this is an analysis of music magazine front covers for musical theatre

1. MEDIA STUDIES- MUSIC
MAGAZINE
Broadway and pop/rock

2. Mast Head is Image from main
simplistic and story. Normally of
bold, which will a single main
attract theatre character. Rather
audiences than all the cast.
Left Third- this Colour scheme is
is the most simplistic using
important area shades of green
of the front
cover as it is
what is seen on
a magazine
shelf. It also
contains the Extra information about
main articles. magazine content.

3. IMPROVEMENTS TO BE
MADE TO COVER
 The background of the image is dark and the clothing the image is
wearing is also dark. This would make the image hard to edit on
Photoshop.
 In the bottom right the text is covering the image which is
traditional of a magazine. However, the part of the image covered is
green and the text is also green, therefore the text is hard to read.

4. MAST-HEAD
The Mast- Head on this magazine cover “Broadway” uses a green colour
pallet which stands out against the dark background. This magazine is
unusual as the text is in front of the main image. Stereotypically of the
music genre the text would go behind the main image. Through this we
can see how Broadway have broke the conventions and created a mast-
head which in all is still extremely eye-catching and effective. It is
necessary for the mast head to stand out as this acts as a logo, which is to
compete against other magazines in this genre.

5. SELLING LINE
This magazine doesn’t have a selling line, which is stereotypical of a
music magazine. But for my magazine I could incorporate one. It
often contains information that is also on the contents page to attract
audiences to want to read more.

6. MAIN IMAGE
The main image is of the main character from Wicked, Elphaba, and
not of the full cast to show her importance. The shot is a medium
shot which is typical of this magazine genre and is also low angled to
emphasise her power, and also the
expression on her face.

7. COLOUR SCHEME
The colour scheme for this magazine is black and shades of green.
They only use two colour instead of the traditional three, to make the
magazine more simplistic as views will be attracted to text that is easy
to read. The colours are used because of the main image being black
and green, to create a flow between the text and image.

8. FONT
There is only one font used on the cover of Broadway. This keeps the
magazine simple and look more professional. The font sizes are
varied to show order of importance.

9. THEATRE WORLD- 1956
Mast-Head-
simplistic and
bold
Main image in
black and white.
Left third is
empty
instead
Colour scheme is
information
black and white ,
is in the top
with some grey.
right

10. MASTHEAD
The mast head on “Theatre World” is on a grey banner which makes the
white writing stand out more. The mast head is in front of the main
image. Which now would be seen as unusual and out-dated as most music
magazines have the image in front of the masthead. Two different fonts
are also used for the masthead which is again dated and wouldn’t be done
today. This is because a masthead is almost like a logo for the magazine,
therefore it has to be simple, eye catching
and memorable.

11. SELLING LINES AND
BUTTONS
There is no selling line and button on this magazine this may be due
to when it was created. As conventions of magazines have changed
through out the years. A selling line is usual above the mast head and
contains relevant information from the contents page. A button
emphasises competitions or something that the readers will be
interested in or benefit from.

12. MAIN IMAGE
The main image is of Shirley Conway and Richard Derr who played the
leading man and lady in plain and fancy. The image is a mid-shot of both of
them. Neither is brought forward to show there importance, which would be
unusual in a music magazine today.
The image is in black and white which is to do with
technology of the time and not choice. However the
image is still affective and these sorts of techniques of
colour and image are still used today to represent the
1950’s time period.

13. COLOUR SCHEME
The colour scheme for Theatre World is black, white and grey.
However this 3 colour scheme is still a tradition that is still
conventional today. The black and white colours harmonise to attract
the audiences attention. In fact none of the Theatre
World covers contained colour till 1963 and
even then it was only for the mast head.

14. LEFT THIRD
The left third is the most important part of the cover as it gives
quotes from stories inside the magazine. However on this magazine
the quotes are in the top right next to the mast head it is unusual as
the top of the cover is cluttered and at the bottom of the cover there
is barely any information.