Research And Planning : Analysis Of Music Cover 1

This is my first rock magazine that I am going to be analysing.

Audience:
*This magazine is aimed at both male and female readers although at first glimpse it looks more like a guy magazine
*This is because of the colours used and because the artists used are all male.
*The people who would read this would most likely be in the age group 14-20 and be E in the Social Economic Grouping system.
*An interest in rock music and catching up with the latest gossip would be common in the teenagers who would buy this. 

Representation:
*The designer of this magazine has used a well known music artist; the lead singer of Green Day which is good since a wide variety of people who like rock music will immediately notice the magazine.
* You can instantly tell that the artist is a rock star from guitar and colours used, also from the scruffy rugged impression we get from him.
*Since he isn't dressed very smartly, we can tell that his music makes an impression and they aren't really serious.

Genre:
*There are many ways in which we can see that this is a rock magazine. An obvious one to start with is the colour of most of the magazine. Using the colour black it instantly is stereotyped as being a colour for a rock magazine. The results from my questionnaire back up this argument.
* Also the masthead has a distorted effect with it to suggest the rhythm of the music.
*Using Slipknot as another band on the front cover also insinuates the genre to rock fans. By using well known rock groups it makes the magazine stand out a lot more, resulting in people buying it more.
*The colours of the writing are all kept quite simple; using blues,white,black, green and yellow. This suggests to the reader that although its rock, it isn't REALLY heavy as it has some colour in there.

Layout:
*The layout of the picture is very large which makes it stand out on the page. Its a mid shot and slightly looks up at the artist which shows the popularity of him.
*The masthead is centre aligned and is positioned behind the picture but is still readable for the audience.
*The main story is situated in the middle of the page in larger writing to make it stand out and be noticed compared to the smaller stories towards the bottom of the page.

Media Language:
*Using a guitar and the picture of how he is holding it immediately shows the reader that the genre is going to be rockish; louder music with a heavier beat to it compared to pop.
*He's also wearing all black which suggests a darker atmosphere. This is similar to the fact that he is wearing black thick eyeliner which puts a rock dark impression on him.