Denotation
The magazine front cover consists of a coloured main image photograph of a male looking directly at the camera. It is a mid-shot showing his head down to the bottom of his stomach. In the picture the background is of a tiled wall which looks like a shower room. The photograph of the male takes up the whole front cover. The mast head is behind the males head and in front are 7 cover lines. The cover lines are in red and white and the barcode is located at the left third of the magazine.
Masthead
The masthead is very distinctive as it is big and bold. Fthe writing is in red and is written in sans serif. This gives the magazine a more youthful and urban look. The writing is in red which also makes the magazine stand out. the colour red connote love, passion, danger and fierceness and those connotations match the main image nicely. Due to the writing of the masthead I would assume the target audience is teenagers around the ages of 15-19 who are interesting in black R ‘n’ B or ‘HipHop’. The word ‘vibe’ is very straight forward which suggests the magazine is straight to the point. The word is also mainly used by teenagers which again is evidence that the target audience is looking at teenagers.
Character
The cover photograph is of a male R ‘n’ B singer ‘Trey Songz’
Composition
The male is topless showing his 6 packs. This photograph is quite provocative and very sexy. We can also see the top of his boxers which also connotes seductive behaviour.
Costume
The male is topless showing the top of his boxers and a little bit of his grey trousers. Many girls are attracted to this singer and by having him topless on a front cover it is bound to have the target audience running to get their hands on the magazine. His boxers are also Calvin Klein’s which a famous brand for males, this raises the sex appeal of the picture. He is also wearing no jewellery at all which suggests that the main focus should be on the body!
Non Verbal Communication
His non-verbal communication is a hard, dangerous sexy look. His face is not subtle but hard which makes the picture more masculine but also very sexy. His head is also tilted downwards which makes the male look fashionable and photogenic. His eyes are also squinted which connotes focus which can be seen in a provocative way.
Lighting
The lighting is front lighting however it is not high but not low as it is supposed to look like the picture was taken in the evening. This type of lighting allows of to focus on the male rather than the background which suggests that the body should be the main attraction.
Setting
The setting looks like a shower room with tiles and because there is water/stream on the males face and body we assume he’s in the shower room and not a kitchen and from the way he’s dressed to.
Cover Lines
Most of the cover lines are based on music apart from one which is basketball and one about Haiti. This makes the magazine seem more reliable as it looks at issues from the news and around the world, which may get respect from its audience. It could also be there to educate its target audience as teenagers are not stereotypically known to watch and understand current affairs in the world so to have this is a popular magazine is really good.
Target Audience
From all of the above points I assume the target audience is teenagers around the ages of 15-19 but mainly females as the cover is sexually attracted females. This is because girls drool over men with Hench, 6 pack bodies especially that particular singer; ‘Trey Songz’. It is also teenagers that listen to ‘Trey Songz’ more than adults so therefore I conclude by saying the target audience is between the ages 15-19 and the reason it starts from 15 is because the type of lyrics in ‘Trey Songz’ songs are quite mature and the picture is far too sexually for younger teenagers.
No comments:
Post a Comment