Mark Gibbs

Textual analysis of Rolling Stone Magazine Front cover

Denotation: The magazine cover shows a photograph of Britney Spears looking away from the camera and laughing. It is a medium shot, showing her head down to her hips. Britney is standing in a relaxed manor, though her legs are not visible in the shot. Britney is wearing very casual jeans and T shirt which are quite dull grey and blue colours. This merges with the dull grey/green background. The photograph covers most of the magazine cover.The Rolling Stone masthead is behind the photograph of Britney. “ Britney Returns” is written in large white print. In front and to the side of Britney there are eight separate coverlines which are in white and yellow. The main two are in a larger font. Each of these two coverlines are a mixture of yellow and white with two horizontal grey lines separating each of them. Beneath these are six coverlines in smaller font. Each of the smaller coverlines are written in one colour only, alternating yellow and white which causes separation between each coverline. There are no lines to separate them.The Rolling Stones masthead is very clear as it is written in large, white, serif font with a capital letter at the beginning of each word with the remaining letters in lower case, joined together. The magazine title “Rolling Stone” indicates to the reader that this magazine is about musicians and music.

The main coverline relating to Britney states ”Yes she can! Britney Returns”. This connotes that Britney has returned to the world of media following the birth of her baby. It also connotes that her figure has returned following her pregnancy – this connotation is reinforced by Britney’s pose and revelation of her slim figure as this is clearly exposed with Britney’s T-shirt rolled up. Britney is also pulling the waist of her jeans down slightly with her hand, showing the top of a tattoo. This connotation is reinforced by the statement under Britney’s name which states “The Hot Issue” which is written in yellow font on a red background. The choice of simple, dull colour clothes allows the reader to focus on Britney’s body rather than what she is wearing. Her body is clearly slim, toned and tanned which is making a clear statement following the birth of her baby. It also shows that Britney is happy to be back and to have her figure back as she is laughing in the shot. This image of Britney will appeal to the target audience of “Rolling Stones” who are likely to be mainly men.The coverline is also making reference to a song which Britney did in 2007 called “Why Should I Be Sad”. This shows that Britney has returned and clearly isn’t sad as she is laughing in the picture.The coverline tells us that the magazine focuses on a variety of music genres as Britney does not sing rock and roll and also concentrates on more than the music produced, writing about at the musician’s personality as well. The magazine also writes about people other than musicians; the coverlines are advertising articles on actress Drew Barrymore and screenwriter/ actor Mickey Rourke. The masthead has been written in a serif font for many years and is still written in this font which shows that the magazine values tradition and this can be appealing to many readers, especially those who read the magazine since it was first produced in November 1967. The target audience will consist of readers who have read the magazine as teenagers when it was first published who would now be in their 60s, through to people in their 30’s. The magazine appeals to both men and women, but it has a greater male audience. Rolling Stone appeals to those with an interest in a wide range of music, media and current affairs as the magazine offers information a wide range of subjects.

Textual analysis of the Q magazine contents page

Denotation: The contents page consists of a masthead, which is in a black background with large uppercase white font stating “Contents” and it has the magazine’s date and URL in smaller font. This clearly tells the reader what the page is about. There is a large picture of The Courteneers who are the main feature of this month’s Q magazine. The photograph Is In colour with the four members of the group posing on top of a hill with a city in the backdrop. The backdrop looks dismal and foggy, with a grey sky. The grass is blowing, which shows that the weather is windy, yet the four band members are all dressed in short sleeved shirts, despite the cold weather. This connotes that the members are strong and resistant. This connotation is also reinforced by their posture and facial expressions. The fact that they are positioned on top of a hill connotes that they are leaders both in their city and in the world of music.

The cover line which advertises The Courteneers is in black font on a white background. The title of the group is in a larger font then the remaining script and is also in a darker shade of black which makes it stand out and is clearly visible. The page number is in a red font, which makes it very easy for the reader to see which page The Courtenneers are on.

To the left of the picture, there are thirteen cover lines, though five of these are related specifically to Oasis. The Oasis cover lines have page numbers in a green colour with each cover line’s heading written in a upper case large, dark font and the information of the cover line written in lower case, smaller, lighter colour font. The Oasis cover lines are placed in a separate box with the heading “Oasis Special!” in the same green colour as the page numbers. This draws the reader’s attention and makes it very easy to identify the specific features on Oasis. Above the Oasis box are the other eight features in the magazine which are in the same layout and font as the Oasis special. The only difference is that the heading of these cover lines is called features which is written in a large, uppercase, white font on a red background. This makes it very clearly identifiable to the reader. The page numbers of these cover lines are also listed in red matching the background to the heading just as the numbers in the Oasis Special are the same as the font of the Oasis Special.

Because different size, case and colour fonts are used, there is no need to put lines between the cover lines to separate them, this is automatically seen as the readers eye. The choice of using red or green for the page numbering also helps to distinguish the cover lines.

Beneath the Oasis Special, there is a list of the regular monthly features of the magazine (this month there are three) and these are presented in the same way as the eight features.

To the right of the cover lines list and below the picture of The Courteneers, there is a box with a grey background which is advertising reviews of musicians, music and musical technology. The font and layout is presented in the same way and colour choice as the features listing with a photograph of one of the musicians reviewed, posing for the picture. This box is headed “Review, the worlds biggest and best music guide” which guides the reader directly to the reviews section.

The contents page is clearly laid out on a white background using black text. The various cover lines (Features, regular monthly and reviews) are easy to distinguish as they have clear headings. The Oasis special feature catches the readers eye because the heading and numbering is in a different colour from the other cover lines and is also in a separate box.

Textual Analysis of a double page spread

Denotation: The double page spread is featured on a white background with a colour photograph showing the three members “The Teenagers”. They are all looking directly at the camera and all appear very serious. They are dressed very casually and their surroundings reflect their causal approach to life. The photograph is a long shot showing them sitting in a very relaxed way with a lot of photographs pinned to the wall behind them. the masthead sits on part of the photograph but majority of it sits outside the photograph above the script on the group. The masthead simply states the name of the group. It stands out because it is a deep blue against the white background and has uppercase large font black writing. The casual approach of the three band members and their surroundings connotes with the lives of teenagers in general who are usually viewed to have a relaxed, approach to life and their living conditions.

On the lower left hand side of the photograph, there is a blue box with some key information about the group. It is clear to the reader what this box is about as large black uppercase font states “Need to know” and in white smaller font the teenagers.

To the right of the photograph and below the masthead, there is a script describing life of The Teenagers. This is made more interesting by a small colour photograph of one of the band members on the stage. There is also a quote from Quentin, a band member, which Is placed on a blue background with a white font which is larger than the background font, which makes the quote stand out to the reader. Quentin’s name is actually in black font, which makes it easier to see who the quote is from. The New Musical Express have used simple colours with a white background, black font for the script and the masthead and quote have a contrasting blue background which makes them quickly identifiable to the reader. The choice of limited colours causes the reader to focus on the very busy long shot photograph of the group. The double page spread also uses the opportunity to advertise three other bands. This is done on the right hand side of The Teenager’s script. To distinguish the advertising of the three groups from the information on The Teenagers, a black background box is used with three small photographs and white small font. The name of each group is in a large uppercase white font and forms the title of each small article. Lines are not needed to separate the three bands advertised as the titles are in large capital font and forms separation of each article.