Wednesday, 17 October 2012

NME cover textual analysis 2


NME Textual analysis

NME’S overall layout is neat and there is a smaller amount of text to pictures. The masthead is yellow and in very large letters as it only consists of three, they are in a neat standard font. The colour yellow represents brightness and possibly happiness so this starts to give you an idea of the genre and the feeling given by it. The tagline for this issue is in a red box with a white outline. The lettering inside is white and reads “special lyrics issue, who’s the greatest writer ever?” The word ‘lyrics’ is in a black messy painted font and lies slightly over the word issue. This has been done so people notice that’s it is a special issue. The words ‘who’s greatest writer ever?” Are written in block capitals and are smaller than the rest of the text to show that it is a more serious article as its smarter, it’s in the colour black. This box was created like this so that it looks like a sticker and is more 3D. The main Cover line is of Kurt Cobain who quotes “my lyrics are contradictions. I’ll write a few sincere lines, then make fun of them “this is written in an interesting random spacing type so that it stands out. Underneath that is his name printed on a yellow box with bold red letters so that the heading matches the colour scheme. Bellow the name it says “The voice of a generation” making people want to read and know about how his life has been behind the rock and see him in a different light. Some other headlines that stand out on the cover are Alex Turner, in red bold small font, “I write about what I see, what else is there?” this is in black simple typography and the quote shows that there could perhaps be some emotive language in the magazine because he could of seen a lot in his time as a rock star. This cover line is also on a yellow box background so the page looks coordinated. Alex is wearing a white shirt that is undone and messy with a black coat/jacket. His facial expression is blank and looking to one side with his arm up and his hand touching his head to steady himself leaning against the wooden background. The picture is mounted on a yellow box again and has a small heading that reads “The Northern wit”, which is a pun. This heading is slightly slanted to add too Alex’s already trendy look. Another interesting cover line at the bottom in the right corner is “plus, the greatest lyrics ever written”. The word plus is in a font that looks painted on and the rest is written in a red bold font on a white background to add a variety of colours. The rest of the cover line is some famous successful artist’s names that are bolder than the rest of the text because they are the hero’s. This is styled like this so that people recognise the important people.

The background of NME is of Kurt Cobain to go with the main headline, he is wearing a white top with a patterned plain coloured shirt and finally a fluffy leopard print jacket on which is undone a bit. He has a strap that goes over his shoulder but you cannot make out what it is by just looking at the picture. Kurt is also wearing a pair of old fashioned, thick white rimmed sunglasses that have a black lenses and a winter hat with ear warmers. This would be worn for cold weather so it suggests that he’s in a cold place, it could also be sunny as he has sunglasses. His location could be a cold morning scene as there is a light blue background. Kurt is also smoking a cigarette held in his mouth. The cigarette is an iconic sign because it is a global habit. The shot type is a medium close up.

Some wording that’s is a language feature used in the text is “who’s the greatest writer ever?” which is a rhetorical question which has been put there to get the readers to interact and get their opinion on their favourite song writers. The work NME is a symbolic sign because you would have to know the word enemy to know that it was an abbreviation. The tone of the magazine is very chatty because it says “I write about what I see, what else is there?” which makes the reader feel like the writer is directly speaking to you, another rhetorical question is also used here.

The target audience of this magazine would be teenager’s from14+ because the magazine is aimed at older people as inappropriate actions are displayed like smoking. The typography can be harsh to understand in some cases which also provides a barrier for younger people. Also the bands shown may not interest the minds of younger teens, the stories inside would also only interest older people.

The overall genre that this music magazine would be is soft rock because the artists come under that area.  Some semiotics that I can pull out from the cover is the “Alex Turner” picture is an iconic sign along with all the other artist pictures. The barcode is also an iconic sign as it is used in all countries.

The puff of this magazine is “FREE classic libertines poster inside” the word libertines is in yellow so that it is clearer than the rest of the black text, this would attract people more because it’s free.  The pug of this magazine would be to tell people lyrics of the songs and feature information and pictures. The price of it is £2.40 so teens can afford it when they get to 14 as 14+ is the target audience.

Overall, NME’s contents all work well together to produce a bright awakening feeling which makes you want to find more and get new happy vibe music. 

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