Magazine information
Empire is a British film magazine that is published by monthly by Bauer Consumer Media, producer 12 copies per annum. The magazine produces articles based on both mainstream and art based films, focusing mainly in the modern productions for the feature articles. They regularly include count down lists involving successful scenes in well known movies, for example 'top 10 chase scenes' as these engage the audience in media related topics, as they are linked to the genre of the magazine. It was first published in 1989. Empire also publishes it's magazine digitally and has a website where exclusive interviews and features are located. The covers of most issues follow the conventions of magazine covers; this will be analysed below.
Main image
The main image of this magazine cover is a mid/long shot of a male, Heath Ledger's character The Joker from 'The Dark Knight'. The Joker is well known character involved the Batman franchise, and is commonly associated with the role of the antagonist, as a result by including him on the front cover it is making reference to the popular film franchise and therefore makes the film recognisable to a passing audience. The male is sitting on a bench in front of a bar-like wall; this can indicate that he is some sort of cage, potentially a prison cell - by showing this on the front cover of the Empire it would connote to the audience that the character featured is the antagonist as he is located in a place that represents 'evil'. The character is centrally located on the page which will draw the most amount of attention to him as possible, encouraging the audience to purchase the magazine; The Joker's head is layered over part of the masthead, signifying his importance as the feature character. The stance that he is taking, with his hands on his legs signifies that he holds power and strength, a theme that is recurring in the Batman films; the cover therefore follows the conventions of a film magazine by carrying the themes of the film onto the cover.
His head is slightly tilted towards the ground, and he is using direct mode of address by looking directly into the camera with one eye - this helps to engage the audience and draw them in to learn more about the character.
The lighting used for this shot, is mainly low key for example areas such as the left side of the jokers body is shadowed whereas his hands and right side of his face in particular are well lit perhaps done during editing. The lighting is effectively used here as along with the joker’s facial expression, clothing and makeup the cover connotes a sinister more edgy look. It helps to reflect the personality of the character by presenting him as 'scruffy'. The use of low key lighting around the edges of the magazine further presents The Joker as the focal image, as it almost shows him in a spot light of colour and light, making him the only visible person on the cover.
The Joker notoriously wears make up to present himself in a clown-like manner, and this is also used in the magazine cover; it gives him a careless look as well as highlighting the familiar scar on his mouth with the red lipstick.
The only secondary image that is used on this magazine cover is the Batman franchise logo, which is located above Heath Ledger's head. This helps the audience to associated themselves with the film and recognise previous film involving the character featured on the front cover. Having the Batman logo above The Joker can connote that Batman will always hold more power over The Joker, no matter what he does, suggesting that there is some conflict in the film.
Colour scheme
Film magazine front covers generally follow the themes of the film that they are featuring, and Empire adheres to this convention by including colours that are associated with The Joker. The main colour palette of the cover is parallel to The Joker's outfit; the main colours are Purple, Green and Red with white text and a semi-signature red empire masthead. The colour scheme is successful and pleasing to the eye, as we are able to make the association between the jokers costume and the colour scheme of the magazine front cover. The bright colours used on the cover reflect his role as a clown, as mentioned in the quote just below the word 'Joker', and this is also followed by showing his socks; they contain all of the colours that are present on the cover, tying in the colours to his personality and taste. The combination of pink and green stereotypically appeals to both genders, and therefore widens the demographic of both the film and the magazine. The only use of the colour red is in the masthead of the magazine, and although this is a common masthead colour for the magazine it also supports the joker themed colour scheme breaking up the green and purple slightly, therefore drawing the audiences attention to the title of the magazine in an attempt to make it a brand that people remember when they next see the masthead. Black is a prevalent colour in the background of the cover, mainly being located at the edges of the magazine to ensure that The Joker is the focal image of the magazine; to also foreshadows an element of darkness in the film as black has connotations of evil or mystery.
Text features
There are a couple of sections on this cover that use text to help explain the context of the film to the audience as there aren't many secondary images so text is used to describe further features in the magazine. Above the mast head is the name of the film featuring. ‘The Dark Knight-World Exclusive’ is in the same font as ‘Empire’ and is separated by the batman logo, which has bright streaks of light behind it which features in the film's trailer. The date the magazine was released has been put in between the “M” of “EMPIRE” and has three different prices on it, depending where the magazine has been brought. The main cover article is “Meet the Joker… One on One with Batman’s new nemesis” The font of “JOKER” connotes a playful yet sinister theme. The “O” and the “E” look as if they have been stamped on the page and the whole word has the erosion effect which illustrates the lack of precision and care both in the joker’s appearance and his personality.
There is multiple use of exclamation marks on the cover, and by using an exclamation mark after world exclusive helps the audience to think that they will have something to talk about with other fans around the world but may also be in competition with other fans. The fans will have only one opportunity to get this. By having an exclamation mark after the other named films, this shows that these films may be well known and will subconsciously make the reader want to read these pages and buy the magazine for this purpose.
Masthead
The masthead is one of the main features of a magazine cover as it informs the audience on the title of the magazine, creating a brand that is memorable for people to recognise. Empire is written in a san serif font, which is considered a more modern font; reflecting the current and up to date stories that they publish in each issue. Sans serif is also quite a bold font, and the width can vary meaning that it is more likely to attract the audience as it stands out. The colour of the masthead follows the conventional Empire colour scheme by using red, which is used on many of the other magazine issues. Red has many connotations, one of them being a sense of danger; by featuring the antagonist of the film, the use of red is suitable as it connotes how dangerous the character is which will also inform the audience.
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