Magazine cover analysis - Entertainment

This is a front cover for Entertainment Weekly, which is another great example showing the different features to a magazine cover.

The central image is of a medium shot of the actress Kate Walsh previously a character from Grey’s Anatomy as it mentions in the story lines. The image evidently shows the mode of address as similarly in the previous Empire magazine, the actress is staring directly into the eyes of the audience. This has been done intentionally so the audience are immediately captivated by the actress, especially when addressing the male audience. In the central image, Walsh is wearing a white slim fitting dress that reveals her chest. Therefore, this has been done as if the male audience comes across the magazine, they will be attracted to Walsh and then may proceed to buying the magazine. For the female audience, it causes an admiration for Walsh an example being her body shape as she is appears to look skinny. As well as the fact that her hair and makeup has been done perfectly which then makes the female audience to aspire to be like her. The cover can be targeted especially at those who are fans of the actress from Grey’s Anatomy, they would more likely to purchase the magazine therefore the company have featured a well-known actress from a successful TV series. The colour palette consists of white, black, red and turquoise. The vivid colours of red and turquoise contrast against the simplicity of the two other colours, the use of red has been done as it has connotations of being energising and confident by its boldness. Therefore by specifically adding those colours in with the cover lines ‘99’ and ‘Preview’, it shows the excitement as the magazine reveals exclusive information to the audience that other magazines would not offer. This is contrasted with the colour turquoise which has connotations of being refreshing and quite a feminine colour. This links in well with the female image that shows that the audience may be leaning towards female in comparison who seek to find out more about their favourite actress. The use of the black and white against these other colours show the sophistication of the magazine and the actress herself, it is simple yet elegant and makes her stand out. Walsh’s outfit fits in with the cover as she is wearing a slim fitted white dress while she has a stethoscope around her neck which relates her back to her character on Grey’s Anatomy. The simple prop is a guidance for the audience when viewing the magazine to remind them of Walsh’s character and from the cover line ‘In the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Spin-off ‘Private Practise’ shows where the actress has moved onto from the previous show.

The language used on the magazine has been modified for the female audience as it is in bold as the cover lines such as ‘Heroes’, ‘Brothers & Sisters’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Turns 30!’. The magazine have intentionally created their front cover to appeal to women as much as possible, which has been done by the range of concrete and abstract nouns used, such as ‘Heroes’ and ‘Gossip’. As well as written in the puff, it says ‘Your Complete Guide’, whether that is relating to TV or beauty that hasn’t been clarified but it is extremely common for front covers aimed at females to have puffs such as that but it may be dismissed by the audience due to the fact that they would be open to following a guide if Walsh is on the front cover. This leads onto the font of the magazine cover which is all in the font of sans serif, this once again shows the simplicity of the cover. It also could be done as the main attraction of the cover is Walsh herself rather than the cover lines or tag lines, the image is taking up the majority of the cover therefore the audiences’ main attention is drawn on the actress rather than the text around her. The central image also covers the mast head which is commonly done in magazines to show that it is well known and that despite the image covering the mast head, the audience will already know the name of the magazine regardless.

The lighting on the front cover is bright and contrasts with the white background of the cover which gives Walsh an eliminating look to her face. The use of the key and fill light are to enhance the look of the actress and make her face look radiant especially in contrast with the white dress which then makes Walsh look more tanned. This again follows the idea as mentioned before of women aspiring to look like her and being inspired by her, which results in them buying the magazine to read more about the actress. The lighting is key in covers such as this, especially in comparison to the Empire magazine, this is because the key features of the female are being shown clearly and they have to ensure it’s the correct aspects of features from the actresses face to be shown to the public. As the main appeal is for the audience to purchase the magazine, therefore the central image has to be portrayed very well. Furthermore, then because of this the framing of the image has to be correct in order to specifically engage the targeted audience. The framing of this image is similar to Downey in the Empire magazine as it is positioned to bring Walsh to the centre of the cover where she is at eye level with the audience to attract them to the magazine and engage them with the story lines focused on her.

Despite how effective the previous magazine cover was, I do prefer this cover both when analysing and as inspiration. This is because it is a cover I am able to relate to my own film more due to the female audience and the main female central image that is similar to my own. I want my central image to be the main attention of the magazine cover as it will be the main character of my trailer but also so the audience can immediately create an reaction for the character. Furthermore, the titles surrounding the image are more likely to be the kind of titles I would use as they are more female friendly and aren't associated with topics unlike the previous cover that women would read.