Inception Magazine Cover Analysis

Hannah Burgess, Katie Charman and Lauren Hill

The Magazine Cover:

The Main Image:

The main image of the magazine cover is of Leonardo DiCaprio who is the main character of the film. As the writing is slanted inwards and the magazines name ‘Empire’ is behind his head give a 3D effect to the image. The image of Leonardo DiCaprio has a backlighting which combined with the low angle makes him seem dominant. The lighting adds impact making the outline of him seem very sharp.The background image is of a birds-eye view of the city, this makes DiCaprio appear disconnected from the rest of the world and also enforces the fantasy element that is present throughout this film.

The Banner:

The banner for this magazine is hard to read but it says the month it was released “July 2010” and it also gives the price “£3.99”. As it is in white font it fits in with the colour scheme and it is in sans serif font which makes it easy to see and stand out for a reader.

The Masthead:

The Masthead for this magazine is “EMPIRE”. A good Masthead is determined on whether it can be recognised from a far. As Empire is a well known magazine, it is known for its title being the colour red.Leonardo’s head covers part of the writing, however it is still easily recognisable due to its sans serif font. The font is slightly blocked, but the edges have been cut as a slant which makes it unique to that particular magazine.In proportion to the rest of the cover, the Masthead comes near to the top, this way if it is stacked on a shelf, the magazines name will still be visible.

Lead Article:

The lead article of the magazine cover is for Inception as it is promoting the release of the new film.

The title of the film ‘Inception’ is in the second largest font on the whole cover which shows that this is the main article.

The font of ‘inception’ is in sans serif, however it does not match the same style as the Masthead ‘Empire’ as it needs to follow the movies theme which uses bold block letters.

The Flash:

There are various flashes used on this magazine cover which allow the reader to see which other articles will be promoted within the magazine.As Empire is a film magazine, the articles within are all films, the titles are in bold sans serif writing and then in a less bold font is a caption explaining the article. In total there are 7 different articles being promoted and as they are in a smaller font this allows there to be so many.

The Image The washed out colours and the blue colour scheme of the images matches the colour schemes used in the film trailer and the film poster. The blue colour scheme also reflects the idea of water being a recurring motif in the film trailer.

The dark suite with the black tie would usually signify a funeral as this would be appropriate attire, however the gun in the protagonists hand suggest that he is either a figure of high authority or a high class criminal. However as the gun is subtly placed in the image it shows that it the violence is not a main part of the narrative.

The layout of the magazine is interesting as the words on the side are slanting inwards, this gives the look that they are being sucked into the magazine and therefore adds to the narrative of the film as the characters get sucked into the dreams.

Cover line

The main cover line is smaller than the masthead but are larger and bolder than other cover lines or ‘puffs.’They’re used to be eye-catching.This cover line is in the same font and colour as the magazine title and this insures that it will be clearly visible.

Anchorage

The anchorage is used to add meaning to the image on the cover. The anchorage for Inception suggests that the film combines ideas, themes and/or concepts from two vastly different, yet extremely successful films and has enhanced them to make them even better. This suggests that the film is a must see and will encourage the audience to go and see it in the cinema.This anchorage is also effective as it doesn’t give anything away about the films narrative which tempts the audience to buy the magazine to find out more and to also watch the film.

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