Main Cover image’s

ColourThe colours used on the ‘Rock Sound’ magazine are mostly ‘Greens, black and white’s. 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.

The preferred reading from this is that the magazine have used these types of colours to try and ‘idolised’ the artists and make them ‘desirable’ so the audience will try and aim to be like them (Wealthy, Powerful etc.). In contrast some people argue the same point with oppostional reading that the magazine is trying to use these signs to try and tell the audience that this is the only image that will make them happy and the only image they could be to be sucesssful.

Typography and languageThe 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 it’s 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.

ImagesThe 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 and refer to the preferred reading that it shows that the band are serious about their music and the fans know that they are a serious band but the indexical sign and oppositional reading is that it links to the image of the band and the theme of ‘Rock Music’ as rock artists are stereotypically 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 and they are telling this to their fans meaning that you will only be perceived as aggressive.

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.

The colours used in the Kerrang! Magazine are again black and white’s but they also have used brighter red’s and yellows. They could have done this to represent the band’s music as the bright colours could be considered happy colours and the band’s 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.

By using these types of different colours it could show the preferred reading that the magazine is trying to show the audience that bands can represent more than just the stereotypes of the genre and there is a lot more going for them. Even though this is what the magazine is trying to represent some people still look at the oppositional reading that the magazine is just showing these different signs to feed and advertise the image of the band so they look more desirable so the audience will want to be apart of their image and be just like them.

TypographyThis 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 see’s it they will see straight away if they will want it be seeing what is included in the magazine. They use a much different approach then the other magazine as the other magazine says what articles there are but this is not included by the front cover. The preferred reading is that the magazine chose to do this as they thought it would be more appealing for the audience by it have less writing and more images but the opposed reading is that the magazine are just using a lot of pugs to persuade you to buy the magazine so they will get more money and there including a lot of this to make you buy it at a higher price saying its worth your money when in most cases it isn’t.

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 which links to preferred reading as it shows that the magazine have put this band on the front so the audience can relate but it can also link to the oppositional reading saying that they have included it just so the magazine company will get more money for putting this band on the front cover as it will mean that more people are likely to buy the magazine for the band and not the content.

The Kerrang magazine makes the artists wear all black as again it gives the oppositional reading/ sign that it is ‘stereotypical’ and gives the 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.

Contents

The language used in the Kerrang magazine contents page is a mix of formal and informal and uses language which many young people wouldn’t understand. This suggests that the magazine was targeting older teenage audience and that which could be considered as the preferred reading. This is an Arbitary sign as it has been learnt through culture that teenagers have a good vocabulary so that’s why they used more formal language but some people could also see it as that they are trying to limit the audience and suggest that only teenages can understand this type of language which isn’t true in all aspects. 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 wouldn’t use them as they want to seem more formal.

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 which again makes them desirable and links to the preferred reading of trying to show the audience that this could give the audience an idea to aim for by the artist being iconic but again people could argue that they are showing this to prove this is the only way the audience could be desirable by being in the limelight. 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 picture’s are relevant to the articles in the magazine.

Double Page Spreads

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 this also could show oppositional reading that the writers are trying to trick the audience in buying the magazine as they are trying to make more money off them and are using the image of the band of a way to get the target to buy it and earn more money.

The typography on both of the pages is most informal serif but there is also some sans-serif which are used on the title’s 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. People link this to the preferred reading that as pink is a girly colour it defiantly resembles this to the audience and they are using this type of typography just to relate but the oppositional is that they are just using it as stereotypes and not thinking about the larger range of target audience and how it could be considered on the line of offensive. 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 don’t which also could be considered as sexist.