Film Magazine Research.

Advertising is a form of 'communication' used to persuade an assembly of viewers, readers or listeners to take some action with products, ideas or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behaviour with a commercial offering. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television, and radio; or new media such as websites and text messages.

Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through 'Branding', which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers.

A new form of advertising that is growing rapidly is social network advertising. It is online advertising with a focus on social networking sites. Although this is a relatively juvenile market, it has shown a lot of promises as advertisers are able to take advantage of the information the user has provided to the social networking site, and social networking sites are also becoming increasingly popular so people would be updated by new offerings. 

Putting film magazines up on the internet is a good way of promoting, not only is it a free way to approach quickly and easily, it can also be passed on from one social networking site to another by friends so therefore the users help the producers to do their job by directing the advertisements on other networks and spreading them around.

I have chosen to thoroughly analyse the ‘The Dark Knight’ film magazine cover mainly because I think it is well thought out and effective. I will be focusing on the images, narrative, colours, layout, and texts. I will also show how and why they are used to relate to the target audience. The genre is a hybrid of crime, drama and action and the film magazine cover clearly confirms it.

Immediately, you can identify that this cover is extremely arresting. The use of texts, imagery and stereotypes are used so successfully that they all stand out in order to grab your attention. However, you can also notice that it is done carefully as all the elements used do not render the focus of each other. This is what makes the cover as a whole unique and impressive; purely because it is neither mainstream nor conventional and you can be brave enough and dare say that it is probably deliberately done to suggest that everything is just as important and everything should be made aware of?

The dark red title ‘EMPIRE’ positioned at the top highlights and juxtaposes the darkness and the sense of the film and it mirrors the title ‘Dark Knight’. It also show-cases or give subtle hints about the genre of the film, for example the colour red denotes death, violence and retribution so the audience will have a clear understanding of what the film has to offer. EMPIRE is the only text that is deliberately enlarged so it forces the audience to be aware of it; this is due to the fact that everyone or the majority of people who are interested in films/media know that EMPIRE is the world’s leading movie magazine and with a reputation like that, the audience will immediately believe that the film they are promoting is going to be an outstanding picture. What helps it stand out even more is the small font which is above the letter ‘M’ which tells you the date and price of the magazine. Furthermore, if you look into the title in more detail, the font used is so simple when the genre contains heavy violence so you can say that it challenges the conventions of the genre. Although the title stands out, the way in which the character is positioned renders the focus of it so it does not steal all the attention.

Above the title ‘EMPIRE’, the title of the film is shown - ‘The Dark Knight’. The way in which it is placed right on top of the film cover (on the same line as the logo) reinforces the fact that it holds relevance to the magazine and film. The colour white that is used for the font contrasts with the dark background which helps the title to stand out even more. Just because it is the title of the film, it does not necessarily mean it has to be the largest font, this is because the Joker is unique enough for the audience to gain recognition and know what film it is, it also doesn’t help that Batman was created a long time ago so by modernising it, it can be related or will be enjoyed by the contemporary audience as the era when Batman was created, now seems ‘old-fashioned’ and boring.

The character that plays Joker (Heath Ledger) is placed right in the middle of the cover. Undeniably, it is clear that he plays the antagonist role in the film because of the way he looks, dresses and comes across. The image looks as if it is taken from a scene of the film and it is a very powerful picture which instantly shows the joker’s personality and style. The way he smiles forebodingly creates a sense of discomfort for the audience because not only is his smile dark, the messy clown make up applied on his face sums up the whole sinister look he carries within him. He seems laid back and content with what he is doing/has done which makes him look even more twisted and psychotic. To back up or support my point that he is malevolent, the way in which the lighting is dim makes it clear that the Joker does not contain any sense of warmth inside him and the way he wears colourful clothing gives me different impressions, you can say that it seems as if he is mocking the people who are not the same as him, he is giving emphasis to what he is known as, or to challenge mainstream antagonists. And although he is wearing a suit (despite the green and purple colours), his top button is undone and his tie is loose which reinforces his defiant side.

Moving on from the Joker and going back to texts, it is clear why the magazine is done so magnificently. ‘WORLD EXCLUSIVE!’ is placed at the top right hand side and these words almost sum up the release or preview of Dark Knight making it seem big and successful. This also promotes the magazine saying it cannot be read elsewhere and by using this method, it makes the audience feel like the magazine contains something fruitful and the magazine was made specifically for them. If you look at the magazine cover as a whole, you can see splashes of green and purple with white fonts everywhere. You can say that the Joker is unavoidable as the colours represent him as a being. Quite subtle yet powerful use of graphics is used which may suggest that the magazine is unique with its crazy and funky fonts which looks eroded and very grunge-like with paint sprays and scribbles, it looks as if it has been vandalised which also links to the theme of the film and the Joker. The ‘X’ suggests the nature of vandalism linking to the Joker’s actions.

Last but not least which I think is one of the unique selling points – ‘HE’S A COLD BLOODED, MASS MURDERING CLOWN’ is written as if an adolescent child wrote that by hand. The way it is all jittery makes the audience feel edgy and fearful, it tells the audience that the film will offer heavy violence and bloodshed. 

Overall, I am confident enough to say that this film/magazine lends itself more to the male audience mainly because it is based on ferocity and that is what men thrive on. The reason why I don't think it will target the female audience as much as stereotypical girls enjoy chick flicks more and this is the total opposite of what is enjoyable to them. However, I cannot deny that some females enjoy watching these type of films as they like watching attractive men fight.