Magazine cover analysis

By Laurena Etwi

Most „Empire‟ film magazines have a short and fiery sentence on the cover, which

leads the audience to feel intrigued to read the rest of the magazine. This

magazine has two: “The girls of Skyfall!” is a short and powerful sentence, it is

used on this magazine with the aim to attract people who are already familiar with

the girls, and to make those who aren‟t familiar curious. The other phrase “The

ultimate superhero movie assembled inside!” uses a powerful noun, (ultimate)

which means the finest or most superior quality of its kind, to persuade its

audience that the movie the magazine is based on is of high quality and worth

purchasing.

The central image shows the protagonist of the movie „The Avengers‟, as this is

meant to be the „main story‟ and theme of the magazine. Its purpose is to grab

people their attention, hence the size compared to the smaller images, which show

the smaller films that are also featured In the magazine. Her props link to the

Action/Science Fiction genre of the movie, which helps ensure that people who

buy the magazine know this before they purchase the magazine.

The magazine uses Z- pattern advertising which is a theory that promotes the

idea that people scan images in a Z pattern. The important elements are placed in

Z to make sure that they are seen.

The magazine cover uses similar fonts which creates a professional and simple

theme, and makes it more pleasant for people to read the text. Also the font is bold

and stands out, it is easy to be seen from a distance (eye-catching).

The colour scheme of this magazine is orange, yellow and white. They are

contrasting colours and help make the cover bold and eye-catching. It also goes

with the Avengers theme which creates a level of pragmatics with the audience.

The choose your avenger badge gives people choice which is something that

magazines tend to do so that the audience feels more involved rather than just a

reader of the magazine.

Over all the magazine has a „cool‟ and spy-like look and theme to it. This relates to the movie that the magazine is promoting. It has a similar

affect as a poster would as it creates curiosity within the consumers and it therefore acts as one of the stages of promotion that movies go

through when they are for instance bringing out a brand new movie or a continuation of an already existing movie..

An significant feature on a magazine cover is the

barcode and the price and it is always shown clearly

to make it easy for consumption. This poster however

has chosen an unusual location for the barcode as it

is found in corners of covers most of the time.

The magazine has a fairly busy layout, it

is however still a very traditional one as it

has the star of the movie in the centre

and all the less important information

around it, this helps guide the consumer

through the images and text on the cover.

This magazine uses a celebrity to help

sell it, this is something that a lot of

magazines do, as it encourages people

who are already familiar with the celebrity

to pay to watch the movie and buy the

magazine. Even though the movie may

be aimed at both women and men the

magazine uses a good looking male

character which will appeal to

women, making them more interested

and expanding the movie/magazine‟s

consumer market. Men on the other hand

may look up to the celebrity, and this

could also lead to them wanting to pay for

the product.

A significant feature of this poster

is the text at the top which acts as

a tool to persuade people to pick

up the magazine. It refers to the

magazine issue as mind-

blowing, the use of this strong

adjective may leave one to feel

intrigued and this is the aim of

using specific words on a

magazine cover.

This magazine follows a dark

colour scheme .which relates to

the genre of the movie

(Action/Science Fiction). The most

important parts of the poster are

made more visible as they are in

red, white and the title is in silver

making it appear as steal or

robotic. The title‟s graphology has

also been changed to link with the

science Fiction theme of the

movie. The character‟s props are

not as visible which creates a level

of mystery when looking at the

cover, as it makes you question

what he is holding and what his

intentions are.

As the cover is the first thing people

see, it is meant to give enough

information on it‟s content so that people

know what they are paying for and what

they will find inside the magazine. This

magazine shows headings of topics that

will be addressed but leaves room for

imagination and surprises so that

customers feel like they have no choice

but to buy the magazine if they want to

find out more.

Other features on this magazine include the barcode, which is present on nearly every movie

magazine cover I have seen and looked at so far, in the bottom-right corner.

Something that is less-commonly found on magazine covers is the badge (that says “Tron

everything you need to know”) it stands out and is an interesting way of presenting important

texts on a magazine front cover.

This magazine arguably uses the male gaze (Laura Mulvey), to get

men interested in buying the magazine as even though Angelina Jolie

is fully clothed, she is still seen as a sexually attractive celebrity world

wide. This magazine uses her specifically not only because she is the

main character of “Tomb raider” but because she appeals to the right

audience, which would include men specifically but also women.

The technique of giving freebies is

very known with magazines as it

makes the consumer feel as if they

are getting more value for their

money. This magazine makes

clear that there is a „FREE‟

Gatefold poster inside the

magazine as it uses graphological

features to highlight this.

As this magazine is a collector‟s edition, it is aimed at people

who are mainly collectors and are therefore existing customers.

This may be the reason why the cover is kept simple and does

not use as many persuasve techniques as I have seen on most

movie magazine covers that I looked at.

Once again the barcode is visible on the Magazine cover, for

ease of selling. All magazines I have looked at so far include

this .

This magazine like many others follows the „Z‟ design to make

it easier for people to consume all the text and the main image

on the cover.

The magazine states that its an official movie magazine and

uses the „Paramount‟ trademark which is universally known,

creating trust between the consumer and the product.