Magazine Cover Analysis 2

Empire is a highly respected movie magazine, concerning itself with reviews and features dedicated to recent and upcoming films of all genres. Issue #275 from May 2012 sported Prometheus as its cover feature. Prometheus would come to be given a 74% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and be generally well-received by critics, and this cover does certainly sell the film well. Unlike some other magazine covers, this one actually reveals quite a lot about the film when looked at a little bit closer.

As far as I can tell, there are four fonts used (including the masthead), but some of them are quite similar, so effectively there are only two. The fonts used for the cover lines and the main cover line are very similar to the font used for the title of the film, so this creates a sense of the magazine being very closely related to the film and gives a sense of uniformity. This font also fits well with the futuristic/science fiction genre, helping to establish the tone of the film.

The font used for all of the cover lines is the same – only it’s been spaced out more or italicised as appropriate. This font is very similar to the font used for the film’s title on the cover – the main cover line.

The font used for the banner… …Is similar to the font of the magazine’s masthead.

The main image of the character Elizabeth Shaw has an angelic glow to it, which seems to be coming from the doorway-like structure behind Shaw. This centralises the fact that she is an important character in the film, and the dark background could suggest that she brings a ray of hope to a world of darkness.

The background image is of quite an important location in the film. There is just enough dead space to be able to see the background clearly. This makes a potential buyer of the magazine come to the conclusion that it holds some significance, and helps them to establish the kind of film that Prometheus is, and possibly part of the story as well.

Several key plot points can be hypothesised from the image:
The fact that Shaw is alone suggests she is the single heroine of the film, and that in the end none of the other characters matter.
The glow highlights this fact: that she is the most important character and that she is possibly the one to allow the film to come to its conclusion.
Shaw’s costume, the strange structure in the background, and the fonts and colours of the cover lines (particularly the electric blue colour and the computer-like font of the main cover line) help to establish that the film is of the futuristic science fiction genre.

The dominance of dark colours around the sides and on Shaw’s costume could also suggest that death or mourning - or a kind of dark and evil entity - is present as well.

Another detail on the cover which reveals something about the story (and that actually spoils the ending) is the banner. The words “The new Alien” imply that this film has something to do with Alien, which is actually something that is only revealed right at the end of Prometheus.

The only image on the cover that does not relate to Prometheus is one promoting a Lethal Weapon feature. This shows the clear dominance that Prometheus is having in this issue, and that it’s clearly the most important film of the month. In fact, the central cover line proposes that Prometheus is “the movie event of the year”.