1. EMPIRE FILM
MAGAZINE FRONT
COVER
DECONSTRUCTION
PUBLIC ENEMIES ISSUE

3. BACKGROUND
Empire is a British film magazine that is
released monthly, published by Bauer
Consumer Media. The first issue was
released in July 1989 and it is now the best
selling film magazine in the UK. I have
chosen to deconstruct the Public Enemies
issue released in July 2009.

4. MASTHEAD
The title of the magazine is so iconic that the image
is able to cover the title and people will still know
what the magazine is. The font is sans-serif so that
it is clear and easy to read. The red colour on the
white and grey background stands out and contrasts
well.

5. COLOUR SCHEME
The colour scheme is red, black, grey and
white. These colours relate into the genre of
the film which is the main story, and the
colours connote mystery and secrecy.

6. MAIN IMAGE
The main image dominates the page, taking up
almost the whole length of the page, and this shows
that it is the main film story. The character is a male
dressed in all black with a white shirt which is used
to create contrast within the image. He is not using
a direct mode of address, which makes the
audience wonder what he is looking at.

7. MAIN IMAGE
His serious facial expression
and the prop being used is a
gun tells the audience that
action and danger are
involved. His black outfit
connotes rebelliousness and
death, but also gives him a
formal appearance.

8. MAIN COVER LINE
The use of “JOHNNY DEPP STEALS
SUMMER!” gives the film an instant good review
due to the fact Johnny Depp is a world class
actor and people will want to watch the film just
because he stars in it. The off-white colour is
used to stand out against the black suit.

9. TITLE OF FILM
The title of the film is the second largest piece of
text on the front cover, after the masthead, which
shows the significance of the film and that it is the
main story. The serif, bold font makes it stand out,
but also appears more decorative. The grey colour
contrasts with the black on the image.

10. BUZZ WORD
The “first look” uses a dark colour box. This
helps it to stand out and draws the eye to
these buzz words. The use of grey writing
stands out against the black box so that the
text isn’t getting washed out by the white
colour box underneath.

11. COVER LINES
The white colour box around the cover
lines contrasts with the black suit and the
red writing. The images are equal in size
and they all use similar colours, so they
fit well with the magazine.The word
“heroes” is used effectively as it is
something everyone can relate to, and
the characters and films used are very
well known.

12. TOP COVER LINE
The cover line at the top uses the buzz word
“exclusive” so that the audience are intrigued and want
to find out information that other people don’t know.
The background of the image uses an off-yellow colour
which is not part of the colour scheme. This draws
focus to the image, but does not take away the
significance of the main image as it is much smaller.

13. PLUS SIGN
The red plus sign on the left hand side of the
page tells us that there is more information
along with the main story and the cover lines.
The use of red and white fonts creates a
contrast within itself and stands out against
the image.

14. DATE, PRICE, BARCODE
The date, price and barcode are small and
seem to be squashed into a corner
underneath the cover lines. This shows the
information is not important but it is a
convention that you need on all magazine
front covers.

15. BACKGROUND
The background of the front cover is the grey
background of the main image. It has been
blurred so that the character stands out and
so does all the information.