Empire Magazine Front Cover Analysis

'Empire'
The name of the magazine ‘Empire’ is one of the world’s most recognized and biggest film magazines out of the current film magazine front cover around at the moment, for example ‘Total Film’ and ‘Premiere’. The fact that the font is in red and dominates the front cover shows how powerful and effective it is, representing on how successful the magazine is as a whole. The style of the font is upper case, bold and very masculine style writing, which indicates that even though it is for all genders, it mainly emphasises to the male target audience.

‘The Dark Knight....World Exclusive’
As we can see this is the new film ‘Empire’ is advertising. The ‘World Exclusive’ part is the biggest give away, as it’s telling its target audience that everyone must see, because it is available to everyone. Acknowledging its audience that it is ‘World Exclusive’, makes it more eye catching and notifies to its audience how big and global both the film and film magazine is. The use of the exclamation at the end creates emphasis, that everyone around the world that it is a must have, that people should see it. The style of the font is more formal to make it look more professional, a white font makes it glow against the black background. In between the ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘World Exclusive’ there is a black bat glowing against the white background, linking back to the main character in the film, is Batman.

‘Meet the Joker’
‘Meet the Joker’ is connected back to the promotion of ‘The Dark Knight’ that Empire has combined most effectively, as the reader would just be exposed to the new film that has come out. In addition, the style of the font is childlike with boxes around the vowels of all the words, making links back to the ‘Joker’ himself. The word ‘Joker’ is in a larger and brighter font, green. This is in contrast to ‘Meet the’ being in a smaller font and less noticeable font colour. Green and purple fonts are very odd to use together in a normal sense, yet in this case the ‘Joker’ part would stand out because it is an indirect way of saying to its target audience that they need to look out for him in the film, because he is the bad guy. The colours used could also make links back to the ‘Joker’ being a clown killer and so the green and purple colours have been used to give justice to the fact that there is a killer on the loose.

The Strap Line ‘He’s a cold blooded, mass murdering clown’.
The font is in upper case, white chalklike style, to give it the spooky effect. The chalklike style font could connect with the clown’s pale white face. It also stands out against the dark background, which could also give an indication of purity, which contradicts against the wording of ‘the dark knight’. The layout of the strap line goes across the whole width of the page and the main image, which gives itself its status of being a key element of promoting the new film.

‘One-on-one with Batman’s new nemesis’
The font is in uppercase, bold and the style of the font is something you would find in a comic book, hence relating back to the fact that Batman also features in various comics. The font is also very masculine, suggesting it’s for a more male targeted audience. There is more emphasis on the word ‘Batman’ being in big and bold, addressing directly to all the Batman fans, that they must read on for more information.

‘PLUS! Sweeny Todd, review of 2007, I am Legend, Jerry Seinfeld and world-first looks at The Mummy 3 10,000BC & Wanted’
On any magazine front cover, this is a traditional, repeated and familiar element we see. This is the additional information; we see that appeals to a typical film fan, which has an interest in these genres of films. There is again emphasis being used on the word, ‘Plus’ showing that there is a lot more Empire have to offer, to keep their readers satisfied and constantly engaged whilst they’re enjoying reading all the latest films reviews that are going to be released. All the main eye catching information is in white, to stand out against the dull colours in the background.

The Background Image
The colours used in the background, are cold, dark and gloomy which adds to that spooky and mysterious effect. In addition, the use of bars and gates gives it a more polysemic meaning on whether it is trying to keep something in or whether someone or something is trying to escape. Furthermore, the background image is very effective because it’s grey, dismal and almost prison like. The whole essence of the unknown is used again, as you cannot really see what’s behind the bars or what is actually going on, showing unforeseen mysteries.

The Main Image
Immediately looking at the magazine front cover, we are presented with a main image that takes up the whole width of the page. The image is ‘the Joker’ (the antagonist) which has the traditional elements of what a bad guy looks like. A dishevelled white face is a typical feature, used to give the villain a more frightening and evil look. Dry blood on the face, is effective addressing the audience that he is the killer, suggesting he has already committed some murders. You can only see one eye fully open; the other eye is like a slit and blacked out, representing evil and a essence of darkness. The smile is a semi smile/evil smirk that is traditionally shown of an antagonist. ‘The Joker’s’ outfit is not colour coded, but instead they are dull colors, not giving a warm feeling but showing a cold appearance Posture is key on this front cover, as the killer is sitting on a dirty bench against a set of gates, with his legs wide apart. There is a contradiction of what the gesture is trying to imply to its target audience, because it is suggesting that he is human, sitting in a typical male position, both hands placed on his laps, showing that he is ready for something or ready to do something, yet he is portrayed as a clown, it raises the question on whether he is really human or not? Finally, there is faint blood marks on the hands and he is wearing dirty old black shoes. The whole outfit can be a cunning disguise to make himself look like a normal man until you see the face where you are introduced to something that looks more evil and horrific.