In order to make a professional film magazine myself, I need to analyse a variety of film magazines to see what makes them successful and hopefully gain inspiration from them. The first magazine i chose to analyse is 'Empire'.
‘Empire’ is said to be one of the most successful film magazines in the UK. To be one of the most successful magazines in the UK means that the magazine is outstanding in providing their target audience with fantastic articles on new and old movies and with gripping interviews with the popular actors and directors.
Below is the poster for the movie ‘Hellboy 2’ and it is interesting to see that ‘Empire’ magazine created a symbiotic link between the poster and the front cover to ensure the audience recognises the movie. In both the front cover and the poster, the protagonist’s large fist is emphasised. This may be because it is important to the narrative of the movie and also because it may be how the audience recognise the character. Another way the symbiotic link is created between the poster and the front cover is that violence is portrayed through the protagonist’s body language and expressions.
The largest text in the frame is the masthead. Usually the masthead is in capitals letters, in a sans-serif font and in a bright red colour. Red is a primary colour which will catch the male target audience’s attention. Also the colour red has connotations of power and dominance, just the sort of characteristics the target audience themselves would possess. The masthead keeps the same aesthetics every issue- unless it is a special edition-to obtain brand identity. Following the theme of dominance, the word ‘empire’ conjures up imagery of roman kings who had empires and lots of power. This again reflects the audience’s personality traits. Below are two examples of the typical ‘Empire’ masthead and as you can see on both examples the main image sits on top of the masthead to show that it is of more significance; ‘Empire’ magazine can afford to do this because is well known and extremely successful and this is carried out in every issue to maintain brand identity.


The colours for this front cover are all primary, bold colours which are used purely to grab the reader’s eye. As discussed earlier the masthead is always red following the brand identity of the magazine and this then matches the colour red in the main image and so successfully achieving the look of hell and promoting the movie. The sell lines are in white to contrast with the dark background because these are the convincing factors for the audience to buy the magazine. The description underneath the sell lines are in a toned down yellow colour so that they are readable on the black background but also so that they don’t take away the attention from the sell lines. Any promotional feature on the magazine such as the ‘first look!’ and the puff do not fit in the colour scheme and this is done on purpose so that they stand out significantly.
