Textual analysis
Denotation:
The magazine cover consists of a colour photograph of a man with his head slightly titled up, wearing dark shades. It is a medium close up, showing the man from his lower chest upwards. The background colour is a gradient dark grey blending into a lighter shade and the photograph takes up the majority of the magazine cover. Behind the man’s head is the VIBE masthead and beside his head and body are five separate cover lines. The writing font is a light black and white and the barcode is seen at the bottom left but is placed over the image.
Masthead:
‘VIBE’s masthead is the biggest font on the cover, however the ‘I’ and ‘B’ of the word are hidden behind the man’s head, suggesting that it is a popular and most likely international. Even though the whole name is not shown, the audience should automatically recognise what magazine it is. The font is very bold and large, ready to grab the audience’s attention; also the fact that it’s not a long word can suggest why the boldness is used. ‘Vibe’ is a slang word, used as the short term of the word ‘vibration’. Slang terms are often particular to a certain subculture – such as hip hop, telling the audience that the magazine is music based.
Character:
The cover photograph is of successful American rapper ‘Lil Wayne’. Lil Wayne’s genre mainly consists of Hip Hop, telling the audience that the magazine specialises in Hip Hop artists and news.
Composition:
He is posed in a superior manner as his head is slightly tilted sort of giving a low angle to make him bigger, which link to the cover-line ‘Weezy still hip hop’s leading man?’.
Costume:
He is wearing a red military jacket with gold hems which has been left open exposing his chest and upper stomach which has been covered with tattoo’s. He is also wearing a hat which is tipped to the side with dark shades and two chains. The costume gives the visual imagery of what the magazine are trying to represent him as. The red military jacket suggests royalty which links back to him being seen as the ‘leading man’ and one of the best rappers in America. The dark sunglasses he’s wearing reflect a black and white picture of the American flag. This suggests that he is patriotic and that the magazine is American. The costume has been chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine, who are most likely to be teenagers upwards, majority possibly males. 16 – 25(+), as they are the main audiences who listen to Hip Hop music.
NVC: His non verbal communication is very dominative as he’s tiled head shows a sign of leadership. Also the sunglasses give him a more ‘celebrity’ look and makes him seem cool.
Lighting: The lighting is high key, as the photograph is meant to display a bright light on him to make him the centre of attention.
Setting: There is little setting; however the grey background connotes neutral and coolness which is how the artist looks in the photograph.
Cover-lines:
The main cover-line which relates to the photo of Lil Wayne, ‘Weezy still hip hop’s leading man?’, makes reference to when Lil Wayne was voted ‘Best Rapper Alive’ by TIME magazine in 2008. Since then Lil Wayne has been considered one of greatest rappers and has even been mentioned by President of the Unites a States, Barack Obama when he said : “You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school”. Other cover-lines mention other Hip Hop artists or celebrities such as, Tupac, George Lucas, Chris Rock and La La and Tinka. This tells the audience that the magazine doesn’t concentrate on just one genre of music as well as music itself, it is diverse in what it chooses to write about.
Target Audience:
Teenagers upwards, majority possibly males rather then females as they are the main audiences who listen to Hip Hop music. They would have a good knowledge of Hip Hop culture and a interest in the music industry.
Denotation:
The magazine cover consists of a colour photograph of a man with his head slightly titled up, wearing dark shades. It is a medium close up, showing the man from his lower chest upwards. The background colour is a gradient dark grey blending into a lighter shade and the photograph takes up the majority of the magazine cover. Behind the man’s head is the VIBE masthead and beside his head and body are five separate cover lines. The writing font is a light black and white and the barcode is seen at the bottom left but is placed over the image.
Masthead:
‘VIBE’s masthead is the biggest font on the cover, however the ‘I’ and ‘B’ of the word are hidden behind the man’s head, suggesting that it is a popular and most likely international. Even though the whole name is not shown, the audience should automatically recognise what magazine it is. The font is very bold and large, ready to grab the audience’s attention; also the fact that it’s not a long word can suggest why the boldness is used. ‘Vibe’ is a slang word, used as the short term of the word ‘vibration’. Slang terms are often particular to a certain subculture – such as hip hop, telling the audience that the magazine is music based.
Character:
The cover photograph is of successful American rapper ‘Lil Wayne’. Lil Wayne’s genre mainly consists of Hip Hop, telling the audience that the magazine specialises in Hip Hop artists and news.
Composition:
He is posed in a superior manner as his head is slightly tilted sort of giving a low angle to make him bigger, which link to the cover-line ‘Weezy still hip hop’s leading man?’.
Costume:
He is wearing a red military jacket with gold hems which has been left open exposing his chest and upper stomach which has been covered with tattoo’s. He is also wearing a hat which is tipped to the side with dark shades and two chains. The costume gives the visual imagery of what the magazine are trying to represent him as. The red military jacket suggests royalty which links back to him being seen as the ‘leading man’ and one of the best rappers in America. The dark sunglasses he’s wearing reflect a black and white picture of the American flag. This suggests that he is patriotic and that the magazine is American. The costume has been chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine, who are most likely to be teenagers upwards, majority possibly males. 16 – 25(+), as they are the main audiences who listen to Hip Hop music.
NVC: His non verbal communication is very dominative as he’s tiled head shows a sign of leadership. Also the sunglasses give him a more ‘celebrity’ look and makes him seem cool.
Lighting: The lighting is high key, as the photograph is meant to display a bright light on him to make him the centre of attention.
Setting: There is little setting; however the grey background connotes neutral and coolness which is how the artist looks in the photograph.
Cover-lines:
The main cover-line which relates to the photo of Lil Wayne, ‘Weezy still hip hop’s leading man?’, makes reference to when Lil Wayne was voted ‘Best Rapper Alive’ by TIME magazine in 2008. Since then Lil Wayne has been considered one of greatest rappers and has even been mentioned by President of the Unites a States, Barack Obama when he said : “You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school”. Other cover-lines mention other Hip Hop artists or celebrities such as, Tupac, George Lucas, Chris Rock and La La and Tinka. This tells the audience that the magazine doesn’t concentrate on just one genre of music as well as music itself, it is diverse in what it chooses to write about.
Target Audience:
Teenagers upwards, majority possibly males rather then females as they are the main audiences who listen to Hip Hop music. They would have a good knowledge of Hip Hop culture and a interest in the music industry.
No comments:
Post a Comment