white, but in this issue the colours have been switched to have a symbolic link with the title of the film. He ‘F’ and ‘A’ also look like fangs of a vampire, the white can be the teeth and the red can be the blood, the title visually and verbally tells the audience that it’s a horror magazine. Brand identity is kept throughout every issue as the masthead is kept the same, also the strap line above the masthead the words ‘gore’, ‘terror’ and ‘horror’ are used, signalling it’s a horror magazine.
The main image of this front cover is a medium close up of the old woman from the film ‘Insidious’, which is the main focus on this issue. This picture is also used for an alternative film poster, it isn’t the main image used in the ‘Insidious’ franchise which makes the readership that haven’t seen ‘Insidious’ more curious about what the film may be about. It’s clear that the sub-genre of ‘Insidious’ is supernatural horror because of the fact that it gives a very eerie and supernatural feel, because the only lighting used in this image is the candle, the background is plain black making the readers feel very creeped out. Also the woman’s facial expression is very evil and unsettling, she has an almost smile; her eyes are barely visible making you feel more on edge. Her costume is very typical for a supernatural horror because it’s very gothic, almost like a dead bride because of the black vale over her head, this could be a symbol of her marrying the dead. The vale makes her seem very mysterious, like she is being very secretive and is trying to hide her identity. Her teeth look rotten and her hair is frizzy and bushy, telling us that she is probably already dead, and also making her look more ugly and terrifying.
The sell-lines are placed around the main image, framing it, following the convention of every magazine. Usually sell-lines give clues to what is inside the magazine e.g. quotes, articles and interviews. But on this issue the sell-lines just mention titles of horror films and famous horror film actors; this is done so that the magazine doesn’t give the readership any clues to what is inside, and for them to find out, they would have to buy the magazine. There is a puff in the shape of a blood splatter on the left of the page. This puff encourages the readership to buy the magazine so they can get a free fold-out poster, which I am assuming is a horror film poster. Horror lovers will love this and entice them to buy the magazine. A puff is used on a lot of other magazines, not just film magazines; it’s there to draw audiences in and promotes different gifts and surprises inside the magazine. The title of the main film featured in the magazine is the second largest thing on the page after the title of the magazine. It’s placed above the feature article photographs. The sell-lines reflect the interests of the target readership because obviously they are all about horror films.
The font of the sell-lines are all the same to each other and are very simple, they are white and red, linking in with the masthead and the title of the main film featured. Because the target readership is mostly men, the font is kept simple and masculine. They are all the same size, not too small so you cannot read them, but big enough so that they grab your attention. Obviously the size of the sell-lines is smaller than the masthead as it’s the second thing you will read after the masthead.
The colours used for the text are mainly white and red, white being purity and the red being bloody that is turning the purity into something sinister. Also the colours are conventional for a horror magazine. The other colours used are orange and yellow, used on the strapline and the puff to make them stand out and increase sell-ability as they grab the reader’s attention. The release date of this issue is at the top right corner, and in white. It’s been put there in a white colour as it’s the least important thing on the cover and isn’t there to grab attention or have any big purpose. Clearly the colours that have been used create a meaning and signal the genre of the magazine. The colours help lure in the correct audience because of the fact that they signal in a very obvious way that it’s a magazine of the horror genre.
The layout of this magazine cover is very typical to any other magazine. The masthead is the largest and at the top of the page above the main image. The strapline is above the masthead and uses the rule of 3 to describe the content of the magazine. The release date of this issue placed at the top right hand corner, the sell-lines frame the main image, the puff is placed underneath the sell-lines on the left, the name of the main film featured is placed underneath the main image. At the bottom of the page is a banner of feature article photographs relating to the sell-lines. And the bar code is at the bottom left hand corner as it’s the least important.
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