Empire Magazine Analysis

Empire is foremost magazine with regards to movie news, film and DVD reviews, interviews, compositions, etc. Hellboy 2 dominates Empire’s March 2008 front cover.

With regards to the masthead, Empire has uniquely changed the stylistics to correspond to Hellboy through the use of flames emerging from the typeface. This is very diverse for empire usually has a plain typeface which they’ve used for the rest of their issues; this signifies that this particular issue is a special issue which will attract the attention of viewers. I believe that connecting the style of the masthead with the type of film - that is the main feature of the magazine - is very effective because it illustrates what the magazine is predominantly going to focus on as well as it making the whole magazine look creative and professional. The colour red in conjunction with flames connotes the danger aspects of the Hellboy 2 movie, therefore this visual hint entices people to buy and read the magazine, with the incentive to unravel more about the movie.

Conventionally, the date and price of the magazine is located within the M of ‘empire’ which constructs within the shape of the top of the M, this looks a lot more professional and neat because it is concisely embedded within the design of the type. In regards to the website name, it is situated below the last E of ‘empire’ which is another traditional trait of the magazine. This visually connotes that the magazine has a specific style to their magazine, which gives the magazine its own identity; its own trademark.

The cover lines are to be found on the left hand side in its own negative space from the main images black background. The colour of the type for the cover lines is white which differentiates from the background, making it stand out more. These are used to give an indication of what to be found in the magazine; a glimpse of what’s featuring in that issue. With regards to the content within the cover lines, they’ve issued you information concerning what films they’re featuring that month as well as interactivity question with the audience through saying ‘well, who would you choose?’ between Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson, this makes the audience feel engaged with the magazines, which is a great selling point for this issue.

Focusing on the main selling line, it’s located at the bottom of the magazine, central in frame. The text is all in uppercase form and is large in size; it’s the largest typeface on the magazine as opposed to everything else on the cover (besides the masthead of course). With the accompany feature of the ‘first look’ typo, it initiates the thought that the magazine entails exclusive information about the newly released film, Hellboy 2, to which would grab your attention for you’d want to know more about the recent film release, the coloration of this feature – gold - links with the film, making it more coherent and professional.

The selling line is located below the masthead which states that “Guillermo Del Toro goes epic”, Guillermo is the filmmaker/director of Hellboy and the indication of him going ‘epic’ suggests that the second sequel to Hellboy is going to be a lot better than the first movie. This not only ties the director to the film, giving him credit for his new work (the filmmakers aren’t usually credited on front covers, the main characters or actors are usually) but also makes you have interest in what’s new for the film of Hellboy.

Located between the ‘first look’ feature and the main cover line is a tagline stating ‘you and whose golden army?’ which plays on the idiom ‘you and what army’ but makes it more personal to the main feature; it correspond to Hellboy through saying ‘golden army’ – therefore making it more iconic and entertaining to the fans of Hellboy.  

Regarding the barcode it is conventionally situated at the bottom of the magazine in the left hand corner. This feature suggests that the film is of establishment and is available for buying (not a false production that’s been made up); allowing us to know that it’s in the mass market.

Considering elements concerning the main image, we can see that Hellboy dominates the whole frame, which signifies his role in the magazine. In addition to this, the conventional aspect of the image covering parts of the masthead suggests that Hellboy is the most important aspect of the issue, commonly in magazines the model of the front cover overlaps the masthead which is a professional looking feature and suggests that the magazine is of some establishment (which empire is). However, empire doesn’t always do this with their masthead, sometimes the ‘empire’ brand lays on top of the image. Subsequently, this portrays that Hellboy2 dominates the whole magazine; it’s the most significant feature as opposed to the rest of the information contained within the magazine. With regards to the image itself, it’s a medium shot that entails a central alignment in conjunction with the rule of thirds concerning composition, which is very conventional. Hellboy is very engaging, looking directly at the camera and therefore viewers. Focusing on the pose and at which Hellboy is undertaking, he’s leaning on his elbows holding one hand with his other, which almost looks like he’s clicking his knuckles. It’s almost like a threatening stance, as if he means business. This is supported with his angry and menacing facial expression.

Converging all of my thoughts to the colour scheme, the background of the magazine is black which connotes a dark series of films that will be contained in the March issue. The rest of the magazine is white, red and gold. The white is used to differ from the dark colour of the magazine, this is the colour used for the vast-majority of the type, predominantly the cover lines, including the main. Red connotes that of danger which refers to the horror aspect of the main cover line, Hellboy. And the gold is used to coherently represent the film; it also corresponds nicely within the whole colour scheme.

There’s irony within this magazine, the image in specific, because for people who has never seen or heard of Hellboy before, the magazine conventions they’ve applied to advertise this movie release, such as the colour scheme and the aesthetics of the masthead, connotes that of horror and danger, and the pose at which Hellboy is doing suggests that he’s dangerous and not someone to mess with. However, around his wrist hangs a religious statement, the Jesus Christ cross, which hangs down covering a slight segment of the ‘Hellboy 2’ typeface. Subsequently, this may become confusing for viewers who, like I previously stated, haven’t watched Hellboy before. On the other hand, it suggests that Hellboy is of innocence who’s only trying to bring justice to the world.