The first thing I will talk about is the title "Hellboy." The first thing we associate with hell is fire and the fact that the title is on fire re-enforces this. The empire logo as shown below is similar in the sense of font and colour but the fire is specific to this copy of empire magazine.
The Main picture of Hellboy is emphasised through a black background. This really makes Hellboy and and the Empire logo stand out. Furthermore, his posture tells the audience that this movie is of an action genre as he is clenching his fists right in the middle of the cover so it will be the first thing that the audience will see. Moreover you can see that one arm is bigger than the other and this is the one which is clenched which shows that this is the hand which he does most of his fighting.
Hell is also associated with death and the devil. This character has similar characteristics of the Devil but also has other characteristics of a man. One of these that I can identify is the difference in hand sizes. The hand on the right looks like the size of an average male and the hand on the left looks like an aliens. Furthermore, devil are know to have horns on their heads but his only has the foundations which suggests that he isn't a complete devil. Moreover, the fact that he has facial hair is anything like what a devil would have and shows his human qualities.
Looking in more detail to this specific magazine cover, this character covers the majority of the page and so the audience will not be able to miss him. This tells me the importance of one central image. There is also minimal writing which adds more emphasism on the picture itself. Furthermore it seems as if this character is directly addressing the audience as he is looking at us. He looks aggressive which is supported by him clenching his fists which I have talked about earlier. This adds to the aggression along with his facial features.
The target audience is male and are in their late teens who are looking for an action genre film. this target audience is brought in by the fire in the background and Hellboy's pose which makes you feel that there will be action in this movie. Furthermore, the black background really emphasises the fire and makes it stand out even more. This teaches me how colours can be seen to stand out more with a plain, black background.
We obviously witness a barcode in the bottom left of the Magazine front cover. I have noticed this as one of the characteristics in all of the magazine front covers in which I have analysed. It should take as minimal space as possible and I have noticed that it tends to be found on the bottom right or left of the magazine cover. This has taught me that we should put our barcode in a place that tries its best not to catch the audiences attention thus putting more attention on the central image.
Overall, This front cover is the first that I have analysed and it has taught me a fair bit. Firstly it tells me about how a simple magazine cover can be most effective and how it can give off more of an message. Furthermore having one centralized picture helps getting a simple magazine cover. Moreover, directly addressing your audience via having this centralised image looking directly at the audience. This will gain more attention from the audience and ultimately makes it more interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment