MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS: 1

IMAGEThe main image used on this cover for Empire magazine is displaying a teenage boy with numerous wounds on his face, indicating he has been in some sort of battle. His glasses are also damaged and he is wearing a stern expression, directly addressing the audience which would draw them in. His costume is fairly casual as he appears to be wearing a white t-shirt and red jacket. This leads the audience to wonder how such a regular looking boy could be involved in what appears to be a serious battle. This links to the main sell line as it says that ‘Harry comes out fighting’, making clear reference to his damaged appearance and also hints that he is the hero in the movie. This image suggests that the narrative behind this film will include action scenes, though the blue background and light reflecting off his face gives it a more fantasy feel. There is a symbiotic link between this image and the film poster for Harry Potter 6 as the blue, foggy background is also used on the film poster. In addition to this, he is wearing the same costume and has a similar serious facial expression on. By doing this there is a clear link for the audience to recognise which film is being promoted. The camera angle used here is a close up, making the audience feel closer to the character, and this is furthered by his use of direct address. The lighting used here is partial lighting, which is highlighting the left side of his face and darkening the right hand side, suggesting that he may have a more sinister side. Harry Potter is being represented as fairly focused and bold, yet still slightly afraid as his lips are slightly parted and his eyes are wide, which is a reaction a lot of teenagers would have when facing enemies or fears. This would help the target audience relate to his character.

MASTHEADThe name of this magazine is ‘Empire’, and the fact that this film magazine chose to use this as their brand name makes them appear powerful and well established with a well built up, loyal target audience. The font for this masthead is displayed in uppercase sans serif and has been displayed in red, making it stand out as the boldest piece of text on the page. It also helps bring out the red tones on the actors face and jacket. The connotations of the colour red are of power, energy, passion and love so by using this as the colour of the masthead it could be seen as a way of reflecting not only how strong they are as a brand, but also the love their target market has for movies. Something distinctive about the masthead which makes it suitable for a film magazine is the actual choice of name itself as it makes the audience feel included in a large ‘empire’ of like-minded film fans, which is an effective way of drawing in a larger audience. The masthead is used to maintain brand identity as across all issues of the magazine the size, placement and font theme are all kept the same. One of the aspects which changes is the colour (though it is mainly kept red), and also Empire adapts it’s masthead sometimes to pay homage to a film, for example on the Hellboy 2 edition the masthead in displayed with flames on it.

SELL LINESThe sell lines used on this magazine cover are all focused around new movies. They are reflective of the interests of the target readership as film fanatics would be highly interested in movies which have just come out so seeing a sell line advertising that they are going to be discussing all the latest releases would generate excitement among the readers. The sell lines have been specifically designed to lure in readers, and this is made clear when you analyse the use of devices and techniques they have used to achieve this, for example, they have written in a bold, large text ‘massive preview special’ which again would generate the interest of film lovers. Aside from this, Empire also uses techniques such as direct address (‘you need to know about’). By doing this the reader feels as though they are being directly spoken to by the magazine, and it almost becomes a friend to them so they feel as though they want to hear more about whatever is being advertised. The magazine also makes a list of all the most popular film names which will be discussed inside and then adds at the end ‘and many more’, so not only can the reader immediately recognise and be drawn to a film they are particularly interested in, they also know that there are even more to read about inside.

USE OF COLOURThe colours used on the magazine colour are predominantly blue, red and yellow which are quite eye catching and bold colours to use. The use of blue reflects how some of the main scenes within the film occur at night, and it also connotes the idea of magic and magicians. The sell lines are written in white, grey and yellow fonts. The white contrasts with the dark blue background making its easily eligible while also avoiding the page looking too busy, and the yellow has been used to emphasise key lines and to highlight the most important pieces of information. These colours reflect the narrative of the film as yellow connotes the ideas of energy, sparks, and possibly magic, so this links with the theme of the movie being based around fantasy. Using these particular colours on the cover is an effective way of luring in potential readers as they will stand out against any magazines placed around them and also create a sense of excitement with the uplifting colour scheme. The colour yellow is introduced in a slightly unusual way as the down the side of the magazine there is a strip of yellow which doesn’t have any particular meaning but is a good way of introducing this bold and potentially unusual colour choice. It also has the connotations of happiness and sunshine which makes it a positive colour to use to attract audience attention.

LAYOUTThe text to image ratio on this magazine cover is roughly 50% text and 50% image, which is positive as it shows that there is an equal balance between the visuals and text. Due to the fact there isn’t a lot of text on the page and it is quite spaced out it means the image is dominating the cover, almost allowing the image to do most of the talking. The overall layout has been used for effect by placing all the text around the close up of the actors face, therefore drawing more attention to it which is a common convention used on magazine covers. In addition to this the text has been written in a variation of different colours without clashing so it makes the page appear more interesting to look and removes the possibility of it being too busy. This cover follows typical magazine cover conventions mainly due to the placement of the masthead being at the top, centre of the page, the main image being of a well known, main character within the movie, the sell lines being placed around the main image and the barcode being in the bottom right hand corner of the page. These conventions make it easer for the audience to find a piece of information which they are looking for on the cover. It also follows conventions of film magazines in particular as all the sell lines are focused on popular films which the audience would recognise. It is also made clear through the sell lines the types of film the magazine addresses which are more fantasy, science fiction films.