The font cover consists of a coloured image of Jack Nicholson which appears to be an image shot from one of his most recognisable films ‘The Shining’. This is a medium close up which enables viewers to get a full image of the character. The position of the characters eyes suggest that he is looking down on his targets which show that he is a powerful character in the film. The blood smeared on the bottom half of his face suggest that he is a cannibal. There are bruises circling his eyes that give the impression that he can be bodily harmed but the mad facial expression gives me the impression that his character has no sense of feeling pain. From what I can tell his hairline seems quite far back which could mean that the character he is playing is of a middle aged man. If you were to take away the blood and the bruises he would look like a normal middle aged man this connotes that his character has turned into a ‘mad man’ due to stress. The photography in this magazine front cover uses high key lighting identifying to the audience that Jack Nicholson is the star of the film, although he is most obviously the villain, which is not usually a convention followed in horror films.
The masthead ‘FANGORIA’ is very distinctive and artistic, as the name was adapted from a set of teeth that is associated with vampires and used as a magazine the name. The masthead and the style of the font is very consistent as the writing is sharp and the two letters ‘F and A’ are extended at the end to create this image of a vampires fangs. The masthead is bold and is written in capital letters (sans serif) that are tinted red to influence the purpose of blood; primarily what vampires are commonly linked with. Above the masthead is a cover line ‘nightmare on elm street: Freddy Reborn’ this implies that a new ‘Freddy’ film is coming out which is a useful tactic to incite fans of the ‘Freddy’ films especially by using recognisable quotations from the film. The size of the font is smaller than most cover lines which suggest that fans will have a quite a while to wait before it is promoted any heavier.
The illustrator of the magazine has been creative by using medium sized droplets of blood to use puffs as advertisements such as; ‘Season of The Witch’ and ‘Mothers Day’ This an effective method because it will draw viewers to the adverts and also the bright yellow writing makes it seem significant because it is very bright. Another caption is of ‘Survival Of The Dead’ which has been written in the same format as the film which is a good use of continuity which allows audiences to become familiar with their brand which is a useful promotional tool.
A bar code is visible on the right hand corner, which is used for identification; alongside ‘FANGORIA #292 issue number positioned on upper right hand corner of the magazine. The magazine website is written in small print underneath the bar code, for people that would like to visit the website.
All different colours and font styles and sizes used throughout this magazine front cover make this magazine eye catching as it has various connotations. When I consider all of these points, I would say that the most likely target audience would be the demographic audience intended for horror films which is usually aimed at males between the ages of 16-24.
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