Unit 1 Fact Sheet Charlie McCool

Double Page Spread Analysis

Standfirst

Headline

Main Image

Page Number
By Line
Secondary Images

Secondary
Headline

Column
Layout

Drop cap

Headline
Conventionally a headline is the largest text on the page and indicates the purpose
of the article. It can often be a “pull quote” to intrigue the audience and designs to
grab the audience’s attention.
This issue Empire follows this convention as they have used a headline which is the
biggest text on the page. It is positioned at the bottom right of the page and it does
not overlap the page, it's only on the right side of the page. It’s big so that it grabs the
audience’s attention and doesn’t look boring. The colour of the text is bright yellow
which stands out against the dark background. This signifies that the headline is
meaning full and catches the target audience and it creates meaning because it's a
popular saying in star wars which the audience can relate to. The style of the font is
similar to the font of the cover of the movie which links the headline to the movie
which will catch the audience’s attention. The letter ‘F’ on the headline is made into a
lightsaber which will stand out to the audience because they will be used to seeing
the lightsaber image. This signifies Empire wants to add some signals for the
audience to find and link them together and the font is also large and tall so that the
audience can read it clearly and the colour of the font is yellow which is important
because most stuff related to star wars is yellow so it’s meaningful.

By Line
The by line credits the writer and the photographer of the article. A by line is usually
positioned near the headline or the end of the article.

This issue Empire follows this convention as they have used a by line which is
located near the headline. The by line on this issue has the writer of Empire on there
which is important to credit the writer of the article. It is small so that it isn't in the way
of the main image or overlapping the headline. There is a bullet point saying words
which links them to the main body text. It is in the middle of the headline so when
they read it they don’t miss it out.

Standfirst
A standfirst is like an introduction to the article and is either positioned under the
headline or in the first paragraph of the article. it is conventionally smaller than the
headline text but larger than the main body text.

This issue Empire follows this convention because the standfirst is on the double
page spread. It is located on the right of the double page. It’s written in a column
layout so it doesn’t go across the main image and distract the audience. The font
used is serif which suggests it is professional, formal and will catch the correct target
audience. The colour of the font is white and yellow which reflects well on the dark
background this shows that Empire wants the audience to read the standfirst
because the information is about Rian Johnson who created the last jedi and this is
important because it shows how hard it was to make The Last Jedi but it was
successful because it shook up the star wars universe forever so it shows the
audience that it’s a popular movie and that the audience will know what it is. It is set
out on the right align and it has arrows pointing to it so this shows that this
information is important and should be read by the reader.

Column Layout
A column layout is used to create structure and order to allow the audience to use
and navigate around the page easily. Conventionally there are three columns to a
page.

This issue Empire follows this convention because the main text is set out in a
column layout. This column layout on this issue is all white because it stands out
against the dark background. It’s set out like this because it is easier to read and
they have used a san serif font which stands out against the main images. On the
double page spread there are six different columns which all have information and
the first column follows on from the secondary headline which signifies that the
information is linked to that headline. This will stand out to the audience as they read
the information. They have put how many years it has been since the last movie and
it all links together.

Secondary Headline
This isn't a convention on double page analysis, however,t Empire magazine uses a
secondary headline. This may possibly be a result of the article being spread over
more than one double page. They use this to grab the audience’s attention; it's also
one of the largest texts on the page.

The secondary headline on this issue is located next to the main body text and it is in
a column layout. The colour of the headline is mainly yellow and some of it is white
because of the connotations of the Star Wars colour theme which links to the film.
This signifies that the colours are like this to catch the audience’s attention and the
secondary headline is important: the font of the text is large and bold which also
grabs the audience’s attention. The secondary headline is “ The Dust Has Settled”
this shows that the movie before this there was a lot of tension and big storylines this
headline signifies that it’s saying in other words “now that, that’s done lets start
again” so this is meaningful to the audience because it is making them want to watch
the movie.

Main Image
The main image conventionally takes up one or two pages and may bleed areas of
the centre field. The main image may use direct address to engage the audience and
the mise en scene and will be visually interesting and signify the content of the
article.

This issue follows this convention because there is a main image on this double
page spread and there's two on each page. The main image is the biggest image on
the page and it is usually spread across both pages and this issue follows that. This
shows that it’s a convention because most double page spreads are like this. The
main image is a Star Wars character which is linked to the movies. This signifies that
the image on the double page links to the movie. Chewbacca is a part of the key
iconography of Star Wars and will therefore signify what the article is about straight
away. He is also a popular character so that will appeal to the audience and stand
out to them. The shot of the picture is in the spaceship which is important because
star wars is about these ships and the fights they have with them, this is also
important because it will appeal to the audience and when they first look at the page
they can discover what movie it is straight away because of the background and the
characters. In the mise en scene there are props they fight with such as the guns
they use and the spaceship they shoot from. The costumes are very recognisable
because they wear them throughout the movie so this shows connotations of star
wars and what they wore in the movie.

Drop Cap
Conventionally a drop cap is the first letter of the article and is enlarged and drops
down into the main body text. It indicates the beginning of the article to the audience.

This issue follows this convention because there are two drop caps located in the
main body text. “A” and “J”. This means that it’s the beginning of an article and will
link to the text. The text next to it completes the word and the text will all make
sense. The colour of these drop caps are yellow which stand out because most of
the main body text is white so the colour yellow is bright and will catch the
audience’s attention. This is also in line with the colour scheme of the article, which
makes it visually appealing to the audience. It's in capital letters so the reader can
see them straight away.

Main Body Text

The body of the text that makes up the article and the main image text and is in the
smallest font on the page and usually applies a simple style.

The issue Empire follows this convention because all the magazines have a main
body text on the double page spread and it is spread across both of the pages and
contains most of the information about the article or film that they are showing. The
font is simple and small because it needs to fit on both of the pages and has
important information. The colour of all the text is white so it is clear and easy to read
and it also stands out because of the black background. This signifies that they want
the audience to read this information about the article because it is important.

Pull Quote
A quote from the article- repeated
in larger font to grab the
audience’s attention and make
them want the masthead to read
the article. Conventionally
positioned in the middle of a
column of the text.

This issue doesn’t follow this

convention because there is no
pull quote on the page so it’s not a
popular convention only if there
are quotes from movies. However, another Empire issue follows this
convention because they have used a pull quote in the double page spread and it is
“A Naturalistic take on the vampire genre ”. This stands out because it’s the title of
the issue and the colour of the quote is blue so it stands out against the white
background. This is important because it is telling the audience what the article is
about and the font is san serif which suggests it’s an informal page spread. It's
located at the bottom of the page under the first column of information and the text
size is small but recognisable because of the colour it stands out.

House Style
House style includes 4 different elements and they are: The colour scheme, style of
fonts, style of layout and style of language.
They are separated into different elements because they are all different things in the
same magazine. It makes it look neater and easier to read and also it’s a brand
stylee. These decisions that are made about all these things will be appropriate for
the genre and designed to appeal to the target audience.

This issue empire follows the house style rule because the colour scheme of the
double page spread is very neat and well thought out because it all coordinates well
and stands out. The colour scheme of the double page spread is mainly black, grey
and yellow. They have used these colours because it all links with the colour theme
of star wars so it all stands out. The style of fonts Empire has used is mostly san
serif because this article is mostly aimed at children and some older men and
women. The font for the headlines are all bold and large so that is readable for the
reader and the colours of the headlines correspond with the colour in star wars. The
main body text is small because they have to fit lots of information on the page so
you can understand what the article is about. The style of layout on this issue is the
texts being set out in columns and mostly everything is on the right of the page which
stands out because it's neat and recognisable for that article. This is popular on a
double page spread because they have to fit all the information on the page and the
layout is in columns for the reader to read it from top to bottom. The last element that
the Empire has used is the style of language they have used, the language they
have used is informal and is more conversational in tone. For example the writer has
asked the audience ‘ Or has it?’. The writer also refers collectively to them and the
readers as ‘We’ which signifies that everyone loves star wars or knows what it is or is
excited for the new film. In the main body text there are quotations from people who
enjoy star wars so it has a lot of feedback on the page which will stand out to the
audience and if there are newcomers to star wars they may be intrigued.