This front cover analysis of the film magazine 'Empire' promotes the sequel to the film 'The Dark Knight'. The cover uses horror conventions through its dark colors and typography. The main image of the Joker is dark and mysterious, highlighting his importance to the narrative. Sell lines about the director and other films attract the target audience of film enthusiasts. Overall the cover employs simple yet effective layout and design conventions to promote the featured film through its unsettling visuals and relevant information.

1. Magazine Front Cover Analysis 2:
Skyline
EMPIRE
Institutional
Information
Mast
Head
Tag
Film
Line
Name
Main
Image
Sell Lines
Barcode

2. Here is the front cover from the well-known film magazine ‘Empire’, this front cover is promoting the sequel to the film
‘The Dark Knight’ based on the film sequel ‘The Dark Knight’ within this front cover analysis I will uncover the features,
codes and convention which are presented on this front cover which could relate to horror conventions.
Firstly starting off with the use of the colours and typography for the masthead for example the use of black is very
common due to it being a particular colour which is very dark and associated with all things horror, with the writing having
a green out line also gives an element of horror as many may correlate the colour of green with evil and possession. The
use of the green writing is also used throughout the rest of the sell lines on the front cover to correlate the use of the title
and sell lines together, giving a scary element to the magazine without having to change the writing to fit the theme. The
typography of the masthead is very bold this attracts the audience as it stands out and by standing out and allowing the
audience to recognise the name it maintains the brand identity of the magazine and company.
The use of the main image is very effective as it is dark and mysterious; the use of the background being completely black
keeping the theme of horror within the frame this allows the audience to believe that this film is going to be very dark and
mysterious. The fact that the colour is all on his face accept round his eyes shows that there is something dark within him,
the phrase ‘there more than what meets the eyes’ can relate her and may be playing on this to show that he is more
powerful and horrific in what we see or could be the other way in the sense that the image portrays he is completely
horrific and troublesome whereas this may not necessarily be the case. The fact that the frame is full of the image of this
character may be to highlight that he is a main character within the film and has an important part in the narrative, using
him as the main image will allow the target audience to take note of this and if ever to watch the film realise the
correlation of him being a main focus the use of the purple clothing correlation with the green writing is effective as it
clashes and if people have seen the film they would realise that these two colours along with the Jokers red mouth is a
part of The Jokers signature look which there for highlights the film within this magazine front cover. The use of the
lighting on this film magazine front cover is used to high light the characters face, there is a special focus within the area of
his eyes there is black all around the eye but the light on the face brings out his eyes and therefore makes the image more
horrifying as well as mysterious.
Within the film poster for the film there is a correlation between the film poster as well as this film magazine, this shows a
symbiotic link between the two which allows the target audience to register the link between the two and there for will
want to pick the magazine up and read it, as they may have recognised the character through this link. However the
difference between the two is very similar as they have swapped the use of colours as this film magazine have taken the
approach of using the signature green as their main colour throughout the front cover of the magazine , and having his
white face as the background colour. Whereas within the film poster they have taken the opposite approach and used
white as the main colour and left the green to a minimum.
The lack of sell lines placed on the front cover shows that there is a large focus on the main image however the sell lines
which are placed on front cover state ‘Clint Makes Our Day’ this would interest and appeal to the target audience
massively as they would be huge film ‘geeks’ and would be aware of this director and there for interest them to purchase
this magazine. The use of other films being mentioned will show that they are attracting a particular audience as they are
all very boy type thriller films, which are mysterious and can have elements of horror for example using ‘ the hobbit’ as a
sell line will attract the audience further. The type of text in which the sell lines have used is occurring throughout the
whole of the front cover showing and maintains brand identity, as well as keeping it easy for the target audience to read
and can be seen as the simpler the look of the magazine is the more attractive it could be. The mode of address which has
been used throughout the sell lines is very simple and snappy this can help attract people to read as it won’t take long to
read and there for attracts to the audience quicker. The layout of the front cover is simple but attractive the ratio of the
image and text is largely more towards the image as it takes up most of the frame and there for could mean that the
majority of the magazine will be based around this film. The use of the conventions used on this particular magazine is
very effective as it highlights the use of sell lines and sticks to the conventions of having the masthead being at the top and
taking up one quarter of the top half of the magazine ensuring that they are aware that it’s from this brand.