AN EMPIRE MAGAZINE FRONT COVER ANALYSIS

Empire Magazine-A British film magazine which is funded by the Bauer Consumer Media-Their first issue was released in July 1989-Sold monthly

Items that Empire have included in this issue;

Masthead

Date Price

Barcode

Long Shot image of the main character in the film that the magazine is mainly about (in this issue)

Website

Central piece of text that has the largest font

Extras that come in the issue

Smaller headline

Images from different films

Enticing text

Date & PriceThis is displayed on the front cover so that the customer can establish how old the issue is and determine whether they want to buy it or not. The price is given in pounds and US dollars as Empire is a British made film magazine but will also be printed in America making it popular over there too.

MastheadThis masthead is recognisable many people as it is used on every single Empire front cover and uses the iconic Empire bold red colour. Empire is so well established that they don’t need to display the full title, like the image to the left, as people know the magazine and it’s title even with the ‘P’ missing.

Long Shot ImageThis illustrates to the customer that this character is going to be the focus of this issue. Also it is an eye catching image as the character is wearing a shiny red and yellow suit which stands out drawing people to the magazine to have a look and encouraging the Iron Man fans to buy this issue.

Smaller HeadlineThis smaller headline is eye catching although it is written using a smaller font because it is bordered with a red circle making it jump out of the page more. Steven King is written using a white font as to make it stand out against the red background and to make this issue to appeal to his fans

BarcodeThis is an important item to have on the front cover of the magazine as it identifies the magazine when it is being paid for. If this was not here Empire would not receive any profits

ExtrasThe extras are listed using short snappy sentences such as ‘Angelina Jolie hunts Oscar’ to briefly outline other stories in this issue, but wording then using interesting, inquisitive language.By writing ‘Plus!’ it makes it seem like the customer will be buying more for their money which encourages their purchase

Largest & most central piece of textThis technique is mainly used to encourage the fans of Iron Man to purchase this issue. By centralising the largest piece of font it instantly draws the customer’s attention to it and then encourages then to read the text that surrounds this.

Images from other filmsThis instantly adds more colour to the page making the cover more appealing to look at. Also when people see images of their favourite characters/ stars on the cover of a magazine they feel more inclined to buy it so that they can learn about the new films that are coming out/ more about the actor.

Enticing textClaiming that in this issue there will be the ‘first look’ at next summers new films makes this magazine sound like the best film magazine currently available as it is claiming to have the exclusive knowledge of next year’s film releases. This encourages a keen cinema goer to read this magazine so that they know when all their favourite actors films are released/ film sequels are released.

HOW I WILL ADAPT THESE TECHNIQUES TO MY OWN FILM

MAGAZINE

I will make sure that I have at least one of every

technique that I have written about above to ensure

that my film magazine is of a high quality,

encourages people to want to buy it and give them

important information.