EMPIRE Magazine Articles

Having already reviewed a selection of articles from EMPIRE magazine that I had at home stacked in my bookshelf I decided to evaluate them further to determine exactly what I like and would perhaps like to use in my own article. I selected my two favourite articles to evaluate in depth which were the articles on Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (PPZ) and Dr Strange.

Pride + Prejudice + Zombies
In my previous post I mentioned how I liked the aesthetic of the article and from the pictures above I wanted to analyse exactly what I like. First of all I really like the colour scheme of dull greys and natural colours. I think it emphasises on the tone of the film without making it seem dull and looks very realistic even though the film is set in a dystopian nineteenth century England. I also mentioned the two page poster at the start of the article of Mr Bingley fighting off a hoard of zombies (or at least attempting to). I think this is very effective because it highlights exactly what the film is about as well as portraying the characters. For instance, Mr Bingley throughout the film seems to be so afraid of the zombies that he cannot fight them which often results in him almost killed before the intervention of Mr Darcy. Each of the three shots shown in the pictures highlight exactly how the characters are presented in the film which I really want to try and use myself when it comes to making my own magazine article.

Regarding the content of the article I like the idea of asking my actors to say something about their characters for a piece I could write - a bit like what the PPZ article does with Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet - as well as a short piece of context (also shown in article with Lady Catherine de Bourgh). I also like the idea of talking about the filing locations, however I would not want to write a section on the director (me). Ultimately I like the idea of how the article selects both shots from the film itself and shots from photoshoots done with the actors which I will take note of when making my magazine article on my short film.

Dr Strange
In comparison to the PPZ article I decided to also look at a more recent article that has been done by EMPIRE that I also like. I therefore chose the Dr Strange article which published only a couple of months back. Similar to the PPZ article it has a two page poster at the beginning of the article, however this time it portrays the main character (Strange). As this seems to be a common structure for EMPIRE I am considering something similar myself for my article. I like how the poster title is surrounded by mystical symbols which really emphasises on theme of magic throughout the film and therefore makes the reader aware that the film is about someone or people with supernatural abilities. This idea of using symbols is continued throughout the article which is another aesthetic that I like about the article.