Kerrang! Cover Analysis in progress

Kerrang! is a very rock and metal based music magazine which explains their choice of featuring Biffy Clyro as their cover models.

The title of the music magazine is positioned at the top of the page which follows the conventions of print magazines, this is done in the hope it is the first thing consumers will see.

The main singer is placed in the centre and in the foreground with the bassist and guitarist just behind him. A mid shot has as it’s a convenient camera shot to make the three look as equal as possible even though one band member is placed in front. They all have a direct mode of address with fixed and firm facial expressions which accurately conveys their genre of rock music.

The main singer is wearing a white hooded jumper, which against his dark hair complies with Kerrang!’s house style. The connotations often attached to the tones black and white are darkness and eeriness, matching the connotations attached to rock and metal music. To add, the lighting has deliberately been crafted to create shadows in the middle of Simon Neil’s face which reiterates the shady element.

Simon Neil’s body language has his hand on his chin showing a contemplative pose. This illustrates a more intellectual side to the rock band which moves away from the stereotype of rock musicians just making nonsensical noise. A possible reason for this is because Kerrang! usually writes more academic articles.

Just below Simon is anchorage text which reads the name of their band “Biffy Clyro”. It is bold and big, serving as a caption revealing the act it rests upon. The lettering is around about as big as the magazine title and visually sandwiches the band in between the two texts.  Simon is placed in front of the magazine title but not the band title, this creates the effect of emphasising how engaging the shot is, as if he’s coming out the magazine.

Elsewhere, the magazine includes offers of free posters, a technique to directly attract readership. This is another convention of music magazines, offers of relevant items readers can keep which serve the purpose of not only drawing in an audience but also if purchased, it will remind consumers of a perk they gained from the magazine, increasing loyalty.

A third convention this magazine follows are the use of puffs. Puffs....