This is my media work Signs & Signifiers Textual Analysis of Music Magazines

1. Main Cover image’s

3. Colour
The colours used on the ‘Rock Sound’ magazine are mostly
‘Greens, black and white’s. The green colour was used as an
‘Iconic sign’ as the green is the same the colour that the bands
logo is. (The cover photo band) This will be iconic as the fans of
the band will recognise the colour scheme so they will buy the
magazine as they think it will be about the band and it will also
be eye-catching for them. The green colour could also be an
indexical sign because the dark green represents money and
wealth so by using the colour it could show that band is wealthy
and earns a lot of money as well as the magazine being a
wealthy magazine.

4. The preferred reading from this is that the magazine
have used these types of colours to try and ‘idolised’
the artists and make them ‘desirable’ so the audience
will try and aim to be like them (Wealthy, Powerful
etc.). In contrast some people argue the same point
with oppostional reading that the magazine is trying
to use these signs to try and tell the audience that
this is the only image that will make them happy and
the only image they could be to be sucesssful.

5. Typography and language
The typography which is used is symbolic. This is because for their main
headline they have used the bands logo which means that fans of the
band will easily recognise the logo and associated it with their love for
the band meaning that they are more likely to buy it because it features
their favourite band. The front cover also uses words such as ‘kill switch’
‘death’ and ‘unbetroth’ which is stereotypically known for being linked to
the audience of the ‘rock genre’ The preferred reading interpretation of
this could be that they are trying to appeal to the stereotypical audience
and what they are most likely to see but the oppositional reading for this
suggests that it is to ‘gruesome’ for a magazine cover and that it’s not
needed and they are trying to overplay the stereotypical audience and
not many people will find magazine appealing as they will say it is to
stereotypical.

6. Images
The camera shot for the ‘rock Sound’ magazine cover image is a
‘Medium Close Up’ of the band uses a low angle it gives the
impression that the artists are looking down and by them pulling a
serious facial expression also adds to the impression of this. This
could be considered an indexical sign as well as symbolic. It could
be symbolic and refer to the preferred reading that it shows that the
band are serious about their music and the fans know that they are
a serious band but the indexical sign and oppositional reading is
that it links to the image of the band and the theme of ‘Rock Music’
as rock artists are stereotypically meant to look aggressive and with
them wearing ‘All Black’ adds to this effect as many people who
wear all black can be see as aggressive and they are telling this to
their fans meaning that you will only be perceived as aggressive.

7. The main image is also of a popular band ‘My Chemical
Romance’ This is iconic as the picture of the band is
representing not only the band and their music but the
genre of the band as they are ‘rock Groups’ This also links
to being a symbolic sign as the fans of the band will
instantly recognise their faces on the front and as they like
the music of that band they will buy the magazine not only
to look at their band but to also look at the other music
inside as they will recognise that they like the genre of the
music.

9. The colours used in the Kerrang! Magazine are again
black and white’s but they also have used brighter red’s
and yellows. They could have done this to represent the
band’s music as the bright colours could be considered
happy colours and the band’s music is usually about
happier topics. The indexical sign is that the colours
‘red’ and yellow represent energy which the band has
as they are an energetic group and red also represents
power which a lot of power in the music industry.
Both magazines have black and white colours on
them this could be linked to the genre of music as
black usually represent Power, evil, mystery and
white represents the opposite of light, goodness
and purity. Which reflects the rock genre as it can
be evil and quite dark but it can also represent
light subjects such as love and happiness.

10.  By using these types of different colours it could show
the preferred reading that the magazine is trying to
show the audience that bands can represent more than
just the stereotypes of the genre and there is a lot more
going for them. Even though this is what the magazine
is trying to represent some people still look at the
oppositional reading that the magazine is just showing
these different signs to feed and advertise the image of
the band so they look more desirable so the audience
will want to be apart of their image and be just like
them.

11. Typography
This magazine uses iconic signs within their typography as the
magazine says exactly what each thing is for the reader for
example they use a lot of pugs and the pugs tell the reader exactly
what is included in the magazine by saying it is a ‘poster special’.
This means that if the reader see’s it they will see straight away if
they will want it be seeing what is included in the magazine. They
use a much different approach then the other magazine as the
other magazine says what articles there are but this is not included
by the front cover. The preferred reading is that the magazine
chose to do this as they thought it would be more appealing for the
audience by it have less writing and more images but the opposed
reading is that the magazine are just using a lot of pugs to
persuade you to buy the magazine so they will get more money
and there including a lot of this to make you buy it at a higher price
saying its worth your money when in most cases it isn’t.

12. Images
 The central image for this magazine is of the band ‘Paramore’ this could be an
iconic and an symbolic sign because the reader will straight away see who it is
but also it will be symbolic for the fans of the band because they will be able to
connect with the picture of the band which links to preferred reading as it
shows that the magazine have put this band on the front so the audience can
relate but it can also link to the oppositional reading saying that they have
included it just so the magazine company will get more money for putting this
band on the front cover as it will mean that more people are likely to buy the
magazine for the band and not the content.
 The Kerrang magazine makes the artists wear all black as again it gives the
oppositional reading/ sign that it is ‘stereotypical’ and gives the look which is
associated with the genre (aggressive) they also use lower angles and a
‘Wide shot’ which shows all of the person in the image. This shows dominance
with in the picture and shows that the artists have power and as many people
look up to them you would expect them to have power. It may make them also
look ‘scary’ and with their straight facial expressions people may argue that
this links in to the camera shot which links back into the theme of them looking
‘aggressive which links back into the theme.

13. Contents

14.  The language used in the Kerrang magazine contents page is a
mix of formal and informal and uses language which many young
people wouldn’t understand. This suggests that the magazine was
targeting older teenage audience and that which could be
considered as the preferred reading. This is an Arbitary sign as it
has been learnt through culture that teenagers have a good
vocabulary so that’s why they used more formal language but
some people could also see it as that they are trying to limit the
audience and suggest that only teenages can understand this type
of language which isn’t true in all aspects. This is also the same for
NME magazine, they have also used more informal language
especially language which teenagers such as ‘Mosh’ are more
likely to understand compared to younger and really older people,
they also both use explanation marks which again shows more of
an informal language as in a magazine for older people they
wouldn’t use them as they want to seem more formal.

15. Both contents pages use images of artists either performing or
posing in a picture. These could be considered symbolic signs
because the fact they are showing performers it symbolises
what it is like to performer and also the limelight you get when
you are a performer which again makes them desirable and
links to the preferred reading of trying to show the audience
that this could give the audience an idea to aim for by the artist
being iconic but again people could argue that they are
showing this to prove this is the only way the audience could
be desirable by being in the limelight. They also symbolise the
magazine and what it is about, as the magazine focuses on
artists and music the images are clearly showing that which
also helps the reader to understand what that magazine is
about especially as the picture’s are relevant to the articles in
the magazine.

16. Double Page Spreads

17. For the double page spreads the both use a big image in the
centre of the pages which take up most of the space so it is
more eye-catching and more recognisable for the audience. This
is an iconic sign because of the fact that the images are of
known and popular bands, this means that the audience will
recognise the band straight away especially if they are big fans
which means that they will read the articles as they will think it is
about that band this also could show oppositional reading that
the writers are trying to trick the audience in buying the
magazine as they are trying to make more money off them and
are using the image of the band of a way to get the target to buy
it and earn more money.

18.  The typography on both of the pages is most informal serif but there is
also some sans-serif which are used on the title’s of the page and the
words which stand out. These could be considered symbolic signs
because the audience will a connection with the typography which is
used. For example the typography used for ‘A day to remember’ could
resemble school type writing especially which you see in films and on
posters at the end of the year which means it also could be an iconic sign.
Also for the ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ the ‘Dirty Little’ is in sans-serif writing and
in pink which gives the idea to the audience that it is more girly especially
as TV shows about secrets and society stereotypically link girls to secrets.
People link this to the preferred reading that as pink is a girly colour it
defiantly resembles this to the audience and they are using this type of
typography just to relate but the oppositional is that they are just using it
as stereotypes and not thinking about the larger range of target audience
and how it could be considered on the line of offensive. For example by
using ‘dirty little’ in feminine writing it is stereotyping girls saying that they
all and only have dirty little secrets and men don’t which also could be
considered as sexist.