ANALYSIS OF NME – FRONT PAGE, CONTENTS AND DOUBLE

PAGE SPEAD

FRONT COVER ANALYSISThe mast head takes up the top left third of the page, it uses bold red font fitting in with the house style if the front cover which contains some red writing and hints of red objects in the main image creating a recognisable theme for the audience.

The header claiming that this issue is special would automatically grab the readers attention as it is the first thing they would see with the magazine being on the shelf at a shop they would therefore want to buy the magazine because it is a special.

The cover lines would attract the readers attention giving them brief descriptions into what will be inside the magazine, featuring the most interesting story's on the front page as cover lines.

The main image uses star power of Dizzee Rascal to entice the audience, he is set in a young looking background appealing to the younger audience who would be familiar with him due to his target audience.

The main coverline givers thew reader an insight into what the main article in the magazine will be, it uses star power to entice the audience and is also big and bold across the main image to show its importance and to be eye catching for the audience.

The barcode, date, issue number and price is also featured.

The use of a pull quote grabs the readers attention as it gives them a brief and interesting insight into what is inside the magazine making them want to read the article.

The background of the main image shows a theme of graffiti, appealing to a young audience and relatable to “the streets” helping give a young and cool image to the magazine.

There is the use of a flash advertising the reunion of a band or artist, this would attract the audience as it is bold and easy to read, whilst fitting in with the house style of the magazine.

TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS MAGAZINE

METHODS USED TO ATTRACT THIS TARGET AUDIENCE ARE:

The use of star power of Dizzee Rascal would attract the target audience as they would recognise him as he is famous and see him as an aspirational figure. The use of the main cover line using slang would be understandable to the target audience of teenagers so they can relate to it. Moreover the use of red, black and white within the house style would appeal to males as they are stereotypically masculine colours. Also the background of the main image may be applicable to young people, being a cool background of graffiti that would be found on the street they would find it appealing as it would be seen as “cool”.

Target audience profile:

The target audience would be young male teenagers with an interest in rap/grime.

Gender: Male

Age:13 - 21

Social class: Working class, as it costs £2.20 and is not a lot considering posters etc. that it sometimes contains.

The NME magazine target audience is:•65 % of readers are male

•50 % aged 16 – 24•22 % aged 25 – 34 •79 % are class a, b or c1

NME is published by IPC Media and they have an average of 7 million users per month on the NME website.

NME music magazine has been published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper and gradually moved to being a magazine in the 1980’s the online version of NME was launched in 1996. In May 2012 Mike Williams took over as editor whilst Luke Lewis is editor of NME.com

NME magazine is a hip hop/urban magazine. The typical NME magazine would contain music news, reviews, charts, information on festivals, tours, clubs or concert and also tends to involve a variety of rock, indie, rap and hip hop music despite being an urban/hip hop.

Contents page NME (SEPT 2009) ANALYSISThe date of the issue is put in the banner which also fits in with the house style of the magazine.

The brief heading and summary of articles in the magazine with the page number in red gives the reader a quick insight into what is in the magazine whilst the black outline of the white writing makes the sub headings stand out and fits in with the house style of the magazine with the same fonts and the same colour scheme of red white and black.

NME mast head is featured on the contents page, fitting in with the house style of the magazine whilst the word “contents” is still the same font keeping the house style throughout creating familiarity for the audience.

The main image is of a girl standing outside a tour bus, fitting in with the header on the front cover “tour special” having the sub heading the same underneath the picture. This gives consistency and gives the reader what they initially wanted from the front cover of the magazine and gives the reader typical things such as tours that would be featured in a music magazine. The main image is also edited to look like a photograph which may be relatable to the reader as normal people giving the impression of a down to earth magazine.

Bands are listed in red with page number in black showing the variety of bands they have enticing the reader as they have a large amount of bands which they can read about. Moreover the red and black fits in with the house style of the magazine and would appeal to the male audience (of which a majority of NME readers are) as they are stereotypically masculine colours whilst giving a sense of familiarity to the magazine.

The editors introduction to the magazine would give a personally appeal to it and would use direct mode of address to involve the audience with the magazine.

Future editions of the magazine are shown with details of the website and phone numbers to show that there will be more and give the impression that the reader can have a continuous relationship with the magazine.

CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUTMAST HEAD, PAGE TITLE AND ISSUE DATE – placed in the top banner

MAIN IMAGE

EDITORS NOTE

SUB HEADINGS

MAGAZINE CONTENTS

(articles)

LIS

T O

F B

AN

DS

AN

D T

HE

PA

GE

TH

AT

T

HE

Y F

EA

UT

RE

ON

FLASHER FOCUSING ON SUBSCRIBING

TO NME

The lists of bands and pages in the left third of the page and list of articles in the right third of the page surround the main image and along with the banner in along the top of the contents page, this creates a focus on the main image and editors note, which would entice the reader to look at the editors note giving them a personal experience with the magazine. Moreover as the main image is centred it shows the importance of the “tour special” focusing on the fact that this issue is a “special”.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYSISThe mise en scene of the double page spread uses graffiti in the background to create an impression of being on the streets or a roughness to the article. The secondary image of beer bottles and a music player gives the impression of a party life style which for the audience of teenagers would be aspirational and something they could stereotypically relate too.

The use of a mid shot in the main image shows star power with Dizzee Rascal and gives the impression he is doing something he is not supposed to be (maybe illegal) which would look appealing to the audience of teenagers stereotypically known for getting into trouble.

Byline (credit for author and photographer) is also used.

The sub heading uses the buzz word amazing to imply that the article is good and shows his personal story creating a bond between the reader and Dizzee Rascal.

The main heading of “from tags to riches” uses a pun to entice the audience. The use of the word tag may be seen as cool as it involves doing something illegal and make the reader assume that Dizzee had come from a rough background. Also going from tags to riches shows that he is a success artist and would be aspirational for a reader.The text is set out in columns whilst the last two columns wrap around the image of the radio signifying the importance of music within the magazine and even to Dizzee Rascal.

Caption saying Dizzee would entice the reader using star power as a well known name

The copy begins with a large letter “Y” using drop capitals to entice the reader to start reading the article as it would catch their attention.

ANALYSIS OF WRITTEN ARTICLE

The article itself is basically about Dizzee Rascals story and his year of 2009 where he had a successful year. The header suggests the article is about how Dizzee Rascal has gone from being in trouble with police and been on tags too becoming successful and getting rich, this may be seen as a aspirational story.The article itself is written in 4 short columns each of approx75-100 words which would not be a lot of words for a teenager/young adult (being the target audience) to read and they would therefore not get bored of reading it.