On the magazine front cover it consists of a colour medium close up photograph of a woman. It’s a close up shot showing only the head down to a bit of her shoulder. You can see her hand, which is touching one side of her cheek. The background of the photograph is a bright turquoise colour. The background colour covers the whole magazine cover. The colour is very vibrant and eye catching; it almost reminds me of the summer season. Yellow and white is used for the text on the magazine. These two colours stand out from the background colour. The colours of the cover line kind of tell me that it maybe a summer edition, as yellow represents the colour of the sun representing spring and summer. The cover lines that are in yellow show me that, that topic is more important, it’s meant to catch the reader’s eye. The photograph of the woman, which is Amber Rose, is very clear, she almost reminds me of a mannequin, because she looks very stiff in the photograph. The name of the magazine “VIBE” is behind the woman head.
Masthead
Vibe’s masthead is very big and bold. The size of the font is very large, which indicates that it is the name of the magazine. The colour is white which doesn’t clash with the background colour. The font used is san serif font, which is very modern. The letters are in upper case and the letters are slyly separated from each other. The word Vibe is a very modern word, which is used a lot to describe music. Also the word Vibe represents a more urban type of music for example R&B and Hip Hop. Also the name tells the audience that it is a music based magazine.
Character
The photograph on the cover of the magazine is of a famous, successful American model called ‘Amber Rose’.
Composition – She is shown in a very innocent and sexy way.
Costume - She is not shown with any clothing on, apart from a sunglass over her eyes. The sunglasses and red lipstick show that it is a spring or summer edition. Also the red lipstick connotes sexy, seductive and hot.
NVC - The woman Non-Verbal communication is shown very seductive, because her mouth is open, with her bright glossy red lipstick, showing her white teeth and a bit of her tongue. We can’t really see where she is looking because the sunglasses cover her eyes, but by looking at her facial expression she is probably looking at the camera.
Lighting – The lighting that was used was a high key lighting, which was taken in a studio by a studio lamp. The lighting is also meant to display daytime.
Setting – There isn’t much of a setting apart from the turquoise background which represents the sky, which is representing the summer theme.
Cover-lines
The main cover which is “Amber Rose on Wiz,” relates to the photograph. The cover line talks about Amber Rose’s relationship between her and Wiz Khalifa. The main cover line shows me that this magazine just don’t talk about music itself, it also talks about the main celebrities that are shown a lot in the news, about their personal life too. The other cover lines also indicated that the magazine also talks about other celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Tyrese, Lil Kim, Rick Ross and more. These are all American artist. Also one cover line mentions fashion trends from celebrities, for example “Cassie rocks skimpy summer fashion”. The cover lines tell the readers that they will always be updated with latest music, fashion trends, celebrity gossip and more.
Target Audience
The target audience for this music magazine is aimed at people (male and female) from the ages of 13-25. It is also mainly aimed at people who like urban music, R&B and Hip Hop. This type of target audience would have knowledge of these American artists, and also a wide interest with these celebrities and their music. Also people with knowledge of street language e.g. slang, because most artist use this type of language in their music, which attract this type of audience.
Denotation
On the magazine front cover, it consists of medium long shot, colour photograph of a woman, looking into the camera. It’s a long shot showing the woman from her head down to her lower thighs. The background colour, behind the woman is a light bright pink. The background colour covers the whole magazine cover, which makes the photograph of the woman stand out from the page. Behind the photograph of the woman is the magazine masthead, Billboard. In the background are seven different cover lines. The writing is in black, with yellow cover line names. There is a wide gap between each cover line separating them from each other.
Masthead
Billboard masthead is very plain and simple. It also stands out because the font size is bigger than the others. It’s black with colours in between some of the letters. The type of font which was used is san serif. The font style is very modern which connotes, that the type of music people listen to who read this magazine is very modern. The name Billboard came from a trade paper for the bill posting industry. By the name billboard it tells the audience that the magazine posts, new and interesting news on celebrities, which will catch their readers attention.
Character
The magazine cover photograph is of a well known American sing-songwriter and actress called “Katy Perry”.
Composition – The woman is posed in a very elegant way.
Costume – The woman is wearing a black dress, with pink flower patterns on it. Also on the dress are single flowers, matching the same kind of flower style on her dress. The theme of the outfit is telling me that this magazine was published in summer, because of the flowers and colours.
NVC – The woman’s Non-Vocal Communication is showing me that she is innocent and relaxed. Her mouth is slightly open showing her hot pink lips and white shiny teeth. She is also staring directly into the camera.
Lighting – The lighting is high key, the photograph is trying to display summer season daytimes.
Setting - There is not much setting apart from the pink background, which might represent flowers.
Cover-lines
The main cover line that relates to the photograph is “Katy Perry, Inside the Court of The New Queen Of Pop”. This relates to the previous singles that she releases and sold in 2010. The cover lines tell us that this magazine doesn’t just concentrate on one type music genre. They also include R&B Hip Hop, Rap and many more. The cover lines also talk about social events and celebrity gossip, what draws the interest of the readers.
Target audience
By analysing all these points I have found and made, it clearly shows that the main target audience is male and female aged between 14-30 years. This magazine is mainly aimed at readers who like Pop & R&B music. The reader of this magazine should have knowledge of these American artist and some form of interest. The language used is formal and therefore is more targeted to an older age group, for instant people aged 25-30.
Flavour
Denotation
The magazine front cover has a medium close up photograph shot, which is in colour. The medium close up shows a man from his head down to the bottom of the pocket on his shirt, looking into the camera. The magazine background is an image of a brick wall, with brown bricks. The photograph of the man covers the whole magazine front cover. In front of the man is the ‘Flavour’ masthead, and also in front of the man several mastheads and a banner which is at the bottom of the magazine cover. The name of the man in the photograph is written in a bigger font size than the others.
Masthead
The Flavour masthead is very large and bold and the colour white makes the masthead stand out from the background. The font what was used is san serif font, which is modern, which tells the reader that the magazine is modern style type magazine. The name ‘Flavour’ tells the audience that this magazine consist of juicy gossip and information about artist from all over the world and social events happening.
Character
The magazine front cover is of a successful British grime artist called ‘Scorcher’.
Composition – The man is posed with his head slyly tilted to left hand side, with his eyes looking in a different direction other than the camera.
Costume - The clothing that he is wearing goes with the background, showing an urban street look. The checker shirt is very modern, what the modern teenagers and young adults wear nowadays. Also the clothing that he is wearing tells the audience what type of music he does and how he is a person.
NVC – His Non verbal communication is plain, it looks like his is thinking about some, while looking in the distance.
Lighting – The lighting is low key, the photograph shows that it was taken outdoors. Lighting is showed more on the right side of his face and the other side of his face is shadowed.
Setting – The setting is outside and it looks like it was taken in an urban street because of the colour of the bricks. The theme of the bricks also shows the genre of the music that Scorcher plays.
Cover-lines
The main cover line relates to the cover photograph. Which is “Scorcher, I like to have the best of everything...” This line was taken from an interview with Scorcher. The different cover lines also show me that the magazine talks about all types of music genres. Other artist mentioned on the cover lines are Macy Gray, Alesha Dixon, Faith Evans, John Legend and more. There is an emphasis a mixture British and American artist, which are talked about in the magazine.
Target Audience
It is clearly shown that the main target audience are men and women, aged 18-34. The target audience would have a good knowledge of urban music, as well as Hip Hop and R&B. Also they are likely to be interested in British urban music and American style music.
Denotation
The magazine front cover has a colour photo of a man looking into the camera. It is a medium close up shot, from the top of head down to the elbows. The background of the photograph is of one colour, of a pale light blue. This background covers the whole magazine cover. Behind the man is the masthead ‘The Source’. In front of the man are four different cover lines. The man in the photograph name is in a big font in purple. Some of the cover lines are in either a white, purple or black font colour. Also you can see the barcode and blackberry barcode, located at the bottom of the magazine.
Masthead
‘The Source’ masthead is very eye catching, with the big purple colour. The font which was used was a san serif font, with little gabs between each letter. The name ‘The Source’ tells me that this magazine not just only talks about music it self, that it also mentions facts about history and also top news going around across the world. The name also tells me that I can find the latest news and keep me up to date as well in the magazine.
Character
The magazine cover photograph is of a new successful American artist called ‘Drake’.
Composition – The man is posed with his arms down, leaning to the left side of him. Half of his body has been cropped out from the right side of the magazine.
Costume – The clothing that is wearing is very simple; he is wearing a black t-shirt with gold symbols in the middle of the t-shirt, which stands out from the background.
NVC – His non verbal communication tells me that he is being seductive. He is biting on jewellery that is around his neck, with his left eye closed, like he is winking.
Lighting – The lighting is high key, studio lamps where used to take this photograph because the lighting is very vibrant, making his skin look flawless.
Setting – The setting is in a studio, but doesn’t really show us what the background might represent.
Cover lines
The main cover line relates to the cover photograph, “The Encore Drake”. This suggests that this is the main cover line because it talks about the artist, which is in the photograph. The other cover lines talk about different music artist and also historical culture e.g. “Dr Martin Luther King”. Other artist that were mentioned on the cover lines are Wale, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye, Eminem etc. These are all American artist, which tells me that this magazine is an American based music and culture magazine.
Target Audience
The target audience for this magazine are aimed at male and females aged 15-32, roughly. The target audience must have a basic knowledge on Hip Hop music, artist and culture. Also the target audience must have an interest in Hip Hop music and the different artist and the latest around the music industry.
