Film Magazine Research

Empire Magazine is published by Bauer Consumer Media and is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain consistently outselling its rivals such as Total Film (Future Publishing) and Sight & Sound (British Film Institute). It covers both mainstream films and the more arty productions but as it is produced by an independent company the former is generally the focus whereas a magazine such as Sight & Sound tends to look at the maybe less prosperous but more innovative films.

I am basing this research on three example issue covers Iron Man 2 (January, 2010, Issue #247), The Joker (January, 2008, Issue #223) and Spider Man 3 (January, 2007, Issue #211). There are some common trends in these magazine covers such as having the magazine name across the top of the page. This is due to the rule of thirds as the power structure on the page is at its strongest top left and gets weaker as it moves to bottom right. The production company’s first job is to sell their magazine and as such they must make sure the consumer can easily see that the magazine is Empire. The date and issue are always placed in the same place in the dip of the top of the M of Empire and this consistency makes it easier for the consumer to check which issue it is.

After this the actual content of magazine cover varies but the structure is always fairly similar. There is always a particular theme for the front cover which is usually based around the film that is elliciting the most media and public attention at that time. In the Spider Man 3 and Iron Man 2 issues the main protagonist from the film is used on the front cover which is more often than not how Empire sets up the theme. However the Dark Knight Issue differs as it has the main antagonist on the front cover but there is a reason for this as Heath Ledger who was originally playing this character but died part way through filming so their was more public interest in this character at the time. Each of the main characters on the front cover are set in costume and in front of a background which whether by actual objects or merely colour scheme relates to the theme of the film and it’s genre. For example, the Iron Man 2 cover’s background is predominantly blue and black around the character itself. This is because the character is built on power and enormous amounts of energy so the theme of lightning has been used to portray this theme.

One of the more differentiated ideas that Empire employ in all their magazines is also matching the style of the text on the page to the theme. This again is most noticeable on the Iron Man 2 cover with the electric blue and lightning style used for the magazine name itself. But it is also noticeable on the other two covers as well however with clear colour themes running throughout the text that match the characters on the cover, for example green writing on the Joker cover and black and white on the Spider Man 3 cover.

The main character is always set in the middle of the page in varying poses but always looking straight at the camera to give the effect of the character looking at the consumer like an extra-diegetic gaze. This works on Louis Althusser’s (1971) main theory of interpellation in which the magazine calls out to the audience in this case through the direct connection of the gaze between cover model and viewer. Once the audience’s attention has been grabbed they are more likely to take an interest in the magazine and subsequently buy it.

Around the character the subtitles and other text is placed some of which relates to the film advertised on the issue cover itself and some of which relates to other features and articles within the magazine. In the examples above there seems to be generally a few lines of text either side of the characters’ heads or upper torsos which shows a clear relationship between the text and the picture. Then adjacent to or covering the lower torso and below are around two or three captions advertising the other articles and films featured in the magazine.

There are a couple of points about the Empire magazine cover format that have made me decide to make it the basis of the magazine cover for my film. To begin with the idea of using the main character(s) as the main focus is one that resonates with me as being logical and it is also something that will be fairly easy for me to shoot. Secondly the Empire covers allow for a good amount of creativity when it comes to choosing colour schemes, font and text variations and backgrounds. Being able to personalise the cover in this way and set up the theme I’m trying to portray provides the right balance of simplicity and creativity that means I will be able to create a professional looking magazine cover in the short time frame and with the limited skills I have in this area.