More Front Cover Analysis

This front cover of Empire magazine was released in July 2009 and is good to analyze for many reasons.

• The main selling point of this front cover is Johnny Depp, playing the role of John Dillinger in this gangster genre film. The shot used is a close up as you can see his facial expressions and can tell that he is looking away from where his gun is pointing. By making this image as big as it is, shows to the reader that this is going to be the best bit in this particular edition. The clothes worn and the gun that he is holding are the genre indicator because these are the usual things you would expect in a gangster genre.
• To make the picture more significant the title of the film 'Public Enemies' is the biggest size title, excluding 'Empire'. This shows the title of the film clearly and by putting it in capitals helps show it off more.
• The caption above that says that Johnny Depp steals the summer. The writing is in white and is shown as a pure colour and makes the caption seem even more truthful. Also the reader will want to know how and why he has stolen the summer.
• Beneath the title of the film is a smaller sized title saying 'Inside Michael Mann's Gangster Blockbuster. People who are fans of his work we will want to see how he has created this film and how he manages to make such good films. As well as that, the reader are made to feel there are being shown something that not everyone else can see and will make them feel they are being shown restricted information.
• The background used is clever as it shows a smoky effect around the legs of Johnny Depp making him seem majestic as he wades through he smoke with his Tommy gun. Also by making the background light it makes him stand out more in his dark, gangster clothes.
• Taking our focus away from the main picture to the side of the main picture is a set of pictures and a title saying ' First look at heroes of 2010'. By including this it will make the reader feel that they are one of the first people to be able to see these snippets of information, of what is going to be released in 2010.
• Finally the colour scheme used fits in well with the title, with a mix of red, white and pink writing. It makes the front cover easy on the eye and will help sell the magazine.
  

From my analysis of this front cover there a several effective techniques that I have seen which we could use in ours.
• The use of a barcode which will make it look professional.
• If we can an image background that is slightly faded or one shade compared to the main Image which will give a good effect.
• The main image could be a mid shot or a close up to show the audience the selling point of the film.
• The name of the film should be clear and be in eye catching colours and font style.
• The font colour should stand out from the background
• The company name should be at the top behind the main image and should be the biggest font on the page.