Analysing the front cover: Introduction: I chose to analyse this particular magazine due to the fact its the

radio station I listen to most (through the internet) and its the genre of music I listen to. Kerrang! is a rock genre magazine and the artists and bands they interview and include in their magazine are the artist I listen to most, with a few exceptions of either lighter or heavier music. If I was to analyse a music magazine of a genre I do not like or listen to I wouldnt want to do the work, it would be more of a chore to me, but by analysing a magazine in which the genre appeals to me I want to do the work and I enjoy doing it. The title of the magazine: The magazine that I have chosen to analyse is Kerrang! The word kerrang is an onomatopoeic word, it sounds as if a guitar is being played and its the noise it creates; a loud echoed noise. Due to this it implies that the magazine is a rock genre music magazine, guitars are more commonly associated with rock than classical music, and if they are used they tend to not be electric or used as heavily as they are in the rock genre. The target audience for the magazine: From the analysis of the front cover we can see that the target audience is late teens young adults, due to the genre and events used. People usually choose what genre of music they want to listen to at around age fifteen, and rock wouldnt be something a ten year old would decide to listen to, especially with the influences from the top ten chart songs mostly being of the pop genre. For Download festival, you have to accompanied by an adult (aged eighteen or over) if youre under sixteen, narrowing down the audience to be an age group of around sixteen years and over. The cover of the magazine:

January 2011 January 2012 To compare the issue I am analysing with another issue I chose another special issue so they wouldnt be too different in the ways of a normal issue and a special issue. Apart from more posters being advertised and a slight change in where the bylines go, the house style hasnt changed much over a year. The house colours are different, in 2011 they are blue, white and black while in 2012 they are blue, white and yellow, the blue features a lot more heavily in 2012 than in 2011 and the white isnt featured as much in 2012. The house colours make a big different in the stereotypes it gives off, in the 2011 issue due to the black and white it seems darker and more serious, while in the 2012 issue because of the blue and yellow it seems more chaotic and less ordered. It shows the progression of rock through the years.

Each artist has direct mode of address with the audience, showing theyre not afraid of what they do and are challenging the audience. The banner is one of the only things with red font, conveying the importance of the free posters and to make them stand out amongst everything.

The masthead Kerrang! is behind everything else, showing that its well established enough to not have to be seen completely. Kerrang! Is also an onomatopoeic word, its the noise a guitar makes, which is associated with rock. The centre male, his stance seems to be drawing the audience in, and the main box is placed within his hands and draws the readers attention towards it more.

The colours that the band members are wearing are mostly black, stereotyping the rock genre and the colours that are associated with it. Black commonly connotes death and impurity; here its being associated with rock. The clothing is stereotypical due to the chains and leather jackets worn, and rock is associated with leather and chains. The males on the right subvert this stereotype due to wearing a suit and a normal t-shirt; they dont conform to the stereotype. The pug is pink, due to the pop-punk element. Pop is stereotypically associated with pink. The main box in the middle is bold and has the biggest font, highlighting this is the main feature in the magazine and also these are the artists shown; making this the headline. The pug here is red showing the danger inside, or the extreme madness and chaos. Theres loads of new interviews which could cause excitement for passionate fans. The price is 2.20 which is an average price for a magazine in the UK, its affordable to the target group, late teens-adults due to content and music, so by this age the audience would usually have jobs or some form of income. The structure for this magazine is ordered chaos. Its quite bold and theres a lot of promotion everywhere, but its all even and placed neatly.

The photo of Jared Leto - lead singer of 30 Seconds To Mars, indicates to the audience straight away what the posters is and who is on it.

The makeup here is similar to that of KISS, who is well known for being a rock band. The genre of this magazine is rock, this is due to the established rock magazine Kerrang!, the bands advertised, the clothing the artists and wearing and the expressions they are emitting.

The Download logo has both red and white, connoting the innocence and danger of rock, or even the passion the artist have. It is also an advertorial, due to it being an event.

The cover lines here are short, to keep the audience interested and wanting to read on and find out more.

The word Smash is an onomatopoeic word; it sounds like the word and gives more impact.

The colour scheme/house colours are quite bold and therefore the colours are easily seen against each other, representing the rock genre and how it stands out amongst other genres. And in contrast to stereotypes the house colours are quite bright: yellow, blue, white.

Exclusive is in yellow here while everything on the bottom banner is black white or grey, the yellow highlights its importance and draws the audiences attention to the word exclusive and alerts the audience that theres something that can only be found in this magazine.

The style of presentation of the magazine: The presentation of the magazine is well organised, due to the fact you are able to see what everything is clearly and it flows quite well. The articles are shown down the left and right hand side of the page and are in a different colour to the background so they are easily seen and small enough to not disturb the main photograph. The house style is quite clear too, Kerrang! always goes across the top of the cover and is always big and bold, mostly its hidden by the artists on the cover, due to it being such a well established name it doesnt need to be seen completely. On the cover it tends to advertise its posters and other bands quite a lot too, to show the variety of bands they have in their magazines, also the barcode is always on the bottom left of the cover, so its easy to buy and easily seen. The magazines mode of address: The magazine attracts its target audience through the bands on the front cover, they tend to use well known bands who will bring in the biggest audiences, bands who have a big fan base and will want to buy that issue. The way the audience is addressed is quite casual and friendly, the audience isnt being talked down too, and instead theyre being talked too and interacted with. There are loads of question marks on the front cover as if asking the audience to respond and that they care for their opinion. I think that the way the audience is addressed here is a big thing, the target audience is late teens young adults, they dont want to be treated like children, they want to be treated like adults and like equals and want to voice their own opinions now and by the casual, informal communication its like theyre talking to a friend and being spoken to as equals. Representations: The images that are used on the front cover are typical rock characters apart from two people. Everyone, apart from two, conform to the stereotype of rock due to the clothing they wear. Theyre either wearing leather jackets and chains or bland t-shirts. There are many different types of rock and thats what there is here. The male on the left in the main image is like a modern day KISS, hes wearing leather jackets, chains, and creative makeup while also having long chaotic hair. Because KISS are known for being a big rock band he will automatically be stereotyped into the rock genre due to being associated with KISS. The male on the right however subverts the rock stereotype, hes wearing a suit, has slicked back hair and a beard. He looks more happy then serious and generally looks like a nice person unlike the others on the cover you might not like to be approached by in the street. The bottom right photograph is a photograph of a man with an afro; afros are stereotypically associated with reggae not with rock so therefore he is subverting the stereotype of reggae and rock. The main image has been cropped, you cannot see anyone elses legs apart from the man in the middles; showing that if they were or werent taken separately the others would of been cropped to get the text in so it could be seen. The ideologies from the main image is that male bands will do better this year; there are no females anywhere and its about upcoming albums you must hear, which means male bands will be dominant that year. The audience cant really be influenced by all of the artists at the same time, for example dressing like them, the artists are too different and so is the music they produce. Whatever band the audience like or prefer is what they will be influenced by, they wont be influenced by a band they do not know or like.

Conventions: The conventions that are followed on the front cover is the bar code being on the bottom left all of the time, so its easily seen and found and will not cause a problem when buying the magazine, the headline going right across the top of the cover and is bold and easily recognisable but not too big to get in the way, the main features and articles advertised on the front cover; to give enough information of what the articles are about but to still leave information out for the audience to want to buy the magazine and read on. The colours are the same all the way through the page and are bold and easily seen but also flow well together. The conventions that are broken are the colour pink; you wouldnt expect to see the colour pink on a rock magazine and such light colours for the house colours. Also the price isnt anywhere prominent, its on the barcode in the bottom right corner. The publisher of the magazine: The publisher of Kerrang! is Bauer Media, Bauer Media is Europes largest privately owned publishing Group, Media Bauer also is a worldwide media institution, producing over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as Online, TV, and different radio stations. Bauer Media produce around 56 magazines which include:

http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising. com/magazines/detail/kerrang

Kerrang! costs around 2.20 which is a reasonable price for a magazine, readers around the age of 16 and above will have small jobs or even real jobs, or some form of income or even parents to purchase the magazine for them. Most magazines now are around 2.50 to 3 and for this magazine to be 2.20 is catering to the target audience and reasonable for the amount of information available. The magazine is published weekly, this is due to new music coming out regularly and new tours and albums being released often. Circulation: 40,203 (Jan-Jun '12) Readership: 387,000 (AprilSept '12) The high amounts of readers suggest a mass audience, this is due to Kerrang! being the biggest magazine to cater to the rock genre.

Kerrang! has a website which is www.kerrang.com, by having a website it narrows down the target audience again, and who uses the internet, but with technology expanding every day the age of which people start to use the internet is getting lower every day. By combining the magazine and a website technological convergence is taking place, its easier for the audience to access certain things and possible background information or interactive videos and games that wouldnt be accessible in the magazine format. Conclusion: By analysing Kerrang! I have found out how easy it is for something so minor to mean something so big, for example linking a part of clothing to the house colours. Everything in the cover ties together with something else e.g. certain images. When creating my own music magazine I will take into account every minor detail and make sure nothing is there at random, I will concentrate a lot on linking my house colours together too. I quite like the layout of the front cover, where everything is mostly towards the bottom and the image is free, so I might try and expand on that.

Analysing the contents page: Introduction: The genre of this music magazine is a rock magazine, due to the bands and artists promoted, and the target audience is late teens young adults, due to the adverts, content and explicit music by the bands themselves. Structure/Narrative-The Layout The contents are organised in a linear structure apart from the main features which is in a separate box and is highlighted to be the bigger articles, which is easier for the reader if they only want to read the main articles. The contents are divided into different sections, the photographs on the left hands side and the pages on the right, apart from the editorial which is bottom left. The readers eyes are drawn from the photographs to the page numbers and last the editorial, this is due to the colour scheme, the brighter colours on the left and darker on the right. The narrative devices that are used are the page numbers, it helps the reader see what page number different articles are on and if they want to just skip to a certain article they know which page its on. The house colours and the typeface are the same as they are on the front cover, this is to keep the magazine flowing better and to keep everything from being chaotic and to stay ordered. Conventions: Conventions that are followed is the numbers and the names of the pages; which makes it easier for the reader to find what they want, picture previews of the articles and other bands in the magazine; to give a clue of whos in the magazine and what the articles are about. Conventions that are broken is the chaotic non linear structure, most rock genre magazines do not have a linear structure, to connote the chaos that rock has, but the structure in the contents is linear and ordered apart from the main features. Content: The use of language is informal, its quite casual, especially the editorial, the editorial is like talking to a friend, its friendly and as if the editor is talking to the readers like friends, he views them as equals. The names of the pages and just the band names except the page 20 new bands you need to hear now! its direct mode of address, like the editors want to show the readers as friends that they need to listen to these bands, and not just be told to and be talked down too instead. Images: The images used are different to each other, you have one of the bands joking around and another looking serious; its the two sides of the rock genre, the playful side and the serious side that they want to be taken seriously. The ideologies shown through these images is again that males are going to dominate that year and arent here to be messed about. Conclusion: In conclusion I have seen how a rock genre contents can conform and subvert certain stereotyped layouts and by doing this I like the layout and would like to do a similar layout where everything is linear apart from the main articles and separate them from the rest of the pages.

Here the colours contrast each other, so the band is seen easier, but could also be connoting the contrast between different genres of music. Because the issue is in January 2012 the majority of the issue is about upcoming thing that year, giving an insight, which fans would be happy about. The photographs of the articles are small enough so you cant see whats written, but big enough so the reader can get an idea of what the article is about or who its about. They also overlap each other so it hides more and makes the reader want to turn the page. Here we see the artists from the front cover, but now theyre joined by the rest of the member of their bands. Showing the articles isnt just focused of them as people, but as bands, which is more common in the rock genre.

Everyones expressions are really playful subverting the stereotype everybody has on the rock genre, of being really serious and unapproachable.

The colours here are the same as on the front cover, reinforcing the house colours, white, yellow and blue. The reason for these colours being the same is to make the magazine flow better.

The band here are playing around with the stereotype of rock being serious and always fighting, theyre play fighting while you can really see theyre having fun and laughing at themselves.

Here it is shown the issue number and date issued. This is issue number 1398 showing that 1398 issue have been produced, for this many to have been produced it must be extremely popular and make money or it would make a loss and stop production. The articles are split up into Feedback Win News Live Reviews Posters reviews Gig Guide The Ultimate Rock Test this is to show the different articles and so the audience can easily find what they want to read or for example they just want the posters. Or if they just dont want to read something. The main articles are in the bigger blue box, to highlight their importance and how big the article may be. This is the biggest bit of blue on the page reinforcing the importance.

The numbers in the stars highlight the importance of the articles and also show what page they are on so readers who only want to read the magazine for that article can find it easier.

The editorial here is to make the magazine more personal and to show care has gone into the magazine. It gives an insight to the makers of the magazine and the effort they put into it for the readers.

Here are previous magazine, to show the different artists that have featured in Kerrang! before.

There is order to the contents page, all the writing and page numbers are on the right hand side, while there are photographs are on the left, they arent straight and neat photographs they are chaotic instead, and yet they are still placed with care. The only piece of writing on the left is the editorial, because its the only writing on the left the readers have more to look at and would be more interested to see what it is; especially when it has the most writing.

Red is used just not as much as the other colour; showing the ultimate passion or danger in these certain pages.

Byline to the photographers for the photographs and contents; it shows who took the photographs and who is responsible for the contents.

The advert here is to entice the audience into buying more magazines and therefore in turn getting more business and money because of what theyre offering.

Analysing the double page spread: Introduction: The magazine I have been analysing is rock magazine Kerrang! The target audience for Kerrang! is late teens and young adults, due to the affordable price, bands included, explicit music and the genre itself. The article here is about their lives before Enter Shikari and how the lead member Rou is an important member to the band. Layout and images: The article is structure with the photograph being the full A3 page and the article going across the bottom half of the page, while the article is structured like this is doesnt follow the conventional layouts of a magazine article while usually go down the page with an A4 photograph on one side. The photograph supports the article due to the main member Rou being centre focus and being the most prominent. The photograph is very stereotypical due to the direct mode of address being serious; exactly how the rock genre is portrayed. Colour and typeface: The colours and typeface used are the same that has been used all the way through, the fonts are quite bold and easily read while the house colours, yellow, blue and white are used throughout the article and headline; again to keep the flow of the magazine and to contrast the darkness of the background. Reader interest: The interest of the reader is maintained throughout the article by referring to the band members and their own personal thoughts; fans like to get an insight of the bands they like and what they like and dont like. The article follows typical conventions of a magazine article by using pull quotes Rous one of the most creative people I know Rob Rolfe and dropped caps. The main text and the main photograph are the only features; there are no other photographs or adverts or any extra boxes apart from the pull quote. Language: The language like it has been throughout is casual and informal, especially because this article includes swearing. The article also includes the audience; it refers to the audience many times if you ask. The sentences are quite simple too, they dont use complicated words that the target audience may not understand, and its all suited towards the target audience. Conclusion: What I have found out from analysing an article about Enter Shikari is that there are many ways you can format an article and different ways you can write the article too, for example, an interview, article, or feature. When creating my own magazine article I would like to set my article layout similarly to this one, the text down the bottom and a full page image, its something thats different and I would like to do something different myself.

The banner here is showing what the article is about before you even read the headline or article. The caption here is showing who the photograph is of and what their purpose in the article is. It also says political animals showing that they are political and in that way are different from other bands. The word animal also dehumanises them when it comes to politics. The standfirst here is explaining what the interview is about and also who it is about. The word sound here is in a different font to the rest of the words, because this is a music magazine, which revolves around sound. Its enhancing the fact that this is about music and that this is what the article is probably about, their music. It makes it look as if its been written in afterwards, giving it a more personal touch.

The Headline here could be a play on the pop girl group Girls Aloud with their song Sound of the underground conveying that pop is the one playing with the devil underground while rock is trying to stay above that and be looked up to rather than down on. Rob is the only member wearing any prominent red, connoting he could be the most dangerous or the most passionate in what he does or loves.

Names of the band members, for readers who may not know the band and maybe reading this article and want to be able to relate to it and understand the article more. The pull quote here is used so the article is expanded more, it gives the reader more to read and look at. Its of another band member talking about another; again making it more personal for both the audience and the band and it shows the relationship between them. The headline here is in the house colours, again creating a flow to the magazine and it spaces out the words more. White is seen as pure, yellow is commonly seen as bright and pure while blue is known to be peace and truth which here all the colours contrast the photograph, it seems to be intimidating, quite scary and not the sort of people youd normally trust. The colour of the sky in the photograph turns from dark to light. This could connote many things, their different personalities, the sun rising overground or their battle to stay above darkness.

The clothing the band members are wearing has no relation to each other at all, giving them their own personality. Unlike in other genres for example pop the bands have a set dress code or are wearing similar clothing, and arent really able to be separated easily.

There are two dropped caps in this article, showing there is two parts to this article and it spaces it out more to make it easier for the reader to understand. The colours of the dropped caps are again the house colours and the background of the article is the third house colour, incorporating the rest of the magazine and the flow, instead of using just black for the dropped caps.

The background of the photograph is quite dark and eerie, and in relation to the band members makes it quite scary. Its nearly dark and with the serious expressions on the band members faces it seems as if theyre up to something; especially when Rou is leaning into the camera as if welcoming darkness.

All band members have a direct mode of address with the readers showing theyre not afraid to stand up for what they want and do what they do. They have a low angle on them showing the power they have with their music.