Magazine cover textual analysis
The main image for this edition of empire magazine has been taken from the film ‘Hannibal’ the photo is in sepia but has had some photo enhancement done on the eye to make it red these effects make the photo seem unnerving as the red eyes connote evil or something demonic and the colour red connotes blood the sepia also connotes a sense of tradition as it is like an old fashioned photo this suggests that the Hannibal franchise has tradition within horror genre, what makes this photo more unnerving is the way its half lit and his facial slightly smiling expression and his way of looking directly at the reader this suggests he is evil and makes the reader feel he is ‘sizing you up’ as a next victim, the shadowing of his face suggests he is lurking and connotes evil.
The masthead that reads ‘Empire’ is fairly straight forward it is the magazine logo un- altered with a shadow and highlight effect the fond is similar to 40s and 50s theatre signs
which cotes tradition along with the name ‘Empire’. The mastheads colour matches the colour of the mans eye in the photo and so certain subheadings and bullet points do too, this creates a sleek, simple and together design that pleases and dose not confuse the eye. The main tagline is “what’s cooking?” this is paced large on the left hand side of the page so as not to interfere with the picture the tagline is a quote as if the character on the front is asking you the question this is more or less a type of direct address, the quote is also a hint towards the content of the film Hannibal as it is primarily about a cannibal as the franchise is well known many readers will ‘get’ this joke and therefore be entertained and interested, the quote is written in a serif font which stands out amongst the rest of the text which is mainly sans serif, this I think has been used to suit the voice of the character of Hannibal who is around 50 and is very academic and intelligent I believe the use of a serif font helps to link the quote to the character.
The first cover story links to the quote sub head in bold red writing to catch the potential buyers eye and establish it as a starting point and the main story it reads ‘Hannibal’ which is the title of the film featured on the cover. The use of informal language such as heads up helps engage the reader in a way that makes them feel comfortable, they also call this particular edition of empire magazine a ‘bloody valentine special’ this informs the reader that this issue is particularly focused on horror, this theme continues with more use of word play ‘gore blimey’ this pun is intended to entertain the potential buyer and again inform the reader it is primarily focused on the horror genre, this subheading is followed buy a number of bullet points the first being “the most shocking scenes ever” the use of superlative and exaggerations such as “most” and “ever” are designed to intrigue the reader and create a certain buzz around the content of that article, the second reads “are you a psycho?” the use of this rhetorical question leaves the reader wanting to know more, the third bullet point reads “catering for cannibals” this is a good use of alliteration and humour to entertain the reader as the idea of catering a cannibal denotes death and gore this links to the main feature film ‘Hannibal’. The fourth and last bullet point reads “exclusive interviews and a whole lot more” claiming exclusivity gives potential buyers more reason to choose there publication over others along with the non-specific promise of a whole lot more. There is also a small page feature that is not as relevant to the theme of the issue but still a relevant selling point so is there for a lot smaller and positioned in the corner which simply lists famous actor’s and actress’s names. This is a way of using ‘star power’ to sell there publication the list doesn’t mention how or what they are saying about these celebrities but simply using there names alone to sell the magazine. Lastly there is a small banner at the top of the page above the masthead featuring a yellow segment, which stands out from the rest of the cover that reads in bold righting “ every new film reviewed the use of an all-inclusive adjective such as “every” is being deployed much in the same way as the superlative “most” by claming a lot more than is ever possible. The banner also features a photo of actress ‘Minnie Driver’ along with an ambiguous statement “body snatcher: why Minnie Driver stole a human heart this is an example of a scandal being used to sell a publication whether she actually stole a heart or it’s a slight trick on the reader it still intrigues the reader.
I think despite a few bold claims and cleaver marketing tricks which all forms of media use this is a well put together and effective magazine cover.
Billy waterworth
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