Rock Music Magazines - Analysis of Articles

This magazine article I took from the American rock magazine, Revolver. I like it's simple structure, with one whole page for an image, with the second page structured in columns, featuring the story's title, and a subsidiary image. White and black are the main colours featured, which I think is appropriate for a rock/metal magazine. The caption on the first image, "Amy Lee. Evanescence," states the artist's name, and the name of the band, but also implies that the article is more focused on her, rather than the band. Although this caption could also have been used as she is the person featured in the photograph, as captions are used to explain the pictures. The dark colours in the photo, as well as the artist having black hair and rather pale skin, reinforces the rock/metal genre, representing the genre of the magazine, as well as giving the magazine a gothic theme.

The headline, "Sweet Sacrifice," is featured in bold, contrasting with the black box, making it stand out. This title links in with the band, being a previous song title, but also with the article, as the text features information about the gap between their previous work, and the return of the band, apparent by the sub-title, "Amy Lee is back rocking harder than ever". The credits are featured at the bottom of the second page

This article is taken from the magazine, Kerrang! It features the typical rock magazine colours: black, white and red. This instantly amplifies the genre of representation, which is also reinforced by the title, "Teen Spirit," which is written in white, with a blood splat-looking background. The image of the fighting artists, links with the youth aspect of the article, and the featuring of dark jeans, long hair and rock music clothing further emphasises the genre. The structure of this article is very similar to the previous article, proving that it is simple, yet effective. However, this article features a main image on the first page, with multiple subsidiary images on the "What are Rolo Tomassi made of?" section. The article also features a quote from one of the artists, that is layered onto the main image, "I just love dancing and screaming" - Eva Spence', similar to the previous article, which shows that key quotes are popular to promote on main images, perhaps to draw in the attention of the reader, making them interested in reading further into the article, as without a taster, the artist may have not been as interested.

This article is taking from the popular music magazine, NME. The structure of this article is quite different to the previous two articles, as the main image is featured on the opposite page, and runs into both pages. There is also just one image featured, which although restricts diversity, it allows the one image to be larger and more powerful. The artist's black straight hair, and dark eye make-up, represents the artist as a rock/metal character.

The article has a very interesting title, "People think I'm an attention seeker, but I'm just honest." I find this unusual, as it is obviously a quote that has been taken from the interview, however I can see how this would attract readers, in a similar way as the quote in the previous article. I also find the font of the title very interesting and stylish, as it represents are more psychological, twisted feel, which fits in well with the quote, as well as the music genre.

Again, black, white and red are the colours featured in the article, which gives me the idea that these are the appropriate colours for a rock/metal magazine.

Overall, although music magazine articles of the rock genre can be structured and displayed in various ways, they all feature similar ideas, such as colours, and representation. This has given me ideas for my article, and a baseline to what my article for a rock/metal magazine should look like, and perhaps the type of information that it should include, especially more focused on interviewing artists.

What I've Learned From the Mock Up Cover...

I believe that I could have analysed ten various music magazine covers, yet still not understand the codes and conventions, and the process of creating a magazine cover as well as I have by creating a mock up of a music magazine.

I found that layering is a very important part of the process, and detailed planning must be prepared before undergoing the task of producing the cover. I found that when making my mock up cover, I hadn't thought everything through, and found myself having to move pieces onto different layers, and understood the effect of layering.

I am now also happier using Adobe Photoshop, as, although it isn't the best job, I learned how to remove a background from an image, and super impose the selected part of the photo onto another background. This has been extremely helpful, because it has given me more opportunity and options for when I create my own music magazine, as I now have the ability to edit photos to create images that would not be possible to take in real life.

From producing the mock up cover, I also learned that mastheads and coverlines do not always fit, and that structure is very important, although editing must be done after inserting the main image, to ensure that the coverlines stand out to their full potential. Therefore, I have decided that when I create my magazine cover, I will plan out the fonts and colours, but make sure that there is room for adjustment and editing, as design and structure can be hard to manage, especially colour.

I also found that a slightly different font can have a huge impact on the way a magazine is represented, and that the layout can also represent the magazine in different ways. For example, to contrasting magazine layouts and designs are Kerrang! and Q Magazine. Q is very classic, ordered, organised and tidy, where as Kerrang! is very chaotic. Both these characteristics make the magazine attractive and eye-catching, however I do believe that it depends on the genre of the magazine.

I also found that there is a range on different codes and conventions, from subtle coverlines, to flashes, however there were no subsidiary images on the mock up I produced. This had made me think about the various codes and conventions I need to include on my magazine cover to make it look professional, as just coverlines and a main image will not suffice.

Overall, I found that creating a mock up magazine cover had provided me with a great deal more knowledge about the process of creating a magazine cover than just analysing covers, and the techniques I have learned will be very useful for when I come to the stage of creating my own music magazine cover.