Research - Nightmare on Elm Street - Magazine Cover

Research – Nightmare on Elm Street – Magazine

The title ‘Freddy’s dead’ takes up about one fifth of the cover. This makes it instantly eye catching, especially as it’s in bold, upper case, yellow letters. This is appealing to an existing audience as they have seen the previous films involving Freddy, and have most likely feared him, and awaited his defeat/death. The sub title also implies the finality of this film as it says ‘the final nightmare’, this makes it sound empowering, and like it’s the best one yet.

In our magazine cover, we need to ensure we include such an eye catching, attention drawing title as this. The title is one of the first things that stands out to the viewer, therefore its aim is to immediately draw them in, so the film can be successfully advertised. We could do this by making our title take up as much room as this one, which would immediately allow it to be seen. We could also use an intriguing title which would make them want to know more about the film.

The whole magazine cover for ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ is basically an image, with writing over laying it. The image is of Freddy himself, raising his hand, implying a warning to the viewer that he will get them next. This is implied as he is looking the camera in the eye, which effectively appears as though he’s looking the viewer in the eye. This would be successful in drawing the viewers in as it includes them more into the events of the film, making it more real and attractive.

In magazine covers, images are a very significant aspect. This is because images are commonly seen first, before any writing. Therefore if the image is eye catching, then the viewer will pick up the magazine and read it. If it’s not, they won’t. In our magazine we need to spend time and effort on creating a scary, attention seeking image.

Also on this magazine cover is an advertisement of four free giant Freddy pin ups. This only needs to be a small advertisement as the purpose of it is to make sure the reader actually buys the magazine, rather than just browse it in the shop. By the time the reader sees this advertisement they would have already picked up the magazine, and because almost everybody likes free things, it increases their chance of buying it. This has been useful in teaching us another technique to create an effective magazine cover.

Then, there are behind the scenes stories and secrets revealed and interviews. All of these things aren’t going to be seen in the film; therefore it appears as though buying the magazine would be the only way to gain access to this information. This appeals mainly to existing fans as they would already know the actors, and find it more interesting.