Magazine cover analysis - Empire

This is the Empire front cover for Iron Man 3, which is a great example of the features that should be included in a magazine.

The central image is of Robert Downey Jr dressed in his role as Iron Man, all expect the mask that he is holding so the audience can focus on his face. This has intentionally been done as the audience will already be familiar with the Iron Man series and then will be able to recognise him immediately. Therefore, by Downey not being fully dressed as the superhero, it suggests that the main focus for the front cover is on the actor himself. The mode of address is being shown very evidently in this cover as Downey is looking directly into the audiences’ eyes. The effect of this from the central image is that Downey is urging the audience to buy the magazine. This is due to the mode of address that is being shown but also the pose in which Downey is standing in. It shows clear authority and power over the audience, he has one shoulder in front of the other as he holds onto his mask which is also using the mode of address. The mask itself and the costume could be considered as a prop within the front cover. This as mentioned before has intentionally been done to present the character due to the release of the new film, although while they continue to show the costume of the superhero, they still include to show Downey himself. It could be done to contrast the two between each other, from the character to the actor. The masks’ eyes show that despite not being on Downey’s face, it is still functioning and aware of the presence of the audience. Therefore, the audience are getting powerful stares from both the actor and the mask which causes an intimation to be felt by the audience as they stand hopelessly. The central image is purposely used to look dominant to show that the character himself has the upper power on the audience and even suggesting he does in the film.

The titles of the magazine also link into the central image as the image covers the masthead ‘Empire’, which is missing a word from where Downey is covering it but this has been intentionally included despite that minor flaw. This is because the magazine itself is well known as is the actor, which they do not need to readjust the layout for the audience to know what magazine it is. The font of the entire magazine cover is sans serif and is also bolded. This appeals to the target audience as the majority of them would be male and therefore with the bolded text, it allows the key information to be seen by them immediately. They have also used a simple colour palette of white, gold and red which are the same colours as Iron Man. The use of the colour white which has connotations of peace allows the audience to feel a sense of protection especially from the central image which as mentioned before suggests that Iron Man is powerful and can take care of the city. The colour gold similarly has connotations of courage and achievement which again all relate back to Iron Man as through the films and even just the image with the pose he is standing in, it gives the suggestion to the reader that he is unbeatable especially as this is a trilogy therefore he has yet to be defeated. Lastly, the colour red has connotations of masculinity and power, moreover all of the colours chosen for Iron Man and then carried on in the theme for the cover are all to appeal to the male audience. Through the central image, they want to intimidate men but also engage them to buy the magazine as if they do purchase it, they can increase their masculinity.

The central image is of a medium shot where Downey is positioned at the front of the cover to indicate his authority. The positioning of the image has been intentionally to bring Downey to the centre and ensure that he will definitely catch the eye of the audience. This is especially proven as they have positioned him at the front but also in direct eye line of the audience’s eyes’ so they cannot avoid the eye contact. The effect of this would be that eventually the audience will give in to the temptation and buy the magazine through the stares coming from Downey and the Iron Man mask. The composition of the image also makes the taglines around him become more prominent which is another effect on the audience as it can easily catch their attention.  For example, they have purposely put a tagline in front of Downey as in bold red ‘Iron Man 3’ which addresses to the male audience what the main cover is all about. As well as the tagline written underneath ‘Downey Jr’s lethal weapon flies solo’ the attributive adjective ‘lethal’ indicates the violent imagery and language used in the magazine as it aims to target the male audience. Therefore, in comparison to a fashion magazine the language being used especially when referring to an action film that is the subject of the magazine has to be more aggressive.  Furthermore, especially with the chosen target audience the ratio of photography to text is that there is more image in comparison to text. This could have been done due to the fact that the audience are males and they are more engaged with images than they may be than text. As well as the fact that ‘Empire’ continuously uses larger scale images that cover up the entire front cover and less amounts of text to specifically appeal to their target audience.

For my own magazine cover, I have been inspired by this example and the fact that they have made the central image the main focus. Especially with the genre of film that I am creating, the covers for those are always very image based however the use of titles surrounding the image are always varied. However, unlike this example for my own magazine cover, I am planning on having more headers around the image despite the fact that the image is the main focus. The use of titles around the magazine are key as they are also apart of what engages the audience to purchase the magazine as they need to want to read the content inside.