Rolling Stone double page spread

Typography

The mast heads font is extremely clear to read and vividly stands out on the page. To further emphasize the mast head, it has been underlined with a thick bold line. This is similar for the heading, ‘The Rolling Stone Interview.’ The style of font connotes a formal and stylish appearance and maybe signifies the personality and style of ‘Sean Penn’ to the audience. The drop cap in the article portrays formality to the double page spread because it is a mundane component of all formal magazines.

Mise-en-Scene

The clothing used in the main image is very smart and formal because he is wearing a suit. His clothing connotes to the audience that he is a rich, stylish man  and gives a slight representation of his personality.  The setting conveys to the audience that he is rich because he is sitting above a swimming pool, together with the background having a large surrounding.

Layout

The layout of the magazine is set so that the main image takes up the complete right page. This is unusual because usually the main image is on the left side. The mast head is also unusually placed because it is at the bottom left of the double page spread below the article. These components may have been unusually placed to represent the unusual personality that ‘Sean Penn’ might have.

Colour

The main two colours used are black and white, this may have been done to promote the formal and stylish appearance throughout the double page spread. These colours are opposites so they therefore complement each other. The only other colours are in the background of the main image. However these colours aren’t bright, they are instead quite dull, but this is creates a great effect.

Camerawork

The type of shot used in the main image is a long shot; showing the man from his head to toes. The shot has purposely focused on the man and faded out the background so the audience get a clear image of ‘Sean Penn.’ The board that the man is sitting on replicates the thick, bold lines which underline the masthead and the smaller heading.

Language

The language of the double page spread is also very formal and gives a sense of sophistication. The article is very short, suggesting that ‘Sean Penn’ is a man of few words. The main intention of the language is most likely to connote to the audience the personality of ‘Sean Penn.’    

Mode of Address

The way in which this is conveyed to the reader is in an upmarket and high-class manner which may relate to the personality of ‘Sean Penn.’ The overall tone of the double page spread is formal which also could relate to the personality of ‘Sean Penn.’

Summary

The overall content, display and mode of address are done in such a way to signify the personality, wealth and interests of Sean Penn. This has been done by promoting a formal style and giving the magazine a high standard and a high class appearance.

Rolling stone content page

Camerawork

The type of shot used in the main image is a long-shot; showing the two men from head to toes.  This shot portrays to the audience that they are performing on stage. The smaller image at the top left uses a close-up, which conveys to the audience the effort she is putting in from looking at her facial expressions.

Mise en Scene

The clothing used in the main image is very smart and formal because they are both wearing suits. They may be wearing this type of clothing because of their age and general fashion trademark. The reason one man is wearing a grey suit and the other is wearing a black, may be to complement their ethnicity. In the smaller image a microphone is used to signify to the audience that she is performing.

Language

The language used in the content page is more formal compared to most other music magazines. This connotes to the reader that the audience range might be slightly older than most other music magazines. The headings are straight to the point and doesn’t include any exclamation marks, which backs the point that the magazine is more formal.  The magazine included a rhyming header, ‘Money Honey’ which draws the reader in to look further at the article.

Typography

The font sizes are what you would expect, with the main headings be a larger font than the rest. Also the font styles are all very simple and clear, which backs up the formality of the content page.

Colour

The colour is very limited on this content page, because there is only colour in the smaller image. This allows the image to gain the attention from the audience. The mast head ‘RS 968’ also has colour, the reason for this could be to signify that it is the title of the magazine. The main image however is in black and white. The reason for this is because it was taken in 1979, it  however gives a fantastic, unusual effect which draws the audience towards it. Overall the barely existent colour reiterates the point of the page being formal.

Layout

The layout of the magazine is very organised and structured and has the look of a more formal magazine. This is very mundane for most content pages because their aim is to show and list the different story’s and articles that are in the magazine, not to attract and pull in the audience to one specific article/image. This makes it easier for the audience to scan through the list and choose the page they want.

 

Mode of Address

The way in which this content page speaks to the reader is in a straight to the point manner. This is most likely because it is a content page and the main aim on any content page is to just give a blunt description of the page and what it is about.

Summary

In conclusion, the content should satisfy the reader because it gives a clear description of what is on the pages. The design of the magazine has also been successful because it relates to the formality of the page and is clearly set out for the reader.

rolling stone front cover

Typography

The font size of the mast head is very large and takes up the complete width of the magazine, making it the first thing you will see. It has a very bold style and has a certain ‘whip’ to it, relating the style to the word, ‘Rolling’. At the bottom of the front cover are all the cover lines. Each cover line has a different font style. This creates a collage of words effect which catches the eye of the audience and draws them to read it.

Layout

The layout has been arranged so that the central image isn’t covered by any components. This  allows the central image to have more of an impact towards the audience and show them that this is the main attraction of the magazine. This point is alliterated by the fact that there is no other images to attract the audience.  The cover lines haven’t been placed in an mundane place because of the focus on the central image. This unusualness will also fascinate the audience.

Mise en Scene

The clothing worn in the central image is very dark which connotes to the audience a signification of mysteriousness and mischief. This may relate to their personality. This point is backed up by the sunglasses hiding the eyes of the man on the left. Another type of mise en scene used in the central image is the lighting. The lighting has been adapted so that the background of the image is completely black, causing the two men to be enhanced by the bright light giving contrast on their faces.

Colour

The purple mast head vividly stands out amongst the dark background, allowing it to be clearly seen by the audience. The cover lines  have a variety of colours like they have a variety of font styles. Overall there isn’t a clear repetitive colour pattern on the magazine, like you would see on most other music magazines.

Language

The way the front cover has addressed the audience is in a straight to the point way. This point is back by the fact that throughout the cover lines there isn’t any phrases more than four words. This technique is done to make the audience want to know more about the cover line. The overall language of the magazine is very informal, just like it usually is in most music magazines. So it follows the language type you would expect from a stereotypical music magazine.

Camerawork

The type of shot used in the central image is a close up; showing the men from the shoulders up. They have probably chosen this  type of  shot to get a clear picture of the expression shown on the two men's face. The close-up shot works well with the lighting because it conveys a higher level of contrast when they are used together.

Mode of Address

The way the front cover has addressed the audience is in a straight to the point way. This point is back by the fact that throughout the cover lines there isn’t any phrases more than four words. This technique is done to make the audience want to know more about the cover line. The tone of the front cover changes with each cover line depending of the font style used. The different font styles make you read the cover line in a different tone or manner.

Summary

The overall content and design on this front cover has met its objective in trying to gain the attention of the audience. The objective has mainly been met by the unusually placed cover lines and the different font styles which have been used to entice the audience to read into the magazine.

NME double page spread

Typography

The font of all the headings are in bold, block capitals so that they stand out amongst all the text and images for the audience. The styles of all the headings fonts connote an urban look, which might signify the personalities and interests of ‘The Teenagers’. This may give the audience an insight into the band and allow them to relate to them. A drop cap was used in the article to give a sense of formality. Therefore, this  gives the impression that the audience may not only be of a younger age, but slightly older as well.  

Layout

The layout of the double page spread has a cluttered affect. This effect may have been chosen to replicate the personality and style of the band. The page is set out so that the main heading is in the top centre above the article and overlapping the image which it is linked to. This makes it easier for the audience. The main image takes up the left side of the double page; the stereotypical place for a image on a double page spread. The cover lines overlap the main image because they relate to the main image. Overall the layout of the magazine is more appealing to those of a younger generation.

Mise en Scene

The mainly black clothing worn in the main image is of an indie-urban style. The style of clothing used in the image might have been used to represent the bands  personality and genre of music. The posters in the background of the image may be deliberately placed at angles to also represent the bands messy youthfulness and teenage interests.

Camerawork

The type of shot used in this image is a long shot from a high angle. This shot might have been used to get a clear image of the setting and the bands  interests. The shot allows the bands body language to be shown which signifies that they are stereotypical teenagers.

Colour

The colours that have been used on this double page  spread do not replicate the typical ‘NME’ colours. You would typically expect the colours to be red, white and black. However the colours used are blue, white and black. This might link back to trying to get the bands personality across to the reader. These colours work well together because white and black clearly stand out amongst each other. Also with the added bold, bright blue  highlighting scattered in places  around the pages , it catches the eye of the audience and entices them to read the article.

Language

The language used in this double page spread is informal and youthful throughout the headings, however in the articles  the language is much more formal. It could be designed this way so that the magazine can attract a wider range of audience. 

Mode of Address

The tone of this double page spread is quite positive towards the band ‘The Teenagers’. This point is backed up by the quote ‘NME LOVES THE TEENAGERS’. This tone is exhibited throughout the article together with connoting the bands stereotypical teenage life

Summary

Overall the content and design on this double page spread has been arranged so that the audience gets a full insight to the band because wherever you look on the magazine you get drawn into it because it has an intriguing style to it.

NME content page

Layout

The layout of the content page is formulated so that the one main article takes up a much larger space than the rest of the of the page articles. Like most other magazine content pages, it has been structured and arranged so that there isn’t any cluttering or over-lapping. This makes it easier for the audience to see where the section of the magazine they want to look at is.

Mise En Scene

A type of mise-en-scene used in the right side image is the guitar, this signifies to the audience the genre of music in which the band play. In both the images they use a microphone, connoting that they have the  singing role in the band. The clothing worn is by the two men is casual. In the left image, a shirt, scarf and a casual jacket is worn and in the right is a white shirt. This casual wear could be a trademark type of clothing they wear. Also the colour of their clothing might signify their different personalities; black clothing being more mysterious and closed, and the white clothing being more open.

Typography

Repetition has been shown for the masthead, because it is the same font style and is placed in the same place as it was on the front cover. The headings implemented on the contents page are much larger than the article text, making it very clear to the audience what the article/page is going to be about. Furthermore, all of the headings are written in block capitals to stand out and indicate automatically to the audience that they are the headings/ sub-headings.

Colour

The colours used in the contents page are red, white and black. These are the trademark ‘NME’ colours and are used on nearly every magazine they publish. On the left column they have highlighted the black text white on a red background, giving it a cut-out effect. For the page headings they have highlighted the white text with a black background, enabling the opposite colours to complement each other. These linking colours gain the attention of the audience because they are one of the first things they will see.

Language

The type of language used in the contents page is rather informal, this was most likely written like this so that the audience can relate to it when reading it. Some  exclamation marks have been implemented into the text to give a sense of enthusiasm. Ellipses have been used in the main storyline to a create a pause before the heading is read; making it more dramatic.

Camerawork

The type of shots used in the two images are mid-shots; showing the band members from roughly the waist up. This type of shot allows the audience to see the body language and gather that they are performing by seeing the surroundings. Furthermore, allowing them to see the face and expressions of the men, thusly recognising who they are. In the left image you can see the lighting shining on the shoulder, this connotes to the audience that this photo was taken whilst he was performing on stage.

Mode of Address

The tone of this content page is set so that it makes you read the article in an intrigued and interested way. This is done by included short phrases and sentences which make you read it faster.

Summary

Overall this contents page has been arranged so that the main story is in the centre of the page, thusly allowing the audience to be attracted to this over the rest of the story’s. This is done because ‘Oasis’ are an extremely popular and well known band. The content of this page is very formal in comparison to the front cover of the magazine.

NME front cover

Colour

The colour of the masthead is the original, trademark vivid red. This allows the masthead to be enhanced and stand out amongst the rest of the front cover. The colour of the main cover line is green, which connotes a link between the band ‘Green Day’. The use of the red and green work well  together because they are opposites so this causes them to stand out against each other.

Mise en Scene

A type of mise en scene used in the main image is the clothing. The band member is wearing only black clothing which matches the colour of his hair. He may use this  coloured clothing to connote the style and genre of his band to the audience. Also, the band members belt is twisted so the buckle is on the side of his waist which further implements the idea of the bands unorthodox style. A prop used in the main image is the guitar. The guitar connotes to the audience the genre of music that ‘Green Day’ create and perform. The last type of mise en scene used is lighting. You can see the lighting reflecting off the hair of the band member, which suggests that he is performing at a gig.

Layout

The layout of the front cover follows the route of the eye; leading you from the masthead to the main image to the main cover line.  The front cover is set so that all the headings and cover lines are placed around the main image, except the cover line which relates to the image. This signifies to the audience that this is the main story in the magazine. The overall layout of the front cover is organised but by using a cluttered style. The cluttered style still has organisation to it because all of the implemented items fit to scale and have their specific place on the front cover.

Language

The language used on this front cover is quite informal and familiar to the audience. The text is written as if someone is speaking to you, an example of this is the rhetorical question, ‘so why isn’t anyone excited?’ This draws the audience into the magazine. Exclamation marks have been used in the cover lines to manufacture the language to a greater extent enthusiastic. 

Typography

The mast head takes up the top left corner of the front cover and is very bold. The black line running around the outside of the mast head further portrays a stand out effect. The main cover line, ‘Green Day’ takes up the entire width of the magazine, making it extremely large and bold. This makes it clearly stand out amongst the rest of the front cover. The rest of the cover lines use a variety of different fonts which works to the magazines advantage, making it more interesting and appealing to look at for the audience. Some of the fonts on the front cover are placed on top of a bold background, therefore causing the font to be more striking and distinct.

Camerawork

The type of shot in the main image is a mid-shot; showing the artist from the waist up. This type of shot allows the audience to see the body language of the artist performing, together with his facial expression. The background of the shot has been faded out slightly, which fully focusses on the man and the guitar, causing him to be enhanced and stand out even more. In the smaller image, the type of shot is a close up; showing the two performers from the shoulders up. This  shot connotes to the audience the concentration on their faces  whilst they are performing.

Mode of Address

The tone of this front cover is rather enthusiastic, which works to great effect, because it encourages the audience to read further into the magazine.

Summary

The front cover overall has kept its stereotypical trademark design which has been very successful in the past and has attracted a wide range of audiences. The content of the magazine has been very successful because it has kept the audience keen on the magazine, causing them to buy the magazine because they want to read into it; fulfilling their interests.

Q Double page spread

Layout

The layout of this double page spread is set out so that so that the main image and heading is on the left side of the page which will automatically draw the audience towards it and gather their interest, so that they read the article.  The mast head has been placed so that it runs down the left side of the left page, which is an unusual place. However the unusualness  catches the eye of the audience.  The cover lines and smaller images are implemented to fit around the main image, together with the article being in the expected area on the page. This follows the well structured and organised style of the magazine which has  also been shown on the front cover and the contents page. By having this style throughout the magazine this may entice a different  audience to the magazine, rather than mainly the younger generation.

Typography

The mast head’s font style has a rough and urban appearance. This font style may have been used to connote ‘Sebastian King’s’ personality and interests to the audience. The cover lines have the same font style which makes it clear to the audience that they are of the same agenda. The two cover lines are both placed around or on the image of ‘Sebastian King’ which connotes to the audience that they are his quotations. At the start of the article, a drop cap has been implemented. Drop caps are used in almost every magazine or newspaper’s articles; this signifies a sense of formality to the article. The formality appearance the article portrays, contrasts against the informal cover line quotes.

Camerawork

The type of shot used for the main image is a mid-shot, because it is showing the man from the waist up. This type of shot may have been chosen so that the man’s body language is conveyed to the audience. The lighting in the shot creates a vivid contrast between the mans pale skin and his dark clothing. This contrast signifies an attitude and personality to the audience, together with giving the impression his type of music is rock or metal. The smaller images use two mid shots and a close up. These images are there to further emphasise the personality of ‘Sebastian King.’

Mise en Scene

The clothing worn in the main image is smart-casual. The shirt he is wearing connotes a rocker style, however the jacket signifies a sense of formality in his clothing style. Also in the main image, he is wearing sun glasses. The sun glasses may be part of his trademark appearance because they give him a serious looking image. In the top smaller image he is holding a microphone, this connotes to the audience that he is an artist/ performer.

Colour

This double page spread does follow the colours that have been used on ‘Q’s front cover and contents page. Instead they have used a mixture of white and black. The background colour they have used is a smudged, dull grey which connotes a stone look to it. This background allows the text and images to be clearly seen amongst the grey, together with them merging together and complementing each other well.

Language

The language used in this double page spread is informal; giving it a personal feel towards the audience. The reason the language is informal, may be because the artist isn’t a posh person and is rather informal in the way he speaks. The informal language connotes the artist is a regular person and signifies normality from the artist.

Mode of Address

The tone of the article in this double page spread is quite bland and normal because it is an article which has to be written in a certain manner, because it is written by a professional. However the tone of the quotes on the left page are more upbeat because they are from ‘Sebastian King’, so they are used to connote his personality to the audience.

Summary

Overall, the design of the double page spread is similar to a stereotypical double page spread, with the main image on the left page and the article on the right page. This is set like this because naturally people look to the left page first, and if they see the title and the image on the left side, then they are more likely to read the article. The content of the double page spread is relevant and has succeeded in providing the audience with the information that they wanted.