Planning & Research - Magazine Analysis 2

Target audience: I believe the audience that this magazine has been targeted towards is older teenagers with a passion for film and younger adults, I drew this conclusion from the sophisticated design of the magazine and the simple but yet subtle colour scheme. The use of font is more difficult to asses as on one hand a simple font has been used which hints that the designer was aiming for a simple look but on the other hand the angles in which the text around the main image is placed hints that a more complex design was desired, this gives me the message that this cover in particular is appealing mainly to its target audience but is not blocking out other audiences out with a narrow minded view design wise. The main image is of the actor Leonardo Di Caprio, I believe that this was a good choice of cover star when aiming to appeal to a wide audience for numerous reasons: his acclaim as an actor and the longevity of his career has enabled him to gain a wide range of fans, his image attracts the current young female audience where as his earlier roles gained him fans who have grown older as his career has gone on.

Genre: The name empire doesn't immeadiatly make the audience aware that the magazine is a film magazine however the fact that the main image overlaps a reasonably large section of the masthead shows that the magazine is already established to a level that the full masthead is not always needed to be visible for audience recognition.However the tag-line "The Worlds Biggest Movie Magazine" speaks for itself. The magazine cover has been adapted to the design style of the film and its advertising campaigns which I believe is a good idea as then the magazine does not carry a trademark or generic look and this enables each issue to be individual and stand alone in its design and colour scheme. The red, black and white colour scheme is seen throughout many film magazines.

Narrative: As I assume they aimed to do the magazine does not give to much away in terms of the narrative of the film which occupies the cover. However the angles of the text and the buildings in the background hint that the film is a psychological thriller as the text gives off the look of an optical illusion.

Representation: The cover star is dressed in a suit holding a gun, in my opinion the image gives off a James Bond-esque vibe which hints that the character he plays may be an agent or possibly a police officer or villian.

Media Language: In some aspects the magazine cover is very conventional but the angled text around the main image I believe is used to give the otherwise typical magazine cover an edge. The mast head, main image, barcode and other expected features are placed in the typical positions.