Empire magazine analysis- Potter 7

Empire magazine analysis- Potter 7

The skyline of the magazine reads 'OUR BEST PREVIEW ISSUE EVER!' This is a unique selling point as it’s enforcing the audience that this magazine beats all other previous issues, creating a sort of enigma as the audience wants to know how it beats the rest. Having the skyline in bold block upper case font allows this phrase to stand out, even though it is smaller font than others on the cover.  There are two colours used; silver and yellow which contrast from each and with the background. Using the yellow on ' preview issue' makes the skyline heading eye catching, meaning our eyes automatically focuses on this due to the brightness and colour. The placement of this colour is within the centre of the skyline therefore reinforcing the boldness of it and furthermore making it even more eye catching. The use of punctuation, the exclamation mark, emphasises the importance of how good this magazine will be.

The masthead, the title of the magazine, is below the skyline heading which is at the top of the magazine cover. The red used makes it one of the main focal points of the magazine due to the boldness, brightness and size of the word 'EMPIRE'. This is the biggest font on the magazine which lets the audience know that it is an 'Empire' magazine. Having it large font makes it easier to read and to stand out from other magazines which is also due to the colour used. The colour used is red, which connotes too many things, such as; love, death, horror, romance, urgency etc. This suggests that this magazines involves lots of genres of films due to this colour used. Also the font is bold allowing the font to stand out from the magazine and others if on a magazine shelf. This font is different to all the rest of the font used present on the magazine, which makes the title of the magazine to become eye catching and makes it iconic as the target audience will only associate this font with 'Empire'.

The main image is obviously the main focal point and is also the unique selling point of the magazine. The image reveals Daniel Radcliffe who plays the iconic character 'Harry Potter' in the magical franchise which dominated the film industry. Having the character in front of the title of the film emphasises that this is the main focal point so the audience sees him first rather than what magazine it is. It also suggests that the character is more important and has more dominance over the title due being in the foreground of the magazine. Radcliffe is also staring into the lens of the camera creating an effect that he is looking at you and is attempted to interact with you through the magazine. The use of mise en scene gives us an insight about the film and genre. The wand automatically tells the audience that the film is fantasy and action genre therefore its target audience. The use of the circle rimmed glasses and the scar are iconic to the films as this is what we associate these with, which is why it is present within the image. The use of clothing reflects the mood of the atmosphere as they set the colour scheme of the magazine. The dark colours; blacks and blues, connotes death, despair and sadness, which gives us an insight of what could happen within the film. However 'Harry Potter' isn't the only character within the image; there's three other characters, which are on pieces of shattered glass. Having these characters smaller and not within the centre of the cover emphasises that 'Harry Potter' has dominance within the film and is the main character we are meant to fall in love with and to follow his journey. Furthermore, having these three characters in shattered glass suggests that the relationships they had with each other will become shattered in the film, meaning this glass creates an enigma, therefore intriguing the audience to read the magazine in case you find out what it's on about. It could also suggest that due to Daniel being more dominant he could have caused this shattering of the glass and characters. 

The placement of the shattering glass surrounds the sell line which creates a sort of border making this sell line stand out. The phrase 'Potter 7' states the iconic name of the main character, which would make all 'Potter' fans want to read the magazine. Having it in white furthermore contrasts with the background colour, making it readable and eye catching. This white colour used connotes purity and innocence which could reflect the characteristics of the character. The sub heading or anchorage text ‘Friendships shatter. Evil Unites, The end begins', reinforces and partly explains the use of the shattered glass, but there is still an enigma of what and why this happened, therefore intriguing the audience to read the magazine. This sub heading also put tension to the magazine as it is the beginning of the end, which would make people want to read it to see if any secrets are spilled within it. Having the font in yellow, connotes danger and urgency which gives an insight of the atmosphere which would be in the film. 

There are three sell lines on this poster which mention different films, indicating there are more film knowledge within the magazine. All the sell line have words which associate with the film such as the words 'Heroes', 'Legends' etc. Although they are not directly associated with the film, they do link to it as 'Potter' is seen as these words. These words are bigger than the subheading making them stand out, encouraging the idea of the character in the main image. These words are also in white and grey making them stand out from the background. These sell lines not only aids to promote the film in the main image but it also promotes other films, making the audience who are not interested in this magical franchise, be intrigued by the other films. 

At the foot of the magazine is another unique selling point as there are 'exclusive' items and information within the contents. This would make the audience want to buy it as it they would want to know these exclusives about this film and the other films stated below this heading. This colour scheme contrasts from the rest of the magazine's colour scheme, therefore making them stand out from each other. The use of the yellow colour for the phrases 'James Cameron's Sanctum' and 'Source Code' allows them to stand out from the rest of the text suggesting this is more important information than the rest. Having 'James Cameron' in yellow would attract the fans who love the creations he has made, therefore gaining more popularity of the magazine.