magazine cover analysis - Empire x2

Empire is a British monthly film magazine, and is the best selling one in Britain. Its target audience are B/C males aged 18-24.

The title of the magazine is very large and in red which makes it stand out and as Empire is an established and popular brand, it would only benefit the magazine to have the name distinguishable and emphasized. This will mean that on a news stand or shop, the masthead would catch the viewer's eye and the recognizable name would entice the current readership to once again buy this month's issue.
The main feature of the cover as often with Empire is a main character of a new film. Similarly as with the masthead I believe they do this confidently because having an renound and established actor on the cover shows the magazine's high status and legitimacy and suggests that they will have access to the A-list actors/directors. Here the image is of Heath Ledger, he is in costume, as the Joker is an iconic character the viewer will instantly recognize this costume and know that the magazine's feature article will be on the new Batman film. The picture is some what disturbing and eerie, this will draw in the viewer as well as suggesting the genre/ tone of the feature film.
The background of the image is an industrial looking room, behind there are also metal bars which could suggest that the Joker is in a jail cell. This environment creates an ominous and eerie setting that will suggest to the viewer that this film will have a dark quality, something which is perhaps not usually associated with the Batman films, this will entice them to buy the magazine to find out more.
Finally there is the text, The joker is written in a toxic lime green and in a playful type face. This represents the Joker's character perfectly, his playful toxic/darkness, the type face is also synonymous with kid nap / ransom letters which fit in with his character. Having it in a larger font and different colour makes it stand out instantly from the darker colours of the image and it will be one of the first things the viewer will see. Although 'its time to  meet the joker' is not emphasised as much, the phrase suggests to the viewer that the character of the Joker has been rejuvenated and the phrase below 'he is a cold blooded mass murdering clown' is highlighted in white and in a slashed type face, almost as it has been scratched out with a knife, reiterates that the character is still as evil as ever. This will entice the viewer especially if they are an existing Batman fan.
At the top the name of the film and 'world exclusive' and the Batman logo is displayed, as the eye is instantly drawn to the top because of the masthead, ensuring that the viewer instantly know that the issue centers around The dark Knight, and that this magazine has the exclusive, so that if they are at all interested in it, this would be the only magazine to buy.
Other information that is displayed on the cover is accented in some form of toxic green, for instance, they're Coen brothers feature is emphasised in a green circle, and the rest of the information on the cover has the eye drawn to it via the green 'X' by it.

Cover #2

In this film magazine ‘Empire’ the main feature of this cover is ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and with that Johnny Depp who plays captain jack sparrow is the front main protagonist in the photo. Just as total film magazine does, empire uses its image to overlap its main title. I quite like this feature and might use this for my film magazine. Empire is in bold, capital and red. This makes it stand out even when it is behind the main image. It makes the magazine more eyes catching when you fill different parts of it with more short lines of information around the magazine. This makes it look busy and a good read and this is why the small area of spaces tends to include extra pieces of text to fill it. The front magazines colour scheme is red, yellow, black and white. This makes the cover look bold but exciting yet still professional and not tacky. Altering the captions, Sizes and colour of texts separates them and makes it easier to read. The publisher/author of the magazine wants this magazine to look new and exciting, and by making it more modern and future referred, They have promoted the magazine of being the ‘ESSENTIAL 2011 PREVIEW’ in a large font. Variation in the font sizes in magazines helps draw the audience’s attention.