1. For my print mag I choseto analyze the Empire
Print Magazine: EMPIRE
(FRONTCOVER)
The Empire is a magazinethat provides its readers with detailed information
about upcoming or currently in theater movies, this includes reviews,
interviews, etc and action shots. The genre of this magazineif a mainstream
film review magazine. The target audience is 16-30 year olds with social grade
E, D and C 1 and it panders to any gender but it is aimed towards people with
an interest in movies, actors and directors.
The design focuses on the Dominantimage of the main characters of Bad times
at the el royale(an upcoming movie at the time of release) and the movies
gritty style so the audience can understand the films gist justby the cover of
the magazinethe red and black colour scheme are very sinister colours and
conveys the meaning of blood and anger also a possiblesenseof power,
However, the layout is quite minimalistic yet can still convey its grittiness by
adding a messy paint stylemaking the magazinelook used, faded and
scratched. The primary purpose is to entertain the reader with dazzling
cinematic photos and provideinsight to the newestmovie releases.
Empire typically costs £4.99 per issuehowever you can get a subscription at
£3.40 per month. They incentivize this by offering at a generally cheaper price
but also offering an exclusive subscriber frontcover the frontcover I am
analyzing is an example of an exclusive subscriber cover. Therefore, it doesn’t

2. have a price tag as it is not meant to be sold in stores. For this addition it has
changed its housestyle and its main sell line and has done this to tie in with
the genre of the movie on the front cover. Dueto its exclusivity, it doesn’thave
the issuenumber or the website on the frontcover, this is essential
information in storecopies would have but this is handed out to subscribers,
presumably fans of the magazinealready or at least people who are awareof
the empire brand. The magazine in generally targeted towards passionate
movie lovers than averagepeople, the quality is shows it is more premium
than cheap magazines. Empires print version is available from supermarkets,
local shops, postaldelivery and off the internet. They may be also sold in film
rental stores. Readers can pick up a one-time purchasein stores or subscribe
to the magazinethey advertisethe option to subscribeinsidethe magazine
itself and have an order form to fill out for postaldelivery.
Double page spread:
The dominant image of this spread shows a man being crowned this takes up
approximately 2/3 of the left side of the magazine it has a red white colour
scheme which looks royal, fitting to the left side of the double page spread
Ituses ambient lighting to create a personalatmospherethe article is about a
man called Chris pine being the main character in the upcoming movie at the
time Outlaw king. There is description about Chris pine being one of the “most
bankable names in Hollywood” this greatly panders the movie to the average

3. reader of empire and it shows oneof the mostpopular actors and a new
movie, This creates excitement and an urge to read on.
The man is kneeling with a serious expression on his face with a hint of pride
This signifies that he is the star of the show as he looks like the person in the
middle of the shotand is receiving a high status, this already shows a plot
point. The ambient lighting is used to look natural which is fitting to the setting
of medieval making you feel like you are with the congregation of people, an
onlooker. He is wearing fine nobleman clothes at the time which shows heis of
nobility anyway and is worthy of the crown, overallhe is dressed very flashy
which shows his pride and possiblegreed. This draws in the reader as we want
to know the personality. on the right side there is more shots of the movie and
shows theaction involved, this panders the film more as it gives us a peek into
the movie. Next to the dominant image there is a caption that shows empire
has connections as a journalistcompany the caption “empire was on set in
Scotland in September 2017” this shows thedetermination of the journalists to
get stories for the readers. On the right side of the left page in red small text is
a synopsis of outlaw king “Robert Brucearrives on shorewith his band of
outlaws” this shows theplot point and drama in the film it makes the reader
wonder weather Robert the Bruce is a possibleantagonist using the noun
“outlaws”. The strapline reads “Chris pine heads to the highlands to tell the
epic story of Robert the Bruce” the adjective “epic” builds up excitement and
makes the reader read on for information on the “epic” tale.
Technical Considerationsof Print and Digital Magazines
The technical considerations of print magazines include:
Size – magazines sizes are important. Mostmagazines use A4 or A5.
Contents page – this should tell the viewer whatpage number they need to
navigate to in order to find the content they’relooking for. Itis also important
for articles to include running heads, so that readers can find articles they want
to read at a glance.
Bleed line – without this around the magazine, certain elements may be cut off
when it is printed
Gutter line – this will make the navigation experience easier
Colour settings – ensures that all images are in full colour
Fonts – choosing the right font will stylize the magazine more, making it more
unique and better looking. Fonts should also be consistentthroughoutthe
entire magazine
Distribution–themagazineneeds to be sold in an appropriateplace so that it
will sell to the target audience. Itshould be placed whereit can be spotted by
people who might be interested in buying it.

4. Layout– there must be continuity in the layout and headings should be the
same on all pages
The technical considerations of digital magazines include:
Colors/fonts – might not look the same on every device. Some stylistic features
could be lost
Support– not all devices work well with digital magazines. They might display
wrong and certain elements may not be viewable
Rotation – when rotating to landscapefrom portrait, the reader will need to
scrollacross the screen to view the full page. This can feel unnatural and be a
nuisance.
Distribution –digital magazines can be distributed in a lot of different ways.
The main services used for this are Amazon and Barnes and Noble. However,
certain distributors requireyou to utilize their templates, causing the magazine
to look less stylized and moregeneric
Losing files – someaudio and videos might be redacted from the internet,
causing the magazineto lose someof its meaning
Zooming – if the viewer has to zoomin and out to read certain portions of the
magazine, it can be discouraging .

5. Digital magazine:
TOTAL FILM
For my digital magazineI have decided to analyzeTotal film. More specifically
the mostrecent one as of 4th
October its dominant image obstructs the
masthead and its skyline uses the space to name out the movies that are
featured in this issueall of these are upcoming releases in the month of
October which reels in dedicated movie goers and casual fans alike to get in
the latest bit of gossip about the creation of a known franchiseliketerminator
or Zombieland. These have a cult following. The style like empire have an
action packed frontcover and challenges a lot of the codes and conventions of
typical magazines for example it has a lack of barcodes and sub images,
however unlike the empire issueI covered, total film has sell lines and pugs
these are not on the exclusive empire cover. The cover features the most
anticipated film as its cover and in the middle of the magazine: terminator:
dark fate terminator is big and bold to draw people to the magazineas
terminator is a household name and can drivein customers then the rest of its
title I smalllettering (dark fate) the 2 main people on the cover are known
characters making a return, the fire at the bottom of the cover unsubtly makes
itself known and shows how action packed these characters are, while the
empire cover is subtle the total film is in your facethey have guns and small

6. injuries to pop out and attract the viewers’ attention. With the explosions and
guns as well as military outfits the characters arewearing it shows the film is
going to be an action genre.
Their pose creates a hardened and threatening look which is what these
characters are. You can get a general idea of the movie by the cover on the
terminator franchise: pureaction and because of that a possible limited story,
many people enjoy type of movie as it doesn’trequire any type of
concentration of the story, this is clearly pandered to a mainstream film
audience who go to the movies to see the latest films
Its purposeis to showcasemainstream film reviews. And its genre is film
Distribution:
Distribution of digital magazines are done in many ways. They are distributed
through the internet and accessed by readers through mobile or computer
This will allow the user to read the magazineprovided they are connected to
the internet. Some services allow readers to browseofflineby allowing them
to keep a downloaded copy. Users will be billed after every release of an issue
unless it is free.

7. Double page spread:
The double page spread includes an article about the upcoming movie at the
time zombie land 2 it is a sequel of the firstfilm that has a cult following. The
viewer is presented with a photo that takes up the double page spread of the 4
original main characters in a farm atmospherelooking off to the distance they
are in an apocalypsesituation which explains the ruralenvironment and their
firearms as to stay in the city would be dangerous, their poseand their looking
off into the distance hints at a great threat coming. The Pullquote says that the
main characters “tell total film about rewriting the rulebook” the reference to
the franchiseof the rulebook and the fact they are telling total film exclusive
info will definitely draw in the zombieland following.
This article challenges typical codes and conventions of magazine layout with
the dominantimage taking up the entire double page and the masthead being
combined with the dominant image as the 4 actors arein frontof the
masthead but the background of the dominant image is behind it.
The lead story indicated by the drop cap “T” is also on top of the image is also
buried in the dominant image and may have not been noticed by less
perceptive readers if not for the drop cap, the fontand size is not invasiveof
the image making it hidden. This makes the image in the forefrontof this
double page spread as to people previewing the magazine the 4 characters are
very recognizableand will be the main thing that sells the magazine to
browsing audiences who preview before buying this article also being nearer
to the frontof the magazinewill guarantee that readers can preview it.

8. Opportunities and limitations of print magazines
An opportunity of printmagazines is its availability, it is available through
physicaldistributors like shops, gas stations, and many different ways as long
as there is a physicaldistributor, this is good as it reaches every audience type
male/female, young/old resulting in more sales, however the lack of an online
copy results in extra printing costs and carrying a physicalcopy is often
encumbering to the people on the go.
Another opportunity of print is its sentimental value, once you havea physical
copy you haveit forever without having to charge a device to get online and it
is more sentimental so collectors often purchasephysicalcopies over the
digital counterpart.
An opportunity of a digital magazineis that it’s easier to shareparticular
articles with anyoneonline to spark discussions this creates a higher reader
engagement and access a big audience through digital
However, to know abouta digital magazine you not only have to have access
to the internet you also haveto stumble across itonline or through a friend
which is often hard to do if you do not know where to look.
Another opportunity is the fact there is more magazines available through a
digital platformthan a printone giving you moreof a selection when choosing
a magazine tailored to you this blessing is also a curseas the easier it is to
make your own magazine this may sound good but this leads to oversaturation
of badly made magazines that someonewithout knowledgeof the structureof
a magazine.
Both digital and print have their pros and cons but the real challenge with both
these industries is trying to maintain and build an audience as well as
producing content that is engaging and relevant. With ever decreasing
attention spans and even more content available people expect a constant
streamof personalized engaging, shortform content delivered instantly, most
of which can be consumed on mobile and tablet.
EVALUATION
in conclusion both digital and physicalfunction similarly, print is still preferred
by magazine readers, digital magazines don’talways chooseto follow the
typical codes and conventions and chooseto challenge them. They can also be
aimed at the same audience; however, you should consider that if a magazine
is aimed toward an older demographic it is best to distribute it in print form

9. as the audience is unlikely to consider digital. A certain percentage of young
people prefer digital magazines rather than print so a company should always
consider a digital copy being offered to its readers. Both total film and empire
are similar to each other I would even say total film takes some stylistic
inspiration from empire with empire being the more popular and older
magazine in terms of its layout and aesthetic (epic action packed covers, lots of
focus on justone movie) . both the magazines are aiming to the same audience
(people with a fixation on the newest movies) and servethe same purposein
informing readers about the newestmovies. Neither look moreprofessional
than the other one which is expected considering their similar price points they
would have to give their readers reasons notto change to the rivalling one
with the similar price however total film is a good digital contender for a more
on the go and technical oriented audience who cannot afford a print mag like
empire or justchoosenot to pay for it. When a new total film issuelaunches its
readers can immediately access it online and don’thave to wait for shipping.