Textual Analysis - Empire Front cover 2

The title of the magazine is an important part of any magazine front cover. This is so that people can differentiate between this one and others of the same genre or type. The quality of any front cover would automatically trigger any reader to assume that the content is probably of the same quality. In addition to this, the fact that part of the title of the magazine is covered up by a section of the picture which is featured on the cover, shows that this particular magazine is a highly achieving magazine which is very popular, meaning everyone already recognises its usual presentation.

The picture on the front of any magazine is the main focus, as this is what the reader will see immediately when noticing the magazine. This particular picture is taken from the film ‘The Dark Knight’ which is a sequel to the ‘Batman Begins’ film. The character that is seen on the front cover is the Joker, who is the antagonist of the film. The reason this photo is used as the front cover photo is because this the main focus feature of the magazine. It is also done because this film was going to be released close to the date of this magazine. The character in the picture is shown to be almost posing for the camera, which is different to the poster picture, as the poster has to reflect situations in the film, whereas this is to engage with the reader.

The colour scheme of the magazine front cover is based around the picture that is used. For example, on this picture, the main colours are purple and green; seen on the characters shirt, waistcoat and socks. To highlight these colours, they are brightened and made more visible. The fact this is done makes the picture stand out more and also makes it seem like the picture and the surrounding text belong together.

As well as the text and surrounding of the picture being purple and green, much of the text is also white. This adds contrast and helps the text stand out and be noticed by the reader. The use of white also helps include the colour of the title of the magazine, which is red.

On this magazine front cover, there are some other smaller features, which are included in the film. These features are about Sweeny Todd and The Mummy 3. The reason that these are included on the front cover is because variety needs to be included to reach a larger target audience. The is the case as some people may not be fans of the batman films, so to combat this, the magazine decide to put other film features on the front cover to show people that other interesting things are included in the magazine.

Included on this front cover is the iconic logo of the main feature film, this being the Batman logo. I feel this was done, as the main character, Batman, was not shown at the main picture, the Joker, the main antagonist, is shown instead. The use of the iconic ‘Batman’ logo allows the readers to quickly recognise what the main feature is and quickly gain interest in it.

Lastly, the main things to be remembered when producing magazine front cover is things such as the barcode, date and issue number. These are simply important for recognition and so that readers know when they were released and if they have missed an issue etc.

Textual Analysis - Empire Front cover 1

The title of the magazine is an important aspect of any magazine. This is so that it can be easily recognisable to people who are new or current fans of the magazine. It also makes it easy for it to be differentiated from other magazines that focus around the same topic, in this case films.

After a magazine has built up a large fan base and it is well established as a leading producer for a specific topic, it can then be more creative with the way the front cover of its magazine in presented. For example, in this front cover, because ‘Empire’ is well established magazine, they can make the main focus of the magazine cover a film feature, instead of the main focus being around the actual magazine. This is done by the picture which, is advertising the film ‘Iron Man 2’, covering up part of the name of the magazine.

Another feature which is important for a ‘film’ magazine to have on its front cover is a feature film which has being out in the cinemas recently or which is about to be in the cinemas. This is to attract the attention of people who are interested in new and upcoming feature films and are wanting an opinion on if it is good or not. The feature film on the front of the magazine can be presented in a few ways; by having a main focus picture that many people can see clearly, by having a large title of the film and also by changing or editing the rest of the magazine front cover to relate to the main focus film, which in this case is done by having the title of the magazine glowing, with electrical looking lightening coming off it.

The colouring of most magazines would change with each issue, mainly to prevent it from becoming boring and repetitive, but also to keep it so that it is consistent with the feature for that particular issue. For this magazine front cover it is a dark blue colouring, with the contrast of red and white. This is to coincide with the picture that is advertising the film, yet in previous issues the colour scheme of the magazine has being different, to match the film that is being advertised on the particular issue.

As well as there being a large section of the front cover devoted to advertising the one film, there is also a section of the front cover that is shown to advertise some other smaller film releases that are included within this issue of the magazine, one of these being Avatar. This section of the magazine front is at the bottom of the cover, which is done to ensure that the main attention is on the main film. This section is also presented as being like a roll of film cells, to highlight the fact that this is a film magazine and relate the magazine to what its content is about.

As well as there being these smaller features at the bottom of the magazine front cover; there are also some relations to the content of the magazine at the top of the magazine, above the title ‘Empire’. These are to highlight some extra things that are included within the magazine, and the fact they are put there without much detail makes the reader of the magazine become more intrigued to find out what there is to be said.

To show the readers of the magazine how good it actually is, awards that the magazine have won are deliberately presented on the front cover to gain more recognition for what they do, and how well they do it. In this case they are showing the fact they won ‘ultimate review of 2009’. By doing this, it is allowing the readers to have confidence in what they are reading, and know the opinions are decent and honest and facts of interests they may have.

Other important features to include on any magazine front cover are bar codes, a date and an issue number. These things are important to have for it to look consistent with how magazines are presented and produced and also that sufficient information is available for readers and people selling the magazine.

Target Audience for my Magazine

As I am wanting my magazine to be about many different genres of film, that are recent and possible older films, I feel that my target audience could also be as broad. This is because the films that are featured in my magazine could attract different people and also because some people are fond of many different genres of films, so it's difficult to target one main audience. In order to be able to get an actual idea of who my magazine would be best aimed at, I did a survey to see what types of people liked what types of films.

After doing this research, I have decided that my target audience, although quite broad, would be people who are of both genders, but more specifically, older males and younger females. I also believe that the people who are students will be more inclined to purchase the magazine, as these are the people I believe to have more of an interest in going to the cinema.

In addition to these questions I asked, I also asked them if they would be interested in buying the magazine, but only 45% said they would be interested in buying it. One reason I believe this is so, is because many of them are very computer literate and are interested in online reviews. This would mean that they are able to obtain the information included in the magazine, on the internet for free.

I would also say that it is open for many ages to be my target audience, but to be more specific, I would say the older market (40s upwards) would buy the magazine, as they are less likely to be able to obtain the information on the internet, and also because they have had to buy magazines to be able to get this information in the past, and so they may just be carrying on their normal tradition of buying magazines.

Magazine Institutions

Instead of looking straight for the two main magazine publishers in the UK, I looked for what I believe to be the two main film magazines in the UK. This way I could see who the producer of these two magazines were and work that way. The two magazines I believe to be the two main ones are Empire and Total Film.

Empire's production company is Bauer Media Group, which is based in Hamburg, Germany. This company produced and sells approximately 38 million magazines per week, and some of these magazines sold include Empire, Closer, FHM and Kerrang. All of these magazines have very different target audiences, which is why the company are gaining that many sales. As well as each magazine attracting different audiences, they also cover many different aspects of entertainments and lifestyle. For example, Empire is based on film, Closer is about celebrity lifestyles (aimed mainly at females), FHM is about sports and male related activities (FHM= For Him Magazine) and Kerrang is based around music.

Total Film's production company is Future Publishing, which is based in the United Kingdom. This production company has over 150 different magazine ranging mainly in technological, computing and gaming topics, but also dipping into other things, such as film and music. Examples of some magazines that this production company produce are Total film, Edge and Classic Rock. As this production company focuses on mainly one or two topics, it only gains only 1 million sales per week, which is small compared to the previous production company. This is due to the specialist topics that are discussed within these magazines.

For my magazine, I think it's going to be fairly broad in the sense that it's going to look at all different genres of film, that are recently out and films that have being getting a lot of attention in recent months. As this is true, I feel that if it is compulsory for me to chose one of these two production companies to produce my magazine, I think I would choose Bauer Media Group. This isn't just because they receive outstanding amounts of sales each week, but it's because I feel they are more established production company, as in they are more popular with the main public, and don't specialise specifically in anything directly.

Research into Film magazines

Firstly, film magazines obviously revolve around the topic of films, which can reach many different audiences where ever the magazine is distributed. The reason for this is there are a wide range of genres that films can fit into, and film magazines have to make sure that they are a broad film magazine, so that they can attract readers from many interest, rather than just one.

Although this is true, there are some magazines that do just circulate around the one genre of film, making it specialised in this one area, although they will not achieve as many readers as a broader film magazine, the readers that are interested in this one genre will make sure they buy this as they then don't have to go through the magazine having to find the one section they are interested in. An example of this type of magazine is 'Shivers' which is produced by Visual Imagination and the main focus of this magazine is horror. This magazine is now out of circulation, as it's last issue was on the 14th May 2008.

Film magazines generally are interested in the newer releases out at the cinemas, or films that are going to be in the cinemas in the near future. As this is true, the readers of the magazine, I believe, will be between the ages of early teens to late 30's. The reason for this is, as people get older, I feel they don't have as much interest in the more contemporary things going on in the world as younger people do. Although this is true, people that are older than this age range that are interested in new films and new ideas being brought into the film world are also going to be part of the target audience for the magazines.

Although most issues of films revolve around modern or new releases, it is also possible for them to go back in time and talk about older popular films. Many magazine's wouldn't do this without a reason, and one main reason for them doing this may be that it is the film's anniversary of some kind, or it's the anniversary of the producer/main actor. An example of this would be the latest edition of the Empire magazine, which has Back to the Future as the main feature of the magazine. This film was released in 1985, which makes it a non-contemporary film. The reason the magazine did this was because it has being 25 years since it was made.

Final Finished Poster

Possible Finished Posters

Here are two possible finished posters which I am deciding between using as my finished piece. As both pieces of work are practically the same, and the only difference is the picture, I feel it's fairly difficult to chose between the two due them being so similar.

Although this is true, I think that the second piece of work, with the character peering from behind the door, is the one I am going to choose. This is because you can clearly see who the main character of the film is, and it would make it easier for the viewer of the poster to become more intrigued.

Another reason is that, being able to see the characters face makes me want to use this version of the poster, because you can clearly see his emotions, which clearly denotes something bad happening, or a scary situation, which is what the film is about, as it's a horror.