Textual AnalysisBy

Connor Redman

Magazines

Kerrang!

Metal Hammer

Kerrang! Magazine Circulation

40,203

Readership387,000

Mission Statement“Kerrang! takes its readers into the heads, hearts and lives of the people who make rock music. It creates emotional connections.” James McMahon – Editor

Reader Profile Jim, 25, lives and breathes rock music: it informs his choice of friends, his hobbies, leisure time, attitudes, fashion sense and lifestyle.Above all he is fanatical about THEIR music. He engages with music 24/7, from the minute he wakes up ‘til the minute he falls asleep: when he is not listening to music or watching music TV, he is talking to his friends about music, attending gigs or playing instruments and dreaming about rock stardom.

He is plugged in, sharp, has a strong moral code and rejoices in his individuality. He is a fashion trend setter in his peer group but he is heavily influenced by musical icons and scenes. Like the bands he supports he is extremely loyal to the brands he trusts. The way he looks and the clothes he wears is integral to communicating ‘his identity’ to the world.

Publisher of Kerrang!

The Publisher of Kerrang! Magazine is Bauer Media, They are a large publication company and publish numerous major magazines including big hit magazines such as: Empire, FHM and Q magazines.

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company founded in 1875 and headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer.

Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week making it a top publishing company.

Metal Hammer Magazine

Circulation35,259

Readership337,000

Mission Statement‘’Metal Hammer's aim is to satisfy fans of established, traditional metal bands as well as to break new artists and to keep readers informed of everything happening in the world of metal.’’

Reader Profile85% maleAverage Age 22Average Income £30,722The vanguard of the rock and metal movementFirst to know about new music, and advise their friends on what to buySpend at least three hours reading each issueSpend on average £112 each per month on music, tickets and merchandise

Publisher of Metal Hammer

The publisher of Metal Hammer is Future publishing PLC, They are again a large publishing company and publish multiple including Prog, Classic Rock and PC Gamer.

Future plc is a media publishing company. It publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, technology, automotive, cycling, films, photography and music. The publishing company was founded in 1985 by Chris Anderson.

Kerrang! Cover – November 2011

The colours used on this front cover are the house style colours of Kerrang!, they include Black, White, Red, Yellow and Blue. These colours are always present on Kerrang magazines and help the audience identify the magazine and feel like part of it, as stated by Maslow (1954) ‘Belonging and affection needs’. Blumler and Katz Uses and gratifications (1974).

The layout and design of the front cover is roughed up and scruffy. This is not because the magazine is unprofessional but to adhere to the target reader of a teenage boys bedroom and also to reflect on the genre of the magazine as when the word ‘Alternative’ comes into your mind, you think of something different or imperfect and as such they have made the magazine stand out by being different and imperfect.

The Kerrang! Title is a staple on all of the magazines, its always the same font however changes colours to compliment the main article.

The main image is Robb Flynn (lead singer of Machine Head), the shot type is a long shot although has no establishment of a background due to the image only being him, He is a successful alternative musician, and relates to the style and aspirations of the target readers.

The Pose of the main image is clearly staged, it is Robb Flynn holding his hand out with his signature guitar whilst screaming, it shows Robb with both power and anger, it relates to his music and therefore to the reader as 99% of the readers will have listened to his music and most likely be a fan of it. The composition and framing of the front cover is a long shot and is digitally manipulated as there is nothing in the background.When you first look at the front cover your eyes are straight away attracted to the Red Kerrang! Title, then as you follow the word over which is natural instinct you see the main image and from the image leads of to the main cover lines.

The titles and straplines are pretty staple on Kerrang! Magazines, They are always scruffy and unorganized but still look good, when read they say things like ‘FEAR, FURY, HEAVY F**KING METAL!’ which suggests that inside the magazine there will only be things that interest the alternative target audience and pushes away any other stereotypes this is stated in Branston and Stafford (2010) We are prejudice and pre judge everything, if we see something that doesn't’t fit into our own perception of normal then we are pushed away from it.

The front cover as a whole helps with escapism for the reader, it lets them get into the heads of the people featured in it, as stated in Blumler and Katz Uses and gratifications (1974).

Kerrang! Contents – November 2011

The colours used in the contents page are again the staple colours of Kerrang!, they including Black, White, Red, Yellow and Blue. The fact that these colours are still present throughout the magazine continues to allow the readers to feel comfortable as its against human nature to like drastic changes and with it to like routines, stated in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (1954).

The layout is neater than the front cover but still has a young, rebellious feel to it. The images used fit in with the contents and text, The text is a block sans-serif text which has a modern feel to it and helps the young target audience feel at home while reading the contents. It also uses the rule of thirds, the listing is on the right hand third, and the main image spreads across the left and middle segments.

The images are Musicians who are featured in the contents and poses are natural shots of them actually playing a show or gig.

The images used range from long shots to close ups and are minorly digitally manipulated, and the first thing you notice is the head of the male main image.

The wording used on the contents are used to make the reader even keener to open the rest of the magazine and read the articles, they use words that make the articles sound astounding and exciting.

Kerrang! Double Page Spread – November 2011

The colours used in this main article have darkened from the other pages in Kerrang! This doesn’t usually happen but in this issue it seems to have been done to match with the main image and relate more to the actual written article.

The layout and design of this double page spread is again neater than the rest of the magazine, it looks less rough and reflects the subject of the article more than the usual house style or Kerrang!

The Main image if the band called ‘Machine Head’, they represent idols for readers of the magazine, their poses are staged with a natural hint, as they are all posing naturally but the same.

The main image is a mid shot and is digitally manipulated to have no background leading all of the focus on the image top the actual subject, the band members.When you look at the pages the first thing that you notice is the image and head height of the subjects due to the use of rule of thirds and tactical positing of the image, the way the image is located also adds emphasis to the band members and can cause envy or ambition in younger male readers to be like the band members when they are older, this relates to The male gaze theory, Laura Mulvey (1975).

The starts to each key paragraph are made to stand out by the first letters of each paragraph being made Bold, Larger font size and Bright Red, this attracts the readers attention.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Colour

The colours used in this magazine are mainly black, white and grey pigments with highlights of a darker red.These colours give off a darker more aggressive feel to the magazine, the denotations of these colours are the fact that they fit the genre and readers stereotype, however they connote much more, they show that the subject of the magazine is emotional yet strong and the Red can show great passion for the music and again push this for the readers.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Layout and Design

The words and imagery used in the magazine especially on the front cover seem to fade together, the colours are the house style colours of black, white, grey and a darker red. But when images and text are overlapped the colours used are smartly chosen as they use the contrasting colours from the house style colours.

The fonts used vary from the standard staple ‘Metal Hammer’ font to band fonts or standard text fonts inside the magazine, the fonts chosen reflect the genre and yet still look professional and intellectual.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Images

The images used throughout the publication are famous musicians of the genre, this issue featured the members of a metal band ‘Slipknot’ with the front cover featuring Corey Taylor (Singer) and the main Image on the DPS Joey Jordison(Drummer) as these two members are the two most famous other than an ex member Paul Gray, the images of these people used represent success in the metal industry and can be seen as role models as readers aspire to be like them. This is stated in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (1954) under Belonging and affection needs and self actualization.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Pose, Style, Hair, Make-up

The makeup of the main image is heavy black makeup under a famous mask from the band, this allows a recognizable figure to be the main cover and attract a lot of readers to the magazine, if not because they know the mask but because of shock factor.

The impressions the above give the readers are a sense of individuality from the outside world, they feel like they can be whoever they want to be, whether its to wear a mask like the main image of to do whatever, the pose of the image again resembles the genre of the magazine of heavy, angry, emotional music with a humorous factor.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Composition and framing

The composition and framing of images featured in this magazine change a lot depending on the image. In this issue the image’s composition are mainly large sized close ups, The images are clearly digitally manipulated as they stand out with the contrasts and flawlessness other than what is intentional.The images also have been edited to have no background in most of the cases in the publication, this shows that the magazine wishes the reader to focus on the subjects of the photographs and nothing else.

When you look at the pages your eyes as a reader are instantly directed to the open eye of the main image, then you analyze what the image as a whole is and then go onto read the title, this is quiet an intelligent play by the magazine because as soon as you look at the magazine the eye draws you in and you feel emotionally involved as such. And then on the internals of the magazine the same technique seems to apply but more so towards the main headline.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Written Codes

Right from the off the magazine gives readers knowledge of what is going to be inside, the Title Of ‘Metal Hammer’ states that the contents of the magazine is going to be heavy music.

The cover and strap lines reinforce this point, the wording used is aggressive and very stereotypical of the genre and works to repel people who aren’t in the target audience, this is stated in Branston and Stafford’s Representation and Stereotypes theory (2010).

The text through the magazine other than the main stories is all of a reasonable size and can be read at a distance and will certainly stand out on a shelf as it doesn't’t follow standard conventions.

Metal Hammer – June 2011Language

The language used in the magazine is casual yet intellectual especially in the double page spread, this is surprising for this genre of magazine as the language used is usually a lot more average.

The language in the main article’s double page spread