Analyzing Magazine front covers

Magazine front cover 1:

The magazine front cover that I am Analysing is called Empire. The purpose of this magazine is to inform the target audience of the new movie news, film and DVD reviews, celebrity interviews, competitions and more. It provides interesting information to the reader about new films coming out.

The target audience of this magazine would be men of any age between 15 to thirty. The reason i say this as the colours and films used and advertised on this front cover in my opinion would more appeal to men.

The target audience would be on a average income (meduim/high) meaning the magazine is £3.99 a bit more expensive than other magazines.

The masthead is in large red typogrpahy The letters are seperated and the middle letter is covered by Leonardo Dicaprios head. The title of the magazine has no indication that the magazine is about films.

The feature article photograph is an image taken from the new release 'inception' The background is an image taken from the film of city buildings. Leonardo stands with a gun in his hand his facial expression is very serious and he is not holding eye contact with the audience. He is wearing a black suit indicating authority. Tnhe use of guns, authrotive clothing reinforces the genre that the movie is, action thriller.

Inception is written across the middle of the magazine. The wrtiting is red which connotes danger as well as anger, which links in with Leonardo holding a gun.

The other writing around Leonardo looks like it is being sucked into something. This may give an idea of what happens in the film. The writing is black and contrasts nicely with the red. The two main colours used on the magazine are black and red this again gives a sombre look to the magazine.

There are various cover lines placed randomly on the front cover. Giving snippets of the storys held inside. This will encourage readers to buy this magazine.

Magazine front cover 2:

• The magazine I am analysing is called Total FILM. The purpose of this magazine is to inform its target audience of the latest film releases.
• I would say the age group for this magazine would range from about 20-30 as the film looks slightly older. In my opinion this magazine would appeal more to males rather that females. I think this because of the colours used, the film looks slightly more appealing to males and females may prefer something a bit more feminine.
• The masthead is a large white font. The word total is superimposed into the white writing, overlapping the white writing is the main picture. This may have been done to show this man is important to the magazine.
• Half way down the page is more writing, the writing looks broken this gives an indication that the genre is thriller, the writing isn't neat or girly, its fierce and obvious.
• I find the picture used really interesting it almost looks 3D. The gun seems to be coming out of the page. The subject isn't looking at the audience and seems to be focused on something else this suggests that he is aiming his gun at someone, his facial expression is serious.
• The fact that the picture seems 3D will make the reader feel more involved in the story. As we don't no what the subject is pointing his gun out it leaves readers in suspense making them want to see the film.
• The rest of the front cover is fairly plain in the background of the image its night time, dark and solemn colours are used to give it an eerie feel.
• There is little other writing on the magazine front cover, but the writing there is it telling the reader of what the magazine contains.

Magazine front cover 3:

• The main title follows the theme of the red brightly coloured bold typography. They have done this to make the title stand out from the dull background.
• Johnny Depps head covers the M this is done to show his importance, hinting that he is the main character in the film.
• PUBLIC ENEMIES the title of the film is the next largest piece of writing on the front cover, this writing is in a different colour and font. The fact it is the next largest is to show its importance, as this is the film the magazine front cover is advertising.
• The main feature article photograph is of Johnny Depp, he is clasping a gun that it pointing upwards, he is not looking at the audience instead focusing on something in the distance. He wars a black top hat and a black suit, this shows that what he is doing is a serious event, it also shows some sort of authority.
• The background is made up of grey and white smoke, at the bottom of the image his black coat is overlapped by some of the smoke, this special effect may have been used to hint at a fire or to hint at what setting he is in.
• At the bottom left hand corner is a red + and then some red writing this matches the main title making it more obvious to the readers eye.
• Other images are displayed up the right hand side showing that this magazine is about films. It also shows that the main picture from the film public enemies isn't all the magazine will be about.

After looking at these four magazine front covers we decided our genre was going to be supernatural thriller. All the magazines i had analysed were thriller genre. I am now going on to analyze one more magazine front cover to give me ideas for my own.