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Empire is the 2nd biggest UK mens monthly magazine Dominates the UK film market with over 70% circulation share, outselling its nearest competitor by almost 100,000 copies Empire has over 57,000 subscribers
47% think that the Empire brand is better than all or most other magazines
With the mainstream magazine, iPad, empireonline.com, social media and our international editions, Empire reaches over 2.5 MILLION of the most dedicated movie fans on the planet.
Below shows the readership of Empire. It is clear that my audience would not be suitable for this type of magazine. However the films which they use within their magazines will have conventions that I shall need to use within my own.
Media Package
From this image below, provided by EMPIRE in their media pack, it is apparent that they do not specialise in producing magazines for thriller movies. However as I have hybridised my product to become action/mystery thriller, some of the sub-genres are the same of which EMPIRE produces. As it was difficult to find a horror magazine front cover, I have focused on the action side so that I can gain knowledge of the conventions and use them within my own.
The Hobbit.
The front cover I have decided to analyse is the latest issue; the December 2013 edition. The film which dominates this issue is the Hobbit. The Hobbit is based upon the book series written by the author J.K. Toilken
Main image.
The immediate focus on the front cover is the main image of one of the main protagonists within The Hobbit. This character will be recognised by the audience so from this they will be able to identify what film this edition of Empire is for. It also acts as foregrounding due to the costume, props, facial expression etc. as it makes the audience think. The actor is using direct mode of address which creates a relationship between him and the audience as the eyecontact makes it seem as though he is looking at you. The aggressive facial expression connotes that this character is supposedly the villain in the film. The prop use of the sword denotes the genre of the movie; action. Science-fiction is another genre of this which is slightly shown through the interesting colour palette. Moreover this colours may have been used to connote the cold personality of the character. Although the main image covers part of the masthead due to its established and developed brand, the vital information is placed on top of the image.
Sticker.
The sticker is placed within the left third of the page and is under the arm of the protagonist, so seem almost immediately as the image is one of the most striking features. It is outlined in a circular shape which has been superimposed on top of the image, and bordered in the same colour of which the entire front cover is outlined. This helps to establish its house style and brand identity. Within this the main phrase that can be seen is X-MEN this is enlarged as this is what will grab the readers attention, as if the readers are also fanatics of X-Men then it will most likely entice the consumer to purchase. This feature acts as a tag as it makes it seem like an exclusive article by its separation from the cover line.
The magazine which I have analysed is a part of a four sequence collection, which means that the same edition of the magazine has four different front covers which is designed to be a collectible that fanatics can purchase. This acts as a Unique Spelling Point for the magazine. The first two have the same house style colour palette, but different to the last two, however their colour scheme is the same also. All editions have the glossy-look cover which also adds to the aesthetics, enticing the fanatics to purchase all four even more due to the appeal to the eye. It is said that 77% of the audience will buy all four editions, despite them containing the exact same articles, this just shows that fanatics are really interested in collectibles which is something I shall consider. This had previously been done with another series of The Hobbit.
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