Empire magazine cover for Inception

 

The masthead title of the magazine 'Empire' is both iconic and widely known, making it easier for film fans and casual readers to recognise what content this magazine will have. This iconic masthead connotes that empire is both a professional and original magazine, reassuring the reader that the content will be entertaining and well written. For example the tagline 'The matrix meets 007 on steroids!' is a bold statement which entices the reader to find out more information about the main cover line of the film 'Inception'. The tagline would even gain the interest of a casual reader since it is comparing two universally acclaimed films to Inception. 

The colour scheme of white and red is used to highlight what the magazine deems important, for example the masthead and main cover line are both bright red. This makes the main cover line stand out against the black and grey background of the magazine and Leonardo Dicaprio's suit. The font of the main cover line is also the biggest after the masthead, this signifies to the reader that this issue will have a big article on Inception, since its the same colour and almost the same size as the masthead, it is therefore important. The presence of the main image of the protagonist Cobb played by Leonardo Dicaprio reinforces the idea that this issue of Empire will revolve around Inception. Leonardo Dicaprio is wearing a black suit which makes him stand out against the grey background of the magazine indicating to the readers that he is the main imagine and may have an interview inside the magazine.  

Leonardo Dicaprio is an established actor who is recognisable by film fans around the world for his roles in Titanic and Catch me if you can, by using Dicaprio as the main imagine this will remind readers that Empire is an established magazine that can afford to use high profile actors.  Dicaprio's focused and somewhat aggressive face shows readers that he is playing a serious role in the upcoming film Inception. Dicaprio is also holding a gun, this connotes that inception will have themes of action. Using Leonardo Dicaprio as the main image lets the readers know that Inception will have a big budget because it has a high profile actor in the cast, this will generate interest from the readers because they want to know what is was about Inception that convinced Dicaprio to star in it.

The pug is included to grab the audiences attention to the extra information supplied in it, it uses buzz words like 'dream' and 'access' to engage the readers imagination to how it would feel to be at the 'movie event of 2010'. The tagline, banner and text on top of the main cover line are the only text in white ( with the exception of the pug along with the extra in the left bottom half of the magazine) this signifies to the reader that this information is important.  The banner of this magazine  'The Dark Knight Returns...' and Christopher Nolan's name is placed above the main cover line, this has been included because it will immediately hook fans of the batman franchise since The Dark Knight was critically acclaimed by fans and critics.  The barcode is placed in the bottom right hand side corner of the magazine in a horizontal style so it does not steal focus from the main imagine. 

The layout of this cover isn't formal in the way it is organised instead it is entertaining.The aesthetically pleasing colours suggest that Empire may be targeting a young audience.