Charlie and the Chocolate Factory magazine front cover

I analysed the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory front cover which is on film magazine Total Film. The magazine front cover meets the conventions of magazine covers as it has a large masthead at the top of the front cover. The masthead is the largest writing on the page so it stands out when people glance at the magazine. The masthead is white and red inside the white, which stands out against Johnny Depp's black hat and the green background. The masthead is in capital letters which means it has has a big impact on the audience as it is noticable and attractive. The magazine cover subverts the conventions of magazine front covers as although it has a left hand third, it also has an equal amount of information on the right hand side. This makes the magazine front cover look quite crowded, but it suits the movie as it is not a dramatic movie that needs not much writing to have a dark, serious impact. There is a cover line on the right hand side of the page, where it talks about Johnny Depp being Willy Wonka. This leaves the audience in suspence as they do not know what information the interview will contain, so it makes them want to buy the magazine. At the bottom of the page the second largest writing on the page says "ultimate summer preview". This shows the audience that most of the magazine will be dedicated to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without them even opening the magazine. There is a plug on the left hand side, this is so the magazine appeals to people who do not like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is not very noticable compared to the larger writing on the page, but if you were a film fanatic you would notice the plug as you would not just glance at the magazine, you would look at it in detail. There is a puff on the magazine front cover, "the ultimate movie magazine". This is just under the masthead so it is noticable, it is also white which is a contrast with Johnny Depp's hat. The central image on the page is the largest and most noticable thing on the page. This is so the readers automatically know what the main magazine article is about without even looking at the writing. It is also detailed so it stands out on a magazine shelf. The close up of Johnny Depp looks quite serious, but then the bright background shows the audience it is not a serious film. All of the text on the page(except the text in the masthead) is white or silver. This shows the film is not serious as it does not have dark, serious coloured text. The text is also all different sizes, large text highlights the importance of certain text on the page, whereas smaller text isn't as important or noticable. The font of the magazine front cover is in a simple clear font so the readers can easily read it on a magazine stand. The simplicity of it also contrasts with the detailed picture and background. The date and price is barely noticable on the page as although it is white like the other text, it is small and against a light background. When in a shop no one would notice that when glancing at a magazine, so the price wouldn't be their first thought. The barcode is more noticable as it is quite large, it is not the largest thing on the page though so therefore would not get attention by people looking at the magazine. The target audience of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would mostly be children. The magazine cover is detailed and the background is bright so it would get the attention of children. It could also appeal to adults who liked the original one. It attracts them with the large text as well as the large image. The magazine cover links with the movie poster as Johnny Depp is doing the same pose in both. The background on the movie poster is also bright like the background on the magazine cover. It links to the trailer because he is wearing the same outfit in both the magazine cover and the trailer, that shows the magazine cover is realistic. The conclusions i have drawn from this magazine cover is that detailed magazine covers are just as effective as simple ones. I have also drawn the conclusion that having a good central image is important to how attractive the magazine cover is.