Empire magazine cover analysis

For my third magazine cover analysis, I will be depicting one of Empires issues, #223 from January 2008 that is based on the new Batman film, “The Dark Night”. “Empire” is a British magazine brand, published by Bauer Consumer Media, focusing around everything to do with film. Starting from 1989, Empire is known to be the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, publishing their brand globally to other countries such as the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia and Portugal. Being sold monthly, Empire sell their brand for £3.80 per issue and have a circulation of 167,748, dominated by males by 77%.

To begin my analysis, I have found that the main focal point is one of many conventions that help to signify the movie title by the iconic, dominating main image of the joker. Although “The Dark Night” is written above the main image, it is breaking conventions due to the small front and powerless appearance. By this, it is clear to me that the main image is powerful enough for the recognition of the film as addition to the iconic Batman logo positioned between the movie title and “World exclusive” and helps to emphasise the films title.

When studying the main image further, there are a lot of features within the frame that demonstrate the villain’s psycho nature. The joker is known for his unsettling make up, hair colour and costume that all demonstrate his peculiar, evil clown character. In this particular image, his body language is very powerful. By his open gestures, it is clear that the joker is attempting to appear patronisingly superior and in charge. When viewing the setting, we are able to establish that he is in a sell with bars behind him and police officers on patrol which is contradicting his facial expressions. Although a jail is meant to protect society from evil people such as him, this particular image is one that quite obviously shows the opposite by viewing the villain from the inside, allowing the spectator to feel entrapped and as if the officers are the ones who are behind the bars. The joker’s eye contact is one convention that movies from this genre particularly include and by doing this, the spectator feels involved. After viewing his direct eye contact, I feel as if his eye line has been positioned between the masthead to enable the spectator to acknowledge the brand name and remember it.  By covering up part of the masthead, I feel that Empire magazine is a brand that is familiarised by the public, meaning that parts of it can be overlapped by more important features such as the main image. By the main image overpowering the masthead, I would also suggest that this hints to be a powerful, block buster film that dominates everything.

The masthead for Empire magazine is always red and is positioned at the top of the page. By using such a dominating, eye catching colour, I feel that the masthead is instantly viewed and remembered. The bold, sans serif, upper case font is one that is easily read from afar and can then entice the particular target audience of film lovers.

The colour scheme used on the front cover includes blacks, purples and greens. These colours have been used as a motif towards the joker as he is always seen wearing these colours. Green, in particular, is a colour that is used to emphasise sickness. By acknowledging this, I would suggest that it has been used to hint the joker’s mentally disturbed character. Green is also a colour that is used to show energy. It is clear that the joker has an unusual amount of energy and is always on the go and causing more trouble. Purple is a colour that is usually associated with power, royalty and authority. By cause of this, I feel that it has been used to demonstrate the power in which the joker feels as if he has and how he controls the nation by his murderous, criminal actions. The rest of the magazine background has been filled in with black. Black is a dark colour that often resembles death. Along with this, black is the colour of the Batman himself and helps to create a connection between the magazine and the film.

For all of the other pieces of written information, a normal sans serif, upper case font has been used and is only written in white. Due to this, I feel as if all of the innocent features including “Sweeney Todd”, “One-on-one with Batman’s new nemesis!” and “The Mummy 3” is shown to be different to all of the written content that relates to the joker, that’s written in green or purple.  These bits of information have been separated all over the magazine cover in columns and in their own separate box’s to give other viewers who are not interested in Batman a chance to read about something of their interest.

“Meet the Joker” is one bit of text that is designed to relate to the film. This has been written in both green and purple and is in a font that illustrates cut out letters that would usually be associated with a newspaper. This kind of font would usually be found in ransom demands and in my opinion, has been written to emphasise the joker’s criminal history. Below this, “He’s a cold blooded, mass-murdering clown” has been written in a hand-written appearing font. This font has been used to appear as the jokers ramblings in an asylum.

The barcode is a convention that all magazine covers include. On this particular issue, the barcode has been positioned to the bottom left of the page, out of any important space.