Research and Planning: Music magazine analysis

The genre of the magazine covers a range of music - rock, indie, rap and hip-hop, I think this cover is more indie rock, the people on the cover give me this impression they all seem to follow a certain style. The font is all in capitals because all the text on the front is trying to attract the reader to buy this magazine, we know which text is more important from the font size e.g. The Horrors is in bold because they are the main artists in this magazine. There are four colours used on the front - yellow, red, black and white, all these colours stand out and match the target audience. The stories on the cover are things such as 'Arctic Monkeys arty with P Diddy in Miami' these are stories that attract the reader because by giving information about the artists lives you may feel closer to them and that you almost know them. The photographs are based around the side stories, the main photo is the main artist which attracts the reader to the magazine.


The Horrors are being represented quite well in this magazine, the story is called 'The psychedelic return of the horrors' this makes us want to read about them, there return seems interesting and we want to get to know why they have returned and where they have been, therefore making us want to read on. They are all wearing black shirts/suits which makes them look quite professional and tells us they mean business, the colour black is quite mysterious and dangerous, this encourages us to buy the magazine. They appear to have quite a fierce attitude, some of the band have direct eye contact with the camera and we feel they are looking right at us, whereas the member at the back seems to be laughing which shows us the different sides of the band making them seem quite diverse.


I think the target audience of the magazine would be mostly males due to the colour used, red seems to be quite a manly colour however the band on the front would attract many females so we end up with a multi-sex audience. I think they target the age range between 16-30 years old as it seems to be modern and up to date meaning people in that age range will relate to it and understand the things said.


A medium shot is being used of the band, as a long shot would make the band seem distant and a close up would be too personal therefore a medium shot is appropriate for the audience. The cover photo doesn't create much mise-en-scene because the artists haven't been given a prop to work with etc, they have basically been placed on a white background that highlights their shadows maybe representing their dark sides. I think they have been placed like that because its giving off a simple image, they don't need any props or setting as the band are good as they are and don't need any gimmicks. The lighting is well on the photo, the radiant white background contrasts really well with the black clothes they are wearing. The masthead NME has been placed between bylines and photos so it doesn't stand out as well as it should however it is the only text in red, so it differs and makes it more important. There is a explosion of paint at the back of The Horrors story, which make them seem the new splash and what we should all be talking about.