Contents Evaluation - KERRANG!

The magazine ‘Kerrang’ uses images on its contents page. On this issue there is a ‘main image’ at the top half of the page. The images featured on the contents link to the stories that are going to be inside. For example the biggest image is of Ozzy Osbourne who is being interviewed, which is a ‘cover story, this means that it is an important story in the magazine.
These images have been placed next to certain pieces of text to make the article more noticeable.
The main colours used on this contents page are black white and yellow. The yellow on black font reminds me of a caution sign tape. This relates to the genre of music ‘rock’ as it is edgy. The style of the font is capitalised and bold. This tells us a lot about the target audience. For example that they are loud and have ‘bold’ personalities.
The information is organised so that it is easy for the audience to read whilst at the same time being interesting to them. Pictures have been placed near certain information so it is easy for the audience to pick out certain articles. The black text over the white background is really effective and a good choice of contrasting colours. It is easier the read because it is bold and stands out from the background.
The different sections of the magazine are ‘Feedback, news, win, live reviews, features, albums, gig guide, quiz’. From these sections we can see that the magazine is all about music, from the news to the quizzes. From this we can tell that the audience of this magazine are into everything about rock music and are big fans.
There are promotional features on the contents page of this magazine. One is to buy the magazine monthly to get it cheaper and delivered to your door. Another promotional feature is a DVD, which is pictured close to the section ‘albums’.
The magazine logo is placed in the middle of the page, titling the sections of the magazine. The logo is dominant because of it is coloured in white, whereas the other writing that size is yellow.
The brand ‘kerrang!’ has other franchises such as a radio station and a music channel. These are not promoted on the page, although they are well known and popular.

Magazine Evaluation - KERRANG!

This is the ‘Kerrang!’ magazine. It is a rock music magazine, which is well known and popular with its target audience. From the front cover we can see that there are going to be many interviews with famous rock bands, singers and rock legends. We can also tell which stories that are going to be inside by reading the secondary lead and the puffs. The secondary lead says (“I was at rock bottom!” Pete Wentz on life after Fall Out Boy). By having this as the secondary lead shows the audience that this is one of the main and important features of this magazine.
The target audience for this magazine are rock music fans. I think the age group are roughly 16+ years, both male and female. I think this because the main image is of a young male rock band who seem to be popular, trendy and well liked. By having this rock band as the main image gets the older teenage target audiences attention, as teenagers would notice a ‘cool’ band quicker, rather than an older age group audience. The target group’s interests seem to be mainly rock music, concerts and gigs. You can tell this by the menu strip displayed along the bottom of the magazine, showing all rock group names.
The central image is of the rock band ‘bring me the horizon’ with their clothes covered in blood, pale faces and dark eyes, giving off a vampire effect and theme. The band are standing either side of which seems to be the main guy in the band. The order in which they are standing is very organised and well ordered. The way they are ordered links to the image we have of ‘vampires’ and how we think of them as hunting strong in packs. This mimics the central image of the magazine.
The body language and facial expressions of the band shows us that they want the relationship with the reader is for readers to be like them. For example they want to make the target audience want to feel... strong, popular and well liked.
The anchorage text says “Exclusive! Reign in blood! Bring Me The Horizon rise again!” By using the words ‘rise again’ show us that they have came back stronger and better than before. This probably is that the band has come out with a brand new, better album before, therefore have ‘risen again’. The overall message that the band are giving out is that they are back even better than before.
The magazine is representing all rock bands as intimidating. The magazine does this by using dark colours and by using certain main images such as this one.
There are a few ‘buzz’ words on this magazine cover. The main effective one is ‘exclusive’. This has a big effect on the reader as it makes the readers feel as if they are being let in to something secretive, new and exciting.
The title of the magazine is bold capital letters which looks as if it has been slightly torn and riped. This shows us that the readers are a bit rugged, this links in with the rock genre of the magazine and gives it a rough effect.
There isn’t many ‘puffs’ displayed on the cover of this magazine, but there are a few. They are mainly shown alongside an image which makes the information of the puffs stand out and more noticeable. This grabs the audience’s attention more as they can see what sort of things will be in the magazine. The type of puffs shown suggests that the readers of this magazine are really interested about the facts of artists and what the artists are doing (gigs and concerts).
The dominant colours used for this front cover are red, black and white. All the colours used on this cover are linked together. For example the colours of the main image fit with the masthead, headline and cover lines. The fonts used on the cover are very bold, almost as if they are coming out and shouting at you. This is what they want the readers to feel.

Britney Magazine Analysis 1

The image of Britney has been framed by headlines of the stories included in the magazine. By having the headlines framing her this way emphasizes the image and immediately draws your attention to the centre which is the main image. The image has been cropped to show a medium/long shot of Britney lying down on a pink silk sheet. The image has been photographed as if it has been taken above her, portraying more a sexual idea rather than her standing in front of a silk sheet. This positions the reader ‘on top of her’ suggesting that the target audience for this magazine are males.

Britney’s costume in this image is rather revealing as she is wearing underwear/nightwear. The black silk bra and polka dotted knickers suggests that she is still only young. The pastel pink colour of her knickers emphasize her innocence, contrasting with the sexual and seductive colour of the black bra. Britney is dressed provocatively, which grabs the male attention and makes them want to buy the magazine as it suggests that there will be other images of Britney like this inside, with a story to go with why she looks this particular way. For example we can see the heading ‘Britney spears’ on the left top hand corner with the story underneath which says ‘inside the heart, mind and bedroom of a teen dream’. This will also drawn there attention.

There are two props been used, a tellytubbie bear and a telephone. The bear suggests that she is childish because she is closely hugging it with it in her right arm. The telephone in her left hand suggests that she is ‘gossiping’ which portrays her as a typical teenage girl. By her ‘gossiping’ on the phone links to what the magazine story is about, and shows the audience that she will be telling a lot inside.  The phone also suggests to the audience that she’s talking to ‘boys’ or ‘men’ and makes the target group wonder who exactly she is talking to. She is lying on a hot pink, silk bed sheet which represents that she is feminine. The connotations of silk are that it’s sexy and feminine, along with the connotations of the colour hot pink.

There are quite a few intertextual references being made on this magazine cover. The main one I noticed was the way she is using a children’s bear in a different content to a way a child would. For a example the tellytubbie is being used in a sexual image whereas normally a tellytubbie is seen as innocent. The dominant colours in this image are pink. This shows us that Britney is very girly, feminine and fun. The dark colours also used on the cover show the contrast between her fun, girly side and her ‘sexy’ side.

Britney Magazine Cover Analysis 2

The image has been cropped to show a mid shot of Britney inbetween two white walls. This shot is mainly used to show off her top half of her figure. Britney’s hasn’t got a lot of clothing on, which is very revealing. The only piece of clothing she has on is a pair of white knickers. The colour of her underwear portrays her as angelic and innocent. This innocents and angelic like feel links into her pose. She is ‘sweetly’ smiling for the camera but is almost gazing into the camera. By doing this she is getting the attention off of the target group and it makes them feel as if she is personally looking at them, this is the exact relationship that she wants with the reader.

The setting of this image is simply against two white walls which she is resting inbetween. This shows off her figure as you can really see the shape of her upper body, this attracts male attention as the shape of her is the only thing you can see, as the white walls are very plain and bland.  The white walls are used to make Britney stand out. It also makes her skin look radiant and glowing, as the colours of the walls and the lighting are reflecting onto her.

 The connotations of the setting may be ‘heaven’ like toward the targeted male audience. As I said, the connotations of the colour white are innocent and angelic and this links into what we think of heaven. The cover shows us that it is trying to show ‘men’s heaven’.

Britney Magazine Cover Analysis 3

This image is a close up shot of Britney. This shot has been used to show her facial expressions. From this image we can see that she is serious and almost sad, which makes the audience feel sympathetic for her. The black and white colour used also shows the audience that she is serious about what she is talking about and by having no colours on her face and just black and white shows us that she is feeling very gloomy and dull. Britney also has minimal make up on here which emphasizes the ‘dull’ look upon her face. This could show that she has had the entire ‘colour’ from her life taken away from her which has almost left her ‘grey’. The expression on her face also suggests this, as it looks like she is crying out for help from the audience. Her eyes are watery which also suggests that she has been crying or is going to.
the audience are immediately drawn to the plain image but then your eyes automatically start looking for a heading to see what is going on. The first word you see is ‘tragedy’ and this is emphasized by using a different colour than white. All the other important words are emphasized this way.

 The image has been cropped so we just see her important expressions, so the audience are not looking/judging her hair and clothing as per usual.

Preliminary Task

This is a mock up of my college magazine. I used photo's from around the college to create it. I learnt how to use photoshop, and from this created the front cover and contents page. The colours link (the front cover and contents), so it has the same theme throughout the magazine as this is important.

Preliminary Task

Below are some images that I have taken for my Mock up College Magazine ...