Magazine Analysis 2

This image is of the cover of Empire. Empire is an established from magazine. This edition of the magazine is about the second film in the Batman instalment entitled: The Dark Knight Rises. This main cover mainly focuses on the antagonist The Joker. From looking at this over it is clear that the magazine has based its colour scheme and typography on the appearance and the personality of this character.

The first thing that attracts me to the cover of this photograph is the bold and bright colour scheme that has been used in contrast to the darker background. The use of the green and purple tones and colours used relates back to the costume of the Joker. These colours are an icon of the character and form an association with the modern and older portrayal of this character. The green and purple colours work well together and make each other stand out- these colours also emphasise the characters costume in the image. As well as these bright colours that relate to the characters costume, the font colour used for the title of the magazine emphasise and makes the red face paint on the character stand out more and look stronger. The red colour for the title connotes danger and death- this relates back to the character of the antagonist. The fact that the joker has been overlaid on top of the title infers that this is the most important element of the cover and that this character is more important than the name of the magazine. The small barcode has been placed along the bottom so it doesn't ruin the imagery. This placement also makes the audience want to buy the magazine because of the image not the price.

The imagery used in this cover is quite strong and is a classic pose used for an antagonist. The shoot looks very simplistic and infers that the character is the most important part of the over. From looking at the background of the image I can see bars which could suggest  prison or entrapment theme. This sort of theme is conventional in a superhero film. To further support and emphasise the theme of superheroes, the Batman symbol has been use in the top centre of the cover. This iconography exhibits to the audience that there is always a hero when there is a villain.

In order to draw the audience and the reader into buying this magazine they have used syntax which will convince and persuade the reader to buy this magazine. For example along the top of the cover Empire have said "world exclusive". This statement infers to the audience that if they buy this magazine they will be receiving some rare content about the film, cast or characters. From looking at the slogans and titles that have been used in this cover I can infer that this cover shoot was an introduction to the antagonist. For example the slogan "one on one with Batman's new nemesis" this infers to the audience that this is a new villain.

In order to hint at the character of this villain a quote about the character has been used in order to introduce and hint at his personality, "He's a cold blooded, mass murdering clown". The typography used for this description looks as if it has been scratched in with a knife. This font choice infers that he is dangerous and deadly.