KERRANG

FRONT COVER

Language-  Nearly fulfilling the entire front cover, the main image is of the featured band - "My Chemical Romance". Without a doubt, this immediately inform the reader who the weekly edition is going to be based around. Evidently, if a member of the public audience doesn't like that particular band that week, they just don't buy it. The band, are dressed in all black colours, however the band member in the the center page, is the only person with red hair, immediately standing out and drawing in the readers eye to that particular band member. This could be telling the reader that this person is the main singer and artist in the band. Additionally, the red colour has many connotations, for example: danger, warning, excitement, high risk and dangerous etc- also bringing excitement and danger to the magazine. The main image looks as though its been shot in a studio- suggesting a professional magazine and upper market product. Its also been shot as a medium close-up so the audience feels as thought they are maybe in the image with them as it was took- involving the target audience, making it feel more personally aimed at the reader individually. Throughout the whole front cover, the chosen colours all clash together and contrast- each adding excitement, and again drawing in the readers eye. For example, blue, red, black, yellow, white, orange and probably many more all appear somewhere, no matter how big or small they are on the front cover design. Although the reader may not take this in straight away, they all work very well together- rather than only being one or two colours (which would just look boring!).  In the centre page, a huge blue banner stretches from the left hand side of the page across to the right hand side and clearly states in white text- "My Chemical Romance".  In case the readers and audience didn't already know, this just identifies the main cover artist and allows an insight to what is included in the magazine. The blue colour used for the banner is also used at the bottom and the top of the age, gain acting as some sort of banner- which then again, has white writing on it. The blue and the white work very well together and make it easy for the audience to read. The main masthead is plastered at the top of the front cover and states- "Kerrang". This puts its name on the magazine so the readers and audience know what magazine they're buying, as well as making the "Kerrang" name more well known. It is also placed in this position so  that when the magazine is stacked in a magazine stack, the title of the magazine is still visible to passers by and will hopefully draw in the readers eye. Also, if a person cant decide what magazine to buy, and the other competitors main masthead is not visible, than this one is more likely to catch the eye and then be sold. It also looks more professional and upper-class.

As well as the main image on the front cover of the band, there are also a further four images along the bottom. These inform the reader what else is in the magazine and what they can expect to find. This would work well if a reader didn't like the cover artist and wasn't prepared to buy the magazine, however they then noticed different cover lines and cover stories along the bottom, with artists they did like, then leading to further sales than if there was no other artists visible on the cover.

Just above- "My Chemical Romance", there is a red circle with yellow writing. The fact that its red, tells the reader its important leading to them reading it and taking note. Connotations of red are warning and danger, therefore catching the readers eye and immediately making them notice it. The yellow and white writing inside the red circle, also work well at drawing in the audience and the text is very easy to read.

There is also a barcode in the bottom right hand corner. Barcodes are something in which practically every magazine will have so its an expected convention of a magazine. The reader won't even notice it because its so recognized, however it will also be paired with a price, telling the reader and the person selling it how much it is and how to buy it etc.

The main background on the cover is in white, however when looking at the main image, text, cover lines, barcode etc: you don't really seem to notice it much as its not that visible. The fact that's its white, simply makes everything in the foreground stand out more, creating emphasis and making everything in the foreground seem alot more important.

Ideology- The fact that 'Kerrang' is a music magazine, there has to be the belief of how good music actually is. Therefore, it is clear that the main ideology behind the magazine is simply- music. The cover artists are a band, not an individual artist, but a band of four all working together. I then presume that they believe in teamwork and building up your success together and as part of a team. This then leads me on to presume friendship is a big belief behind the magazine.

Institution- 'Kerrang' is published under a huge publishing company named- 'Bauer Media Group'. One of the three main publishing companies, it produces around 38 million magazines a week! It is a German company and s based in Hamburg, Germany. Bauer operates in over 15 countries worldwide- produces extremely well-known and successful products such as "Q", "Take a Break", "TV Choice" and "Bella" etc. Kerrang is one of their most successful products.

(Taken and extracted from a wikipedia search of 'Bauer Media Group' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauer_Media_Group)

Audience- Bauer media describes Kerrangs audience as - "Individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty" (http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Kerrang/). Thinking more logically, i would have thought that Kerrang is aimed at both a female and male audience but if i was to choose one over the other, i would say it leans over the the male side a little bit more. I presume this purely on the fact that stereotypically, girls tend to like a more 'poppy' music and generally more up-beat genre, as to males who stereotypically prefer louder and deeper music. Of course, this is not the case for every single males and females as some males prefer pop and some females prefer indie or rock. I would also say that Kerrand is aimed at a youngish audience as compared to an older audience. For instance, i would categorize it in the category of maybe 16-25 year old, pushing the boundaries either way by maybe a year or two. It completely depends on simply what the audience likes as to what magazine they buy. Obviously, the magazine is aimed at rock/indie music lovers more than other categories.

Representation- The obvious fact that is in indeed a music magazine, is clearly represented by the fact a music band/artists take up the whole front cover- telling the reader this is a music magazine and not a celebrity gossip magazine. That feeling of teamwork is also represented by the fact there are more than one person in the featured band and there is in fact a total of four people- also backing that feeling of friendship. The younger target audience is also represented through the artist being young and not old. This immediately hints that the magazine is targeted at the younger audience rather than an older generation. Lastly, the fact that the cover artists are all male, backs up what i said in 'Audience' as that i think it would appeal more to males than females. The producers and editors could have done this judging by stereotypes or maybe a poll they have taken but it definitely says to me that males are more likely to read it.



CONTENTS PAGE

Language- All together, there are about 12 images, placed all over this contents page. This is alot of images to just have on the contents page and creates a huge amount of things to look at for the reader. They are all of music artists, whether they are individual or in a band and are mainly all in colour. The main image, however covers about half of the page (top half) and is taken as a natural shot, as opposed to in a studio. When i first looked at this, it created the feeling, for me that i was stood there watching him in the crowd. I think i thought this because it looks as though the camera is looking up at him from a lower level, therefore resembling the viewpoint as if i was actually in the crowd. The text on the contents is in both white, yellow and also black. These work well together and they all base on the each different colour. For example; the yellow writing would be on the black background, the white text would be on black, and black would be on yellow or white. There is also quite alot of red too. Red is a very striking colour and normally resembles something important, therefore telling the reader that this piece of information is important to read. The page numbers section is set out like you would expect to find, and is formatted as just list and page numbers. Instead of having it all in one huge list though, they have broken it down into categories and then have chosen smaller lists under each. For example: "Feedback", "News" and "Win" are all sub-headings to which they then compile a list of page numbers underneath. Along the left hand side, there also seems to be a short letter from one of the team member behind the magazine, addressed to the reader. This makes it feel more personal and makes the reader feel alot more involved- as though the member has written a personal letter to every one who buys the magazine. Along with the letter, there is also a photograph of what clearly is the person who wrote the letter. Again, this makes it feel even more personal as you actually know what this person looks like and can actually imagine her in your mind. I think this is a really friendly touch to the page and makes the reader feel very comfortable reading it as if they actually know the publishers and editors.

Ideology- The ideology of the contents page is basically the same as the front cover. The belief of music is very important and again i would agree with saying this conveys a strong feeling of friendship and teamwork.

Representation- The knowledge of music is represented through the different artists shown on the contents page and the images they are shown by. As this is a music magazine, of course these images represent that by being involved with the music industry of today. I would definitely say that feeling of team work is portrayed here too, as you can see the letter from the person working at the publishing company. This gives off the friendly vibe and represents that this is a friendly magazine, whilst also representing the fact of teamwork- teamwork can make you successful and teamwork produced this magazine.



DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Language- So straight away, the audience is drawn to the main image that appears on the right hand side of the double page spread. It took me a while to notice how the image on the front cover is exactly the same to the image shown here, something which is not that common. Most magazines have a variety of images and use different ones for different pages. They may have used the same image for a number of reasons being: a) this image suited everything the best- b) shows continuity: c) makes it easier for the audience to recognise from the front cover therefore revealing identity- d) that was simply the best picture- and probably many more reasons- which we, the reader will most likely never know. As this is also the only image we see on the double page spread it adds more emphasis onto the band and takes the distraction off looking at the other images. As we saw on the front cover, the band member who appears right at the front, has red hair as opposed to everyone else who is either wearing black or have black hair. This stands out an incredible amount and puts emphasis on the fact he's the main singer of the band. Red also symbolises importance and even danger, giving it an exciting vibe and also a 'must read' feeling to it. To show continuity, the member to the left of him is also wearing a red watch, exactly the same shade of red to the singers hair. This works very well and makes the feeling of importance feel much stronger and creates a whole new effect. On the right hand side with the image, the background colour is white but you don't really see much due to the image in the foreground covering it up. This tells me it was shot in a studio and not just in the street- telling me its professional- promoting the magazine at the same time. It also puts emphasis on the characters in the foreground and makes them look important. The person in the centre, the same character who has the red hair also is posed with his hand forward slightly. To me, this looks as though the hand is coming out of the page into the reader. I then thought that this created a connection with the artists and the readers, making it feel more personal and even exciting. It looks as though you are there with them and he is reaching out to touch you, something which i thought worked really well. The main colours on the left hand side of the double page spread are green, black and white and they really contrast, but contrast well to create maximum effect. They all stand out particularly well and look really unique and powerful. The green colour especially stands out to me as it appears right down the middle of the page, as a lightning bolt, separating the image from the text. Connotations of green are fresh, neutral and equality- something which this is trying to tell the audience That this band is fresh, meaning they are young and have new music to share and they are neutral meaning people of all sexes, age group etc can like them. The colour used in the lightning bolt is then used again the colour some of the text we see on the left side. This shows continuity again and the repetition of emotions. It also stands out against the dark background its placed upon and makes it visible and incredibly easy to read and understand without squinting to the eyes. "My Chemical Romance" is stated just under the main sell line and serves the purpose of identity. It simply lets the audience know who the article is about and so we can put a name to the image on the other side of the page. When i look at this, i also feel like the editor/producers have formatted it to make it look like a comic book. Due to the lightning strike and the contrasting colours, they all make it look exciting, something which you'd find in practically every comic book.

Representation- The feeling of teamwork again is represented by an image of four people rather than one together making success. Also, the fact that the article is about 'My Chemical Romance' is then represented by a photograph of 'My Chemical Romance' and lastly, the feeling of freshness, new music and equality is represented by the green colour along with the contrast of all colours representing excitement.