Empire magazine

Here is an example of a horror film magazine, Fangoria, front cover, I am going to analyse the important features of

the magazine that would appeal to the target audience.

Masthead

This masthead is very strong and would appeal to the audience because of the colours and effects used. It has fire coming off it and is an orange/red colour matching the image and the mood of the cover. The writing is very bold and clear but is behind the image, suggesting that the character in the image is very dominant and more important than the text. Also, because ‘Empire magazine’ is well known, it wouldn’t matter that the text is behind the image as the audience would still be able to recognise the font and style and know what they are reading. The bright colours on the writing and the fire coming off it contrast very well with the black background making it even more clear and bright so the audience would be able to notice this cover standing out from any other and be drawn to it.

Image

This is the only image present on this magazine cover, I think that if other images were on the front cover it would take away the attention from this very strong and appealing images. The character in the image looks very dominant and aggressive which would appeal to horror film viewers. The character on this image is bright red so the audience would be able to notice it on top of the bright, appealing writing on the masthead. The character on the front looks as though he is the antagonist in the horror film and he looks as though he would be very threatening which would appeal to an audience that enjoy very scary and intense horror films. The character is very stereotypical for an antagonist as he is a big chunky man, the audience would see this image and want to find out more about this character and the film he stars in.

Sell linesThese sell lines include names of famous actors such as ‘Natalie Portman’ and ‘Scarlett Johansson’ which would appeal to an audience if they like these actors and are interested in films they have previously starred in. These sell lines are written mainly in white, bold, capital letters which contrast with the black background so the audience can see it more clearly. They also use language such as ‘blood’ and ‘hobbit’ which are features of a horror movie that would appeal to the intended audience.

This writing at the bottom of the magazine cover would attract the audience as it states the name of the film the character on the front stars in. It also says ‘First look!’ in a gold box which would make the audience feel important and excited as they are getting a first look at something new and fresh. This section of the cover also includes a rhetorical question which interests a reader and makes them want to find out more.