Analysis of Empire film magazine

Now we have finished our Teaser trailer we are moving onto making the poster and the magazine front cover, As I have already analysed three posters I am going to do the same with three magazines. This particular magazine is Empire. Empire is a British film magazine published monthly, and it is the biggest selling film magazine in the U.K. This issue is advertising the Dark Night. At the top of the page there is “the dark night world exclusive” with the batman logo featured in the middle. By having that statement at the top ,it adds credibility to the magazine and targets fans of the movie, because it features an exclusive article/issue where they may not find anywhere else. The central image is of the late Heath Ledger portraying the joker,it is a long shot creating the affect of power. The image takes up nearly the whole of the length of the magazine, therefore drawing the audience in. The costume and make up he is wearing relates to the how he appears in the film,this allows the audience to automatically relate to the film. His stance is quite enduring, making you want to read the magazine. The strong image adds to the ideology of what this specific issue of the magazine is focusing on.

The image overlaps the title, which is in a bold font, and of the colour red. It is quite generic ,as it will relate to any film from horror to romance. As a result the magazine doesn’t advertise one particular genre but all. The name of the magazine is short and striking to catch the consumers eye when on the shelf in s supermarket for example. To my left but to the right of the joker there is some text which says “Meet the Joker” it is a quick, sharp quote which draws the reader in, it is in the colours green and purple to make is stand out on the dark background image. The format of the words are in a similar theme to that of the image therefore making it have continuity and linking in with the ideology of the film. Underneath that text there is a statement which reads “One-on-one with Batman’s new nemesis” .This lets the audience know there will be an interview with Heath Ledger inside. The magazine is targeting people who are into the Batman films, this is quite a wide range but id say mainly boys. However by having Heath ledger on the front this may attract girls too.

Along with those two statements there’s a quote which says “He is a cold-blooded mass murdering clown”. This is most probably an extract from the interview and links in with the quite strange and eerie picture on the front, which in turn links in with the theme and ideology of the film it is advertising .There is also a circle shape with text inside that tells of what else the magazine features, it is important to show all the different things the magazine had inside to entice the reader enough to make them want to buy and read it. Down the bottom there is A “plus” section which drops in some other films such as I am Legend, to attract fans of other films and not just the Batman films and to show they include different genres and types of films. In the bottom hand corner there is a barcode, we must remember to include a bar code because all magazines have one, and we want to make our magazine look as realistic as possible. The issue code and date are hard to see on this picture of the front cover but are infact ,placed where the “M” in Empire dips down. All magazines include this information also so we will include this in ours. Beneath the name of the magazine there is a website, this allows readers keep up to date online because the magazine comes out monthly.

This is Empire magazine again and is focusing on the movie Avatar which is a 3d epic film with an estimated budget of $200 million. This issue has a different color scheme to the batman issue I analyzed. This particular issue has the title in gold rather than the original red; this adds a different dimension to the concept of the issue because it portrays a different ideology to the previous one I analyzed. However, the title is still in the same font because magazines generally keep titles the same or change very little between issues. This is because it makes the magazine immediately recognizable to its audience. And therefore creates a theme between issues.

The background color is black making everything on the page standout. The image is striking and catches your eye straight away. It is clear just form the image that the film the magazine is focusing on this issue is sci-fi. Due to the typical codes and conventions the image portrays of that genre. The image is enticing and the way the eyes are edited draws the reader in. Up the top of the magazine above the title there is “Amazing world exclusive!” in a white bold, font. This is to tease the audience and give them a taster of what’s inside and makes them want to buy the magazine, certainly if they are fans of the Sci-fi genre. The price and issue number is in the dip of the “M” like last time, therefore adding a connection and continuity between issues.

Under the title there is a website and a tagline to just add extra advertising opportunities for the magazine. Below the central image there is the title of the film “Avatar” in white; the font is bold and is all in capitals to add emphasis to it, and to make it stand out from the other text. Above the title there is the directors name “James Cameron”. He is extremely famous and is know for directing the Star Wars trilogy. This tempts fans of his previous work to buy the magazine but also relates in with the overall concept of this issue which is the ‘Sci-Fi’ genre and above that there is "How his new Sci-Fi epic will change cinema forever”. By using the word ‘Epic’ it is clear that this film is ambitious and a big deal in the world of cinema, so for movie fans this would be a clear indicator for them to read the issue.

The quote leaves the reader wondering how the film will change cinema forever, and acts as a pull feature to make them buy the magazine. Below that and right at the bottom of the page there is a “fold out now” feature and it is mentioned that this is a collector’s issue. This is another device used to convince the consumer to buy the magazine. There is another small image beside this statement and I’m guessing these images are shown larger when the magazine folds out, and are maybe posters. There is of course the barcode which is a feature that is on all magazines regardless of type .The colour scheme of the cover is kept constant as the text is gold and white ,this gives it a theme and just makes it look generally more presentable.