Magazine Research

I need to make a front cover for a magazine, representing the film. Here are some examples of them:

Empire magazine is a magazine based entirely on films, and the actors, directors and various other people involed. It tends to have interviews with them on their most recent films, with a big picture of the main character on the front cover, as shown above.
The character is in front of the title, being the main feature of this edition, (This is not a problem, as, being a well known magazine people know what they're getting) and is in a pose and costume well suited to Captain Jack Sparrow (Pistol up, arm to the side, drunken posture).
The background of the magazine links to its front cover picture, being a character from 'The Pirates of the Carribean' they have used a carribean beach. This, together with the character picture, is quite effective as it really sets the scene for the audience and informs them of the film's setting.
The title has used a font similar to EF Kaffeesatz Schwarz which looks quite old-media style. And the writing sticks to the colour scheme of red (for the title, which stands out), black (used for headings), yellow (used to highlight some bits in headings, and for some descriptions) and white (for descriptions).
The rest of the magazine has some bold writing (For headings 'MOVIES' BIGGEST YEAR EVER!' which are written in capitals, supposedly to make them more exciting) and italics (For smaller, less important headings 'Plus', 'Starring')  This is really effective as it draws attention to the important headings and less attention to the non-important ones.
The circle next to Jack's hand holding the pistol says 'First look! PIRATES 4 The On-Set Exclusive' so is clearly linked to the featured article. I like this as it separates the article from the rest of them on the front page, making the featured article more important.
The barcode is at the bottom right hand corner, which is a good place to have it. However, it is not centred in its white box and it doesn't look proffesional. It would look better if there was no white box.
The placing of the article descriptions, at the sides of the cover is very neat, and they don't overlap the picture much, giving more attention to it. This is effective as, if the audience like 'Pirates of the Carribean' then they will be more likely to buy the magazine, wanting to know what it's about.



This is a front cover from 'Total Film' Magazine. Like 'Empire' magazine the featured picture overlaps the title and is in the centre of the page. (Again not a problem as it is a well-known magazine) The actor is in character as 'Sherlock Holmes' and a large heading 'SHERLOCK HOLMES' is written over it in blue and white.
The background links to the character, being of foggy London, where Sherlock operates. This really sets the scene of the film and so is effective. This, along with the picture of the main character, seems to be a recurring feature so I may use it when it comes to creating my own magazine.
The font used for the title is similar to Eagle Bold, which really stands out. The colour scheme sticks to White (For the title and some descriptions), black (for some descriptions), and blue (for headings).
The writing in the descriptions is quite scrawly, almost indie-like, and the 'Sherlock Holmes' font is very olde-English, linking to the film.
The rest of the writing isn't bold, like the title, but is thin and scrawly, even the headings, apart from the one above the title, and the Sherlock Holmes one. This means that they are quite difficult to read and the change of fonts make the cover inconsistent.
The barcode on this, like Empire magazine, is in the bottom right hand corner, in a white box. However, unlike the Empire one this has a box which actually fits the barcode, and it is small, so doesn't draw any attention to it. As it is a barcode, this is really good, as it is unimportant to the magazine (Apart from paying for it of course).
I like the polaroid style pictures at the top of the page, as it gives an insight in to the rest of the magazine (not just what is linked to the big picture).

Things which I will take for inspiration:
The big picture, with the head(s) of the character(s) overlapping the main title.
The article descriptions at the sides.
The barcode small and in the bottom right hand corner.
A quote/article title above the main title.
A mix of bold and italic headings.
The circle thing.