Kerrang textual analysis 5

Kerrang Double page spread textual analysis

This double page spread has some neatly arranged columns along the bottom of the page, there are six of them and they all carry on the same story. This makes the story look neat and it is easy for the reader to read. There is more text on this double page in ratio to image so the page is very colourful and shows more of the actual band in picture. Your eye is drawn to the fact that the one of the musicians in the band has bright red hair that immediately catches your eye. There is only one sub-heading which is the main heading on the page that says ‘lost album’ in big black letters mounted on a red arrow it advertises the text. There are a variety of fonts used across the double page so that it has clear sections and each piece of text looks unique. The colour template being used is blue, red, black and white which are typical heavy metal colours.

The mode of address is to inform people about the band my chemical romance in detail neatly laid out. One language device that is used in this double page spread is alliteration. For example it says ‘Danger Days’ which is a name of an album and using alliteration makes it more descriptive. An ellipsis has been used to make the reader think on about one of the topics spoken about that is ‘enemies made and vanquished…’ There has been a rhetorical question used so that the reader is also left thinking on that is ‘what would people think?’ Another ellipsis is used as a pause in the article, for example it says ‘you can officially lose your minds starting from…now!’ so that it has more of an effect on the reader that you can start it instantly. The content of the story is a description of what my chemical romance have done during their music career, and details on their band. The sub-heading used directly focuses on the content of the text in the article.

The artists are in a medium close-up shot and one of them is standing to his side. One male with red hair is standing so that the light gives his hair a shine and his clothes look very bright. All of the artists are looking at the camera other than the blonde one to the side of the right page who is looking away to the side. This gives the connotations that he is maybe not one of the main members of the band. All the members of the band are wearing clothing with red, blue, white and black on them so they have a colour scheme being used. The bands clothing are also all leather jackets so it shows a rock look and contrasts with the rest of the layout of the magazine. The background of the magazine is white so it feels expressionless and blank, it also then also you to only focus on the band and music type as there is nothing going on in the background. In this double page article the text is the dominant factor because the text is mounted on the less important part of the image.  The is a question for the reader to answer which has a picture of a gun and then the answers labelled with a,b,c to see how much people know about guns. The target audience of this magazine is teens from 13+ because my chemical romance have lots of fans from all different ages. The article also has little text and is very bright with lots of pictures so teenagers will be interested in it.

Some other semiotics that are used in the double page spread are the word ‘MCR’ written which is a symbolic sign because you have to learn what it means to be able to recognise that it means my chemical romance. It is also an indexical sign because it has no connection to the band some could not be understood straight away. This piece fits in good with the overall image of the magazine because it’s a heavy metal magazine and needs to educate people on music artists of that specific genre. The fact that there is two arrows across the page that say ‘my chemical romance’ which is the name very clearly in white on a black arrow and then on a red arrow ‘lost album’ which is what the article features in a black font. This attracts more readers because it is clear for them to see what the article is about and if it will interest them or not.