Analysis of cover of a music magazine

1. Analysis of a
Music magazine cover
Task 2a

2. Connotations from this
cover includes a part
connotation from the
stance of the cover model
Dizzee Rascal who appears
excited and full of energy.
The colour scheme is
mainly black, white and
red. Whilst the black and
white connote a sense of
formality, conformity the
red strongly contrasts this
by offering a sense of
danger and excitement.
The way in which Dizzee is
dressed is obviously quite
casual and connotes a sense
of relatability and offers a
relaxed tone.
The size of the font used
for “Dizzee Rascal” is very
large, larger than the
masthead this connotes a
sense of importance and
urgency. The text is tilted,
appears a little
unbalanced almost to
reinforce the way in which
rap like to challenge/rebel
and keep people off
balance.
Connotation defined as: an
additional sense or senses
associated with or suggested by a
word or phrase. Connotations are
sometimes, but not always, fixed,
and are often subjective.
Denotation can be defined as:
the most specific or literal
meaning of a word, as opposed
to its figurative senses or
connotations.

3. Genre:
The genre of this magazine
can be classes as a British
music magazine. This is
shown through the use of
a prominent male British
artist as the main cover
model. However the
magazine does not limit
itself to one type of
musical genre as it also
references to rock groups
“Kasabian” and “Muse”.
Masthead:
Its is in a bold, red font
which is attention grabbing
and contrasts with the
large use of black and
white in the colour. The red
brings a sense of danger,
that NME is not a magazine
trying to fit a trend it’s
unique.
Model:
Dizzee Rascal is a rap artist which is a popular genre of music
amongst the male gender which is the main audience of this
magazine. The stance which he has been captured in is
where he is jumping almost and reaching out to you the
reader, bringing you into ‘his world’.
He is dressed really casually
like most young people who
are the main readers of the
magazine so he is relatable
and an automatic sense of
comradery can build between
the potentially male reader
and the cover model.
Main Cover line:
The main cover line is a pull
quote from Rascal’s interview
which gets the attention of the
reader and an interest in the
article of the interview.

4. Cover lines:
Other cover lines are very
small in contrast to the very
large main cover line.
The barcode is visible at
the bottom right hand
corner of the magazine.
Layout:
The layout of the magazine
is in thirds, it could also be
described as chaotic and
non conformist from it’s
use of spray paint in the
back ground. The bottom
third of the magazine with
the cover test is the largest
and demands a lot of
attention.
Mise en scene:
The clothes the cover model is
dressed in are very casual,
giving a laid back feel which
young people go for generally.
He is also wearing a gold chain
which is a typical accessory for
rappers almost an identifying
feature for a rapper, a sign of
wealth I suppose.
The main cover image could be
classed as a medium long shot as
his whole body is visible. The
image shows all of him, perhaps
the interview will also tell and
show everything.

5. Strapline:
The strapline is “16 page
autumn tour special” which
details what is enclosed in
the magazine and outlines it
is the majority of the
content.
Strapline can be defined as:
a subhead in a piece of print
such as a newspaper article
Colour scheme:
Initially appears very
chaotic but when
looked at again it is
clearly black , white and
red. The red brings a
real sense of energy
and movement.
Target Audience:
The main readers of this
magazine are 2/3 male
so this is the target
audience. This is
probably why a male
cover model was used.
Targets a middle class
audience which includes
students so a popular
artist is on the cover.