Double Page Spread Analysis

This is a double page spread taken from a 2010 issue of the magazine Total film.

The main part of this double page spread is taken up by a review for the film Shutter Island, with a smaller section on the side that has short reviews for two other films. The majority of this page is made up with a photo taken from the film. This brings the audience in quickly and draws their eye directly to the large image. The photo is a wide angle shot of two of the main characters, which begins to give a sense of the feel of the film through the suspense. This suspense is created by the use of the torch, telling the audience that they are in a dark place, as well as them being shown in wet clothing, which may signify there is some sort of storm. This is often linked in with creating a scary and suspenseful atmosphere. The lighting in this shot is also used to create suspense as most of the area is darker, with only a little bit of light coming from to torch, which does not quite pass onto the characters faces, casting a shadow against the wall behind them. The other piece of lighting is a red light, which is often associated with some sort of warning, suggesting something bad may have happened, or is happening, adding to the suspense. The characters have also been placed in an environment that resembles and older, gothic sort of building style, which is, again, often associated with more horrific events and so does also create suspense and so effectively draw the audience in.

The rest of the page, except for the two smaller, minor images, is made up of blank, white space, filled by text. Most of the text takes up about a third of the page, situated below the large image, though there is some text that is placed over the image, all of which is far to the side and in corners, so not to obscure any important details in the image. The largest, single, piece of text is the word ‘Lounge’ which is the title for the feature for the magazine itself. This is written in bold, capital text so that it draws the reader in, and lets them know what sort of content they will be reading, in this case a series of reviews. Above the word ‘Lounge’ is a smaller piece of text that is written in the same font and so it keeps it all uniform and does not distract the reader from the important information like the title or the image. The other large piece of text that has been placed over the image is a quote which gives a general idea of how the reviewer felt of the film, as well as being a more interesting quote which will draw in the reader, therefore making them want to read the rest of the review. This quote also gives the reader an important piece on information, this being done through the name ‘Scorsese’, which gives the audience a name that they will likely be familiar with and so may then be drawn in to find out more about the film and what it is like. All of this text that is over the top of the image is in white, and in a very similar font, though it varies in size. This keeps it all the same and so does not distract the reader and uses the size to draw the reader in to certain parts at different times. The use of the white text both keeps it all looking the same, as well as making it stand out against the darker background of the image.

The next major piece of text is the review itself, which has been made up by quite a few different parts. The first part of this is the title, which has been placed in a white box, slightly overlapping the image. The title reads ‘Head on’ with a subtitle that says ‘Scorsese’s asylum based brain teaser takes no prisoners…’  This text is written in black, so that it stands out against the white back ground. Both pieces are also in the same font, though the main title has been written in a bolder style so that it draws the reader in first, with this short sentence that stands out, before they move on to read the longer sentence, which is written in a much smaller font, which will draw them further into the review, using this interesting language to tease the reader and make them want to read more of it. Whilst this is not important information, and does not really give many hints at to what the film will be like, it does give a few hints to interest and excite the reader before they move on to read the whole piece.

The most import piece of information comes below this title of the review. This has been placed in a sort of a box, which has been created by thin black lines that go above and below this information. This works well at separating this from the rest of the review and gives the reader and instant place to quickly look to see everything they may want to know about the film. In this ‘box’ is the title of the film, ‘Shutter Island’, the reviewer’s thoughts of the film, in the form of a star rating, the release date for the Blu ray, as well as an image showing the cover of the Blu ray. This is all important information, which has been presented in a way to draw the reader’s eye to different parts, in different ways. The title of the film is the largest bit of text, in bold, black writing so that it stands out against the background. The star rating is in another small box, with red stars so that it stands out against all the black text and the white background, creating a colour that will draw the readers eye in, and give them a quick piece of information they may instantly want to know.  The smaller image, of the Blu ray, would also draw in the reader’s eye, as well as giving them the essential information they would need, were they to decide to buy it.

The next piece is the review itself. This is made up of different sections, with subtitles, that have been written in a light blue colour. The first letter of the review is also in a light blue colour, though the letter itself is white in a blue box. This done to both stand out against the white background, but also to keep a uniform colour palette, which may go through the entire section, as it is also used in the right hand corner, to show that it is reviewing Blu rays and DVDs. The main text is written in black, so that it stands out from this white background and is easier to read than the subtitles, which is a light colour, and so does stand out, but may make it hard to read I a lot of the text was in this particular colour. Much of this text gives a few details as to what the film is about, such as giving the characters names and the location of the film, as well as it’s premise, but does not give away too much of the plot and so will make sure that the reader will still want to watch the film and find out what happens. Within this text is a small, grey circle, which also has a blue subtitle, this gives the reader a little bit of information and draws their eye to this particular point, were they not to read the entire review.

The rest of the page is made up of two other smaller reviews, which are presented in a very similar style, with a main image and then the review below it. These would be for two minor films that people may be less interested in than the main review, but are still put there to draw the reader’s eye into the page through the use of the images which may interest them. At the bottom of the page is a line that separates the review from some more, smaller text. This text is very similar to the rest of the page, in terms of font, and it is written in black so not to distract the reader and draw their eyes away from the main point of the page, the review. This text is just the basic information they may want to know about the magazine, like the page number and possibly which magazine they are reading, though it is not essential information that all readers would want and so it is kept small at the bottom of the page.

This double page spread is from an issue of Empire magazine. Whilst this is not one for a movie in the genre of my own, it is a good spread that shows the simplicity of some articles often found in this sort of magazine.

The main part of this spread, which will be one of the first things most people would see is the photo. In this phot is the two subjects of the article, in an older looking building. As this article is looking at these two enemies in the Harry Potter films, this use of location works well at showing the style of the films, as well as being darker and a little dirty, giving this feeling of almost abandonment which gives the reader a suspenseful and darker feeling. The main source of light from the image appears to be the open fire to the right hand side. This, again, gives it this darker and a more gothic feeling, as the location itself does, which is often associated with the classical horrors and so would draw the readers into this feeling and make them interested in this representation of their characters.  Because this lighting is to the side of the subjects, it cast a shadow across half of their body, mainly their face, giving the image a darker feeling and showing that they may be darker characters because of the way this lighting has been used. In the image one of the subjects is sitting, whilst the other person is sitting. This is done in order to show the power difference, with the older one standing and looking down slightly, showing that he has more power than the younger one who is sitting down and is looking straight, at about eye level. Their character is also shown as the older one is standing straighter with his arms behind his back, looking a little more disciplined, and possibly respectful, as opposed to the other one who is sitting more open and relaxed. This would draw in the reader as they would see this difference and be interested to find out more about the characters and the differences between these two people described as ‘enemies’ though are both quite different to each other, whilst still being seen as the bad people.

The writing makes up a small amount of the overall page. The small amount of writing allows the page to draw the reader’s eye more into the page and so gives more visual information rather than telling the reader everything, allowing them to think more about the portrayal of the characters from the photos as opposed to the words. The writing itself is headed by a title, ‘The Enemy’ in the largest and boldest text, so that it stands out and gives the reader some sort of idea what they may be looking at, or about to read, but it is not done in such a way as to distract them from the image, which is one of the main parts of this page. The next piece of information, given to the reader, is placed below the title. It is in the same font style and tells the reader who the actual people are, and then their characters below that. As this text goes down, the size of the font decrease. This works well in creating a sort of order for the reader to read in, and pulls their eyes down towards the main article.

The main text itself has been separated, by a thin white line, from the text above. This makes the reader see this as a separate bit, so it does not create a large mess of text, all in the same font and colour. The use of white text, rather than just any colour, allows it to stand out, in juxtaposition, from the dark background. This allows it to not distract the reader from the rest of the page and gives it a sort of clean elegance, much like the picture does in some ways. The rest of the text, at the bottom of the page, is done in a simple, similar font, in the same white colour, so that it stands out from the background and does not distract at all from the rest of the page. The use of the red text does cause a little bit of a distraction from the darker, more natural colours, though it has been used to keep a clear identity of the magazine throughout. This text gives the reader a little bit of information that they may want to know, in the form of the name of the magazine, ‘Empire’, the title for this particular magazine and the page numbers. This is not essential information, but it may be information that some people may want to know.

This article is from a 2011 issue of Empire magazine. Whilst the film it is showing is not of the same genre as my own, it is a good example of the layout and style of a film magazine’s double page spread.

The largest and most obvious part of this particular double page spread is the image, which instantly draws in the reader’s eye. This is not only done by the size of the image, but also by the many colours which have been used, all of which are used by the magazine to create a simple four colour colour palette. The image is a medium shot showing the main character in the film, which the article talks about, Captain America. This is quite easily recognised by the bright colours that have been used, being mostly red, white and blue, though a little bit of brown is used. These colours, particularly in this image work well as they are slightly faded, darker and a little dirty almost, showing a more gritty, realistic and possibly darker portrayal of this character who, outside of the films, was already iconic. This draws the readers in as it is the sort of image many will be familiar and so would want to find out more about the film, as they may not have hear much about it previously. The lighting in the image is also darker, though the character is fully in light, most importantly in the face and so no shadows are being cast upon him, which would suggest he is not a darker, sinister character, rather the hero, an overall good man. This heroic idea is reinforced by the use of a lower angle which looks up at him, giving the reader the feeling that he is dominant, important and overall a heroic man.

Across this page, apart from the colour palette, the other recurring idea is that of the shield, shown in the image, as well as a drawn, almost logo style, image that has been used above the text, and in the corner on the right hand page. This logo effectively draws in the reader as it is an iconic image that they would recognise, as well as being of brighter colours and so would stand out and draw their eyes into these certain points. It would also be used to instantly tell the reader which film it was that they were reading, or going to read about, without having to look at any large image. The use of the shield also fits into the colour palette, being of red, white, blue and black, which all create an instant look for the whole article, as well as using these bright colours to attract the audience to them. With both ‘logo’ shields there is a solid red bar that almost ‘lowers’ them from the top of the page. This works well at drawing the reader’s eye to these certain points, and is also used at the bottom of the left hand page, creating a sort of ‘box’ or ‘holder’ for the article, as well as leading the reader’s eye into this point in the page.

In terms of the text used on the page, the most obvious piece that draws the readers in first is the title of the article, this being ‘Patriot Games’, the title linking into the idea of Captain America, and patriotism. This text is written in two different colours, with ‘Patriot’ in red and ‘Games’ in black. The word ‘Games’ is also in the same font, keeping it uniform and non-distractive, but is smaller, leading the reader’s eyes downwards from the largest text, ‘Patriot’ to the slightly smaller ‘Games’ and then down to the even smaller piece of text, which is used as a teaser for the article, to give the reader and idea as to what the sort of content of the article will be. This set of text all gives some important information that the reader may want to know, such as the film it will be talking about, as well as the style of the article that they will be reading. This piece of text has been written in italics so that it does not get confused with, and stands out to the reader, from the main part of the article, which is situated below in a similar font, of, mostly, the same colour.

This main part of the text, below the title and teasers, starts off with the use of a large red ‘V’, this makes it so that it stands out against all the other text, both in colour and size, and also works well at drawing the readers eye into the beginning of the actual article.  The rest of the first paragraph of the main article is done in the same font, being red still also, but in a slightly smaller size. This makes it stand out less, but the use of red still works well at drawing the reader’s eye towards the beginning of the article, whilst also still keeping to the patriotic colour palette created by the photo. The rest of the article is written in black text, so as not to be too distracting and to make it easier to read, this is not meant to be drawing in and attracting audiences, and so does not try to.

On the rest of the page there is a lot of blank white space, with little bits of information that may be desired by some, dotted around. At the bottom of the pages is the page number and the name of the magazine and its issue date, this gives the reader a little bit of information that they may want to know, but is not essential to this particular page and can be found elsewhere. This is done in only small black writing in the corners, though the name of the magazine, and page number is in bold, as this could be seen as being the more important piece of information. Another small bit of information that can be found on this page is the author of the article, which is, again, not an essential piece of information that most readers would want to know, but would be just there, in small black text so as to not distract it from the main article, in case they did want to know it.

Overall, these double page spreads are very similar, no matter what genre of film, or which magazine is being looked at. They are all made up of a main very large image, which takes up most of the page, with the small amount of text either below it or to the side, the conventions of the actual text changes depending on what the article is, be it a review, behind the scenes or an interview, though they are always in a similar font, with titles that vary in size and colour, though the main body of text is usually black, against a white background. These pages are often quite simple, with not too much going on so as to distract the reader, with certain sizing techniques and images that lead their eyes into certain points that would be most important or desired to be read. They also all follow a very simple colour palette made up of white and black, with one or two extra colours, all of which are quite simple, basic colours, which often link into the film the article is about.