12.12.09

Research into Film Promotion through Print

Part of the coursework for Media is to design our own magazine front cover for our new production. Therefore, I've taken three different magazine front covers which are relevant to my own production. I've decided that Empire Magazine would be the best magazine to promote my new production; it is one of the most successful film promotion magazines on the market, having sold issues for over twenty years. Empire magazine's strapline states that it's "The World's Biggest Movie Magazine". I have selected three recent front covers from Empire Magazine, two of which feature actresses as the image on the cover. I will also include an image of the main female protagonist on my front cover, alongside conventions I have discovered from my secondary research. I have also included a front cover promoting the recent production 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008). This is an excellent front cover, as the entire style, including fonts and other images, are consistent with the image presented and the style of the film.


This front cover of Empire magazine features Megan Fox, as she is promoting the release 'Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen' (Michael Bay, 2009). The magazine is using sex appeal to sell more copies of the magazine and further promote the movie; Fox is wearing nothing but tight leather trousers. The posture of Fox within the image shows vulnerability to add to the sex appeal. Moreover, the image is placed on top of a clean, white background, so that the focus is entirely on the actress. The magazine's cover line displays her name in bold silver font - a glamorous and attractive convention, attracting more eyes to the cover. The image of Megan Fox does not promote the film itself, but more the fact that this 'hot' female is a star of the film. The plug below her name is a description of the article, which uses intimate and impressive vocabulary to impress the reader, and encourage them to purchase the magazine and consume the promotion: "One-to-one with the most wanted woman in Hollywood".



Although this is a foreign magazine cover, it is still very simple to analyse the features included which make it so successful. This magazine front cover, similar to the above example, also features the female protagonist from a then forthcoming production. This cover is promoting 'The Duchess' (Saul Dibb, 2008), and featuring Kiera Knightly. The image, however, unlike the above example with Megan Fox, is relative to the production itself; Knightly is in full, recognisable costume, consistent with the misé-en-scene from the film. It is a simple close-up shot, with a dark shadow across one side of her face. There is text around the edge of the cover, but leaves the face uncovered, meaning it is easy to view and pleasing to the eye of the consumer. Again, the image is placed on top of a plain background - this time a dark shade of green, to stay consistent with promotional posters of the production. The cover line stands is in a larger, bold font, to stand out from the rest of the page. The red colour is consistent with the magazine title, thus feeling neat but still exciting.



This final magazine cover I am analysing features the late Heath Ledger promoting 'The Dark Knight' (Christopher Nolan, 2008). Ledger is in full costume, promoting the villain for this movie, The Joker. As always, there is the recognisable red title at the top of the magazine, layered behind the image of The Joker. This magazine front cover is very interesting, as every detail, from the puff to the plug and teaser, are consistent with the style of the main feature. The character of The Joker is twisted and weird. His costume is green and purple. Therefore, the creators of this magazine front cover have taken this into account, and creating a neon green / purple style for the front cover. The fonts used for the text are also very weird, and could be considered sinister. The image of The Joker is dark and menacing, demonstrating his character to the reader. I think this is one of the best front covers of Empire magazine, because of the brilliant consistent style with the feature production being promoted.

It is, moreover, important to note the regular conventions included in magazine covers, also included in the above examples. For example, magazine front covers all must have simple features such as a bar code, and information on the articles inside the magazine. The majority of magazines also regularly use puffs, teasers, and most importantly, exciting cover lines, to encourage sales of the magazine. The above magazine covers from Empire use all of these conventions exceptionally well. It's a very successful film magazine, and would be an excellent magazine to promote my own production in.