More Magazine Front Cover Analysis - Research & Planning

To help us gain a better understanding of magazine front covers I have analyzed this Empire issue which focuses on the Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey Junior. With him being one of main Unique Selling Points (USP) they chosen to make him the centre poin of the cover. If we could use things we have learned from this poster then we will be able to make our main film poster a good standard.

• Firstly the title Holmes is a little bit smaller than the actual Empire title which shows that they want people to see the cover and straight away see that this issue includes exclusive information about the Sherlock Holmes film.
• The title below the main title is helping to explain what the feature inside the magazine is going to include. This helps sell the cover and it makes the film look more appealing.
• The main picture is of Robert Downey and is a unique picture as every reader could interpret it differently. In this instance he is looking down with his arms crossed and fingers together. By placing him like they have shows that he may be looking to quiz suspects or is looking at the audience.
• In the bottom left hand corner is a small box containing information about other features which are in the issue. This helps make the magazine look even more appealing to its audience.
• The best preview ever title is a great way of selling a magazine as many people will see this and will feel they will have to why this is such a good preview and it will give them more information on the new Sherlock Holmes film.
• Around the main picture it also includes a small picture of the Alice In Wonderland film, with a small caption describing it. By using this it shows people who are not interested int he Sherlock Holmes film that there are other features which may interest them and make them buy the magazine.

What we can take from this is the captions with the pictures. These really help show the audience that the feature is going to be worth them purchasing the magazine. Another aspect of the poster which we could use is the way we position our character in the photo. If we could have them looking down it will make the character look more scary and will also be a great genre indicator.