The denotations of this magazine cover are a man with what appears to be blood on his shirt and a cricket bat in his hand. This main image connotes violence and brutality; I say this because of the man’s costume and props. The cricket bat in his hand is dented and has evidently been used, but from looking at his blood-stained shirt it could easily be argued that it has been used for gruesome and possibly criminal purposes.
The anchorage of this magazine cover follows a clear colour scheme as the coverlines and use four main colours - red, white, black and grey. The red and white appear match the colours of the characters costume, with the red representing the blood on his white shirt, whereas the black could possibly match the handle of the cricket bat and the grey could simply to differentiate the character from the background. Not only does the colour red connote bloodshed, but in the may also represent danger, battle and passion.
The main coverline also tells the audience who exactly the character is, who, in this case is “Shaun” played by actor Simon Pegg.
Shaun’s non-verbal communication (i.e. facial expression and body language) also connotes anger because he looks as though he is ready for some sort of battle. To someone who is unaware of what film is being advertised it could be said that he is a character from an action movie, as aside from horror films - action films are another genre that often follows the popular convention of blood.
Shaun is represented as a powerful character mainly because of his NVC and the popular convention of the masthead being covered by the main image. As the main picture is a medium close-up this enables the audience to obtain a good view of the costume used as well as Shaun’s facial expressions.
The use of high-key lighting on the image helps to reflect every detail from the plain black wristwatch to the dents in the cricket bat.
Shaun’s costume is one that a lot of the target audience will be able to relate to as it presents him as an everyday hero despite him coming across as looking quite a violent looking individual. The position in which the image is placed makes it the focus of the cover, even more so than the masthead and coverlines which are written quite boldly.
The cover has very little information about the film itself despite it being the main cover story. This leads me to believe that the image is bound to attract the attention of curious film fans and urge them to want to find out more, which can only be done through opening then magazine and ready the relevant article.
Written by: Gabrielle
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