The Dark Knight (magazine cover)

The bright colour pallet of this magazine cover instantly draws the viewer's attention to it, with The Joker's face and bright green font, it has an immediate effect on the viewer as acid green is very rarely used in posters and the white face of the joker only accentuates and compliments it. The Joker's face is the main feature of the poster, being the poster face and main feature of the marketing campaign for the movie, The Joker is a very well known character associated with the film and is just as good (maybe even better) a choice than having the actual protagonist, Batman, in the poster. And for those who know nothing about the film, The Joker is looking in a very sinister way towards the viewer, combined with  The Joker's already menacing appearance, it is very obvious that he is the main antagonist of the film.

The font size of Empire is much larger than any of the other writing, as the face of The Joker is the first thing anyone will see when they see the magazine therefore the font of the magazine name must be the largest so it is the second thing anyone can see, meaning the viewer will automatically associate the film and magazine together. The film name is the second largest font size in the poster, confirming this connection between the magazine  and the film. The other pieces of writing are smaller, these less interesting aspects to the magazine are likely to be ignored by a viewer who only has passing interest in the magazine because of The Dark Knight reference. However any viewer who has a genuine interest in the magazine will easily find these smaller articles. This technique insures that any skim readers will be able to first see the most interesting aspects of the magazine and be attracted to it, without it being overlapped by a lot of other peices of information that do not interest them.

The unique selling point to this magazine cover is the close up detail which the artists of the cover have given. The Joker is unlike any other antagonist ever before seen in movies, his sheer psycopathic brilliance sets the film apart from any other super hero films. Therefore, having The Joker up close and personal gives a very creepy effect that cannot be matched by any other movie character.

All in all I believe that this cover is about average, it has some good effects, I like the use of the colour, acid green works with The Joker's unsettling prescence. However the cover does not really deviate from the rest of the marketing campaign done by The Dark Knight throughout 2008, by this time everyone had seen the face of The Joker through the viral marketing campaign of "Why So Serious?" with no new content, the cover is not particularily interesting to those who have been keeping track of the media.

Pirates of the carribean (magazine cover)

The colour pallet for the Pirates of the Caribbean is relatively simple, with black being background of the poster. The simple nature of the poster has a very mysterious air around it, having almost no detail on the entire cover.  Johnny Depp's character permeates the darkness with a serious looking face staring directly at the viewer. his face is illuminated by what appears to be candlelight, this is one of the many hints towards the setting of the film, as electronic lights are an indication of a relatively modern world, the presence of candle light indicates that the plot will take place in an older setting. The candle light also has a very dramatic effect on the face of the main character, partly illuminating it and leaving the other part shrouded in darkness, this has a very eye pleasing effect, making the viewer instantly attracted to the image situated in the magazine cover, giving more attention to the, now iconic, main character.

Besides having "pirates" in the title there are many other indications to the genre and the sub genre of the film within the magazine cover. For example the character situated in the centre of the poster is crossing two weapons across his chest, this is a subtle indication that there will be violence, meaning that the genre could be an action/adventure. These weapons are also a good indications of the main plot line to the film, seeing as both of the weapons across the character's chest are heavily associated with pirates (the cutlass and flint lock pistol). The character is also appropriately dressed in pirate attire, with a bandanna and jewellery. All of these subtle hints contribute to the viewers interpretation of the film's themes before even seeing the film.

Johnny Depp is a very well known A-list actor, therefore using his character on the front cover of the magazine will make many fans of his previous work instantly interested in this film. The magazine cover is relatively simplistic, with very little detail and much dramatic highlighting on the main focal points of the poster, this makes viewer know as much as they need to from the outset of seeing the poster. The font is in the very top and very bottom of the poster, this means they do not overlap the face of Johnny Depp, this means that both of the important pieces of writing in the magazine cover (the title of the movie and the title of the magazine) are shown prominently but do not drain focus from the main picture.

All in all I think the magazine cover for Pirates of the Caribbean is satisfactory. It makes the important details of the film evident from first view of the poster. However at the same time it's nothing particularly special and can be easily overlooked by a viewer due to it's lack of any real eye catching qualities

The Hobbit (magazine cover)

The font  for the magazine cover of The Hobbit is primarily in gold, this is relatively complimentary to the movie because this kind of metallic gold is customary for the largely successful  Lord of The Rings trilogy, which The Hobbit is a prequel to. This link back to it's predecessor is a good way to attract the large fan base of the Lord of The Rings films, most of whom are aware of the book version of The Hobbit. The gold colour also permeates quite effectively from the gloomy grey background of the magazine cover, therefore making it pop more to the viewers attention. The two main pieces of writing on the magazine cover are the title of Empire and The Hobbit this immediately causes fans of either publication to be attracted to the other, as both are highlighted.

The main aspect of the magazine cover is Bilbo, the main character of The Hobbit, he is holding a sword and has an expression of apprehension on his face. This is a small hint to the adventure and action within the film, however to anyone who has seen the previous Lord of The Rings films, these small hints are sufficient to showing them that the film will follow the action/adventure trend set by the Lord of The Rings. Golem, an extremely well known and iconic character from the Lord of The Rings  is in the background of the poster gazing menacingly at Bilbo, his reappearance in The Hobbit is a very appealing feature, as he was a very popular character and many of the audience would watch The Hobbit simply to see Golem again

The Genre is relatively clear even if you have never heard of the Lord of The Rings or The Hobbit. Features unique to the fantasy genre can be clearly seen throughout the poster, for example swords are generally typical to the fantasy genre as it is what many people would think when they hear "old weapons". The font also hints at the genre, as it is the colour of polished gold, being used much more in the ancient years, the colour can be used to represent the fantasy genre as many films within it take place in an ancient time period. Another way in which the genre is represented is the presence of Golem, his appearance doesn't look all together human, with his hunched, emaciated form and bulbous head, he looks more like some primitive alien or a mythical beast, this has the essence of magic around it, magic being the staple plot twist for any decent fantasy film.

For a magazine cover, The Hobbit is quite well done, with subtle references to Lord of The Rings and some of the themes of the film, it makes the viewer want to read more into the film, thus promoting both the magazine and The Hobbit. Even though it features very little contents, the content shown is very attractive

Forrest Gump (poster)

The poster's main colour of choice is white, with similarly light colours used in accordance. This gives the entire piece a delicately light vibe. This is somewhat effective for conveying the conventions of the film. Forrest Gump is a film about a child like man making his way through life in difficult time periods, it's this childish innocence which is represented with the light colour pallet of the poster, it accentuates the purity which the film is trying to convey onto it's main character.

The genre for this film is hard to pin down as it can be conceived as many (action, adventure, war, drama, romance, comedy etc.) therefore it is somewhat unclear what the genre is by simply looking at the poster. However it does hint upon a few different genres, it hints at drama with the quote at the top (the dialogue for comedy or most action films is not generally deep enough to quote) the lightness of the entire the poster also shows there will be a lighter aspect to the film therefore hinting that in conjunction with the drama there will be aspects of comedy or perhaps romance. Just like the film itself, the genre conveyed by this poster is very hard to gauge, with small aspects of different genres shown in the entire picture. This could be considered confusing to the viewer, however I believe this uncertainty to the conventions of the film adds an air of intrigue to the film, coupled with the lack of detail given to the viewer, it makes the viewer very hungry for more information.

On the bottom of the poster there is a sentence saying how many awards the film has won, with an Oscar in the bottom right corner of the poster. The Oscar is a very prestigious award, therefore winning one will be a very attractive quality for a film. Anyone seeing the Oscar In the poster will  attract them to the poster, as they can immediately see from first glance that this film is exceptional. I believe that this  pairs well with the small amount of detail given within the poster, because many people will see the Oscar and know that it is worth knowing more about this film, despite how little detail it gives.

All in all I believe this poster is satisfactory, as it provided such little detail it can have an enticing effect on the viewer, however I also believe it may not interest some because if they are not initially attracted to it by first glance they may not give it any future attention.

28 Days later (poster)

The poster for 28 days later consists of two simple colours red and black, this gives an instantly menacing effect to the viewer. This is caused by the associations made by the viewer from the colours, as red is the colour of blood and black is instantly associated with darkness, both of which are somewhat malevolent themes. This effect gives the viewer an accurate opinion of the film which is a horror, but at the same time not the same as some other types of films, as the shade of red is very light, it suggests that the film will not so much be creepy but rather violent and perhaps surprising, with sudden moments of intense violence and adrenaline. This immediately sets it apart from certain other horror movies which try to accentuate the subtle, eerie aspects of their film. The title of the film and the tagline are both in white adorned above the red and black, this highlights these certain aspects above the other qualities of the film poster and automatically sets them into the viewer's mind. This is useful because if they remember the title it means they are able to look for it in cinemas and spread the hype of the film through word of mouth. The tagline is important because it is a snappy, catchy representation of the film which is useful thing for a viewer to remember.

The unique selling point is instantly recognisable as the large biohazard sign in the middle of the poster and the desolate cityscape underneath. This associates the movie with the post apocalyptic subgenre, as well as the piece of writing above the title, the count down of the world going into anarchy over an apparent epidemic of some disease. The biohazard sign alone attracts any fans of that specific subgenre as it has been used on many other films (e.g The Crazies, Carriers) therefore the film automatically has a fan base simply from the sign on the poster. The setting of the film becomes recognisable within a few minutes looking at the poster, as the city scape reveals famous indications of London (Big Ben ect) this makes anyone who is interested in English films (or films situated in England) instantly interested in this film.

The simplicity of the poster is well done, as the viewer isn't overloaded with unneeded information, meaning they can focus on the more important aspects of the poster, therefore they are not given any false impressions about the content of the film. The lack of content also continues the idea of a desolate, post apocalyptic landscape with the lone figure walking down the empty streets of an abandoned city and nothing else throughout the entire poster.

Personally I like this poster a lot, the simple aspects of the entire thing makes the viewer want to see more, while at the same time gives them enough detail to have half an idea of what the film is about. However I believe one thing the creators of this poster overlooked was the zombies in this film. The film is primarily a post apocalyptic zombie film however there is not a single reference to zombies, I understand that it might give away too much by showing them, however there is a large fan base for zombie films and I believe that if a subtle hint of the undead were added it would appeal to a much larger audience. Nevertheless I believe this poster is an effective one.

Skyfall (magazine cover)

The main focal point of this cover is Daniel Craig looking menacingly towards the viewer in the typical James Bond attire, this is quite an obvious choice for a front cover, as many people associate James Bond with the suit and gun. Therefore having  both of these qualities utilized in the front cover of the magazine would be a good way to attract fans of the old Jame's Bond films. This can also be seen in the presence of the other James Bond's at the bottom of the screen, they are all there to personify the change from old Bond to new Bond. As the issue of who would play James Bond in the new film was a large issue among the fan base, having Daniel Craig pose in the same manner and costume as James Bond would help to assure any fans that are on the fence about the decision that Daniel Craig is a good choice for the new Bond.The black suit that the character is wearing also helps to make him stick out from the background, the contrast of the suit from the white/grey colour background makes the character really stick out, making the audiences attention be attracted to the image.

Going into more detail about the characters costume, he is wearing a black jacket with black trousers, the jacket being worn on top of white long sleeved shirt with a black tie. This is a typical James Bond style of clothing and has been used in almost all of the previous films. The character in the image is holding a gun in his right hand which helps the audience to identify the genre of the film, if they did not know already and or haven't seen the other James Bond films that came before. By making the films genre really easy to identify, they have opened up the possible audience to not only fans of the James Bond franchise, but to those who are a fan of the action spy genre.

In the "foreground" of the image we can see what looks to be bullet holes in an imaginary glass covering of the magazine. The bullet holes are located on the left shoulder and the right elbow of the character. It is obvious that the design of the magazine cover has been done to insure that the face of the character is not covered by the bullet holes. This not only gives the cover more sustenance and makes the image more appealing to the audience, but it also helps the audience to identify the genre of the film, which as said before, helps the film attract a larger audience.

The title of the film is located in the bottom half of the image around the characters waist, and like almost all of the other Empire magazine covers, the title is in white and in a pain font similar to that used in the Empire title. This makes the name of the film stand out, especially against the black suit if James Bond. Just under the main Skyfall title, we can see the words "BOND. BACK IN BUSINESS". This is a reference to the other James Bond films that have been made in the past, and that perhaps Skyfall will just as action packed as the other James Bond films have been in the past.

Under the title and the sub title, we can see the pictures and the names of the other James Bonds from films that have been and gone in the past. This also helps the audience to identify the franchise and the genre of the film.The background of the image has a very clean look and it helps to make the character stick out, and give him huge dominance over the rest of the item on the cover of the magazine. There are a couple of other films being featured in the background of the cover, but James Bond is much more prevalent in the image.

All in all I like this magazine cover, it succeeds in promoting the film without adding a lot of random, needless features. The cool, grey background helps to accentuate all of the other colors in the cover and at the same time it truly compliments the suave, sophisticated nature of James Bond. While the presence of the main character and nothing else helps to highlight the importance and impact that James Bond is meant to have on the audience