In Depth magazine Analysis

By Karim Assassi, Aaron McCann

 The graphic features of the
magazine include the
‘EMPIRE’ masthead to be
set ablaze and appear red
hot like molten rock as to
indicate the intense story
and action to be brought by
‘HELLBOY 2’
Cover lines
The direct mode of address
is a cold and angered stare
from Hell Boy holding his
clenched fist in the palm of
his hand raised to his chin
and a half visible growling
like grin, indicating that he
means business. This
message is then reinforced
by the main cover line
placed just under his
mighty looking fist
stating…“YOU AND
WHOSE GOLDEN
ARMY?”
Call out : ’40 movies
that will get you
sex!’ a striking
statement which
immediately grabs
the attention of the
reader. The light
brown colour of the
callout lined with
white bordering on
the black
background aids
greatly in helping
the callout to stand
out!
“Optimus prime arrives!”
this callout gives the
reader little more info to
that the reader would
have already gathered
from the central image
that dominates this
cover standing strongly
in front of the of the
planet as if it’s a
protector behind the title
“transformers”.
“world exclusive!” in most
cases the story would
have already been
released to fans who
make an effort to
research into a topic like
this, so this “world
exclusive” could simply
be a technique to draw in
readers.

After seeing the other

Barcode away “star” titles it becomes
from any main even more noticeable as
features and is not other features films
a distraction from mentioned have no
the contents of pictures of other as the
this cover. previously analyzed
public enemies front
cover.

“open now breathing
cover” this callout
mentions a very
unique “breathing
cover” an iconic
feature that would
attract a reader
perhaps outside of
the star wars fans .
A globally known character is
shown dominating this cover,
this in itself is enough to sell
the magazine to the millions
of international fans of the
starwars series. We see
nothing else except stars in
the background, which has
little informative benefit other
than to inform the audience
of the setting of this story or
to inform us of its genre.
Sell line: ‘LIMITED
EDITION EPISODE III
COLLECTORS
EDITION’ This is a
highly desirable issue as
it is collectable and
therefore does not
require lots of cover
lines to sell well, instead
they would cramp the
style of darth Vader and
make the issue seem
like any other
insignificant.
The contrasting Black,
Red and White colours
are highly significant to
the feel of the film. Black
indicating the dark side
and the shadowing
presence of galactic
empire. White is scarce
indicating the scattered
and force for good in the
film. Red for the conflict
and the heated relations
in the film and the saga
reaches its final frontier.

A callout advertising the
coverage of ghost busters
three… the iconic ‘no
ghosts’ sign from the film
made highly visible by the
black background instantly
catches the eyes of film
fanatics.
The empire website is show
here below the Masthead,
but visible but not
overpowering on the other
areas of text as it doesn’t sell
the magazine and is not key
to the readers desired info.
The smoke indicating a
theme of mystery as well as
the theme of criminals hidden
behind ‘smoke and mirrors’ in
the cover featured film
“PUBLIC ENEMIES”. The
bold grey colour of the main
cover line further emphasises
this feel of Depp being
hidden by a veil of smoke.
The use of the
buzzword “STEALS”
gives a good effect in
relation to the plot of the
film and main image of
Depp in a dark jacket
wearing leather gloves
and clutching a slick
looking gun with both
hands is chilling and
gives off a sense of the
nature of this character.
Other films being featured
and covered by this issue
of EMPIRE are shown and
advertised by the heading
‘HEROES OF 2010!’ with
clear cut pictures of the
key heroic characters of
the covered films along
with their film names in red
on a white background to
really bring out the high
impacting visual pulling
power of the magazine.
Since Depp is
covering the space
of the m where the
price would go it
has been placed
neatly along with
the date above the
barcode.
Callout “magazine of the
year 2010” if anything
would attract a reader to
this magazine it would be
this.

The high contrast of the

bright yellow highlights on
the darker blue background
really bring out the selling
points of the cover Main Cover Line in
“WORLD EXCLUSIVE” white clearly
standing out
, “Plus!” and “ +” amongst the
dominating dark
blue colours of this
magazine cover
The florescent colour coding of
the magazine is significant to the
feel of the film ‘TRON LEGACY’
adding to the futuristic and high Cover image
tech feel to be given off be the comes out over
film . The powerful and the top of the
determined look of the barcode
“bike/racer” in conjunction with
showing the
the smooth and brushed metal
importance of
effect of the bike travelling at high
speed suggests the high the magazines
powered and fast pace of this content and
futuristic action thriller. coverage
 The energized blue visual of
The central image the the ‘EMPIRE’ masthead
‘IRON MAN’ occupies with surging with electricity is
massive presence close explanatory of the magazine
to the entire magazine overloaded state filled with
cover, and at its heart is energy packed content, with no
his heart fully energized doubt thanks the its main
and glowing brilliantly, feature on “IRON MAN 2”
creating an image of
power and dominance.

“plus three amazing
features” 3 features films
get less of an attention
than the iron man 2 sequel
but the colour and font
makes them noticeable to
the reader
Callout “ultimate
review of 2009” a
hyperbole that makes
the reader believe the
amount of expertise
that goes into this
magazine, and thus
makes it an attraction.