This is the front cover for the October 2011 edition of Empire.
Robert Downey, Jr is the central image and takes up the vast majority of the front cover. This is a clear example of star theory, as Downey is a huge star with a large fanbase, meaning a lot of his fans will be encouarged to buy the magazine after seeing his face on the front cover, indicating there will be a large segment of the magazine that is primarily focussed on him. It is also telling it’s audience that a sequel to the very successful Sherlock Holmes is being released and Downey is once again cast as the lead.
Towards the bottom of the front cover, there is a reel bond with a list of “must see” action/thriller/horror films, indicating the magazine feels it’s purpose is to advice about what good films are out. They’ve use the acronym MI4 as part of the enigma code – causing readers to take a second look, in order to work out it stands for Mission Impossible 4 (after realising the image is of Tom Cruise). The tagline states it is the “world’s biggest movie magazine”, indicating the British magazine is being heavily influenced my American slang.
The target audience is made to be as wide as possible, showing various films on the front cover that appeal to many readers; Star wars will appeal to children, whereas The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is aimed more at adults, due to the storyline.
The colour scheme of the front cover is red and gold; connotating the red carpet from big award ceremonies and the gold high budget, high grossing films – indicating the magazine will include stories mainly on big Blockbuster Hollywood films. Also, the modern colours indicate it is classy, expensive and due to the pictures in the reel matching the colour code, sophisticated.
This is the front cover for the August 2008 edition of Empire magazine. The central image again for Empire magazine uses star theory to target a specific audience into buying the magazine. By having Daniel Radcliffe on the front immediately means the dedicated fans of Radcliffe and the Harry Potter franchise will buy the magazine, as it implies a large segment of the magazine will be focussed on him and Harry Potter 6.
The magazine again implies that it’s focus and purpose is to inform it’s readers on films that are being released by having “45 new movies you need to know about right now!”. Furthermore, as Empire is a well respected magazine, more people will be inclined to take the advice of the magazine’s writers and want to know what films they recommend. It then has screen shots from other films, including Quantum Of Solace, Wolverine and Watchman. By having these, will encourage fans of the film (in the case of Quantum of solace and Wolverine, they are sequels of other films, meaning they are easily recognised) to buy the magazine, in order to find more information on the film. At the bottom of the cover, it also names three others films, Terminator 4, Mulder and Scully and Tropic Thunder, showing further content of the magazine and also, using the enigma code to entice readers to buy the magazine to read more, as they give no information on the film, except it’s name.
By having the phrase “massive preview special” in a bigger font than a lot of the text makes it stand out and will encourage readers to buy the magazine as they will see the word preview and understand they are getting the “first look” at some screen shots of upcoming films.
This is the front cover for the May 2010 edition of Sight And Sound. Something obvious that differs this magazine from Empire is the colour scheme; the pastel pale colours suggest the magazine is trying to give off a more sophisticated feel and is less about big Hollywood Blockbusters and more about Arthouse Indie films. This in reinforced with the main theme of this edition; Italian Cinema Special. The size is bigger, meaning the magazine wants it to stand out and be a selling point for the magazine; indicating the target audience for this film is of an older age who enjoy foreign films. There is a small amount of text naming particualr films mentioned in the special; La Dolce Vita and Vincere, which will cause fans of the films to want to buy the magazine in order to read more information on their most enjoyed films. The tagline for the magazine is The International Film Magazine, indicating the films mentioned within the magazine represent different cultures around the world and are in different languages, further implying the older age of the target audience.
The central image uses star theory and is of actress Tilda Swinton, who is “face” of the magazine’s Italian focussed edition. The text states she was in the Italian film I am Love, implying she has a wealth of knowledge of Italian cinema, so is a good person to be involved. There is a button in the bottom left hand corner of the page with the text “every new film reviewed” on it; encouraging the reader to buy the magazine as to see what film is currently out that they believe they should watch.
In the top right hand corner, where the volume and issue number are, shows the BFI (British Film Institute) logo, as the magazine is published by the BFI. This would automatically cause the reader to think of the film as high quality and prestigious, as the BFI is a well known organisation within the film industry.
This is the December 2004 edition of Empire magazine. I think as my film is also a Disney Pixar film, it is a big Blockbuster, so Empire magazine will be an appropriate magazine to have my film on the front cover.
The main thing that stands out from this front cover is the clear colour scheme present throughout – bright red, something that is associated with The Incredibles as the family’s superhero costumes are primarily made up of red as is the Empire logo. I think this will be a technique I will use, as the colour bright green will appeal to my younger target audience and will also connotate aliens and the science-fiction genre to the audience, furthermore the lead alien in my film has bright green skin.
The central image of Mr Incredible takes up most of the cover and even covers a fair amount of the title (something that Empire can do as the magazine is so well known, people will know what the magazine is by the remaining visible letters). This emphasises his actual size, especially in comparison to his son, who is shown dragging the film reel along at the bottom of the front cover and is a fraction of his size.
In comparison to the rest of the writing, the tagline for the magazine is fairly small, as well as the price, edition number and website for the magazine. There is little writing on the front cover and the font is very large and language simple – indicating the target audience of the magazine isn’t looking for paragraphs of articulate and wordy sentences.
The film reel at the bottom shows screen shots of upcoming films, similar to other editions of the magazine. However, the films shown aren’t of a similar genre to children’s comedy The Incredibles; The Aviator (drama), Alexander (period drama) and Ocean’s 12 (crime comedy) – this shows the vast age range varying within the target audience for this magazine. The bottom of the front cover states the magazine has “an election day special report”, meaning it’s trying to appeal to older people, or at least people who are above the age of 18. The magazine also uses star theory to sell itself by naming huge stars that are within the magazine; Kevin Spacey, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Renée Zellweger.
georgiafussell 