1. Magazine cover
analysis
By Laurena Etwi

2. Most „Empire‟ film magazines have a short and fiery sentence on the cover, which
leads the audience to feel intrigued to read the rest of the magazine. This
magazine has two: “The girls of Skyfall!” is a short and powerful sentence, it is
used on this magazine with the aim to attract people who are already familiar with
the girls, and to make those who aren‟t familiar curious. The other phrase “The
ultimate superhero movie assembled inside!” uses a powerful noun, (ultimate)
which means the finest or most superior quality of its kind, to persuade its
audience that the movie the magazine is based on is of high quality and worth
purchasing.
The central image shows the protagonist of the movie „The Avengers‟, as this is
meant to be the „main story‟ and theme of the magazine. Its purpose is to grab
people their attention, hence the size compared to the smaller images, which show
the smaller films that are also featured In the magazine. Her props link to the
Action/Science Fiction genre of the movie, which helps ensure that people who
buy the magazine know this before they purchase the magazine.
The magazine uses Z- pattern advertising which is a theory that promotes the
idea that people scan images in a Z pattern. The important elements are placed in
Z to make sure that they are seen.
The magazine cover uses similar fonts which creates a professional and simple
theme, and makes it more pleasant for people to read the text. Also the font is bold
and stands out, it is easy to be seen from a distance (eye-catching).
An significant feature on a magazine cover is the
barcode and the price and it is always shown clearly
to make it easy for consumption. This poster however
has chosen an unusual location for the barcode as it
is found in corners of covers most of the time.
The colour scheme of this magazine is orange, yellow and white. They are
contrasting colours and help make the cover bold and eye-catching. It also goes
with the Avengers theme which creates a level of pragmatics with the audience.
The choose your avenger badge gives people choice which is something that
magazines tend to do so that the audience feels more involved rather than just a
reader of the magazine.
Over all the magazine has a „cool‟ and spy-like look and theme to it. This relates to the movie that the magazine is promoting. It has a similar
affect as a poster would as it creates curiosity within the consumers and it therefore acts as one of the stages of promotion that movies go
through when they are for instance bringing out a brand new movie or a continuation of an already existing movie..

3. The magazine has a fairly busy layout, it
is however still a very traditional one as it
has the star of the movie in the centre
and all the less important information
around it, this helps guide the consumer
through the images and text on the cover.
This magazine uses a celebrity to help
sell it, this is something that a lot of
magazines do, as it encourages people
who are already familiar with the celebrity
to pay to watch the movie and buy the
magazine. Even though the movie may
be aimed at both women and men the
magazine uses a good looking male
character
which
will
appeal
to
women, making them more interested
and expanding the movie/magazine‟s
consumer market. Men on the other hand
may look up to the celebrity, and this
could also lead to them wanting to pay for
the product.
As the cover is the first thing people
see, it is meant to give enough
information on it‟s content so that people
know what they are paying for and what
they will find inside the magazine. This
magazine shows headings of topics that
will be addressed but leaves room for
imagination and surprises so that
customers feel like they have no choice
but to buy the magazine if they want to
find out more.
A significant feature of this poster
is the text at the top which acts as
a tool to persuade people to pick
up the magazine. It refers to the
magazine
issue
as
mindblowing, the use of this strong
adjective may leave one to feel
intrigued and this is the aim of
using specific words on a
magazine cover.
This magazine follows a dark
colour scheme .which relates to
the
genre
of
the
movie
(Action/Science Fiction). The most
important parts of the poster are
made more visible as they are in
red, white and the title is in silver
making it appear as steal or
robotic. The title‟s graphology has
also been changed to link with the
science Fiction theme of the
movie. The character‟s props are
not as visible which creates a level
of mystery when looking at the
cover, as it makes you question
what he is holding and what his
intentions are.
Other features on this magazine include the barcode, which is present on nearly every movie
magazine cover I have seen and looked at so far, in the bottom-right corner.
Something that is less-commonly found on magazine covers is the badge (that says “Tron
everything you need to know”) it stands out and is an interesting way of presenting important
texts on a magazine front cover.

4. This magazine arguably uses the male gaze (Laura Mulvey), to get
men interested in buying the magazine as even though Angelina Jolie
is fully clothed, she is still seen as a sexually attractive celebrity world
wide. This magazine uses her specifically not only because she is the
main character of “Tomb raider” but because she appeals to the right
audience, which would include men specifically but also women.
The technique of giving freebies is
very known with magazines as it
makes the consumer feel as if they
are getting more value for their
money. This magazine makes
clear that there is a „FREE‟
Gatefold
poster
inside
the
magazine as it uses graphological
features to highlight this.
Once again the barcode is visible on the Magazine cover, for
ease of selling. All magazines I have looked at so far include
this .
As this magazine is a collector‟s edition, it is aimed at people
who are mainly collectors and are therefore existing customers.
This may be the reason why the cover is kept simple and does
not use as many persuasve techniques as I have seen on most
movie magazine covers that I looked at.
This magazine like many others follows the „Z‟ design to make
it easier for people to consume all the text and the main image
on the cover.
The magazine states that its an official movie magazine and
uses the „Paramount‟ trademark which is universally known,
creating trust between the consumer and the product.