The document provides an analysis of the Empire magazine front cover advertising the film "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith. It notes that the masthead is partially covered by Will Smith's head, showing Empire's confidence in their brand recognition. The main cover line and large image of Will Smith holding a weapon effectively advertise the horror film. Black, white and red colors, as well as a mysterious foggy effect, maintain a horror theme fitting for the genre. Smaller images and text plugs advertise other magazine contents, but clearly position the "I Am Legend" feature as most important. The analysis concludes by identifying design elements to incorporate in a magazine cover promoting their group's film.

1. Empire Magazine Front Cover Evaluation. Ryan Ward.
The Masthead of the magazine “EMPIRE” looks very clear and professional as expected, and
is partially covered up by Will Smith’s head. This shows that the people at Empire are very
confident that people know what Empire is, as it isn’t clear that the magazine is called
Empire, if anything in this case it is called “Emire”. Seen as my magazine front cover will be a
front cover of a debut issue I think I’ll stray away from covering up my Masthead even in the
slightest, as people will want to know what the magazine is called as they won’t already
know, due to it being brand new. The main cover line on the front cover greatly advertises
the film “I am Legend” through the use of large, bold text, accompanied by a large image of
Will Smith (the protagonist of the film) holding what appears to be a rather big rifle. The fact
that Will Smith is holding a weapon fits in with the genre of horror, as weapons are a key
code/convention to the Horror genre. Seen as the magazine mainly advertises a horror film,
it is only right/likely that the whole of the front cover will retain a horror theme. The
immediately evident house-style retained within this particular “EMPIRE” magazine front
cover relates to the genre of horror, due to the use of horror-associated colours like black,
white and red. Black gives connotations of night time and fear, the particular white used on
this front cover looks ghoulish and paranormal, and red gives connotations of danger and
blood, all key elements of the horror genre. A mysterious, foggy effect is visible on the
whole of the front cover, majorly fitting in with the whole horror theme of it too. The use of
all these things make this particular front cover effective and clear in advertising the horror
film “I am Legend”. Various other plugs, puffs and cover lines clearly advertise other
elements of this particular issue of the magazine, but nowhere near as clearly as “I am
Legend” is advertised, as they are not as important as the “I am Legend” feature. Smaller
images of other films are shown at the bottom of the front cover, to clearly advertise other
features of the magazine, but yet again not as clearly as the “I am Legend” feature, as yet
again they are not as important as the “I am Legend” feature of this particular issue of the
magazine. I will use ideas from this front cover in my own front cover, such as; a large clear
and professional Masthead, a large, clear main cover line and image advertising our group’s
film, a professional and consistent house-style consisting of horror-related colours, plugs,
puffs and cover lines advertising less important elements of the issue of the magazine, and
horror-related effects on the front cover such as fog/mist.