Analysing Magazine Cover- Empire

Content Code

The masthead is in its famous red colour and quirky font, which attracts the audience, as they recognise the house style. The ‘P’ of ‘Empire’ is being covered by the Joker’s head, but the audience still realise that the magazine is called ‘Empire’, which shows how popular and well known the magazine is. Heath Ledger as The Joker is the cover star. As he is a well-known and well acclaimed actor, this may promote the magazine and make it more appealing to the target audience. His posture suggests quirkiness, which leaves the audience guessing what kind of person he is, which could intrigue them, causing them to buy the magazine. His costume goes with the strange and psychotic character of the Joker, and makes him easily recognisable to an audience. The Tag Line appeals directly to the audience, as ‘World Exclusive’ gives the audience the idea that they are part of a niche, select group who are the first people to get a preview the character of The Joker before anyone else does. The contrast of the bright white and blue light around the bat symbol, and the darkness of The Joker’s cell could represent the binary opposition of Good vs. Evil. This allows the audience to assume that Batman will be the hero and manage to defeat The Joker is some way. The Batman symbol being at the top of the page makes it look as if it is in the sky, superior to The Joker, which could connote that Batman will always be above watching and waiting to be needed.

Technical Code

Shot Distance- Mid-Long shot which gets the whole of ‘The Joker’ in the picture, as well as some of the background of his jail cell. The producers probably put the whole of ‘The Joker’ in so that the audience could see the whole of his quirky costume, including his strange chequered socks.

Camera Angle- The camera angle is slightly low, looking up at ‘The Joker’ sitting down; as he has to slightly look down to see into the camera. The producers probably did this to show that he is a superior figure and that maybe he has power?

Focal Depth- ‘The Joker’ is in focus, whereas the cell is slightly in a more shallow focus, to make him stand out more from the background.

Typography- The left-justified cover lines are in a strange font, which shows the strangeness of The Joker. However, it could also represent the rebellious behaviour of The Joker, as it is not a conventional left-justified cover that you would see on a typical magazine cover. In a way, it is almost a special edition magazine cover, and is almost as if The Joker himself has scrawled over the page. The right-justified cover lines give the audience an insight to what will be in the magazine, which may also help to promote the magazine, therefore making the company more profit. The Coen brothers’ interview is plastered near the middle of the magazine in a bright green circle which stands out and tempts the audience to buy the magazine so that they can read this interview. Any of the target audience who like the Coen brothers or their films may be more likely to purchase the magazine, therefore making more profit for the company.

Cropping- The producers of the magazine chose to cut a picture straight from the film that they are advertising, ‘The Dark Knight’, rather than taking a photo of The Joker in a studio. This gives the magazine a more sincere and dark look, which goes with the theme of darkness or evil which is associated with the Joker.