Empire Magazine Analysis Essay

Empire Magazine Analysis


This is a front cover from an issue of Empire Magazine from 2008. Empire is a magazine centred around films and at times, regularly associated with actors/actresses, recording artists and film and music producers among others.

This particular magazine cover is the one that I will analyse, the cover of Empire featuring Robert Downey Jr. as the main image. To begin with, I will mention that, starting from the top, there is an enticing opening message, used as a tagline to accompany the masthead. It is also notable that the tagline of many magazines is always trademark and the same, but for Empire this feature varies to suit the summary of each issue of the magazine. The golden colour of the message connotes a winning and positive manner in which the message has been attempted to be put across by the creators of the magazine cover, and the masthead is one of, if not the most important feature of the cover and almost all magazine covers. Obviously, it reads "Empire" and this particular masthead is in a bold, dangerous, serious red, which attracts eyesight immediately as the colour is on a darker background and the rest of the cover lacks a range of colours. The colour red can signify love (could be love for films, actors or just the magazine) but on the other hand can indicate danger and preparation, and the need to be noticed, which it certainly is.

Then comes the commanding cover photo, of world-famous actor Robert Downey Jr. His pose is belittling to others and shows his immense power and authority as should be the case on the cover of a leading magazine. He is in this pose to show his status as his new role in his latest film, the Iron Man. The dark background of the cover merges into a spotlight feature, focusing on Downey Jr. to highlight his authoritative appearance even further and to let readers know his vital importance to the magazine. His figure notably overlaps the masthead too. This is because not only do readers know what the magazine title is anyway so it loses introductory importance, it furthermore indicates how essential Downey Jr. is to this issue of the magazine and how he can appear to be "more important than the magazine itself" if you like; a lot of other magazines use this tactic. He is holding Iron Man-related props in either hand, and has a trademark lighting feature in the centre of his torso, which is puffed out to enhance his visual appearance, masterminded by the photographers at Empire. He also gives partially direct address, looking towards the camera but slightly downwards in a manner appearing to seem alert and prepared, and moreover demanding. The words "Iron Man" are outstanding in a bright white on the dark background, below reading a quote: "Attitude? You damn betcha!" suiting Downey Jr. and his role very well. This quote is in a commanding font style and the same dangerous red as used for the masthead. Graphology also becomes taken into account, as the quote appears to have a blur feature to it, to add an aspect of speed to it, relevant to action movies.

Looking past the intimidating cover photo and its affiliated features, the bottom of the cover adds the sub-categories of the magazine. These are the other articles in the magazine, just not the main one which takes up the majority of the cover to let readers know what the magazine primarily focuses on in this edition. The introducing word to the host of sub-categories is "Plus!" which connotes equal importance to the main article (which of course still isn't the case) and encourages readers to still hold excitement over these supporting articles. Box-outs are stretched down the right-hand side of the cover, which is a change to the usual left-side that a lot of magazines opt for and Empire do themselves sometimes. These show stylish images of other film stars (Shia LeBoeuf, Ben Barnes and Emile Hirsch) in other new roles of theirs in films, accompanied by small titles (a bright white and silky gold on the dark background), informing the reader of their new roles in an upbeat way, attempting to lure the readers into viewing more of these categories. Box-outs are used as many readers are attracted to images and prefer them over extra words and they are clear and outstanding on backgrounds. This box-out technique could also increase reading figures in a way, as even children and people who aren't gifted at reading can look at pictures and use them to base their opinions on the magazine just like literate people would with words. However, these box-outs are notably ranging in size due to their incapability to overlap the cover photo. Nothing overlaps the cover photo! Downey Jr. is the most important article and so the creators of the cover have ensured that this image maintains all major leadership. The barcode is positioned bold and clear in the bottom-right corner of the cover in plenty of space for easy scanning upon purchase, and even the smallest of features can be noticed and have an effect. By this, I mean that where the time of issue and the price are situated just in amongst the masthead, they are shown to look like rolling credits at the end of a film or TV programme, used by the creators of the cover so as to keep all relevance of the topic of film. These small factors assist to maintain Empire's status as one of the world's leading film and music magazines, as well as the larger and more obvious factors, and how they correspond to their target audience.