Francis Evdokimov

Main image and representation analysis:

Mise-en-scene: In this music magazine cover the mise-en-scene represents and gives an idea of what the character is like to the audience. Background/Lighting: The lighting in this cover is bright due to the white background. White is associated with a well-balanced, sensible, discreet and wise person. This challenges the convection of a rapper as rappers are correlate with wealth, wearing a lot of jewellery, showing themselves off and violent. Therefore the white colour maybe what the rapper ‘Plies’ thinks of himself, obviously not what the audience see. The colour green is used as well in a light tone. Green represents a practical, down-to-earth person with a love of nature. Clearly again ‘Plies’ looks far from down to earth and practical from his facial expressions (NVC – non verbal communication).The-non-verbal communication used tries to show off all his prosperity and materialism. He opens his mouth to show his gold teeth. ‘Plies’ looks very intimidating. His eyes focus on you, as if trying to get a message across. This maybe is linked to the text “Plies- is the future of rap”. His eyes give the impression that no one can stop him and he doesn’t want ‘YOU’ to get in the way. The green colour as said before shows a person who has a love of nature. Looking at the image this couldn’t be more wrong. ‘Plies’ displays all his riches and treasure portraying a very greedy and profane person. Props: The props used in this magazine front cover portray a typical rap artist. ‘Plies’ is shown to have a lot of wealth and has put it on show for everyone to see. This infers a very cocky and a massive self esteem. Rappers usually wear bold, shiny pieces which say that they are a bold person who don’t lack in confidence. The jewellery emphasises his wealth, something which is widely associated with rappers. The base ball cap worn is also associated with rap, but his cap looks very expensive and personal made. The ‘A’ on the cap looks shiny and made of good material which portrays his love of materialism and wealth. Costume: Clearly in the magazine cover, the rapper ‘Plies’ wears no costume. This infers that not only does he want to show off his riches but feels very confident about his masculinity and sees it as a big asset of his. It also is another way of showing other jewellery he hides showing he is covered with it which represents his wealth. Tattoos are used to portray his self expression and individuality which applies to the convention of a rapper, so he isn’t much different or unique as majority rappers have ink on them. Lighting: Lighting is very effectively used to portray his self assured personality. The lighting does not hide any of his body. His body is clear in light, inferring that he is confident in his looks and wants everyone to see what he looks like.

Positioning/camera angle: ‘Plies’ in the cover takes up most of the page. The image is shot at a mid-close up which presents his high confidence. The image is a close up which make ‘plies’ the main feature of the cover. It represents him as a vain character as he wants to be the star, the main interest of the whole magazine. He is placed slightly more to the right but is mostly in the centre. Again this shows a bold, fearless character. His Body language is very cocky as he is seen point up. This point, infers there is only one way up for him. It connotes that he will be the best and currently he believes he is getting higher and higher in rap. This can be backed up by the quote beside his finger: ‘Plies-is the future of rap’. The fact that his finger is bigger than the actual text just presents how big he thinks of himself.

Francis Evdokimov

Mise-en-scene: Colours: Jay-Z in this double page spread is in a mixture of the colours blue and red. The colours are representing him as a character as they are based on his face and the background inferring the colours present his personality. Blue is associated with appearing to be confident and self-controlled, but may be hiding a vulnerable side. The blue definitely depicts Jay-Z as a good person and trustworthy. Blue also is the colour of a reserved and quite person, not liking to make a fuss. Clearly this colour represents Jay-Z as a good reliable character rather than a thug or violent rap artist. On the other hand the colour red is also used to cover the other side of his head. Red is associated an extroverted, optimistic, courageous and confident person. This contradicts the blue side of his face. It may therefore show he can be a good and bad person. The red colour doesn’t necessarily mean he is a bad character but it shows a much more vain and confident person. Red also is linked with violence therefore the audience do get this more intimidating character when looking at the picture. The colour red does seem to be interfering with the blue, taking up more than half of the image. It shows he is dominated by a more confident character but there is a part of him which shows he is vulnerable. Props: In the double page spread, Jay-Z has two props on him. Again like the front cover image of a rapper, Rap artist are associated with materialism and wealth. Even though it in not as obvious, it still is large and noticeable. Jay-Z wears glasses and the background gives the impression it is inside. This shows his confidence in order to wear sunglasses indoors. The glasses being all black also give the idea of a mysterious character, and that he may be hiding something from the audience which is revealed in the text. Glasses are also associated with a villain or a bad character. Therefore they may be representing an evil side to Jay-Z. Costume: The costume that Jay-Z is wearing is very simple and in the colour black. The colour black is a colour of someone who hides his vulnerabilities and covers his emotions and so on. This could portray Jay-Z’s personality and that he has much which is covered and people don’t know about. Again this could signal that the text/article would involve all the secrets and mysteries Jay-Z is hiding. NVC (Non verbal communication) Jay-Z’s non verbal communication comes across to the audience as a rough, serious person. The fact he hides his eyes shows his seriousness and he doesn’t show any weakness as he hides it through his costume and glasses. The lighting shows two sides to his personality, but his face remains serious through both to show most of the time, he is a rough and intimidating character. Positioning & text: Jay-Z is positioned on one whole page of the double page spread. This shows his significance as well as how big of a character he seems to be. The picture is a close up, to show emphasis on him and what the audience should be looking at. On the second page of the article with the text, a Massive red J is placed in the centre covering the page. It is in red as it links to the brand identity, the typical house style found with this particular magazine. The J could also be so large to exaggerate his significance and status.