Magazine front cover Analysis - Empire New Moon

 

The front cover of the December 2009 issue of Empire is advertising the film ‘Twilight: New Moon’. The main actor within this film is Robert Pattinson; this film is based around a guy named Edward who leaves a female named Bella after an attack that nearly claimed her life. She was in the midst of depression and falls into yet another paranormal relationship; this time with the werewolf Jacob Black.

Robert Pattinson’s facial appearance has been created with make-up and evokes a sense of horror. His face appears to be very pale and powdered white and his eyes seems to be very piercing and look un-human. They look like the eyes of a possessed person, similar to the eyes of the aliens that play the characters in the movie Avatar.

 

 The masthead that features on this particular issue of Empire is slightly different to the one that features on other issues of Empire magazine front covers. Each letter of the masthead has a thin white border which gives it a bold yet mysterious appearance. However this particular magazine front cover still maintains brand identity. The font used for the masthead of Empire’s December 2009 issue is a basic bold Serif font, accompanied by a strong red blood colour. Using the colour red is effective as it matches well with the meaning of the masthead. The colour red connotes strength, forcefulness and power. Furthermore the colour red also connotes danger which reflects the narrative of this family of drama/adventure films. The masthead takes up the whole of the top quarter of the page (length ways). This is the typical placement and size used for magazine titles therefore this title is following general conventions. The masthead is bold yet simple allowing it to be easily read and ensuring that it catches the eye of ‘Arden’ film fans.

The target audience of Empire is ABC1 males who are professional and affluent, with a high disposable income. They are most likely early twenties to mid/late thirties. They are into gadgets (e.g. iPhone, iPad, gaming, etc), film, obviously (thriller and action, mainly), music and socialising. This male is an intelligent, masculine, but a bit of a 'geek', perhaps, has a good sense of humour and sophisticated tastes in his areas of interest. He may be in a committed relationship.

The masthead may appeal to this target audience of ABC1 males because of its simplicity. Furthermore each issue of Empire features the same size, colour and large sized masthead.  The large size allows the masthead to be easily recognized by its loyal fans. As mentioned this maintains brand identity and will keep the magazines sales at its regular pace thanks to its regular buyers.
 

The main sell line that features on this magazine front cover is the yellow text that states ‘Twilight: New Moon’; quoting the name of the film. This sell-line is used to lure in the Arden film fans of this family of Twilight films. New Moon is the second film of the set and film fans that would have viewed the first Twilight would be interested in this film as they will be want to fulfill their need for a adventure film that features elements of danger and uncontrollable situations that must be resolved. The family of Twilight films are very popular and are known sell out on the day/night of the release date. To date there are now 4 films within the family; the last to have been released was ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ in 2011.         

 

 

The name ‘Twilight: New Moon’ suggests that this film is going to bring something ‘new’ to its audience and that fantasy based film will unveil things that haven’t been shown (played) before. This sell-line is in a large sized font to attract the audience of the first Twilight film that was released. The sell-line on the page is the main feature that grabs our eye.  This colour of the masthead may reflect the target readership. Red is a colour associated with power, strength and male dominance. The main sell-line acts as a label for the image; it signifies to us what film is being advertised. The colour (yellow) of the sell-line is used to enforce the fact that this film is an ‘adventure/drama/fantasy’ film. Moreover, the font used is a serif font which is in upper case and bold. The font is wide so that it can fill the width of the page, it is therefore eye catching and the yellow enables it to stand out due to the dark surroundings behind Robert Pattinson.  

 The second main sell-line is situated on the right hand side of the page, and says ’23 page special, 20 years of alien new interviews rare photos’. This sell-line is coloured in lime green. This colour is very effective and of course relates to the word ‘alien’ as they are commonly known and described as green figures. The phrase in this sell-line and the colour used for it; reflects the fact that this film is a fantasy and not just a film that illustrates reality.  I believe that these unconventional bold unique colours will effectively lure in the correct target audience that are fans of films that have the ability to take an audience away from reality; for the period of time that the film is being shown.

  Similarly to the issue of Empire that shows Harry Potter on the front cover, all the colours that feature on this front cover are primary colours. This follows the general conventions of magazine front covers and ensures that the front cover is simple but at the same time serves it purpose. The two main sell-lines are placed in completely opposite places on the page. However the overall placement of text and the main image on the front cover sticks to the general layout of magazine front

 covers and prevents the Twilight: New Moon film well to satisfy its audience.