Magazine Cover Analysis #1

This is a  cover from Empire magazine that shows a still from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The image they have used is of one of the main dwarf characters, Thorin. The image itself works to make the character seem powerful, with it being taken from a slightly lower perspective than the characters height in order to make the audience "look up" to the character. The costume also emphasises this trait as the fur coat he is wearing makes him look bigger and more masculine, which are stereotypical traits of the archetypal action hero. There is also a lot of metal armour that the character is wearing, which also puts danger and war in the audiences mind and gives the character questions the audience will want the answer to.

 The layout of the cover is also interesting as the image comes before the magazine in that the name of the magazine is behind the characters head, making the film seem more important than the magazine itself, making audiences want to buy in order to see what makes this film so special. The falling snow that surrounds the character is made prominent to the reader as it suggests a cold atmosphere to the film, giving the audience a greater idea as to what the film will be like. This also gives the film stronger connections to the fantasy genre as opposed to the action genre, which audiences could be forgiven for misinterpreting as the films genre given the image of war and fighting that the armour would give across. This also helps in drawing in the key target audience of fantasy genre fans, particularly those unfamiliar with the Lord of the Rings franchise or those that simply do not know that this film serves as a prequel to that series.

 The font used for the film title is bold and typed in white in order to make it stand out. The boldness of the font has connotations of confidence and simplicity, as if the name itself should entice readers without the need for any extra editing to draw the readers attention. This gives the film an air of grandiose importance. To give the target audience extra incentive to buy the magazine "the ultimate issue" is written in bold capital letters which gives the audience the impression that there is something special about this particular issue which should make them want to buy it, even if they are not regular purchasers of the magazine.