LO1 Understand exsisting print based media- Empire magazine

 Purpose
Empire magazine is a film magazine that focuses on producing content on films for the purpose of educating and entertaining the reader. Empire provides this purpose through the use of film reviews and content that talks about film related subjects. This is done though the use of articles relating to these subjects. The magazine uses Mastheads and cover lines to attract the attention of the reader.

Form and style
The form for Empire is a print based media in the form of a magazine. The style for Empire is very uniform as the magazine has been in print for a long time and a style was developed and then stuck with. The style consists of a Masthead which states the name of the magazine, this is important for attracting customers and reader as the regular readers of the magazine will see this large mast head and read based on previous experience with the magazine. Another key feature for the style is the cover lines, these often consist of a short title stating something interesting from an article. THese cover lines are again used to attract potential readers. A less important aspect of the style is the tag lines, these are often in bold to make them more likely to attract the attention of the viewer. These taglines often say tags like "BUY ME!". The style also often consists of images, these images are more than often made a lot larger than most of the cover content. This is so that they draw attention to the magazine.

Content
The content of Empire magazine is mostly film related content such as reviews, film news and stories. This content is catered to the target audience for Empire. The film reviews are usually for new films that have just been released in cinema, this is done so as to attract the most amount of potential readers as possible this reason is also why Empire reviews brand new films instead of older films. The news content of Empire mostly consist of brand new film news such as announcements of film sequels and new films. However they is also a small amount of film gossip content to attract another kind of audience.

Meaning
The cover for Empire is a design masterpiece that clearly had a lot of thought put into it. The meaning behind all the various aspects are technical and tailored to the target audience. The colour for the empire cover is mostly of a monochrome nature, however the Mast head title 'EMPIRE' is in red letters which immediately draws the eye. This attention drawing technique has also be utilized the draw attention to the images and items of interest featured. The images and this monochrome colour scheme all denote film, and the idea of using technicals to manipulate how the audience sees the product.

Genre
Empire is of the entertainment genre, this is conveyed through the use of entertaining content that is featured through magazine. Empire also has a genre for the target audience, this genre is film and this is so that it appeals to the selected target audience for the magazine.

Target Audience
The target audience for Empire magazine is middle class people of the demographic A,B,C1. Of any gender, ethnicity and aged between 16-30. This target audience will more than likely be a film enthusiast and have an interest in keeping up with the latest news in the film industry. The film industry doesn't really have a stereotype that it caters to specifically so magazines like Empire have to focus on a specific age group and demographic.

Frequency
The frequency for Empire is monthly, this means Empire release a copy every month. This monthly release date ensures a entirely new issue of Empire, with relevant news, new reviews and information on new films.

Process involved in production
Empire is produced in stages to ensure that the magazine is made to the standard the audience desire. This means the magazine goes through a pre-production stage where designs are drawn up, content is gathered and ideas are thrown around to fit the specific commission of the monthly issue. The magazine is then put into production where articles are written up, photographs and images taken and graphics for the masthead and content are created. This content is then put together with the use of computer applications such as Adobe In design. After the production of the magazine is complete and the content lives up to the standards desired the magazine is then put into the post-production stage. The post production stage includes the editing and final remedying of any potential mistakes. Once finalised the magazine is put into print and distributed. In modern day Empire distributes using many digital platforms as well and physical copies, however back in 1990 and physical copies would have been the only platform Empire would distribute on.