Analysis of existing products

Analysis of Existing Products

Lee Popplewell

Frank Carter (Gallows)- Medium shot- Tattoos that could represent

masculinity.- Swearing at the camera, could

suggest that he’s violent/aggressive, again a representation of masculinity.

- Hand closer to the camera than rest of the photo, this puts emphasis on the swearing.

- Angry/aggressive expression on his face.

- Black/white image, fits with the colour scheme and makes character look more intimidating beside the other features.

Frank Iero (Ex-MCR) - Medium close up- Long hair, looking

up- Black/white

image, suggests darkness or deep emotions.

Subheader in red- Extreme close

up of a face- Angry/

shouting expression

Image/Camerawork

Text Rocksound magazine font - Bold, behind

image of Frank Carter

- Capital letters, stands out

- White on a black background, again makes it stand out

- Large font, looks like a title

“New music first” - Implies that the

magazine is focussed on new bands

- Grunge font, looks quite modern

- Capital letters make it stand out

“Free CD” - Underlined

and in bold, stands out

- Incentive to buy magazine

Putting the boll*cks back in rock” - Use of profanity,

seems aggressive- Goes with the picture

of Frank Carter- Violent/angry

List of featured bands- Attracts readers

interest if a band they like is on the list

- Variety of genres

“Giant posters” - Emphasises the

size of the posters that come free with the magazine

- Again an incentive to buy the magazine

- Persuasive technique

Layout/Colour

Yellow font- Clashes with the

black background, makes it stand out

- Adds colour to the otherwise very much black/white colour scheme

- Makes it look modern

Black background - Provides a simple

background- Can work well with most

colours - Helps contrast with the

white and yellow fonts

Red subheading- Only bit of red on the

magazine cover , therefore stands out

- Red could connote themes of violence and aggression, which are seen as masculine traits.

Images - On a whole are

mostly on the right- Main image is

centre right, focal point

- Text is positioned mainly at the sides and top

- - Not too busy, not too simplistic

Colour scheme- Black- White- Yellow- Red

Image/Camerawork

Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)- Long hair, traditional

“rocker” look - Simple image, nothing

complex going on- Medium shot - Smiling, seems quite

pleasant

Motley Crue - Two shot - Tattoos, could

represent masculinity

- Arms folded, seems aggressive

- Long hair and sunglasses, “rocker” look

Man playing guitar- Masculine stance- Playing live not a

posed photo - Long hair, shirtless,

could be a representation of masculinity

Explosion - Dangerous

connotations- Attracts

readers attention

Text

Kerrang magazine font- Behind image of Eddie

Vedder- Jagged font, stands out

and looks modern- Draws attention

Carcass- Exclusive on the

band - Exclamation mark,

emphasises the text

- Quite bold and in capitals, stands out

“Pearl Jam!”- Exclamation point

draws readers attention

- “Exclusive” on Pearl Jam

- Bold and in large font, stands out

“Cactus Crunchin’ Chaos”- Alliteration, draws

reader interest- “Chaos” is quite

masculine, suggests destruction

- Bold and in capital letters, stands out

Layout/Colour

Colour scheme - Blue- Orange- White- Yellow

Eddie Vedder- Wearing quite earthy

colours- Centre to magazine,

focal point

Orange/white font- Goes with colour

scheme- Contrasts with

blue background

Blue background - Contrasts the other

colours - Simple, doesn’t draw

away attention

Images- All at the bottom, less important than the Pearl Jam article

Image/Camerawork

Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) - Image taken as a medium

longshot but covered by text, could be classed as a mid shot/medium close up

- Halo above Lemmy’s head is ironic with the smoking and burning feather.

- Very masculine image- “Metal head”

appearance - Sunglasses, denim cutoff,

long hair and bearded

Demon thing wearing a denim jacket with band patches on it - Breathing fire and

destroying things, masculine and violent

- Doing the metal horns with right hand \m/

- Suggests that the music is satanic, again more masculine than feminine

Motorhead logo - Scary image,

again more masculine than feminine

Text

Metal Hammer magazine - Looks like it’s been spray

painted on, graffiti, possible antisocial connotations

- Behind main image - Bold and in capitals,

makes it stand out

Motorhead- Looks lifted up from

the magazine - Stands out - Metal font - “The confessions of

Lemmy Kilmister” suggests Lemmy is admitting to bad things, shows his masculinity.

Motorhead subheading- The use of profanity again

goes with the aggressive tone of the magazine cover.

- The use of quotations shows it is speech from Lemmy

- “Bastard” is in a larger font than the rest, therefore puts emphasis on the aggressive word.

Layout/Colour

Background - Plain background

with a metallic border.

- The metallic border goes with the subject of the magazine, “metal”

Fire colour - The flames add colour to the front cover as the rest of it is relatively plain.

Colour scheme- Black- Grey - Red- White

Red writing - The red writing has quite angry connotations

Kerrang Contents PageAt the top there is the title “contents” in large, capital letters in yellow font. This makes it stand out against the black background. Below that it has the date and number of the issue, again in capital letters but in white instead of yellow and a smallish font. Below that it has two extracts from the magazine with the page numbers to draw the readers interests to those pages, possibly to get them to turn to those pages straight away. The background image for this part of the page is a picture of Slash dressed in all black, this could be giving him dark connotations. Again it has the page number referring to what page the article on Slash in on. On the other half it reads “Kerrang! This Week” using the Kerrang logo in white on a black strip and the rest of the text in yellow, again all in capitals. On the far left hand side there is a picture of one of the editors and a section of text below from him, about the magazine. Below that his signature is printed, this giving a level of personalisation to the magazine. The contents are split up into sections, these being “Feedback”, “News” with a selection of news from a variety of bands. The bands mentioned are in capital letters and in black on a white background. This makes them stand out, drawing the readers eyes to the band names. “Win!” with an exclamation mark emphasising the excitement of the things that the magazine might be giving away. “Live Reviews”, “Posters”, “Features”, “Album Reviews”, “Gig Guide” and “K! Quiz”, where they test a member from a band on a variety of Kerrang questions. All of these headings are outlined by a black block with the text in capital yellow font. At the bottom right there is an advertisement for the magazine subscription and how you can order it, it also has a discount on the magazine subscription. Alongside some of the article headings on the contents page it has a star in a circle with “cover story” written inside it, drawing particular attention to those articles. The colour scheme here is yellow, white and black. This selection seems quite modern especially with the yellow.

Metal Hammer Contents Page At the top of this contents page we see on the left side the heading “Hammer Contents” alongside the month and year of the issue. The “Metal Hammer” logo is displayed at the top in red whereas the rest of the heading is in a black medieval font. The medieval font used throughout for the headings of the articles seems quite evil, this goes well with the image the magazine. The sections that the contents are split up into are “Features”, “Regulars” and “Reviews”, this showing that putting the contents in sections is a common theme within music magazines. Again a trend in the previous contents page there is a note from the editor along the right hand side. The pictures used are linked towards articles on the page numbers mentioned as a caption for the photo, this draws the readers interest to want to look at those pages. The picture on the bottom right of the screen is an inappropriately dressed woman, this is an example of the male gaze theory as it displays the woman as someone who’s attractive to males. Therefore women will want to look like the woman as it is seem appealing to males. This goes hand in hand with the advertisement for Metal Hammer merchandise. The colour scheme in this example is red, white, and black, these colours connote themes of death, lust, darkness and evil. These themes go well with theme of the magazine, being a hard rock/heavy metal magazine.

NME Contents Page At the top left hand side of the contents here the magazine brand logo “NME” is displayed in a large, red font in capital letters on a while background. This contrast between red and white makes the logo stand out, furthermore as NME is a widely established brand of magazine its logo is instantly recognisable. Alongside the logo in larger font and in black it reads “This Week” with the date of when the article was published. The use of that heading makes the magazine seem current and up to date with the latest news in the music industry. Along the left hand side a list of bands are listed in alphabetical order with the page number corresponding to the page in which the article including that band are within the magazine. This type of technique is used in the other contents pages I have looked at. The style of the magazine seems to be along newspaper style looking quite traditional, yet has more modern features including the annotations and heavy use of red colouring. Again the contents are split up into sections in order to make the article more laid out and organised. The advertisement at the bottom of the page promoting the subscription to the magazine offers a 33% saving, this helps encourage people to continue to buy the magazine through subscription so they never miss an issue. The colour scheme used here is white, black, red and yellow. The way the colours are used seems to mimic the style of the magazine logo being quite simplistic and clear.

Metal Hammer Double Page SpreadImageThe image that is spread across the page is a shows the members of the band ‘This is Hell’ diving into a pool, surrounded by musical equipment (guitar, amp ect) This presents quite a fun representation of the band in contrast to the other images we have looked at. However the tattoos still present a possibly violent, masculine theme. The paint dripping from the border of the texts presents an almost graffiti feel, again presenting a theme of violence and masculinity.

TextCovering part of the image the article title “Thrash and Burn” is shown in large graffiti like font, this creates a masculine identity as graffiti is seen as a violent act. This goes well with the image as the band members appear to be portrayed in a rebellious and masculine way. The wordplay of “Thrash and Burn” plays on the phrase ‘Crash and Burn’, this entices the reader as it straight away draws the attention with the large graphic font and then implies it may be around the theme of thrash metal.

Layout/Colour The picture is placed in the top, right of the page but extends across to the second page with text positioned around it. This places most of the attention on the picture, making this article look interesting to read. The colour scheme is primarily green and black, both colours contrasting well with eachother making it clear to read. The main body of the article is on a plain background with black text.