An initial analysis of Empire magazine ahead of the ancillary tasks for our A2 Media Studies coursework.

1. Analysis of Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine isa monthlyBritishpublicationbyBauerConsumerMediaof Hamburg.Foundedin
1989, ithas an average circulationof around145,000 makingit the largestfilmmagazine inthe UK.
The primarytarget audience forthe publicationismenaged 18-39 witha keyinterestinfilm.The
USP of the magazine isthe combinationof reviewsof mainstreamreleasesaswell asmore
independentfilms.
Masthead
Puff
Pug
Skyline
Coverlines
Splash
Kicker
Box
Out

2. The firstinterestingthingtonote aboutthispublicationisthe choice of language withinthe skyline.
Describingthe issue as‘Amazing’isaplayon the fact that itis a Superheroeditionas‘amazing’isthe
sort of terminology (buzz-word) toexpectfromfilmsof thatgenre.Furthermore,the factthatthe
image of HenryCavill takesuphalf of the issue coveristo try anduse an image froma filmthatis
currentlywell knowninthe publicinterestinordertosell more copies.Itisalsointerestingto note
the image of him obscuresthe title of publication.Thiscouldprobablynotbe done withalesser
knownmagazine asthe name of the organisationisusuallyrequiredinordertoreinforce their
branding.Yetas “The World’sBiggestMovie Magazine”,thisisprobablysomethingthattheycan
affordto do- showingthattheirbrandinghasalreadybecome iconicwithinsociety. However,this
coveralsoutilitiesthe coverlinesinordertopromote the otherstoriesthatare withinthe
publication.Itisnotenoughtojusthave the coverstar as that mightnot be enoughtoentice certain
people tobuythat issue,whereasif theypromote aselectionof theircontent,thenone of those
featuresmightappeal toa prospective buyer. The filmsthatare advertisedare all mainstream
releasesmeaningthatthispublicationcanappeal toa general audience.The use of aSans-Serif font
placesmore emphasisontothe ‘Manof Steel’title- whichisinboldSerif lettering. Thiscanapplyto
the pug inthe bottomleftcorner as well.The language of the posterisextremely exclamative in
orderto hyperbolisethe contenttomake itmore excitingforthe reader.Finally,the use of adark
blackcolourhas beenusedtoemphasise the picture of Cavill andpresentsagoodconflict between
goodvs evil.
So itis clearthat thiscoverhas beendesignedwithamore mainstreamaudience inmind.The use of
popularfilmsandfiguresdiffersfromthatof Sight& Sound- highlightingthe differencesintheir
target audiences.