Analysis of Kerrang! magazine
Front cover
Target audience
The target audience for Kerrang! magazine are teenagers to adults who listen to the heavy metal rock music and this can be seen from the title as it is in a large cracked font which connotes that the people who will read this are destructive and loud. The name Kerrang! makes the sound of a crashing which is a onomatopoeic
The band Machine Head is placed in front of the title which connotes that the readers recognise this magazine as Kerrang! without having to see the full title because of this I believe that the magazine is a very successful magazine with the target audience.
From the image shown you can see that is located at the top third of the page in the rules of thirds. The reason I believe this is located here is that it will be the first object that the readers will see at first looking at the magazine and the image shown shows the band Machine Head as this can be seen from the anchorage below it, this I believe is there for the reason that people who don’t know who they are can now see this with the bright yellow font that stands out and the colour yellow connotes danger which with the image of the band above where two of the band members have aggressive facial expressions with the arms spread across the page holding his band members, also his tattoo on his left forearm is showing which I believe has been put into the image to show a more aggressive look to the band. On the top of the page there is a banner with a powerful red background and with white lettering which stands out with yellow stars splitting up the words to make it look more attractive. The gender representation of the magazine is all males on the front cover which shows more powerful manly look towards the magazine because women are seen stereotypically weaker and not as powerful.
The band Machine Head tower over everything o
n the front cover showing them as a band to be extreme, strong and loud because the man who is situated closest had an aggressive look to his face with his mouth open as if he is screaming and the man next to him is doing the same face, however the two other band members have a more intelligent and subtle look to their faces which may look appealing to women as they could be seen to me some what handsome and women see this as an “Ideal Partner” which makes
women want to read this issue as well.
Underneath the band are pictures of two guitarists and a vocalist which the middle guitarist is being referred to a “Guitar Hero” which is using cross media reference to the game Guitar hero. This picture has being saturated and stands out from all the other pictures due to the lack of colour which draws attention to it and the two other pictures in colour. The
picture of the vocalist on the right hand side looks aggressive with “Yee-haw!” as anchorage which represents it being important and as if the band is playing on a ranch or farm such as in
The uses of pugs are present, including the barcode on the bottom of the page to draw our attention to the price and issue date of the magazine. Other pugs include the images, the mast head and any subtext in the magazine.
Double Page Spread
The mise-en-scene of the two page spread again is very much based around Robb from machine head as he is the full image on the left page while the other bands are on the other
s
ide of the page where the text is positioned. The textual format of the double page spread has little relation to the images which means there could be another few pages of this article however the pull quotes “No hotel porn, no onstage swea
ring or drinking” connotes the rock image how they need porn alcohol and swearing to be manly and brute and as the main image shows a guitarist shouting holding his guitar up high connotes the same image as the pull quote. As well the image of Robb shows off his tattoos on his arm which again connote brutal and manly men to withstand the pain and the tattoos are not pleasant tattoo’s either one has barb wire around it and this represents pain and warning. Also with him lifting his guitar up his shirt is lifted a little and another tattoo is shown.
Only one letter of the headline is on the left page and the rest of “Desert Storm” is on the right page where the other images and text is which again shows his dominance to have his own page. Underneath the headline there is a pull quote and then in the bottom corner is the lead, this is the introductory paragraph which opens up the article but very briefly which at the end of uses a arrow which is signified to turn the page through semiotics which is a sign of direction. All the text is split into 4 short paragraphs which are justified to the left so that it looks neat to read and easy to follow. The representation given from the pages shows us how metal and rock the bands are with the use of guitars, leather, fire and long hair which helps with the stereotypical “rocker.” The background is cleverly being merged from the background of the image on the right slowly fading to a black on the other side with the use of another picture o
n the 2nd page. The only editing from the pictures used will be to clear up skin tone and even it out because the pictures used are live photos so lighting is varied on when the photo was taken and if the stage lights were shining.
The design of how the pictures are holding together with some tape like substance makes the article look like scrap book photos which is mostly used by people who go to gigs and use to save photos or tape them to their walls. The pull quotes that are used are possibly from an interview later on in the article however they are so obscure that you want to know the question for that answer.
The use of thirds within the 2n
d page is used pretty well having pictures in the top third the title in the centre and then more pictures and the start of the article in the bottom. Also with the style the pictures are in and the fonts make the mode of address more peer to peer or friend to friend because it’s the way it is formatted and the pictures used are alike to a scrap book and the pull quotes are like a conversation you would have with friends.
Contents page
Upon opening the contents page you can see that its full of different pictures colours and text regarding information on content within the magazine. The layout is that all the pictures are together and surrounding the pictures in the content of the magazine and the editors review. All the pictures are based on the left side of the page and ending around 7 cm from the right hand side for the details on what is inside the magazine. In the top right of the page there is a title labelled Contents with the issue number and cover date to let people know what issue they are on with the editors review next to it which gives a brief description of the main articles in the magazine.
Down the right hand side of the page there is the list of what is inside the magazine which is all in order by page except the K! Icons which this page is not in sequence and I believe this is to draw attention to it because the change of number stands out. All but 2 of the pictures in the magazine are of band photos and one is of a bands CD that’s up for review and the last one stands out the most which is a mask from a horror movie that was in the cinemas previously before this issue was released.
There is use of pugs, especially in the top right hand corner where the title contents is draws the reader’s attention through use of bright yellow with a bold black background. The position of the pugs in the information on what’s being shown in the magazine is ideal because they are used as headings to what’s underneath them.
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