Magazine Analysis: NME Double Page

NME Double Page Analysis

Image – Body Language/ Facial Expression

The facial expression and personal gaze of eye contact makes the artist ‘grimes’ look as if she is looking directly at the audience. The facial expression of ‘Grimes’ looks subversive and crazy illustrating her alternative style and so the alternative e brand identity of the magazine. The positioning of ‘Grimes’ on the left page creates the impression of dominance, as if she is sitting on a throne, this theme of dominance not only reflect s her as a strong female musician but also NME as a dominant music magazine and household name. On the right page ‘Grimes’’ positioning and facial expressions appears so be that of her being crushed by her own words in the interview, she seems to be greatly affected by the interview which highlights the style of the article as being a powerful and shocking one. 

I too will be using images throughout my magazine which illustrate the model as having a personal gaze as I feel this represents the magazine as presenting content which gives a close and personal insight into my readers’ favourite music and musicians.

Image - Lighting

The lighting is very bright and creates a youthful tone and again juxtaposes the alternative impressions of the magazine created with its other conventions again presenting a rebellious tone. The bright lighting also forms a unique and stylistic image as it reflects off the sequins on the costume and other areas of the costume to stand out again reflecting the idea that NME stands out as a popular music magazine in comparison to its competitors. 

In my own magazine’s double page I am planning to use similar bright lighting in order to create a youthful feel to the images I use, I also hope to use similar ‘sparkly’ clothing and makeup not only stylistically to reflect the light but also to give a psychedelic feel to the look of my double page spread.

Image - Positioning

The positioning of the artist in the thirds, places her in the centre through the middle thirds on the left page and so creates the concept that she is the focus and most important therefore presenting the idea that the artists are at the focus of NME magazine this creates the implications that the magazine is aimed at strong music fans who are very passionate for music. 

In my own magazine I am planning use the rule of thirds in the layout of my magazine by placing the models personal gaze between a third to give a really eye-grabbing personal and emotive feel to the spread.

Image - Colours

The surreal psychedelic colour scheme of a tie-die blue and cream house style creates a rebellious and unique tone reflecting the alternative genre of the magazine. The pink used seem to create an over-feminine tone in almost an ironic  way, this exaggerated ‘girly pop’  feel contrasts and juxtaposes not only with the branding of the magazine but also the artist and so the irony presents connotations of rebellion therefore representing the alternative genre of the magazine. 

I hope to re-create this ironic feminine tone throughout my magazine in order to give it a classic punk look, this rebellious look is presented in order to reflect the rebellious nature of the alternative music it features. The girly-pop, millennial-nostalgic blend to create a psychedelic look I feel makes the spread very interesting and entertaining through its stunning and strange visual presentation. I too hope to form a strange and subversive look to my spread through costume and bright contrasting colours.

Image - Costume

The silver crown and sequin boots connotes idea of prestige and as if the artist ‘grimes’ is a royal, this follows with the implications that NME itself is the king/queen of the music magazine genre While I will be presenting silver reflective costume and makeup in my own magazine this is mainly to create a visually interesting image by reflecting the light rather than to highlight a level of prestige.

Language

Ideas of rebellion are further portrayed through the use of the expletive within the title of the article, a direct quote from the artist, this is shocking and illustrates the artist as being rebellious, it seems the magazine sensationalises this by using this quote as its title relaying the fact that the magazine will present these shocking sides to their artists despite the social stigma and taboo nature surrounding it. This not only presents the magazine as rebellious through presenting these ideas but also illustrates the upfront nature of the magazine, it seems despite the shocking statements the artists in NME make, the magazine will not censor or hide these words from its readers, it presents the truth and does not try to deceive its readers therefore presenting the magazine as trustworthy and truthful. 

In my own magazine I will also be using expletives as I feel despite the fact that some may find this offensive the target audience of alternative music magazines (generally 16+ possibly even older) means that generally they are simply used to conform to the general conventions of the theme of rebellion in these types of magazines.

Layout - Font

The use of the bold, black jagged fonts are illustrated as dominant and powerful and stylistically this seems to speak in terms of the connotations associated with the weight of her words within the article which reflect the article as strong and meaningful, this also forms the concept that the article is shocking and so demonstrates the magazine as rebellious as it seems to defy the neutral undertones of many articles. 

I too am planning on using weighted, almost grungy fonts in order to exaggerate the impact of the artist’s words within the article to create a deep an emotional page and article.

Layout - Positioning

The layout, in some ways is presented as being conventional in terms of the article’s text being separated into the three columns, this means the articles text is easy to read and clear to readers and highlights a clear separation between the heading, subtitle and main body of text. 

I too will be adhering to this convention in my own magazine however due to the constraints of only having 2 pages (rather than 5 in the case of this article) my text will most likely be on one page and the image on the other.