NME, also known as New
Musical Express is a magazine that contains the genre of rock, indie and
alternative music. My Magazine front page features the artist John Lennon. From
my research, if NME magazines’ focus is to talk mainly about one artist, they usually
use a close up (CU) or an extremely close up (ECU). This issue of the magazine
follows the conventions of this, as the shot type used is a close up. Also,
this image could be classed as a headshot, as we are able to see the top part
of his shoulders. The mis-en-scene of the shot is that we are able to see his
whole face, including facial expression. We can decode that the magazine could
be a tribute for his life, as the image is in grey. The connotations of grey
are mainly old, classic and neutrality. Also, by using this method, the direct
mode of address is more effective as the image takes up most of the front cover
and our full attention will be focused on him. Furthermore, it is an advantage
for NME, as someone could walk past this magazine that is on a magazine
newsstand, and would instantly be caught to the image, the masthead and
recognize the artist featuring on the magazine front cover. Unfortunately, with
this shot type being used, we are not able to view what John Lennon is wearing,
but looking at the right side of his shoulder, it seems that he is wearing a
vest, due to the strap that passes over his shoulder from the back to the
front.
The layout of the front cover seems slightly plain, from the masthead to
the layout of the cover lines. We can see that the words highlighted in yellow
seem very important. For example, the use of buzz for the word “free” is
effective and important. If the magazine was placed on a magazine newsstand,
covered by other issues of the magazine, the buyer would be able to see the
buzz word that is on the top/skyline on the left hand side of the magazine,
which would enable them to pick the magazine up and find out what is free. This
way, they will now have full attention on the whole of the magazine. Other
words that are highlighted ("Lennon", "Classic interviews"
and " Liam Gallagher") Yellow connotes energy and brightness.
Furthermore, yellow enhances concentration, which plays a key part for the
purpose of a magazine. The cover line, "60 years of NME" links to John
Lennon image and the other main cover line "The ultimate icon of NME's
lifetime" as NME have been around for such a long time, and that John
Lennon was an important part of their project.
The contents page is not double sided, but is one sided instead. Compared
to the layout of Kerrang! Magazine, NME uses pictures which link to the text
and link to what page you will find this information at. The colour ‘red’ on
the numbers catches the eye more, as it is bold and colorful, which is catchy
for the eye. Red connotes vibrant behavior, which will appear to the rock/indie
audience, as it is the norm. Comparing to the Kerrang! Magazine, there is no
editor’s message. This could suggest that the magazine is for a grown up
audience, who seem calmer than the audience who would pick up a Kerrang!
Magazine; the young, active, lively. The titles on the contents page that have
an image on top of them seem more important, as the things under the title
“plus” still seem important, but not worthy of an image as the title explains
what will be on the pages. For example, the title ‘reviews’ suggest to us that
we will be reading music reviews from writers who have explored artists’
albums. Adding to this, NME advertise a subscription offer to their readers and
highlight the essential words that will draw in the reader (‘NME’, ‘ONLY £1’).
Effect of this is for NME to gain profit, gain more readers and insure that
people will be reading their magazines. Dropcap of the letter ‘S’ is used to
show the audience exactly where the article starts. The rest of the article is
short as it continues on the next page.
(I couldn’t find the press pack at all)
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