Rock/Alternative music magazine cover analysis

1. Rock/Alternative music magazine cover analysis

2. The 4 covers I chose to look at are Kerrang, Q, and Rocksound. the first thing I noticed was the consistent colour schemes throughout all the covers, black, white and red, these are often colour associated with rock and and contrasts therefore I will use this In my magazine. Another main point in all of them is the fact that the name of the person in the main image is printed in big bold across them for example Madonna goes straight across the magazine front and it’s the first thing you would notice. Also the main image is often (with the exception of rock sound) a close up image of the feature artist. I think colour is a very important feature for rock magazines as it has to look edgy and rebellious. Also the models facial expressions are also similar, none are smiling but all have a rebellious, moody look.

3. Time difference 2013 2009 You can clearly see how Q magazine has developed over the years, making it look much more professional and flowing. Everything is colour coordinated, even Robbie is wearing a red jumper. Because Q has become more and more well known over the years you can see now that the main image is over the title the same as many other popular magazines.

4. banner Buy line – alliteration and also relevant to rock music Big masthead across top of magazine cover Extra diegetic gaze- contact with the audience Free – this acts as a cover mount – attracts the audience makes them want to buy it fro the free item Feature artist, the main image and also the biggest piece of text other than the mast head, this makes it clear to the audience Advertises other things inside the magazine

5. banner His gaze is looking up at the top banner which is about drama so it links with his expression. Main image covers part of the masthead, this shows its popularity Colour scheme – red white and grey throughout even on the main artist. Multiple cover lines – giving the target audience a taster for what's inside Rhetorical questions to make you want to read it and find out – persuasive technique Main features name in big capital letters also across the artist

6. banner Free – this acts as a cover mount – persuasive technique Artist covers the masthead which shows the magazines popularity Extra diegetic gaze – interaction with the audience Features name covers the artists – you know who this is and who the feature is about Colour scheme – red, white, black Rebellious attitude – links with the genre of the magazine Cover lines – tells you what is inside the magazine

7. Most recurring in rock magazines • In my research of magazine covers I found that red , white and black are the most commonly used colour in rock magazine. • The second thing I noticed was that the photographs of the feature artist were all close ups. Also they all had some kind of pose, none were smiling or pouting but were showing rebellion or attitude in their expressions. Extra diegetic gaze is often used as well. • The name of the feature artist is often the second biggest bit of text on the page and is usually covering part of the artist. • A lot of them have a cover mount or something that suggests you will gain from buying the magazine such as free posters inside. • They all have banners across the tops or bottoms of the pages which have names of different bands/ artists which are featured inside the magazine, because there are a lot of them it could be to attract more people from within this sub-category of rock/alternative. • Using my research from looking at the different rock magazine covers I will use these and my own ideas to create a rock magazine of my own.