My Magazine Analysis

NME MUSIC MAGAZINE

In order to fulfil Assessment Objectives 2 and 3 I researched Music Magazines in order to identify their generic characteristics."

Front Cover:
Through the elements of mise en scene on this magazine cover, I am able to discover the denotations and connotations of this piece of media text. Firstly when looking at the stars on the magazine cover, which is our main band The Killers, we can see NME have used these stars to attract people to the magazine cover by using a popular band wearing individual clothing and fashionable clothing such as checked shirts. The shows that they are an iconic indie band and the connotations of this is that they are seen as ideal selves for their target audience of teenage boys who aspire to be like them, and perhaps even ideal partners for teenage girls. Their facial expression shows them looking out into the distance, this is a connotation for them looking out into their future in music, and draws an audience in as they want to find out what is in store for the band in the future.
Also included in the mise en scene are the graphic types. Here we see large, bold fonts to stand out to the audience, especially the graphics The Killers. This text is the use of anchorage along with the image to establish the main issue in the magazine which makes the audience want to read on if they are interested in the band.
The colours used are strictly red, black and white. This colour scheme is used to appeal to both a male and female audience and to keep the magazine simple whilst all detail can be focused on the issues which are the music and the bands.
The mode of address in the magazine is peer to peer. This is so the magazine is talking to its target teenage audience on an informal level and this works together with questions such as “Christmas cracker or a little donkey?” to make the audience feel like they are involved within this culture and are able to deliver their own opinion. Other phrases such as “…or are they just insane?” stand out as these are able to make the reader realise that not only is the magazine about music, but is also a magazine to give an insight into the bands personal life.
Persuasive language is used within this text such as “vote now”, “New York invasion” and “the comeback interview. This strong language makes the reader feel like they almost have to read on. However at the bottom of the page along with the “plus” are a number of other bands featured in the magazine. This is so an audience, who may not yet be convinced with what is featured in this particular issue by the main issues, may see an extra feature they want to read about.
Throughout the front cover, gender is represented as being very metrosexual, with designer stubble and a deliberately styled “bed head” look to create an “indie” look. This is because the magazine mainly focuses on indie bands to appeal to its youth target audience which is interested in this music. It shows this also through “687 GIGS LISTED” with the 687 standing out in red to emphasise the large number. The Killers have been chosen as they are an extremely popular band in this culture, and are seen as ideal selves for many other bands out there. Other famous bands such as The View are also featured and mentions of Franz Ferdinand and MGMT to draw the audience in, however not in as much detail as The Killers because they are the main article in this magazine, and seen as the biggest special feature to appeal to their audience.






Contents:



To the left we have a band index standing out in red. This is because the most important part of this magazine is the bands. So an A-Z list is shown of all the bands featured in the magazine.
On the right the magazine is broken down into the categories:
*News
*Radar
*Reviews
*Live!
*Features
This is to break up the magazine which makes it easier for the audience to find what they are interested in.



Again there is a “plus” offering even more to the audience to make them want to read on.

In the middle the use of anchorage is again used. A large picture and a report like title which makes the article stand out. This is a sensitive view which is a connotation that the magazine also covers serious issues.


At the bottom there is an offer to subscribe to the magazine, as this is in yellow font this stands out from the rest of the magazine seen so far.
The GIG GUIDE is also mentioned again, all the time grabbing in its target youth audience.





Double Page:


The first thing we notice on the double page is the large font saying Only Human. This denotates being part of The Killers song, however the connotation of this is that the band have their own personalities and problems just like anyone else even though there are seen as stars.
On the other side of the double page is a large picture of The Killer's maion singer, Brandon Flowers. this is because he is the main star of the band and seen as the main ideal self and partner. He is wearing the outfit worn in their latest songs video, this will stand out to fans as they will recognise this and feel part of it.

Also in bold is a quote by Brandon Flowers, this is to make the reader feel involved as it is though they are part of what he has said.
Underneath the title The Killers stands out in yellow whilst all the rest of the font is in black. This is to show to the reader what the font is about.

Finally, the text is evened out with half picture and half font. This is so that the reader is not put off by the amount of writing and makes sure that they will want to read on.