magazine analysis

1. Masthead: The masthead of this magazine is positioned at the top of the front
cover and covers all 3 of the top row of the rule of thirds. It is in bold, black text
against a white background which makes it’s very noticeable to the audience. Also,
there is a smaller shape around the “R” in the title of the magazine which is a logo
that goes with the masthead, but it can be suggested that this has been added to
the masthead so the audience will begin to recognize this logo without having the
official title as it is now a branded magazine. Furthermore, the masthead suggests
that this magazine fits into the sub-genre of rock music as the title “Rock Sound”
suggests a connection with this genre.
Covermount/Strapline: The magazine has
included a covermount that runs across the
very top of the page. This is offering 8 free
posters inside which has been used to ap-peal
to the readers as the target audience
of this magazine is teenagers and young
adults between the ages of 14-20. This can
be seen by how the magazine includes this
feature and is advertising their posters as
this feature Main Coverline: The main cover is typically for teenagers.
line on the front cover is positioned
in the left middle square in the rule
of thirds and is placed directly next
to the person’s eyes in the main
image. It has been placed here to
be one of the first things that the
audience will see as it is directly in
the reader’s eye line.
The grab quote “I’m one of a
kind...” has been used with the
main cover line, followed by a cap-tion
stating that this is the artists
“incredible return”. The ellipse has
been used in the grab quote to
show that there is more of this in-terview
inside and the adjective
“incredible” has been used to try
and excite the reader about the
main article.
Also, the main cover line anchors
the main image as in bold, bright
red text, the magazine states the
name of the artist included in the
image. The colour red may have
been used as a connotation of the
colour red is anger which can be
associated with the gender of rock
as some of the lyrics and the music
often expresses angry emotions.
Price and Barcode: The price of this maga-zine
is £3.99 which suggests that the maga-zine
is targeted at people of middle class and
above as it is quite a high price for the target
audience of young adults of a low social class
to afford.
This magazine follows the code and conven-tions
of a magazine by including a barcode
as this feature is essential in purchasing any
magazine.
Coverlines: The other cover lines that
the magazine has included are all
about members of My Chemical Ro-mance,
so this is also anchorage text
to the main image. It is likely that this
will appeal to the target audience as
if they are purchasing this magazine;
they are probably going to like this
band and therefore will get updated
on each member’s projects, and not
just the lead singer who is used in the
main image.
Main Image: The main image of
this magazine features the ex-lead
singer of the band, My Chemical
Romance. This confirms that the
magazine is of a rock sub-genre as
this band is widely connected with
the genre of rock music. Direct
address is used in the main image
as the artist is looking directly at
the camera which will make the
target audience feel as if this im-age
is more personal to them.
A medium shot has been used in
this image and it centered on the
front cover against a white back-ground.
This makes the layout of
the front cover look simple as the
colour scheme is mostly red, white
and black and this will appeal to
the target audience as the young
adults will be looking for some-thing
simple but catches their eye.
Covermount: A space is left here for a CD
which includes many artists that are popu-lar
with the magazine’s audience. The case
of the CD states that there are “15 free
killer tracks” and the adjective “killer” fur-ther
suggests the genre of rock music as
rock can sometimes be associated with
violence due to the harshness of the in-struments.

2. Heading: The title of the contents page is written
in the top right corner of the page and is intro-ducing
the contents of this issue. This has been
written in similar text to the masthead on the
front cover which creates a sense of familiarity
for the reader as the masthead will be easier to
recognize.
Images: There are three images on
the contents page of this magazine
which are shots of some of the dou-ble-
page spread articles in the issue.
These images each have a grey border
around them, which links them to the
contents list, as 3 of the contents also
have a grey border behind the text
and a thin arrow also connects the
text to the image so the reader knows
which one is which. This feature has
been used to help the reader find the
specific pages shown easier (without
having to read through the whole list)
and by including the images them-selves,
the target audience will have a
small insight into what the article will
look like, and the layout and styling of
the pages shown here may interest
them.
The images suggest that the magazine
is aimed at a male audience as the
artists shown are predominantly
male, so they aspire to be like them or
may relate to them as they are the
same gender. However, this could
have been a selling point to gain a
female audience aswell, as they may
be attracted to the men shown in the
magazine.
Section Headings: On this page, the contents have been divided
into five different sections: News & Regulars, The Best New Mu-sic,
Features, Albums and Lives. The topic titles have been in-cluded
so that the page is more organized and so the target au-dience
of 14-20 year olds as they might only be looking for spe-cific
sections or articles of the magazine and this feature will be
more convenient for them.
Layout: The contents page
has the same colour scheme
as the front cover of the
magazine: red, white and
black. This creates a simple
style to the layout of the
magazine and this is useful
as it does not create any dis-tractions
from the main text
and images, as the simplicity
means that the readers eyes
are attracted to the main
focuses.
Also, the rule of thirds has
not been used here and in-stead
only 2 columns has
been used. It could be sug-gested
that this has been
used to separate the con-tents
and the images in a
organized way and as there
are not too many contents
and only too main multi-modal
features included
(text and images), there was
no need to use a third col-umn.
Page Numbers: The page numbers
are written in the same font and
size as the title of the articles here,
but are coloured red instead of
black. This makes the numbers
stand out as the boldness of the
red against the white background
emphasizes the importance of this
feature.
Banner: A small banner has been used on one of the
content stories which says “On the Cover”. This is use-ful
to the target audience as they will be able to spot
the main feature article easier as this is the only con-tent
which has this feature so therefore it will be easier
for the audience to spot. Also, the target audience of
14-20 year olds are not likely to want to spend time
reading through all of the contents, so if they would
only like to read the cover article, it is easier for them
to find.

3. Images: Each of the pages that include this article have their own main
image and they are both long shots. These images have been edited in
Photoshop so they do no longer have a background, and they have then
been placed on a plain background. Furthermore, the images are similar
and both show the man that the interview is with facing left and right,
which seems to have been used to place a meaning to the title of the
article. It could be suggested that the mise-en-scene of the main images
and title have been used to hint at the content of the article to excite
the reader as the target audience of 14-20 year olds are likely to like
this artist and will take interest in an interview which explains an un-known
Grab Quote: This feature has been included on the double
page spread in bold, black font and in uppercase text. This has
also been placed against the white background to make it one
of the first things the audience will see. The grab quote is an-other
feature over these two pages that give the reader a
small insight into the full interview. As the featured artist was
previously in a band, this quote suggests that he will be dis-cussing
his thoughts and opinions and if the target audience is
buying this magazine, it is likely that they will have an interest
in the band or newly solo artist so therefore will want to read
about what has gone on.
Sub-Heading: The sub-heading of this article is written
in smaller text than the main heading and is in lower-case
font. This is just giving the reader another small
insight into the interview which is on the next page and
the suspension marks which the text ends on creates
tension which will excite the reader on what they will
read next. Furthermore, the artist’s name is written in
bold text which emphasizes who that article is focused
on. It is likely that this has been done this way so the
target audience will know that this interview is only
with Gerard Way, and not with the rest of his former
band, and therefore they are most likely going to want
to hear what his solo future and current projects are.
part of the person’s life.
Title: The title of the article anchors the main im-ages
together as they are facing one another. Al-so,
the title of “one way or another” suggests that
the article is going to discuss a big decision in this
interview with Gerard Way and this has been
done to give the reader a subtle insight into the
article.
This feature has been written in bold, white text
and has black border around it and this makes the
title stand out against the blue coloured back-ground.
Also, the title has been placed in the cen-ter
of the double page spread which means it is
directly in the reader’s eye-line.