Denotation:
This magazine has a picture of a woman looking up away from the camera striking a pose. It’s a medium long shot from her head to just below her knees. The way her legs are positioned are on different levels, one leg is quite straight and the other leg is slightly raised. Where she is, isn’t visible but the background of the magazine is grey mainly because the magazine is in black and white. The photograph covers almost the whole magazine, so the woman in the photograph dominates the front cover indicating that the magazine is either about her or has some sort of information about her in there. There is an Elle masthead behind the woman and there are cover lines all down the left hand side of the magazine which is all in white and with symbols such as the plus sign and the and sign separating some of the cover lines whereas the others are all squashed on top of each other.
Masthead:
The Elle masthead is quite plain but effective, the font used on the masthead is serif font. In between each letter is a large space so that each of the letters stand out individually. Each letter in the masthead has a times new roman theme font, which was originally developed as a newspaper font making the magazine look more professional. The word Elle comes from France meaning ‘she’. Showing the magazine is based on women, and in this case a music artist rapper and singer combined showing that the magazine is music based.
Character:
The photograph of a woman dominating the front cover of the magazine is a successful rapper/singer ‘Nicki Minaj’
Composition:
The woman is posed in a way where she’s trying to give off the impression that she’s beautiful and important. Her whole body language, clothing and pose is done in a way to attract attention because she’s ‘well known, she is Nicki Minaj’ so everyone should stop and stare.
Costume:
Her costume is a ‘haute couture’ dress which does custom fitted clothing to show that she’s a unique character. It targets the audience because the dress is a designer dress so it reinforces the idea she’s rich and has money, which attracts a lot of attention by fans.
NVC:
Her non verbal communication is slightly seductive because she has her mouth open and is looking away from the camera.
Lighting:
The magazine is in black and white therefore you can’t really identify whether or not the photograph was taken during the daytime or night time
Setting:
Behind the character is just a plain grey simple background, done probably to take the attention of what could of been going on behind her, on her.
Cover-lines:
The cover-lines on the left hand side are lists of music artists that would be motioned in this music magazine. It relates to the character because she is also a music artist and she’s one of the new music artists and is well known, which is why in one of the cover-lines where it says her name it’s in big bold capital letters whereas the others are in small capitals. Hillary Scott’s name is mentioned in the cover-lines she’s an American country music singer and song writer. The fact that the cover-lines on the front cover of this magazine mentions other music artists shows that the magazine is diverse in what it chooses to write about and it includes other genres of music, not just rap artists which the woman in the photograph is. The font used in the cover-lines is sans serif, suggesting that the artists listed in the cover-lines aren’t old fashion rap and singer artists but there up to date and modern music artists because if serif font was used in the cover-lines on each of the artists names it could indicate that their old fashion artists or that the magazine is an old magazine or existed over a long period of time.
Target Audience:
The targeted audience for this magazine would be for both sexes male and female. For young age groups like teenagers to people in their early twenties, that would be interested in rap, hip hop, R&B, country music, rock and so on. Also for people of those ages who like reading about the lives and music of these artists.
The magazine is a coloured magazine with a coloured photograph of a woman looking directly at the camera, which is known as an eye level shot it’s also a close up revealing only her head and part of her shoulders. Where she is, isn’t that visible. In the background of the photograph looks like a black wall with mini stones on it. The woman’s face takes up half of the left hand side of the magazine cover. The cover-lines are in yellow and white and the font size of the cover-lines vary. The name of the music artist photographed on the cover of this magazine is in serif font and is in white. There’s also a bar code visible on the bottom left of this magazine cover.
Masthead:
The NME masthead is on the top left hand side making it easier to find and makes it noticeable it’s also red with a white outline. The masthead has sans serif font and after each letter is a tiny gap separating them. NME music magazine targets fans that want to know more about the latest music such as rock for example, which is why NME stands for The new music express, which also indicates that this magazine is music based.
Character:
The photograph is of an English electropop duo made up of singer, keyboardist, co-writer and co-producer called ‘La roux’.
The character’s body is facing away from the camera and her head Is turned to the right so that her head and eyes are directly at the camera. Her facial expression is very serious, and her clothing from what you can see is quite unique and unusual.
Costume:
From what I can see she looks like she’s wearing some sort of coat, with a high neck collar attached that comes up to the level of her chin. It’s very similar to the types of clothes she wears in her music videos, for example on her ‘In for the kill’ album cover she’s wearing a long coat with a large collar attached. People in high authority seem to do this, like queens in the olden days when wearing their gowns they would wear some sort if neck collar to indicate authority and high status, vampire costumes for men would have that type of
NVC:
Her non verbal communication is very cold because she looks quite pale it doesn’t look like she has any make up on and her lips look quite dry representing coldness, she also looks very serious. She’s looking directly at the camera not smiling at all. In one of the other magazines she’s in, she mentions that “She don’t do smiling,” And doesn’t in any of her other photographs.
Lighting:
Even though the back ground of the magazine cover is dull and black the lighting is high key, because you can see a light shining on the woman in the photograph and it also reflects off in the background as well.
Setting:
There’s a little bit of setting it looks like she’s in a black room when the photograph was taken of the character.
Cover-lines
The main cover line that relates to the woman in the photograph is her name, which is in Times new roman serif font. This could be because Times new roman is typeface commissioned by a British newspaper and the woman in the photograph is British. The cover-lines under her name identifies the fact that she isn’t a normal pop star she’s got her own twist to the idea of a pop star and that she’s different and creative hence the reason they’ve put the word ‘Innovators’ on the cover of the magazine and the magazine would have more information around that issue because it’s a music magazine. The cover lines also mention things about arctic monkeys which shows that the magazine also focuses on current news events it also talks about other types of music in the cover-lines such as bands. Some of the text in the cover-lines are in small or large font sizes indicating the importance of what’s written in the cover-lines, the fact that the magazine has information on 50 future songs whether there by bands or pop artists would be a big issue and would interest the audience so they made the font size bigger and the name of a famous well known electropop artist.
Target Audience:
This NME magazine is most likely to target male and females. Teenagers to people in their late twenties, that would be interested in music and the future of music, issues around electropop artists and bands as well as current events and interested in English lifestyle.
Denotation:
The magazine is a coloured magazine and has a woman in the centre of the cover magazine in medium long shot showing her head, arms and waste. The background is like a misty grey and she’s standing up, where she is isn’t visible but it just looks like she’s having a photo shoot. The photograph covers and dominates the magazine cover. On the top left hand side of the magazine cover is a large Q masthead, which is the name of the magazine, there are cover lines behind in front and beside the woman in the photograph which are in the colours black white and red and all in different fonts and sizes.
Masthead:
The Q mast head is on the top left hand side on the cover of the magazine so when the magazines have been published and there on the shop shelves with hundreds of other magazines, you can spot which magazine it is even if it’s being covered because of the way they stack the magazines on the shelves. The masthead distinguishes between two colours; The Q is white and in the background of the square its red. Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, is that a single-letter title would stand out more on newsstands.
Character:
The woman photographed on the cover of this Q magazine is a famous American singer and song writer Lady gaga.
Composition:
Her pose body language and clothing are very provocative because she’s leaning to one side pushing her hips out more o one side than the other also she has no top or bra on she just uses her hand which has a glove on to cover her chest. In addition she has her other hand holding her crutch, indicating that this woman in the photograph is very sexually suggestive.
Costume:
Her costume was chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine. The gloves she’s wearing are rubber or latex which is also white sexual. The trousers she’s wearing isn’t rubber but has spikes on either sides of the trouser legs indicating danger and where their black as well which could be linked with evil.
NVC:
Her NVC is quite simple her mouth is closed her eyes are focusing directly at the camera this is called an eye level shot.
Lighting:
The lighting is high key you can see a bright light shining on the woman photographed its reflecting off her body and clothing and also the background colour is a misty grey but a light misty grey at the same time, so the magazine isn’t dark and gloomy its more appealing to read/ look at.
Setting:
The setting isn’t that visible there’s a blur in the background of the magazine cover and its grey so it’s not clear where she is but this was probably done to take focus off the background and onto the woman photographed showing her importance; That’s why the background is blurred out and misty.
Cover-lines:
Other than the name of the magazine lady GAGA’s name is in large serif font showing she’s been around for a while but also makes her as a person and the magazine look professional. One half of the second bit of her name is going behind her but still being able to see part of the letter so we know what it says and the other half in front of her. The magazine looks diverse because of the other things the magazine writes about like relationships and news on animals and so on. The cover line underneath her name saying ‘Has Risen!’ shows that she’s becoming more well known and more famous and wealthy so the fact that Q magazine has her in there magazine it’s a big thing, as well trying to be a bit boastful and compete with other magazines
Target audience:
The audience for this magazine would be for male and female and ages from 16-early 30’s because it’s not just got music issues but other issues they would have to be well educated and literate.
The magazine is a colour magazine and has a woman in medium long shot on the cover of the magazine, showing her head arms and waste. She’s standing on some sort of balcony in a sunny area, probably America because it’s an American magazine. The background of the front cover of the magazine consists of the colours green and brown because of the trees and the way the balcony she’s standing on is painted. Behind the woman photographed is a Rolling stone masthead and cover lines surrounding her all in serif font but in different font sizes and the cover lines are either black or white. Her name is also in black in serif font but in the largest font size out of all the cover lines on the cover of the magazine. There is a barcode also visible on the bottom left hand side of the cover of the magazine.
Masthead:
The rolling stones masthead is a distinctive masthead in the colours and effect it uses, It is Red with a white outline and black drop shadow. The font is serif font and from the first letter of each lower case letter they join up together. It looks a little like coca cola writing which was invented by Americans so it indicates American culture. The magazine mentions other American singers such as Britney spears which tells the audience that it’s a music based magazine as well as the Rolling stone masthead which came from a very famous and long running music band.
Character:
The woman photographed is a successful American singer Rihanna.
Composition:
Her body language and clothing shows that she looks quite laid back and relaxed because she’s on the balcony in a hot country.
Costume:
Her clothing is very revealing she has a white cropped top on showing a bit of her stomach from the side and the shorts she’s wearing are very short; They show a bit of her bum cheek on either side. The material of the shorts look like grey shiny leather and is slightly ripped, which is a part of the design to make it reveal more of her actual body, which comes across as quite sexy.
NVC:
The woman photographed looks very alert she’s not happy because she’s not smiling and she’s not sad or angry she looks like she’s in a normal mood, looking straight into the camera.
Lighting:
The lighting is high key. In the background of the magazine front cover its day time and its quite sunny the leaves on the tree are green not all falling off and or is yellow.
Setting:
You can see the setting even though it’s been blurred out a bit the woman photographed is standing on top of a balcony with trees in the distance and the bright sky and sun shine indicated the day time. The woman photographed is probably most likely to be in America because it’s an American magazine with an American singer photographed on the cover and their trying to represent American culture, so the hot sunny setting in the background is most probably in America, giving more hints that it’s an American magazine.
Cover lines:
The main cover line on the front cover of this magazine which related to the woman photographed is her name, which is in serif font it also says Rihanna strikes back because after the abusive relationship she faced she’s still back to hot us with her amazing music. The different other cover lines show that even through its a music magazine there are other issues mentioned such as writers/ comedians, actresses, current affairs, politics and so on. For example one of the cover lines talks about US soldiers in Afghanistan, which at the time was a current piece of news and event, which is also in serif font showing tradition and that the rolling stone magazine existed over a long period of time. The magazine is mentions other issues other than just music issues so its diverse on what the magazine chooses to write about which targets audiences more to spend their money and targets other audiences who like reading on current affairs not music.
Target audience:
The target audience of this magazine would be for the male and females who love reading about American culture, especially music. The ages could be from about 35-55, and that have a good knowledge of musical styles. They would have to be quite literate and well educated.
