Above is an R&B and Hip Hop cover magazine. I have chosen to analyse an R&B and Hip Hop cover magazine as this is the type of genre of music I enjoy listening to. I am going to identify and analyse the conventions within this cover magazine. Conventions are the rules of what makes a magazine look like a magazine.
Denotation:
The magazine cover is of a very colourful photograph man looking directly at the camera. It is a medium long shot. This reveals his head, arms and waist. He appears to be standing. The background of the photograph looks almost blurred. It looks very colourful and distinctive but does not look like anything. Behind the man is the masthead VIBE and in front of him are five cover lines. The cover lines consist of many colours; white, green, red and yellow. The artists’ name is in the same colour as the masthead to make these things stands out from everything else. This colour is white. There is nothing to separate the cover lines so some people may find it confusing. There is also a standard bar code visible in the bottom left hand corner.
Masthead:
A masthead is a magazine name displayed in the typeface, it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title and is normally done in a specially designed typeface. The VIBE masthead looks very distinctive. The white bold serif font in capital letter proves to stand out. This font was chosen as it suites the type of music and fits in well with the colours chosen. The reason for this is to make it look unique. The word “VIBE” means a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others. This links with R&B and Hip Hop music as this genre is very meaningful and emotional. The majority of those who use the word vibe or vibes listen to the soulful and meaningful genres of R&B and Hip Hop which says a lot.
Character:
The photograph is of the successful “girl beating” multi-millionaire artist whom is Chris Brown.
Composition:
He is posed in a careless gangster like manner. His body language and clothing are very supportive of this.
Costume:
His clothing is dark jeans with a bright orange t-shirt and a new era hat. This has been chosen carefully in order to appeal to the target audience of the magazine; by the looks of it there gender is likely to be male. What he is wearing is similar to what he normally wears when he is seen in videos and concerts etc. He is also wearing a hat which looks like it is almost about top drop of his head in the attempt to look ‘cool.’ He is trying to put on an act. His clothing overall appears to be very modern.
NVC:
His Non verbal communication looks like he is upset. Almost as if he wants us to feel sympathetic for him. However, he also looks like a thug. His mouth is tightly closed which connotes he is trying to hide something. It is quite perplexing because he is directly camera.
Lighting:
The lighting is high-key lighting as it is quite even and free from dark shadows.
Setting:
There is little setting. Instead the background is very colourful which connote a bubbly theme as his music is generally lively.
Cover-lines:
No cover-lines relate to him. These cover lines have little reference R&B and Hip Hop. The writing is also not very explicit which make it hard for people to read.
Target Audience:
Considering all of these points, the likely target audience looks as if it is for males. Aged 16-30. The cover-lines look as if they are for people with good knowledge about R&B and Hip Hop. 16-30 year old males are most likely to have an interest with these things and therefore it is targeted at them.
Denotation:
The magazine cover is of a very colourful photograph man looking directly at the camera. It is a medium long shot. This reveals his head, arms and waist. He appears to be standing. The background of the photograph looks almost blurred. It looks very colourful and distinctive but does not look like anything. Behind the man is the masthead VIBE and in front of him are five cover lines. The cover lines consist of many colours; white, green, red and yellow. The artists’ name is in the same colour as the masthead to make these things stands out from everything else. This colour is white. There is nothing to separate the cover lines so some people may find it confusing. There is also a standard bar code visible in the bottom left hand corner.
Masthead:
A masthead is a magazine name displayed in the typeface, it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title and is normally done in a specially designed typeface. The VIBE masthead looks very distinctive. The white bold serif font in capital letter proves to stand out. This font was chosen as it suites the type of music and fits in well with the colours chosen. The reason for this is to make it look unique. The word “VIBE” means a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others. This links with R&B and Hip Hop music as this genre is very meaningful and emotional. The majority of those who use the word vibe or vibes listen to the soulful and meaningful genres of R&B and Hip Hop which says a lot.
Character:
The photograph is of the successful “girl beating” multi-millionaire artist whom is Chris Brown.
Composition:
He is posed in a careless gangster like manner. His body language and clothing are very supportive of this.
Costume:
His clothing is dark jeans with a bright orange t-shirt and a new era hat. This has been chosen carefully in order to appeal to the target audience of the magazine; by the looks of it there gender is likely to be male. What he is wearing is similar to what he normally wears when he is seen in videos and concerts etc. He is also wearing a hat which looks like it is almost about top drop of his head in the attempt to look ‘cool.’ He is trying to put on an act. His clothing overall appears to be very modern.
NVC:
His Non verbal communication looks like he is upset. Almost as if he wants us to feel sympathetic for him. However, he also looks like a thug. His mouth is tightly closed which connotes he is trying to hide something. It is quite perplexing because he is directly camera.
Lighting:
The lighting is high-key lighting as it is quite even and free from dark shadows.
Setting:
There is little setting. Instead the background is very colourful which connote a bubbly theme as his music is generally lively.
Cover-lines:
No cover-lines relate to him. These cover lines have little reference R&B and Hip Hop. The writing is also not very explicit which make it hard for people to read.
Target Audience:
Considering all of these points, the likely target audience looks as if it is for males. Aged 16-30. The cover-lines look as if they are for people with good knowledge about R&B and Hip Hop. 16-30 year old males are most likely to have an interest with these things and therefore it is targeted at them.
Above is an R&B and Hip Hop cover magazine. I have chosen to analyse an R&B and Hip Hop cover magazine as this is the type of genre of music I enjoy listening to. I am going to identify and analyse the conventions within this cover magazine. Conventions are the rules of what makes a magazine look like a magazine.
Denotation:
The magazine cover consists of a black, white and red photograph of a man whom is looking directly at the camera also wearing a black and white suit which fits in perfectly with everything else. It is a close up of which we can clearly see his face. The background is completely white which connotes maturity; this is also why he appears to be wearing a suit. In front of the man is the VIBE masthead and besides are four cover lines in red and black. The man’s name is in a black bold serif font in order for it to stand out. There is also a basic barcode visible in the bottom right hand corner.
Masthead:
A masthead is a magazine name displayed in the typeface, it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title and is normally done in a specially designed typeface. The VIBE masthead looks very distinctive. The bright red bold serif font in capital letters proves to stand out. The reason for this is to make it look unique. The word “VIBE” means a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others. This links with R&B and Hip Hop music as this genre is very meaningful and emotional. The majority of those who use the word vibe or vibes listen to the soulful and meaningful genres of R&B and Hip Hop which says a lot.
Character:
The Cover photograph is of the multi-millionaire and very successful artist whom goes by the name of T.I.
Composition:
We cannot see if he posed in a way as we can only see his face. However, his face is titled slightly to our right which connotes he has attitude problems and also that he is very confident.
Costume:
His clothing is a suite however the type of suit he is wearing does not suggest he is working. His clothing has been chosen carefully to make us think why he is wearing the suit and make us want to eagerly open the magazine to find out why this is. The clothing worn is of complete opposite of what he normally wears which is why it such an ingenious idea to have him wearing this for the cover magazine. With the suit he is also wearing stylish black glasses which still allow us to see his eyes and a black hat which is slightly covered by the VIBE masthead. This looks almost like 80’s clothing and it becomes apparent with the black and white theme.
NVC:
His Non verbal communication is very intimidating. His mouth is shut displaying some sort of screwed up face and looking directly at the camera. His eyes are not widely open; they are open half way which suggests he does not care about life.
Lighting:
The lighting is high-key as it is meant to portray day time.
Setting:
There is little setting. However, the white background connotes maturity and simplicity and fits in perfectly with the 80’s gangster theme.
Cover-lines:
The main cover line that relates to his photograph says “AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS A SECRET SNITCH” in which refers to something T.I said about him not ‘snitching’ to have a reduced sentence in jail. Another cover line is “MAVADO-GANGSTER FOR LIFE” which is making a reference to an artists’ song. This fits in well with the rest of the cover magazine as the theme of the magazine seems to be 80’s gangsters. Another cover line is “51 LOST ABULMS” which is saying it is going to tell us 51 best Hip Hop and R&B albums of all time.
Target Audience:
Considering all of these points, the likely target audience looks as if it is for males. Aged 16-30. The cover-lines look as if they are for people with good knowledge about R&B and Hip Hop. 16-30 year old males are most likely to have an interest with these things and therefore it is targeted at them.
Denotation:
The magazine cover consists of a black, white and red photograph of a man whom is looking directly at the camera also wearing a black and white suit which fits in perfectly with everything else. It is a close up of which we can clearly see his face. The background is completely white which connotes maturity; this is also why he appears to be wearing a suit. In front of the man is the VIBE masthead and besides are four cover lines in red and black. The man’s name is in a black bold serif font in order for it to stand out. There is also a basic barcode visible in the bottom right hand corner.
Masthead:
A masthead is a magazine name displayed in the typeface, it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title and is normally done in a specially designed typeface. The VIBE masthead looks very distinctive. The bright red bold serif font in capital letters proves to stand out. The reason for this is to make it look unique. The word “VIBE” means a person's emotional state or the atmosphere of a place as communicated to and felt by others. This links with R&B and Hip Hop music as this genre is very meaningful and emotional. The majority of those who use the word vibe or vibes listen to the soulful and meaningful genres of R&B and Hip Hop which says a lot.
Character:
The Cover photograph is of the multi-millionaire and very successful artist whom goes by the name of T.I.
Composition:
We cannot see if he posed in a way as we can only see his face. However, his face is titled slightly to our right which connotes he has attitude problems and also that he is very confident.
Costume:
His clothing is a suite however the type of suit he is wearing does not suggest he is working. His clothing has been chosen carefully to make us think why he is wearing the suit and make us want to eagerly open the magazine to find out why this is. The clothing worn is of complete opposite of what he normally wears which is why it such an ingenious idea to have him wearing this for the cover magazine. With the suit he is also wearing stylish black glasses which still allow us to see his eyes and a black hat which is slightly covered by the VIBE masthead. This looks almost like 80’s clothing and it becomes apparent with the black and white theme.
NVC:
His Non verbal communication is very intimidating. His mouth is shut displaying some sort of screwed up face and looking directly at the camera. His eyes are not widely open; they are open half way which suggests he does not care about life.
Lighting:
The lighting is high-key as it is meant to portray day time.
Setting:
There is little setting. However, the white background connotes maturity and simplicity and fits in perfectly with the 80’s gangster theme.
Cover-lines:
The main cover line that relates to his photograph says “AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS A SECRET SNITCH” in which refers to something T.I said about him not ‘snitching’ to have a reduced sentence in jail. Another cover line is “MAVADO-GANGSTER FOR LIFE” which is making a reference to an artists’ song. This fits in well with the rest of the cover magazine as the theme of the magazine seems to be 80’s gangsters. Another cover line is “51 LOST ABULMS” which is saying it is going to tell us 51 best Hip Hop and R&B albums of all time.
Target Audience:
Considering all of these points, the likely target audience looks as if it is for males. Aged 16-30. The cover-lines look as if they are for people with good knowledge about R&B and Hip Hop. 16-30 year old males are most likely to have an interest with these things and therefore it is targeted at them.