Cover Analysis

By using a main photo to give the overall effect of the magazine, the genre, target audience and possibly even the content of the magazine can be conveyed. The technical aspects of the photo used vary depending on these factors of a magazine. For example, MixMag is an example of a dance music magazine in which the photo is of a DJ. The genre is demonstrated with this photo of a DJ because the use of a mid-shot shows the view of his body that can be seen by the audience when he is behind his decks. He is also surrounded by bright colour shadows which resemble the effect given by disco lights in a club he may play at.

By using the mid-shot on the cover of Drummer, it captures the positioning of a typical drummer, seated at his drum kit. The slight low angle of the shot gives the impression that he looks down onto audience, that his drum kit gives him the power over the music and whoever listens to it as this magazine focuses on the instrument and what effect they believe it has.

Another style that is successfully shown through their photo is Terrorizer, where a closer shot is used as the face is all that is need from this model to show his style and therefore the genre of the magazine. The dark colours in his hair, make up and clothing closely relate to the “Goth” or “Grunge” fashion so it portrays to the audience what style this magazine represents. The fact that the photo covers most of the masthead may also link, making him look evil or dangerous.

Oppositely, wide shot is used for Vive Le Rock where a band is shown from above. This gives the impression that the person taking the picture is high up and has focussed all the way down just to this band as they are the most important things on the street; the people who get the attention in this area because of their music/talent/fame.

Considering that I would like to have a focus on fashion in my magazine, I would like to have a shot which includes elements of it, like a wide shot to include a whole outfit in which the model is dressed in “fashionable” clothes, so that it is clear to the audience this will be included as part of the content of my magazine. But because I still want it to be clear that this is a music magazine, I will not have my model on a cat walk or with just a white backdrop; I do not want the focus just to be on the clothes but on the person, so I’d like to frame the person with other things that show their personality and genre of music.

Everything included on the front cover represents something; all colours and clothes have been carefully selected to covey the right message and chosen to symbolise particular themes/styles to the audience.

In MixMag, the clothes that the DJ is seen wearing are plain, he has not been done up as he wants to remain simple to show that the music is most important  to this artist and not his image, like Drummer also in which he is simply smart. On the other hand, Terrorizer has clearly chosen what he is wearing just to show his style and exaggerate it.

The fact that the photo on the cover of Vive Le Rock is in black and white is to represent the vibe that the band want to be associated with, like an old fashioned, classic rock look. They have used the setting of a normal street to show that they don’t want to look like they are trying to be fancy or in with fashion, just simply themselves. The fact that they can been seen standing casually with their hands in their pockets it’s as if they’re comfortable with their status and don’t care what people think, a confident band bringing their own style to music that look like a “cool gang” which hopefully will be a good message to show on a front cover as people want to find out more about them and what else they do.

To make evident the fact that I believe fashion is an important part to people who they are and want to prove it through experimenting with different styles accompanying music genres in my magazine. I will ensure that my models also look confident with their taste in clothes and will have the poised as if to show off their style; for example, dancing or strutting as if down a cat-walk or posing for a camera like a model as i think this makes it more proffesional than having people dressed in clothing in other settings. If I were to make more than one issue of my magazine, I would show a variation of fashion so that I prove that it isn’t for a specific group of people and hopefully I will be able to choose a look that doesn’t only appeal to one of these groups.

The cover lines and captions on the covers of magazines contribute to the way the magazine is seen by the audience, both through choice of wording and also colours and styles. The word “mix” in the name of the magazine MixMag was chosen specifically because it represents the art of “mixing” which DJs do in this dance genre of music. The other words highlighted on the page are those related to dance event at which you’d find these DJs and which attract people into this kind of music, including superlatives to make the audience believe it is about the “best” or “biggest” events.

Similarly, both Vive Le Rock and Terrorizer included the names of rock bands to attract the audience because bands are what most people who like rock are most interested in and looking to read about. By having this list on the front cover, it not old established what type of music this magazine is focussed on but also interests fans of these people who will then want to buy the magazine to find out about their favourite artists. Drummer includes some big names that would stand out to its target audience too.

I would like to include a lot of famous names, a collection of various types of artists so as to attract big fan groups from separate genre’s and also some key words about clothes and fashion, I think using big shop names would be a successful way of achieving this.