Empire Deconstruction

Film magazines are often very different from normal magazines such as ‘Heat’ and ‘Star’, but they still follow their own conventions. Empire is one of the most popular film magazines and so only feature the must see films of the month that all film fanatics are talking about for example ‘Harry Potter’ of ‘The Dark Knight’. For film magazines the front cover is all about the picture and is usually more of an advertisement than a magazine cover, and the picture will usually be of the main character or the most well known actor of the film that is the main feature inside the magazine.

The masthead contains the title of the magazine, ‘Empire’, which takes up around a third of cover, as this is a well known magazine and the same colour and font type is used in every issue the title is will recognizable meaning it can be partially covered by the image, but still be spotted on the shelf amongst over film magazines. Just above the title is the line ‘The Dark Knight World Exclusive’, this tells the reader that this particular issue is dedicated to the ‘Batman’ film, and gives us a certain impression of the magazine, as the film is very well known and widely talked about when it was released. The fact that the magazine has dedicated an issue in celebration on the film, featuring one of the main characters on the front cover tells the reader that this is a must read, if you are to get the ‘exclusive’ on the film. This tempts the reader to buy the magazine and ensures a young, male and female, target audience. Also in the top third of the page is the date of the issue, the price and the website, this is so that the most important information, including where to find them on the internet are all in plain sight for the reader and one of the first things we see after the image, which takes the main focus, as intended.

The main text on the cover, which is partly covering the main image, is describing the picture. The text is in the same style as you would find in the film or on the poster, ‘Meet the Joker’; this ties in with the whole theme of the issue and again reinforces the ‘Batman’ topic. Also, underneath is the line ‘He’s a cold blooded, mass-murdering clown!’ this looks like it has been hand carved, possibly using a knife, which introduces the character to the reader and again runs with the theme of the magazine. This technique suggests to the reader that the article inside the magazine, based on the ‘Batman’ film is more about the character ‘The Joker’ rather than the actor himself, meaning we should expect this theme to run throughout the article and see more of the same inside.

Although film magazines are different they do share some of the conventions of normal magazine, for example, using the circle with text inside it on the cover, drawing the audience’s attention. But while other magazines usually use this technique to put numbers in to show facts and statistics this magazine has just used it so that the reader will take notice, putting only text inside it. Much like a music magazine, ‘Empire’ has a ‘PLUS!’ section at the bottom of the page which tells the reader other things to expect inside, giving actors names and other well known film titles. Texts for other features are kept only on the right hand side of the page, whilst the texts for the main feature are on the left. This is so that the audience has a clear understanding of the main feature.

The image takes up best part of the cover, and the character is placed in the centre of the page making him the main focus and drawing the attention of the reader immediately. The actor is dressed in the characters cloths, again telling us that the article is about ‘The Joker’. He is sitting on a bench with his shoulders and knees square, showing us his bloody hands on his lap, in a very confrontational stance, this backs us the line that we see, that looks hand carved, possibly in a style that you would see him perform in the film. He has his head down with his eyes looking up, facing the audience, this makes the viewer uncomfortable, putting him in a superior position and making the audience inferior to ‘The Joker’ giving him the power and gaining the same respect for the character from us, as the readers as he gets from the viewers of the film. ‘The Joker’ also has a smile of his face like he has in the film, again making the viewer very uncomfortable. Unlike other magazines, the image of the character has not been cut out of the background and placed on a new one for the cover, instead it is used for the background for the magazine; this shows the reader more of the film and also reinforces the fact that the magazine is dedicated to the film and the image is a very big aspect of this issue’s cover.

The three main colour of the cover are black, green and purple, as these are the colours we see frequently throughout the film and match ‘The Joker’s’ clothes, these are unusual colours but will be more noticeable amongst the rest of the magazines on the shelf and will be easily recognizable. The text is white and so it will stand out on the dark background and give the text a sharp look following the thriller genre. ‘The Batman’ theme runs throughout the front cover with the only difference being the title which is the usual red, in order for it to stand out on the shelf as this particular magazine for new and regular readers to buy.