The two film magazine covers I will be analysing are the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Empire cover and a film similar to my genre of The Twilight Saga Entertainment Weekly cover. On the Twilight cover it says 'The hottest books since Harry Potter' in which I think is why it would be interesting to compare.
The Empire magazine cover for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is strong magazine cover since it is the last instalment of the Harry Potter series. The house style of Empire magazine is normally red, but since Harry Potter has been a worldwide phenomenon, it seems to make sense to base the whole magazine to the film and change the colour scheme. The plain background and gold writing give a statement for the film showing how special it is and how sad it will be to end. The gradient black background gives the cover a modern twist and since its simple it means that the focus is on the characters. The audience have watched Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint grow up, so to see them grown up on the cover and dressed stylish and out of their Harry Potter costumes shows its the end. Normally on an Empire magazine they would have pugs, puffs, subheadings and many more to try and sell the magazine, but Harry Potter is so popular everywhere that the last instalment sells itself. The Harry Potter empire doesn't need persuading people, its success has already done so. The statement 'THE LAST CRUSADE. THE PERFECT FAREWELL." pulls in the audience, words such as 'last' and 'farewell' makes the ending of the series sad since the films have been entertaining us for 10 years. The gold compliments the black well and the calm contrast of colours reflect on the ending of Harry Potter compared to the normal red text and white background. This cover doesn't really fit in with the consistency of the films synergy since most of them have been concentrating on the film itself and selling it, whilst this cover is focussing on how the film is ending in which I think gives it it's own selling point. The positioning of the actors are the biggest feature of the page as it is focussed on them, you can tell that Daniel Radcliffe is the most important as he is in the middle and his stance is slightly more forward than the other two. The fact that their standing next to each other and you can see them clearly shows they are important as well. Also that they are staring at the camera which engages the audience and also shows that it was an exclusive interview for Empire magazine, normally in the past when Empire have done a special for previous Harry Potter films, they have got a shot from the film.
The Twilight Breaking Dawn Entertainment Weekly magazine has a similar approach to the last Harry Potter film since this is the last of the Twilight instalments. Twilight has been seen as a rival to Harry Potter since it has been so successful itself which is why I wanted to compare them, plus it is also similar to my genre. Compared to the Harry Potter cover these covers have pugs and subheadings to support the images which Harry Potter didn't really need. Twilight may have had to have more exposure since it wasn't as big as Harry Potter and was mainly aimed at females whereas Harry Potter could reach audiences from children, teenagers and adults from both genders. The gradient background is the same as the Empire magazine, it puts the focus on the image of the actors more. The cold colour of the blue reflects on the cold, thriller atmosphere of the film. The close up shot of the characters draws in the audience as its so concentrated on the characters and its all about them like the Harry Potter magazine covers. The Taylor Lautner front cover, like the Harry Potter cover has the actor looking at the camera which therefore draws the audience in again since its so close up and especially the female audience will be attracted to it. In some of the subheadings, words such as 'Love', 'Sex' and 'Death' will probably draw the audience to buy the magazine as it may seem like interesting subjects and look like shock words. The Harry Potter cover seems to base the whole page on the image of the actors as the image speaks for itself in a lot of ambiguous ways, whilst the Twilight cover seems to have subheadings over the image and puffs like '2 Part Twilight Finale' to try and persuade the audience. I think they are both effecting and seem current, personally I like simple front covers and put the focus on an image. I think a lot of text over the image can be tacky and loses the meaning of the image. The gradient background also makes it seem modern and compliments the image. Since both images have been used from an exclusive photo shoot for each of the magazine company's, it makes the interview more personal and also looks better as people normally see them in their characters costumes. Taking an actor away from their characters seems to make out that were getting to know them.
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