Jouvan's textual analysis of a magazine

Empire magazine is a highly respected and popular British film magazine which has been regarded as the highest selling British film magazine. Empire magazine is published monthly by Bauer Media Group in areas all over the world such as Austria, Turkey, Russia and Portugal to name a few. The magazine cover I am analysing is Empires march 2011 edition which is centred on Captain America.

The main image is of Chris Evens who plays the character ‘Captain America’ in the film Captain America. Captain America is an iconic superhero who is a very popular superhero worldwide, mostly amongst the younger audience. The costumes in his outfit which uses the colours blue, red and white which are the colours of the American flag. Captain America is wearing props such as  gloves and the shield which connote authority and power. The lighting used is low key. 

Empire magazine uses a selling line which is a common convention used in many magazines today, selling lines are used to attract audiences and to provide the magazine with more recognition. The selling line used on the Empire magazine is ‘Magazine of the year’, this selling line can attract customers in buying the magazine as it is considered the magazine of the year which reassures them that their purchase is worthwhile. The selling line is written in bold capital grey letters and has a modern font with spaced out letters which provides creativity and uniqueness to the magazine.

Empires magazines masthead is positioned just below the magazines coverline and it follows many conventions by having its masthead at the top of the magazine front cover. The image below shows an example of another film magazine called Total Film which also follows magazine conventions by having their masthead positioned at the top of their magazine front cover. Empires magazines masthead is in large capital letters which fit across the magazine, the masthead text is in a modern font which appeals to its target audience which are of a young age as the magazine theme is about super heroes and the younger age group are more likely to be the main target for this magazine. The masthead text is white which is a strong and bright colour, the masthead uses a black outline which makes the magazine appear as if  it is in third dimension and because of this it make the masthead stand out even more which enables the viewer of the magazine to clearly see the magazine title that they are reading.

Above the masthead where the letter ‘m’ in Empire is there is information on the price and the release date of the magazine which is useful information for customers who intend to buy the magazine. There are two currency payment methods which are in pound sterling and dollars, this could suggest that Empires magazines main audience could be American and English viewers in particular.  There is a barcode on the bottom right hand side of the magazine which are requirements of a magazine to feature and magazines vary in the positioning of the barcode for example this particular magazine has the barcode positioned vertically. 

The magazine uses a puff, this is used by magazines to attract the audience into buying the product by displaying something interesting yet not giving to much information away in order to entice the audience. The puff used in this magazine is in the shape of a circular sticker which is next to the magazines main image. The puff is in yellow which is a bright and vibrant colour, the puff has the text ‘Meet marvels first avenger!’.

The magazine has a footer which is used to show the additional information available in the magazine. The footer uses a small print of how the magazine will look like and has different films included next to it. It is on a white background and uses black and grey font colours.

The background used in the magazine is USA flag, this is iconic and famous as the white and red stripes with the blue and white star square is very recognisable in society. The use of the USA flag as the background of the empire magazine is used because it relates to the theme of the magazine which is of the main image of Captain America. The colours used are blue, white and red which are common colours which identify the USA flag.

The magazines coverlines follow a yellow and white colour scheme which are bright colour, vibrant colours which stand out. There is a coverline on the right hand side of the magazine and a main coverline in the middle of the poster. The coverline on the right hand side has plus written in joint-up handwriting, this font style brings elegance to the magazine. The coverlines under it are movies which the magazine will talk about, it follows a white then yellow colour sequence. The main coverline in the middle of the poster is largely formatted, it has the text ‘Captain America’ in white and uses a similar font to the masthead.