Total Film Cover Analysis

 

Total Film has used Sherlock Holmes as their main article in this issue, so the main image is of Sherlock Holmes himself. In this image he is central, with his head in front of the title. There is a smokey background, where you can only just make out the shapes of buildings behind him in the distance. He has a serious expression with a bit of a smirk, which portrays his character. the shot has been taken as a mid shot so the top half of the body is shown. The main colours are an icy blue and white, which makes you feel cold, but also makes it look quite mysterious, and also a dark blue used with his clothing. This also ties in with the smokey background, as you cant see the setting. It looks quite eery and spooky, which makes the reader wonder what it is about if they haven't already seen the film. The colours are quite harmonising and work well together as none of the emotions produced by them are uncomfortable or uneasy. The lighting is slightly harsh but isn't too dramatic as the main character blocks it. a fill light has been used from behind Sherlock Holmes, which is also quite central. This causes a dark fade around the edges, and especially towards the top of the magazine. Unlike the Empire magazine, there is a lot of text on this cover. The text advertising the Sherlock Holmes article has been positioned in the centre of his body in blocks. The first line says 'WORLD EXCLUSIVE' in a blue box, this is a unique selling point because for readers choosing which magazine they should buy, that would make the magazine stand out more compared to others. Then the title of the film and name of the character is in a bigger font size, in both white and blue in capital letters. This is the most eye catching part of the text. the text has been placed like a pyramid, with the title the largest and most important. underneath that is, in a smaller font, a description of what you'll find out about when reading this article. The feature text has been placed around the main image and above it. the titles are all icy blue in capitals followed by a '!' making it seem more dramatic.