Module 1 Revision
Empire - September 2006

The cover of a magazine is to attract the consumers eye and to appeal to a dominant audience who enjoy watching films that are both classic and new (Star Wars and ‘Spidey 3’)

The cover has a plain white background that emphasises the rest of the colours used on the magazine cover. There is a dominate theme of red, white and blue which is used for the headings, the colours altogether connote the union jack suggesting patriotic values. As Bond is British the ideas of patriotism is further reinforced.

The dominant image is of Daniel Craig as the new Bond, the angle of the photograph is from a high angle; giving Bond more authority over the audience as he is looking down at the camera. Bond is giving direct eye contact, involving the reader and audience. He has a casual stance however the gun in his right hand can be seen as a phallic object; again giving Bond more authority over the reader/audience.

The image of Bond slightly covers the masthead, the magazine are able to position the image like this knowing that the bright, bold red font is conventional for the ‘Empire’ masthead and the audience can always recognise this masthead. The masthead automatically conveys the genre of the magazine, ‘Empire’ being the name of a cinema connotes that the magazine’s genre will be about film.

Over the heading “Bond” there is a stamp image, giving the cover a secret file look; still continuing the theme of secrecy and agents that James Bond is associated with. “World Exclusive” suggests that only ‘Empire’ have this information and this would appeal to movie goers, it also gives the audience the idea that they are being let into a secret that is for their eyes only. This theme of secrecy is further reinforced with the heading at the bottom “Secrets of…”

Targeting a secondary audience ‘Empire’ also has a ‘Star Wars Memories…’ feature that would appeal to a more sci-fi audience. There is also a secondary image of a scene from Star Wars, characters that the audience can easily identify. As well as targeting a sci-fi audience. The pug targets a film audience who want to be in front of the camera. The “Free Complete Guide to Acting” appeals to actors who don’t want to pay for acting school; however, this could also be a mocking pug this enigma of the pug makes the audience want to buy the magazine to find out what this free item really is.

The magazine has a simple and sophisticated union jack theme of red, blue and white connoting a patriotic theme. The patriotic theme links with the James Bond British feel and the classic association of Bond being manly is also reinforced with the phallic object in his hand, his gun. As Bond is a secret agent there is also a secrecy theme that can be seen on the magazine cover. Furthermore, the magazine also targets a secondary audience who enjoy classic films especially Star Wars as there is a feature of that too; actors are also targeted by the pug of the cover.
Overall, the James Bond association of Britain, secret agents and phallic objects is clearly presented on this cover, as well as having articles that target other audiences “Spidey 3, Pirates 3 and James Cameron’s 3-D”.