MAGAZINE ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS

EMPIRE MAGAZINE: Inglourious Basterds

The main picture and character of Brad Pitt indicates that the budget of the film and just the mention of this actors name will attract a wide range of audience, especially from his well known films. His stance suggests that he is a man ready to fight; he is in a very powerful stance ready to fight. The knife he is wielding is an exaggerated size and one which looks set to inflict a lot of damage to anyone who gets in his way. He is in this stance to give an indication of to the genre of the film, which means it is most likely action or thriller and contains some degree of violence

The appearance of the character gives the impression of a battle hardened man from the evidence of the large scar which is seen visibly on his neck. His sense of fashion also gives the idea of that he is from the past, maybe set around 40’-50’s, due to he is hairstyle and what would be in fashion moustache.

The reference from the prestigious Quentin Tarantino, gives the magazine - and the film its advertising -a very professional feel, it also gives the audience a well recognised name and that they can expect the same type of film that Tarantino is known for, thereby appealing to a niche, audience as well as a large, spread out audience.

The colour scheme is representative of blood due to the red and the grey. However, the grey also indicates that a rough metallic time and setting maybe based in a war or historical event?

TOTAL FILM: The Dark Knight

The front of the magazine has the heroic looking batman posing in a strong pose however, all over the front cover it is clear to see that it has been deliberately annotated as an effect to show the anarchy and chaos clearly. This is an unconventional idea and it gives the idea to the audience that that the film is to have a lot of action and one of the main focuses is the evil in the film and the notorious villain, which by the clever annotations and graffiti on the front cover is the ‘Joker’.

The writing is written in bold and traditional conventional text, what you would expect for an original front cover magazine containing Batman. But the red text which sits over the white text but still enables the bold text to be seen, but the red text itself represents anarchy. This stands out very well due to the unconventional aspects.

The puff gets the attention of the audience through the words ‘Sex’ written in capitals along with ‘Spandex’ which gives a slight alliteration, also the words give the reader an idea of what is coming on to their screens. However a word which may be overlooked is the ‘Free’ at the top, this can make the difference between someone buying and not buying the magazine.

Big actor’s names and places and famous film festivals catch the reader’s eye and maybe apply to the certain audiences which care about this, it is also written in bold and then regular text to show the significance of the main cover lines. They have no connections to main article (Batman movie), the conventions of this follow other magazines and is tune with the general colour scheme of the magazine cover.

EMPIRE MAGAZINE: The Dark Knight

The main photograph is one which features the main protagonist, the idea of the ‘evil clown’ juxtaposes the main conventional idea of clowns make you happy and are fun. You can tell the clown is definitely evil or disturbed due to the messy, sinister-looking make –up the clown is wearing the black eye shadow portraying the evil glare which protrudes the readers gaze and captivates the audience. Also, his face is tilting down slightly as if he is this all knowing, evil being above us. It is very intimidating and therefore powerful.

Traditional type face and colour scheme for the Marvel comics, however this magazine goes against conventions by putting the traditional colour scheme of the villain as the main colour scheme. The title of the magazine is written in gigantic letters to show the importance and gives the impression that something big and important is in store.

The tagline ‘summer just got serious’ is a referral to the film, in fact it is the Joker’s catchphrase, further indicating a villain related cover. Also it tells you when it’s out, summer and it also give you the idea of a showdown between the Joker and Batman from the indication of ‘The Joker vs. Batman’. Also the whole film is quiet against conventions, the film is about Batman but the title does not include his name at all, instead he is labelled ‘The Dark Knight’ which is a dichotomy in the way of the night itself is dark, but it does mean that there is knight as in a saviour or hero.