Poster and Magazine Cover Analysis

The tagline

The tagline ‘Chucky Gets Lucky’ is a mysterious tagline which gets audience thinking of who Chucky is and what the concept is behind the story as the tagline does not give away the story but it gets the audience thinking who chucky.

The image

The close up shot of both faces is mysterious as you can only see half a face which hides half of the identity, keeping the audience thinking. The image is in black and white however the image on the left has stiches whereas the image on the right does not which shows the image on the left may be the villain of the story. The image fades into the darkness again giving a mysterious vibe and hiding identity.

The Title

The ‘bride of’ is in red which connotes danger, blood, death and passion, making it stand out from the dark black background whereas ‘CHUCKY’ is in white and bold text which shows whoever ‘chucky’ may be is more dominant and also the lead character as the text is very bold and strong.

The DateThe date is at the very bottom of the page and it is ironic that the film will be releasing on Halloween.

The Extra Strapline‘The Honeymoon’s going to be a killer’ links in with the title ‘Bride’. This extra strapline gives away a bit of the story as the world ‘killer’ may indicate to a slasher movie. This conforms to Barthes pleasure of Text theory where the audience guess what will happen and seeing this strapline gives them pleasure to go watch it.

The Credits

There is information of the producers and all the people involved in making ‘The bride of Chucky’. The production logo makes dedicated members of the audience wanting to go and see the film because they know that it is a big budget and at high quality.

The taglineThe film ‘SAW’ and ‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY’ have been successful films in the past. Fans of ‘SAW’ and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY’ are likely to go watch the film and this conforms to Barthes pleasure of text theory where the audience guess what will happen and seeing this play out gives them the pleasure.

The Title The title ‘INSIDIOUS’ is in white which stands out and it sums up the content of the film and the supernatural subgenre it belongs to. This is Barthes ‘’Pleasure of text theory in action as the audience can guess what the film is about but want to view the film to see it play out.

The Extra StraplineThe extra strapline gives away a bit about the film because we now know that the house is not haunted but the boy maybe. This may make the audience want to go watch the film to find out who is haunted.

The image

Having the image of the house in the background instantly tells us that the location will be set in a house. We can also see a shadow in the window of a hand which confuses the audience between the supernatural and slasher genre. The medium close up shot of the boy has his eyes scratched out which indicates that he may be possessed and he may be the lead character as his placed in front of the house. The sky in the image is dark and gloomy which is a horror paradigm as horror movies do not show a bright sunny day as it is always dark.

Fan comment

‘SO SCARY’ instantly draws in the audiences attention as the 5 star awarded film attracts the audience to believe in the comment and so that the viewers can go and watch the film.

The Credits There is information of the producers and all the people involved in making ‘Insidious’. The production logo makes dedicated members of the audience wanting to go and see the film because they know that it is a big budget and at high quality.

Website

Website is given to promote the film further.

The Title

The title ‘Demonic Toys’ is written in two different fonts. ‘Demonic’ emphasises on the genre of demons and supernatural horror where toys become alive. The crayon style text of ‘Toys’ emphasises on the child like behaviour as children play with toys and crayons.

The image

The image of toys and a clown looks creepy and the extra strap line makes it even more scary as the strapline connects to the image. The toys are directly looking at the audience. The background looks like a fire which resembles danger. The image takes up most of the poster and the image makes the poster look more dramatic with the green background.

The Extra Strapline

The strapline ‘They want to play with you’ talks to the audience. The ‘you’ positions the audience in the victim’s place which creates fear. The font is coloured in blue which stands out against the black background.

The Credits

There is information of the producers and all the people involved in making ‘Demonic toys’. However this is a old film which was made in 1992 where the technology was not so advanced as today but the movie was still a big hit.

The Banner

The yellow colour font stands the banner out from the dark background. The yellow is constantly used throughout the magazine keeping white and yellow and a bit of red as the theme colour.

The Masthead

The masthead is bold and eye-catching with red which connotes danger with the bright yellow outline. The masthead is placed in front of the image making the masthead stand out. In addition this magazine is not well known as the ‘Empire’ magazine normally places there images in front having the masthead hidden behind as many people are aware of the magazine.

The image

The medium close up shot is very bold and stands out as the cuts in the dolls face are sharp and edgy making the magazine look eye catching. The knife which is a horror paradigm has been used as an image which reflects another image in the knife of another doll.

Barcode

The barcode is positioned on the bottom left hand side in a vertical position. A barcode is necessary for it to be scanned in the shops.

The main cover line

The main cover line ‘’Child’s play’’ relates to dolls, children and playing. The main cover line is tilted which may show something is wrong relating to the knife and fearful image in the background.

Website

There is a website link placed on the right hand side at the bottom of the page for fans to get more information on about the magazine.

The Masthead

The issue number, price and date of publication are positioned between the ‘’M’’ which is a convention for Empire magazine. The small font is not very noticeable for readers as a result, it is the last thing readers look at. The ‘’Empire’’ has a green outer glow which correlates with the green colour scheme.

The image

The image is a extreme close up shot of as Joker which instantly stands out from the other magazine covers on the shelf. The readers are attracted to the front cover through direct eye contact. The red paint on the lips and smeared across the face could be blood which highlights the sadistic nature of the clown. The white fast gives him a ghostly, pale, deathlike appearance which creates fear for readers alongside the creepy smile.

The Banner

The green font colour of the banner blends it with the green theme of the magazine keeping the colours simple to green, white and black throughout. The banner provides an incentive for readers who my wish to collect the covers. It is positioned at the top of the page making it visible for readers.

The Film Title It is clear as to what film this edition will feature as it is shown on the front cover. The juxtaposition in ‘’summer’’ and ‘’scary’’ mirrors the juxtaposition of the ‘’mass murdering clown’’ which conveys that the film will be unique.

The cover line

The cover line invites the reader to take a glimpse of the articles featured inside and a ‘’12 page career special’’ on Eastwood’s career is likely to make his fans want to purchase the magazine. The white font stands out against the green background making it stand out on the cover.

Barcode

The cross is a conventional tool in Empire magazine covers and here it provides a neat ordering of the extra cover lines. Other films are featured on the front page with short description to engage readers.

The barcode is positioned on the bottom left hand side in a vertical position. A barcode is necessary for it to be scanned in the shops.

Extra cover line

The Banner

The banner features yellow text that states three main areas of horror which the magazine focuses on.

Masthead

Sharp, font, made to look like fangs from each side, and they are made to look even more like fangs because they are white with blood on them.

The plug

This text tells readers that they can expect four posters included within the magazine, this will encourage them to buy it.

Four films on a video reel that is most likely the films that are listed above or are included in the magazine at some point.

The image

The main image is of the showcased film which is insidious. Face is centred and the light source is a candle, while the background is dark and scary. The image is mysterious as the eyes have a black shade and the image blends in with the dark black background.

The cover line

Cover lines are coloured in white and red keeping the coloured theme the same throughout the magazine. Like most magazines ‘Fangoria’ shows readers what to expect within the magazine.

The magazine has a very old fashioned feel to it. The font used is the kind you would find on a 1960s painted horror magazine. By looking at this magazine and the demonic toy poster and the new empire magazine you can see how technology has changed and developed and how the conventions of magazine and posters have stayed the same.