Sight & Sound: front cover analysis

• Through the use of bright colours and text that takes a handwritten (adds a teenage or childlike feel to it) form, this tells us along with the main photograph that the film is about the character's story. The bright colours are eye catching, drawing the reader in. "21st Century Girl" could be the nick name Sight & Sound's editors/ writers have given to this character, "Modern Britain on Film" and "Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank" suggests to us as an audience that similarly to the magazine, this film is a British Independent one. Furthermore, to attract the already established audience, this is effective as independent film fans are most likely to appreciate and want to watch this film as they will have pre-existing knowledge of the work she has already directed.

•  The main image has been shown using the rule of thirds. The girl, being the only one in the shot suggests to the audience that she is the protagonist of Fish Tank (we know it's from Fish Tank because as the the main set of text is regarding this film and its size is bigger in comparison to the rest of the text). However, she is positioned off centre, to the bottom right side of the page, suggesting that as a character she may not be very powerful or important. The lighting and the angle of this shot further support this because, she appears smaller in comparison to her surroundings and the text featured about Fish Tank, The mode of address isn't direct or straight forward as the girl on the front cover is gazing to her right, looking away from the audience. This could further suggest that the girl isn't very confident. However, it could be argued that the lighting and angle contradict this because the low angle of the shot forces the audience to slightly look up at her in a way as the this is not an eye level shot of the character, putting her at a different level than the readers. The lighting which is highly contrasted on her face in comparison to the sky and the rest of her body could foreshadow what she is going through. It is put in place to possibly make it look like she has more power than in reality. In addition to this, the location presented in the image is used to set the scene and give the audience an opportunity to get a feel of the type of person the protagonist is. The location and her clothing (wearing a hoodie, t-shirt and what we can guess leggings/ tracksuit bottoms which are typical clothing items for teenagers)  also help do this effectively . This is because the photograph is set in a city/urban area such as Essex, which is in fact where Fish Tank is set in. 

• The usual convention for Sight & Sound magazine is to place their title/logo neatly in the top left hand corner. In comparison to other magazines, it is relatively small, however, as a whole (with the main image, text etc) it seems to work very well. It usually overlaps with the photograph chosen for the front cover. This has lent it self as a form of brand identity and can be recognised internationally for its bold colours. Furthermore, the tagline "The international film magazine" suggests that Sight & Sound can be bought internationally, which gives it a broader audience. The yellow box with the name of the magazine written in black and red font, makes it stand out as it is a contrasting colour. All of he colours chosen for this front cover, link nicely as they complement each other, being opposite on the colour palette.  

• The puff on the magazine just below the pugs, suggests that the main focus of the magazine is to give film reviews, this and the fact that readers can have an annual subscription gives them a more niche audience. The barcode is located at the top right hand corner of the magazines front cover and the month of the release of this magazine is directly beneath, letting readers know that Sight & Sound gets published monthly. Additionally, the pugs include other film reviews and interviews that are included in this particular months issue. This allows the reader to be able to scan the magazine to see what they may or may not be interested to read.     

• As a whole, I think this magazine front cover is very effective and interesting. This is because the central image draws people in, for its clever composition along with the way the text is displayed differently in order to redirect the viewers focus to different issues that are further included within the magazine.