This is my analysis of magazine covers in the rock genre. I have chosen one rock magazine, to help understand certain aspects of a magazine cover. I will be looking at the target audience; colour; typeface/font; representation; and layout of a magazine. The magazine cover I have chosen is: Rocksound’s My Chemical Romance (MCR) and Kerrang!’s Paramore.
The target audience for the Rocksound seems to be suited for the fans of the band, which consists of females from the age of twelve to thirty. I say this because of the positioning of the band members. The band member in the middle (Gerard Way) is leaning forward on the front, making him the key focus of the magazine. Gerard Way is shown to be mysterious which draws the girl in. The camera shot is a low angle shot as it appears to make the band members bigger. The band members look down in a stern/serious expression which expresses the fact that the band has more power, importance and rebelliousness.
Girls are drawn to these attributes of the band because of the black leather style clothes and the stern facial expressions. Black is connoted to death and darkness which adds on to the bands rebelling nature, in the fact that they are dark in behaviour. The colour also relates to the text of the teaser underneath the band name: ‘Songs for the death!’ This further emphasises the point of the reason why black is used in the cover.
In addition, Girls would go for the magazine because the band is known for the composure of songs and music. According to the Uses and Gratification Theory, girls will go for the My Chemical Romance Rocksound magazine because my cultural capital allows me to know that MCR deals with various social topics in their songs, like acceptance in society and surviving an illness like cancer, which helps girls to develop their personality/opinions as well as being a tool of enjoyment and leisure. The magazine cover is informal in their message and thus this makes it easier for the female demographic to relate to the magazine cover.
The whole magazine gives off an unruly vibe as it almost follows the rule of three for the colour palette varies. The image of the magazine has a sepia undertone because it fits in with the theme of death i.e. the lack of colour. The colour green offsets the magazine because the text was meant to be a shade of colour relating to the image yet it chose a bright green and white to get the text to stand out. Green is often connoted to life and sometimes sickness so thus it does relate to the theme of death. The cover does follow the rule of three to an extent.
The font style of the magazine is sans serif because the text is informal-like. The font does not have a pointed edge to the letters and this helps to make the text clear as well as attractive and relatable. The fonts are quite masculine because of the straight shape along with the rough edges. The masthead: ‘ROCKSOUND’ suggests an immature young relatable theme because of the small cracks in the letter. The magazine has a range of typography as it has two type fonts: one for the MCR name and the other for the plugs. This proves the fact that rock magazines do not follow typical magazine conventions.
Although the magazine cover does follow a backward ‘Z’ layout as it helps to ease the readers view in following a systematic order. The representation of MCR in this cover is to show a new sub-genre of rock because of the rebellious and young look.
Kerrang! is similar to Rocksound because the front cover have similar poses for the Kerrang! has the main singer of the band, Hayley Williams in the middle of the cover. She gains more attention than the other four members of the band because she is a singer but also because she is framed for the male gaze. Williams does not show skin and is not sexualised however she is dressed in a sophisticated manner which makes her more appealing and it goes against the label of women being sexualised. She therefore becomes a post-feminist icon.
Williams wears a leopard print blue dress with pink lapels. She has bright fiery red-orange hair and vibrant red-pink lipstick. Williams wearing blue and pink shows a contrast of stereotypes as blue is often given the stereotypical connotations that blue is a boys’ colour and pink is a girls’ colour. Both blue and pink contrast well and they make Williams stand out more prominently then the other members. The other band members are wearing dark colours and this often connotes to dark and emo. The men contrast Williams as she is bright and full of colour while the men are dark and dull. The colour palette is large as it uses red from William’s lips and yellow from a lighter shade of Williams’s hair. Black is used from the men and white is used from the background.
The layout of this Magazine cover is a ‘C’ layout which allows for the image to become the primary focus and to emphasise the point that this is a special issue which will focus solely on the band, Paramore. The facial expressions on their faces are almost focused and stern which links to the MCR cover in that they are serious people who make music to pass a moral to their audience.
The magazine cover appeals to the demographic of boys and girls from the ages of 12 to 20 as the band members are young, stylish and modern. The camera shot however is a mid-shot because it shows a level of equality between the band members. Although like the MCR cover, Williams leans forward and stares directly at the camera to catch the reader’s attention and to address the reader alone.
The typography of the magazine is bold and capitalised which once again leads to the idea that the magazine is a special edition. The font is a serif type because of the bold sharp edges which once again pose significance and urgency to the reader in that they should read the magazine. There are cracks in the masthead and the word ‘Kerrang!’ has an onomatopoeic undertone because it sounds like a note from a guitar.
No comments:
Post a Comment