2. Colour The colours used on the Rock Sound magazine are
mostly Greens, black and whites. The green colour was used as an
Iconic sign as the green is the same the colour that the bands logo
is. (The cover photo band) This will be iconic as the fans of the
band will recognise the colour scheme so they will buy the magazine
as they think it will be about the band and it will also be
eye-catching for them. The green colour could also be an indexical
sign because the dark green represents money and wealth so by using
the colour it could show that band is wealthy and earns a lot of
money as well as the magazine being a wealthy magazine. This will
mean that people will buy the magazine and read it as they will
think that they could learn to become rich and earn a lot of money
like the band.
3. Typography The typography which is used is symbolic. This is
because for their main headline they have used the bands logo which
means that fans of the band will easily recognise the logo and
associated it with their love for the band meaning that they are
more likely to buy it because it features their favourite band. The
front cover also uses words such as kill switch death and unbetroth
which is stereotypically known for being linked to the audience of
the rock genre The preferred reading interpretation of this could
be that they are trying to appeal to the stereotypical audience and
what they are most likely to see but the oppositional reading for
this suggests that it is to gruesome for a magazine cover and that
its not needed and they are trying to overplay the stereotypical
audience and not many people will find magazine appealing as they
will say it is to stereotypical.
4. Images The camera shot for the rock Sound magazine cover
image is a Medium Close Up of the band uses a low angle it gives
the impression that the artists are looking down and by them
pulling a serious facial expression also adds to the impression of
this. This could be considered an indexical sign as well as
symbolic. It could be symbolic as it could show that the band are
serious about their music and the fans know that they are a serious
band but the indexical is that it links to the image of the band
and the theme of Rock Music as rock artists are sterotypically
meant to look aggressive and with them wearing All Black adds to
this effect as many people who wear all black can be see as
aggressive.
5. The main image is also of a popular band My Chemical Romance
This is iconic as the picture of the band is representing not only
the band and their music but the genre of the band as they are rock
Groups This also links to being a symbolic sign as the fans of the
band will instantly recognise their faces on the front and as they
like the music of that band they will buy the magazine not only to
look at their band but to also look at the other music inside as
they will recognise that they like the genre of the music.
6. The colours used in the Kerrang! Magazine are again black
and whites but they also have used brighter reds and yellows. They
could have done this to represent the bands music as the bright
colours could be considered happy colours and the bands music is
usually about happier topics. The indexical sign is that the
colours red and yellow represent energy which the band has as they
are an energetic group and red also represents power which a lot of
power in the music industry. Both magazines have black and white
colours on them this could be linked to the genre of music as black
usually represent Power, evil, mystery and white represents the
opposite of light, goodness and purity. Which reflects the rock
genre as it can be evil and quite dark but it can also represent
light subjects such as love and happiness.
7. Typography This magazine uses iconic signs within their
typography as the magazine says exactly what each thing is for the
reader for example they use a lot of pugs and the pugs tell the
reader exactly what is included in the magazine by saying it is a
poster special. This means that if the reader sees it they will see
straight away if they will want it be seeing what is included.
8. Images The central image for this magazine is of the band
Paramore this could be an iconic and an symbolic sign because the
reader will straight away see who it is but also it will be
symbolic for the fans of the band because they will be able to
connect with the picture of the band meaning that they are likely
to buy the magazine. The Kerrang magazine makes the artists wear
all black as again it gives the stereotypical look which is
associated with the genre (aggressive) they also use lower angles
and a Wide shot which shows all of the person in the image. This
shows dominance with in the picture and shows that the artists have
power and as many people look up to them you would expect them to
have power. It may make them also look scary and with their
straight facial expressions people may argue that this links in to
the camera shot which links back into the theme of them looking
aggressive which links back into the theme.
9. Contents
10. The language used in the Kerrang magazine contents page is
a mix of formal and informal and uses language which many young
people wouldnt understand. This suggests that it is more for the
older teenage audience which could be considered an arbitary sign
as it has been learnt through culture that teenagers have a good
vocabulary so thats why they used more formal language. This is
also the same for NME magazine, they have also used more informal
language especially language which teenagers such as Mosh are more
likely to understand compared to younger and really older people,
they also both use explanation marks which again shows more of an
informal language as in a magazine for older people they wouldnt
use them as they want to seem more formal.
11. Both contents pages use images of artists either performing
or posing in a picture. These could be considered symbolic signs
because the fact they are showing performers it symbolises what it
is like to performer and also the limelight you get when you are a
performer. They also symbolise the magazine and what it is about,
as the magazine focuses on artists and music the images are clearly
showing that which also helps the reader to understand what that
magazine is about especially as the pictures are relevant to the
articles in the magazine.
12. Double Page Spreads
13. For the double page spreads the both use a big image in the
centre of the pages which take up most of the space so it is more
eye-catching and more recognisable for the audience. This is an
iconic sign because of the fact that the images are of known and
popular bands, this means that the audience will recognise the band
straight away especially if they are big fans which means that they
will read the articles as they will think it is about that
band.
14. The typography on both of the pages is most informal serif
but there is also some sans-serif which are used on the titles of
the page and the words which stand out. These could be considered
symbolic signs because the audience will a connection with the
typography which is used. For example the typography used for A day
to remember could resemble school type writing especially which you
see in films and on posters at the end of the year which means it
also could be an iconic sign. Also for the Dirty Little Secrets the
Dirty Little is in sans-serif writing and in pink which gives the
idea to the audience that it is more girly especially as TV shows
about secrets and society stereotypically link girls to secrets and
as pink is a girly colour it defiantly resembles this to the
audience.
15. The preferred reading for the typography which the magazine
uses is that they want it to relate to the audience because they
want them to be able to connect with the article but the
oppositional reading could be that they are trying to stereotype
their audience with the use of their typography for example by
using dirty little in feminine writing it is stereotyping girls
saying that they all and only have dirty little secrets and men
dont which alsp could be considered as sexist.
