PRE: Feature Magazine Analysis

Textual Analysis of a Magazine front cover

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media and it is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain. This is Empire’s March 2010 issue featuring the film ‘Kick-Ass’ and as you can see, it is very creatively produced because every component of this magazine is consisting on each other to constantly attract the potential reader attention and continuously keep them interested.

A Masthead is the name of the magazine displayed in a specific typeface. It is usually done with a specially designed typeface in order to make it recognisable and unique. In this magazine, the masthead is called ‘Empire’ displayed in red with a splatter effect. The text size is large and positioned in the middle on top of the page and behind the main image. The font is very effective and complex because the text is typed up in red and edited over on top with splatter effects which could be done with costume made brushes and other effects such as toning and colour and contrast tuning. The Masthead has an urban visual due to its splatter scheme which is linked to art, graffiti and graphical design. The colour is settling with the background because it’s not highly contrasting with each other but has enough contrast to attract the potential reader’s attention when scanning the magazine rack.

Coverlines are pieces of text that attracts an audience to the contexts of the magazine. They are often distributed around the main image. Coverlines usually have two parts, such as a ‘kicker’ in bold fonts with an explanatory line. This magazine has several Coverlines but with no ‘kicker’ along side. An example is “The world’s first look at your new favourite movie” This text is smaller than the masthead, coloured coded, and circulated around the main image which makes a coverline. A well known mistake in making Coverlines is over lapping it over the main image. This Coverline overlaps the main image but its mistake can slide free because it is not a major issue, the Coverline does not overlap a lot of the main image which is forgivable. The texts are colour coded to prevent them from rendering with the background image, making the word invisible and unreadable. Here the colour codes are also trying to convince the potential reader to buy the magazine because the Coverline is summarising the movie and the colour coding are highlight the important words which is ‘The world’s first look’.

Dateline should always be on a magazine front cover to show whether the magazine is new or out of date.  The month and year of publication is often with the price or barcode. This magazine’s dateline is below the selling line in the gap of the letter ‘M’ from the Masthead. With a dateline on the magazine, the audience can identify if the magazine is valid or outdated, etc.

A shape on the cover that contains information to attract the audience is called a puff. This magazine’s puff is a pink ink splat containing “See Kick-Ass first and for free! See page 93” This puff is advertising a chance to be the first to a free ticket to see Kick-Ass in theatres. The shape is coloured white mainly to render contrast to attract attention and keep the reader interested.

A Selling line is a short, sharp description of the title’s main marketing point or perhaps a setting out its editorial philosophy, which is usually displayed on the top of the page. For instances, this magazine’s selling ling is “Awesome fold-out collector’s cover!” Although it is situated above the masthead, the text font is smaller, and too long to be a masthead which means it is a selling line. The purpose of this selling line is to interest the potential reader into buying the magazine, generally, an audience would scan through the magazine rack and their attention would be attracted but a magazine’s main image and its main coverline. When their attention is capture, they would rescan the magazine from top to bottom and the first to their eyes is the selling line which should bring more interest to that reader.

Retailers use a Barcode so that the sale of the magazine can be registered quickly during its purchase. This magazine’s barcode is usually on the front cover of the magazine to enable a quick scan at the till, however the barcode of this magazine is not available on the front cover but could possibly be on the back of the magazine, which is still easily accessable.

The main Coverline is the largest coverline on the front cover. Its purpose is to display and promote the main featured articles in the magazine. For example, this magazine’s main Coverline is “KICK-ASS” is followed after a ‘kicker’ which is unusual because a kicker normally follows after the Coverline. This is very effective because the kicker is “It’s bloody! It’s brilliant! And, boy does it…” followed by “KICK-ASS” which is a very catchy line and it puts a smile on the reader’s face which is an indication of their interest building. The main Coverline is also coloured in bright green which is very attention seeking because the background where the main Coverline is positioned is very dark, almost black even and the bright green creates contrast to attract the audience’s eyes. The Coverline is displayed with an urban theme as shown with the splat which is linked to art, graffiti and graphical design also the positioning is not fully 180^o horizontal but slight slanted both ways. In my opinion, the main coverline is perfectly position, however the Coverline “The world’s first look at your new favourite movie” could be seen as the main Coverline’s kicker because it is positioned very close to each other which brings this confusion.

The main image is the most important part of the magazine cover. The consumer magazine editors worry more about the cover than any other pages which is why the main image is most important to attract the audience. This magazine’s main image contains; a mid shot of Aaron Johnson as Kick-Ass in his Kick-Ass costume, posing and holding two props being the nightsticks, one in each hand. The lighting is split between high-key and low-key lighting, for example, there a high-key lighting on the right side of the character’s face, which brings out the blood and injuries. Then there’s a low-key lighting on the rest of the character rendering shadows to bring more attention to Kick-Ass’ face. His non-verbal communication is very strong and interesting, for a start, his facial expression is obvious that it shows anger, his eyes are wide open, staring into the camera, his eye brows are frowning and his injuries are bloody and shows pain. His body language is illustrates power and fearlessness which in this image is suggesting violence as he is holding two of the same weapon, posing in a way where his about to attack. A background image of a grey wall with two posters of the other two characters, Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, and the masthead displayed in a graffiti style.