Task 2
- 1. Task 2a Analysing the Front Cover of the NME Magazine David Rose
- 2. Denotation/ Connotation • A picture of Dizzee Racal squatting down with a big smile on his face. • The way Dizzee is squatting down along with the background, you can connote a party scene and the quote suggests that Dizzee is wanting to spread party joy around the world. Genre • NME is a British journalist magazine however you cannot tell the magazine is British from the front cover. • Rock, alternative and indie music are mostly associated with NME but with Dizzee Rascal on the front cover, that may suggest rap and other genres also come into NME. Rule of Thirds/ Masthead • The cover lines, masthead and even the main part of the image are all on the left hand side. • We tend to look towards the right hand side of something and with NME doing this they are kind of breaking the rules. • The masthead is also on the left hand side. The masthead is very bold, plain and clear. • The fact that the masthead is like this suggests that the magazine producers are trying to target males due to the boldness of the masthead however that is not suggesting that females don’t read this magazine. Model • Rap has a big male following and Dizzee Rascal is mainstream. • The way Dizzee Rascal is dressed in a casual way so the working class can relate to what he is wearing and the young people can. • Dizzee Rascals stance seems to look like he is reaching out to his fans so again people can relate to him. Main Coverline/ Coverline • The main coverline is quite informal with the use of the word ‘man!’ in particular. • The younger audience can relate to the way Dizzee Rascal talks as it may be a way they talk. • The fact that they’ve had to put Dizzee Rascals name on the cover suggests that not everyone buying NME will know who he is. Layout • The masthead, cover image, his name and the main coverline are all in a 4 strip layout. • This allows the name to stand out so any readers who may not know Dizzee Rascal from the image. • The use of the tilted text for ‘DIZZEE’ suggests that he is rebellious. It suggests the Dizzee likes to be noticed as a rebellious person and people often link rap with rebellion. Barcode • Its conventional to have a barcode on every magazine front cover. • This barcode is found at the bottom right hand corner.
- 3. Camerawork • The camera shot of Dizzee Rascal is a medium close up shot which is conventional for a magazine front cover. • Dizzee Rascals stance is unconventional for a front cover so it is not a typical medium close up shot that you would expect. Strapline • The word ‘SPECIAL’ makes the strapline look more exciting and without the word ‘SPECIAL’ it wouldn’t be as enticing. Colour Scheme • Red, white and black. • Plain and bold masthead. • Leaning towards a male audience as it is a bold, masculine choice in colour. Target Audience • Dizzee Rascal is used on the front cover to target a younger audience. • ‘Kasabian’ is band which are widely known and a more wider range of audience will want to read about them. • Middle class students may also be wanting to buy a magazine with Dizzee Rascal on the front cover as they might be people trying to reform their identity and to find something different.
- 4. Task 2b Analysing the Contents page of the NME Magazine
- 5. Layout • The layout of this contents page is very simple and easy to understand. • It is easy to understand what page you have to go to for what you want to read about and that is because the main pages are down the right hand side of the page. • The paragraph at the bottom of the page give a description of what else is in the magazine and that come under the main image which suggests that the image is linked with that paragraph. Fonts • Sans Serif has been used for the headings on this contents page. This has been done so it makes the headings look bold, plain, modern and clean which make the headings very easy to read. • Serif has been used for the body text and this is a bit unusual to do in a modern magazine however NME have been around for years and they seem to have certain traditional characteristics about their magazines such as using Serifs on their body text. Language • There is an element of humour on the first line of the paragraph at the bottom of the page ‘Thank god the sun has disappeared, eh?’. This gives off a friendly, informal tone and the reader can relate to this sort of language. • There are lot of imperative verbs used in the paragraph also such as ‘get’, ‘play’ and ‘listen’ and this is done because they are trying to persuade the reader to go that specific page. Main Image • The image shows that this singer is possibly going on tour and the fact that there is an image of this suggests that you can read about her tour in this magazine. • The coach suggests she is travelling on a tour regionally. Masthead • The masthead is similar to the front cover which shows there is a consistent theme. • It is bold, clear and upper case lettering which makes it simple but effective as it does the job and doesn’t need to be anything special. • The white is used on the black background which again gives the contents a striking, masculine look about it. Boarders Around Images • The boarder around the main image gives the look of a physical photograph something which you would see in a postcard. • The black boarder which goes behind the image and the paragraph at the bottom looks like a flight case which you would associate with bands travelling on tour. Rule of Thirds • The main image and small paragraph at the bottom are both on the left hand side and that is because that is the main part of the page and you read from left to right. • The main page numbers and a small advertisement for NME are both on the right hand side. Brand Identity • NME’s logo is in the top left corner by the masthead. • There is also an advertisement in the bottom right hand corner of the page which is telling you how subscribing to NME will give you cheaper prices. Date • The date is in the top right hand corner underneath the masthead and this is conventional for magazines.
- 6. Page Numbers • The main page numbers are down the right hand side of the page. • They are in the colour red which matches the NME title. • In the paragraph at the bottom they have put page numbers in there for people who would be interested in that specific thing. Target Audience • You would say the target audience based on this contents page is predominantly males. • The bold plain colours used on this page make you assume this is for males. It is clear and easy to read. • There is also quite an attractive female on the main image which you would assume is there to catch males eye. Shot Types • There is a medium shot on the female who is on the main image. • I think they’ve used that so that you can see the coach in the background which suggests she’s travelling on tour before you even read the bottom paragraph. Sub-headings • The sub-headings on this page are in a white colour with a black background which again gives it a very basic effective look. • They are in capital letters and are bold which makes them clear and easy to read. • ‘TOURING SPECIAL’ is similar to the other sub-headings on the page however this one has some sort of black fade going through the middle of it which coincides with the black background which has a kind of white fade going through it.
- 7. Task 2c Analysing the Double Page Spread of the NME Magazine
- 8. Basic Layout • They have used one whole main image for one page out of the double page spread. • The masthead covers near enough half of the second page of the double page spread. • The article written itself is actually quite small comparing the other things that are on the double page spread and this is because they want to give you a big indication at what Dizzee Rascal may be talking about in this interview. Main Image • The main image is of Dizzee standing up against a wall spraying graffiti on it. • The fact that the wall is full of graffiti on it may suggest that Dizzee Rascal may have got up to no good as a youngster compared to now where he is a big mainstream pop star. • Dizzee’s stance seems to give an impression of mischief which again links to the graffiti that he may have used to get up to no good. Font • The font on the headline is very big, bold and in upper case lettering which gives it a similar look as to what the contents and front page headline was like. Use of Space • The producer has used one whole page to put Dizzee Rascal on it. • They’ve pretty much covered up half of the second page with the masthead, with pictures of beer and a stereo at the bottom of the second page which suggests that Dizzee might like to party. Colours • The text is black on a white background which gives you an indication that this magazine is for males as it is very simple choice of colouring and it seems to just get you straight to the point of reading this text. • Dizzee Rascals red coat stands out ahead of everything because it is a bold colour on lots of plain colours. This suggests that Dizzee might be a bold and interesting character. Use of Images • The images that are underneath the article give you an indication that Dizzee Rascal likes to party as there are empty bottles of beer and a stereo which you would suggest dance music would be played off. Language • The masthead ‘FROM TAGS TO RICHES’ comes from the saying ‘from rags to riches’ which suggests that somebody has worked their way up from the bottom. • However the use of ‘TAGS’ instead of rags suggests that Dizzee Rascal may have been in trouble with the police in the past and now the use of ‘RICHES’ suggests that he has turned his life around. Design • The overall design gives it a very masculine looking double page spread. • The masthead is very masculine as it is bold, black and upper case lettering. • The images are also quite masculine with the graffiti and the beer bottles make you automatically think that Dizzee Rascal may be trying to relate to males in this magazine.
- 9. By line • This by line gives you a big impression of what this article is going to be about. • ‘2009 has been Dizzee Rascal’s year’ suggests that this is the reason why NME have had him to be their main cover story in this issue of the magazine. Grab Quotes • ‘his amazing story’ suggests that there is a lot to read about Dizzee Rascal and that there are a lot of interesting stories that he can tell you about his past. • ‘last six haven’t been bad either’ suggests that he is an act that has been growing and getting bigger and bigger and that is possibly another reason why he is the main cover story in this magazine. Overall Impression • My overall impression of this double page spread is that it is masculine looking and is probably aimed at males. That doesn’t mean females wouldn’t read it. • The colour scheme of this double page spread are a very bold choice of colours. White, black and the red coat again give this double page spread a very masculine look. • The images of the beer bottles and Dizzee Rascal spray painting a wall again give off a masculine look at things. It also shows the rebellion behind Dizzee Rascal which maybe some of the male readers could relate to.
- 10. Task 2d Identifying the Elements that Connect the 3 Different Parts of the Magazine
- 11. Colour Scheme • There is a common colour scheme of rad, white and black throughout all 3. • It is white text on a black background on the contents page whilst the double page spread it is black text on a white background. The front covers cover lines are white so there is a consistent colour scheme throughout. • The colour red is used for the NME logo on both the front cover and the contents page however to keep the colour scheme consistent they seem to put Dizzee Rascal in a bright red coat on the double page spread. They seem to do that so he is noticed which is what they want the NME logo to be also. Language • There is an informality about the language throughout all 3. • The use of ‘MAN’ on the front cover is evidence of the informality I am referring to. If this magazine was aimed at upper class you would not expect to see terms such as ‘MAN’ being used. • On the first line of the contents page you see ‘Thank god the sun has disappeared, eh?’ which again gives off an informal tone particularly with the word ‘eh’. • On the double page spread you see the use of the word ‘TAGS’ to basically describe being arrested. This again highlights the informality. Font • The font choice and type are all similar across these 3 elements. • You will see the titles on all 3 of these are all Sans Serif. • They are also a similar font size and all 3 are very bold. • They are all upper case lettering also and upper case lettering is used for both the headlines and the sub-headings on the contents page. • The contents and the double page spread both have a drop cap at the start of their paragraphs which are written. Layout • The main image across all these 3 elements seems to fall mainly on the left hand side. • The main image on the front cover could be seen as central but Dizzee Rascal is even leaning towards the left hand side which makes me think whether that’s a common theme. • The masthead on all 3 of these elements are at the top of the page and start from left to right. ‘FROM TAGS TO RICHES’ still goes from right to left however it does it in an unconventional way as the text ends up sitting on top of each other instead of going in a straight line from left to right.