Slipknot CD analysis

This is a CD cover for the metal-rock band Slipknot.

The main focus point is obviously the image, the image shows a group of people, stood up in a field full of dead crops. There is a tree in the background and the sky is dark and grey which could possibly mean their is a storm on the way/ heavy rain.

The camera shot this frame in a long shot distance, which i feel could have been used to introduce all of the band; also to show the surroundings which help estbalish the band and their genre. The angle of the shot is low angle which makes the band appear in a dominating light to the audience, it makes them seem powerfull. This is one contrast between the expectations for artists who perform through the pop genre, their album covers seem to be eye level to connect with their audience, where as R'n'B and slipknot are using this technique i believe to seem like an inspiration to their audience. This may seem like a boastfull thing to do however if teenagers see these artists in a powerfull, god like light their is still a large chance of these teenagers idolising the band. The low angle, also makes them seem the best of the best of what they do within this genre, so if you do purchase this CD it'll be the best rock-metal music CD available.

On the cover, at the bottom there is a sticker advising on 'parental guidence' this reflects the image i believe which they was to represent, the idea of rebbeling through music also reinstates the idea of the ideology in which Kerrang is representing: the idea of rebelling and self expressionism.

One convention which isn't dispayed on the CD cover, is the name of the band and the title of the album, i feel they challanged the conventions to make themselves look different then other artists, however i also feel they don't need to display their name in big red writing, as their image is so iconic: the idea they wear horrifying masks with needles spiking out and masks which are faciel expressionless: it's their image which they've always had, and since they are the only band who feel the need to rebel and individualise themselves however, this seems to have worked as they've made their image an iconic one and also makes their image a unique selling point of their music. The album cover title, however isn't displayed either, i feel this is used to challange the idea of conforming to natural conventions, again it reinstates the idea of this band wanting to rebel, as conforming is a safe option, rebelling is a lot more exciting and dangerous.

There is a layerd opaque image over the main image, which is over the band: this is a pentagram which is connotated a lot with whitch craft. This reinstates their idea of gothism within their indeology, which connects with the idea of rebel as whitch craft can still be seen as evil. This is why pentagrams connect with this genre so well, as they're both a taboo subeject, witchcraft and Gothism. Witch Craft was written about in gothic stories, and i believe they've reinstated that as their logo, as it's iconic of witch craft which branches off to being iconic with the genre of Gothism. I think it has been layed over in an opaque fashion, to reinstate the idea of their genre of music in which they specilise. The audience will first, look at the band and their image will establish their genre of metal-rock, however by then looking at the subtlties, such as the pentagram: and the genre is reinstated as metal-rock.

In terms of representation, i feel the artists are placed within a light where they do take personal image with much importance, however their importance is to shock the audience. Kerrang magazine would feature this band within their magazine, as Kerrang seem to promote self expresionism with the idea to shock. I feel their target audience could honestly be anyone, however appart from young children and old people, as their music is not helivy depedant on one patential audience, such as a band like 'Sugababes,' they heavily depend on the younger, girl audience as their genre is Teen-Pop. Whereas Slipknot, are world class musicians who write their own music, and i feel this is what people may appretiate more, the fact they are passionate about the music they produce, where as bands like 'Sugababes' and 'Girls Aloud' depend on songwriters to write music for themselves. I also feel the idea of the way they've been photographed, with long distance from the audience and a low angle: stating their domincance, and the idea of them being too good musicians for you to be close to: it may seem an arrogant thing to do. However, i feel this connects with the patential audience, and basically says 'your paying for this brilliant music, because we are brilliant musicians.'

A CD cover analysis Circus

This is an album cover for Britney Spears' most recent album: Circus. An album consist of conventionally 10-12 music tracks, however can include bonus tracks to intrigue the audience more.

The main image is always the main focus point, it seems albums have to include an interesting, attractive looking picture of the artist as this is one of the selling points as it exploits the genre and creates expectations for the genre of music and for the artist. The image is of the artist sat down looking at the camera. The camera angle is eye level, which like the magazines gives the audience the idea of being able to connect with the artist as there is no social status division between the two: this would be different if it was a low angle shot making the artist appear more dominant and powerful, this however, makes it hard for the audience to connect with the artist as there is a clear social division between them. The eye level theory can also make their music seem from their heart, and how they are feeling: it's personally from them. Her face seems to be very bare and has lack of make-up, i feel this enables the audience to see her as they haven't before, and by being viewed with no make-up it's almost like an exclusive look into her life and who she actually is as a person, rather how then the media perceive her to be. Her pose seems shy, perhaps with Britney Spears record of having a very public meltdown this shows a softer side to her, her vulnerability to the world, this connects well with the idea of the media twisting and making up lies about her life, how she can only tell the truth through her music: this is reinstated by the eye level camera angle. Her hair looks soft and long, this creates the idea of the femininity she has, and shows her in a good light, photograph wise, the hair is blonde which can connect with the idea her being young and of course she is vulnerable as there seems nothing more to be vulnerable then a young woman. Her costume consists of a pink dress, the colour is baby pink which again reinstates the idea of her vulnerability she has as a young woman. The dress isn't a revealing one which exploits her dignity and respect for herself which is seen as a good role model possibly in the eyes of the audience, this allows the target audience to be widened from the older audiences to the younger audiences as well. The photograph seems really intimate and allows the audience to see a side of Britney Spears which the media possibly wouldn't let you see: however, this is what an album is supposed to consist of, the idea of the audience seeing the artist for who they are through the music which they produce.

The text and font is seems to be used, all to add effect to the CD cover. The largest text on the cover states the artists name 'BRITNEY SPEARS' it stands out as it's in capital letters, this is eye catching and someone browsing in a music store would possibly see this CD first then others. The colour of the text is red, this could connotate to the idea of being 'Brand new and Red Hot Album!' It reflects excitement from the album, and creates excited within the buyers. It's also typical for a circus tent to include two expected colours: Yellow and Red, as circus tents include these colours in strips on their tents. The text is shaped as a tent, the 'Y' and 'S' in her name is the peak and the name follows up from 'Britney' and then follows down with the name 'Spears.' It's a stereotype of a circus being held in a tent, however with a circus theme being such a strong theme, the circus stereotype will be noticed and expected world wide, and this shaping of the font meets the audiences expectations therefore don't confuse the potential audiences. The font they've used for the artists name, is a quite show girl font, and is very circus themed: it's connotations include circus and performance.

The title of her album 'circus' is printed underneath her name, the text is smaller which is understandable as the name of the artist is a main focus point as if people are looking for an artists music, they search for the artist's name; rather then the title of the album. The text is in the colour mustard yellow which connects with the idea of the circus tent, with the tents expected to be striped with two basic colours: Red and Yellow. By using Yellow, it creates a variation within the album cover by including other colours as the album has to eye catching and interesting and by only placing one basic colour pallet, it isn't attracting the audiences attention as it could be. At the side of the album title 'Circus' there are two signes, these i feel help introduce the title as they are pointing towards it from each sides so it feels like an introductory feel. There are stars all the way around the album cover i feel this flatters the artist, saying to the audience how she is star quality, it also centres the artist making her the most noticeable thing in that album cover. The stars are a baby blue, which i feel reflects the vulnerably of the artist, however i also feel this reflects the idea of her being an 'out of this world' artist, as stars could connotate space, and out of this world.

In terms of representation: i feel this artist is being represented as clean, young and fresh. This is perfect for targeting the younger audiences as parents view the image she is portrayed in, and if they like the clean image they trust the artist for the music they produce: this is presenting Britney Spears in a clean, trustworthy light. Hip Hop artists are often photographed with all their jewelry and big expensive cars which have a negative effect upon a parents decision whether their children should listen to their music. By representing the artist in an honest light, it's widening the target audience. I feel every time an artist releases a new album, they should always represent themselves in a positive light for audience, who don't originally know the artist could feel they could potentially like their music through the representation of the artist.

The audience i feel who would buy this CD would be teenage girls, and all time fans who have been appreciating her music since she started out in the music business. Her clean, pretty image appeals to teenagers as they are bound to support some idolisation towards the artist. Her music is focused on dance-pop: people who buy this i feel will be more interested in the idea of escapism they can receive from the album, it's ideal to listen to from escapism from the stress when you're getting ready for a night out, dance-pop music builds up the excitement you feel for the night ahead.

Another magazine analysis: NME

This is another magazine specialising in music, other magazines like this include Kerrang, Mojo and Q magazine. Nme, like Kerrang, have extended their media cooperation: by investing in the NME music channel on sky television, NME tour and awards and are even the sponserers of Leeds Music Festival. Musical artists are mainly from the indie genre with artists such as: Beth Ditto, Kaiser Chiefs, The Twang, The Editors and a lot more. The genre’s which aren’t involved within this magazine are Artists from the Dance genre, artists such as Cascada and Ultra Beat, or artists from the R’n’B genre such as Beyonce or Chris Brown, it seems like Kerrang this is another very limiting magazine in terms of the difference in genres. The stylistic features of this genre are similar to the Kerrang magazine although isn’t as heavy in promoting self expressionism, the indie genre, however also has an attitude with their artists which is reinstated within the headline ’Kiss My Ass!’ it’s also reinstated by the photograph as well which establishes the attitude which surrounds this genre. The content of this genre are again quite similar to the Kerrang magazine, the content which is guaranteed is gig information in the back of the magazine, it includes information on tickets for the gigs and artist information who are planning gigs etc. Other content are interviews with bands which are typical for these magazines as well as website urls to exclusive album previews, every content is all musical based.

The masthead spells NME is bold, bring red font on top of black. The red creates a feeling for the magazine, how the magazine includes ‘red, hot music!’ which is what your buying the magazine for, to be in the know about brand new, hot music. The idea of the letters being in capitals reinstate the idea of the indie rock, which is a sub genre of rock music being loud and ‘in-your-face,’ however also makes the magazine stand out for the audience, it’s eye catching. On the headline they’ve used an almost ‘joker’ like font, this reflects the attitude for the artist and the genre, how artists creating music in this musical genre just seem to want to have a good time, and if anyone tries to stop them, the sub headline states ‘Kiss my ass!’ Again the headline of the artists name is in red which connects with the masthead, however also reflects the idea of this artist being ‘Red hot, brand new and happening!’ I feel they have printed the subhead line in Black for this states the seriousness of how she feels as it’s also a pull quote. The plug stating ‘Free poster’ is white on red, I feel this is used honestly for variation of colours however, they’ve cleverly created the word ‘Free’ a lot more bold and larger then the other words in that plug. The font of the plug is just the standard Times New Roman font which makes it seem like serious deal to the audience. Over all the heaviest font is obviously the masthead which is a convention of magazines, the second heaviest seems to obviously be the headline followed by the subhead line. The photograph of Beth Ditto is taken in long shot portrait and this is the only photograph on the front cover, apart from the cut outs used as a plug. Beth is naked in this photo and the lighting instead of creating shadows which is what we’d expect to hide explicit parts on her body, she uses her arms and legs to hide them and the lighting lights up the whole photograph, which errors out shadowing, this gives the idea of her being open and not hid away. This is the technique they used on the Britney Spears photograph on Rolling Stone magazine. It creates the idea of the artist being open and honest in the obvious interview or main story, which will intrigue the audience. The only star photographed on the page is Beth who is a female; and I feel this is what audience are looking for, a female who is breaking the stereotype of how a female should act, it shocks the audience therefore intriguing them into wanting to read about them. They’re all arranged by using the conventions of an average magazine, Masthead is the largest, boldest text at the top with the tagline underneath. The largest photograph is what the head line is based on, there are plugs and lurs involved, these are smaller then the main features of the magazine and are also placed out of the way to the left.

The colour as a whole on the page is pretty much the simple colour pallet of the conventional WOB/BOW and also red and yellow. The good thing about this colour pallet is it’s very eye catching to the audience as well as shows the magazine off in a positive light as it’s reassuring the audience how this magazine only includes the hottest, newest music. The main item on the page which you notice is the picture and the headline, they are the main focus points of the piece as it’s such a striking photograph of a naked overweight lady I feel they proposed that photograph for that very reason, the headline and subhead line are the following focus points of the front page. You then focus upon the masthead and the plugs after that, I feel a good magazine front page has to keep the audience interested from every main focus point the audience look at. The red text all connects with the red masthead, and also connects with the photograph as Beth has a lipstick kiss print on her ‘ass’ thus the metaphorical headline is then related to the photograph: all of the elements of text and image relate to each other or at least back to the masthead, I feel this is a good idea, as it reinstates and embeds the masthead into the audiences mind. I feel the cover basically makes what the magazine has inside obvious to the reader: the idea of this magazine almost rebelling in a sort of way, it’s promoting the idea of people to break the stereotype and telling people they don’t have to be what others want to them to be.
The masthead of ‘NME’ stands for ‘New Music Express’ which is also the tagline underneath the masthead. The idea for ‘New Music’ reinstates the idea of why the audience is purchasing this magazine, for the new music, this is also reinstated by the colour of the Masthead being red, it reflects the idea of it being brand new, hottest music. The word ‘express’ creates the feeling of this magazine being fast in some way, whether it’s by delivery or the time of it being published it’s a positive term within the title even if it is unclear the meaning behind the term is, it only gives off a positive connotations for the magazine.

The main focus point, the photograph is of Beth Ditto posing naked. The angle is slightly lower, so she is looking down, this creates a dominating effect which connects with the idea of her posing naked, it’s as if she is a role model posing naked on the stage for everybody to view. Her facial expression comes across as quite hard faced which reinstates the idea of her being a dominant figure. Her make-up is quite harsh on her face and is involved with the idea of her having a hard face. This photograph creates an attitude which also sets an example for the magazine, the attitude she has reflects the pull quote to the right of the photograph the photograph basically looks like she’s telling people to ‘Kiss My Ass!’ the photograph creates the idea she’s a role model by doing this because of the harsh criticism any woman could receive for doing anything like that, the contrast of women’s roles: now compared to 50 years ago, women would never do anything like that, as well as the idea of this woman being overweight proves the confidence and with overweight people receiving negative comments quite regularly through the media again, she again could be seen as a role model. I think the photographs represent women as confident humans, rather then the stereotype which they have seemed to receive over the years while their husbands are the breadwinners for the family. The magazine is basically saying says people can do what they want now a days, weather it’s pose naked or exploit their sexual orientation, why should people care what other people do? This reflects the idea of the Indie genre as well, as indie stands for individual: it’s reinstating the idea of artists writing their music how they want about what they want: I feel it represents freedom within society.
This magazine seems to be operating in anyone with a love for music of the Indie genre, and self expressionism. I feel it challenges the status quo as it’s representing women as loud confident humans rather then the stereotyped house cleaners, it’s also challenging the status quo by showing an overweight women on their front cover, where as on other magazines and papers they only seem to show naked skinny women. It seems to reflect society a lot more then other magazines do however, challenges the status quo by breaking the stereotype people have gathered from certain social groups. The magazine seems to support women rights, as well as the idea of accepting the way overweight women exist in society, not just skinny women. It supports the idea self expressionism through music and the idea of individuality through out humans.

I feel this media text makes it’s money by printing what people want to read about, the idea of it supporting the idea of individuality and promoting individuality in music. It’s realising society printed in magazines isn’t necessarily the society of today, with women cleaning the home rather then working, it doesn’t really happen anymore. Other piece’s of media in which is connected is television, as it has some information regarding the television show ‘peep show.’ Again, the market is great for publications like this as indie music is becoming a lot more popular however, just like the karrang and Rolling Stone, the one problem is just they’re expansive magazines to buy. I feel again, the audience have strong control over the content in the magazine, for to keep it as close to real society, it has to be aware and listen otherwise it would become another magazine which stereotypes society and musical artists. I feel it’s views are very independent as it has to be to remain a good indie music based magazine. After all it can’t really care too much what people think, as it has a photograph of a naked women on the front of the page.

Another Music Magazine Analysis, Kerrang.

This is another magazine which specialises in music, called Kerrang. Other similar magazines include NME magazine, Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops magazine. Kerrang has spread it's entertainment cooperation by creating the Kerrang awards, The Kerrang tour, Kerrang Radio and Kerrang music channel on Sky Tv. There only seems to be one perticular genre represented within this front page, which is rock music for it's is only freaturing rock artists. The genre's which aren't included within this front page are R'n'B artists, dance artists, pop musical artists etc obviously because the institution would only want to inform the audience on one perticular genre of music, which is part of their values and beliefs. The stylistc features of the genre include the dark colours included on the splash as well as the title's font and their tagline which they've used, these are all the stylistic features which give a grunginess feel towards the magazine. The photographs are heavily shawdowed which creates more darkness within the splash. The font has a classic vintage look to it, which creates the feeling of passion for music. There are WOB text used to create contrast and aswell as make the page darken to fit with the representation. It's obvious this musical genre is Rock, content typical of this genre is body art which includes piercings, hair, make-up and tattoos as it's representational for Rock musical artist to express themselves through art and music so content of this magazine could include a certain clothing brand as well as tattoo and piercing information. Other content which is typical for the genre is gig information in the back of the magazines, if you look at the back of these magazines really passionate about music you will always find a lot of gig information in the back of upcoming shows and ticket information and also other band information.

The fonts used seem to be art based and designed to exploit the genre, which is rock. The font of the masthead is very roughly what seems to be free hand drawn on, this already gives the idea of self expressionism which seems to create an attitude about the magazine from just looking at the masthead. The colour of the masthead is black which connects with the overall pallet of the splash and also suggests their passion for the magazine and music. The masthead has an explanation mark at the end which also makes the masthead connect with the tagline however, this also reinstates the idea of the genre being rock as rock music is usually connected with the idea of being played really loudley which again reinstates this idea of self expresianism of doing what you want when you want, almost a type of rebelling. The logo under the masthead is printed in yellow which does connect with the other plugs and lurs include the colour in on the splash, however i believe it's used for the fact yellow: is a colour which is very attention grabbing, as you get yellow postits, yellow illuminous jackets on road workers and yellow traffic cones it's a very noticable colour, and i believe it's used to grab the audiences attention however, i also believe it's used to create a variation within the splash and thus making it more interesting and intreguing for the audience. The size of the text varies, the masthead is the biggest as this is a convention of magazine therefore this is expected, however the tagline is over layed the masthead rather then printed underneath, i feel this present an attitude for the magazine and again, also could promote self expressionism thus creating the attitude of rebelion: To tag something is to grafiti you're sign on an object, the idea i believe came from an interpretation of the word 'tagline' trying to design which will connect with the younger audience even more. The headline, is displayed over the image and with the main image colour pallet being dark, the white text displays the contrast thus making it more eye catching for the audience. The sub headling is conventionally placed underneath the headline and printed with smaller text, the colour of this is yellow which then again connects with the tagline however also catches the audiences eye and make the magazine more visable to on lookers. The photograph reflects the dark pallet of the splash with the band membors wearing dark colours: blue, black and brown which is also blended in within the black background: i feel this is trying to promote the idea of the passion and seriousness behind this magazine and also with rock music being associated with dark colours, the colours aswell kind of establish the genre to the audience. Again, like the rolling stone magazine, the photograph is taken with eye level which makes the audience able to connect with the artists as there is no status divide between them, they are completley eye level and able to connect. All of the photographs on this front page are male, it seems to be a very male dominated splash, however the plug 'sexiest men in rock' i believe weigh the gender audience out as it's obvious this magazine is targetted at teenagers, and the younger audience.

The page element is put together again, by the convetions of magazines. With the masthead at the very top with the largest, boldest text. The main focus point, the image, is based in the middle making it the most noticable item on the splash, followed by the headline which according to the conventions should be underneath the image thus supporting the story, the sub headline is then underneath that in a smaller text, holding more informaiton into the story: these again are all conventions which alot of other magazines use, these are a good technique because the audiences are used to seeing these codes and conventions everyday: and if one magazine suddenly decides not to use them, it's confusing for the audience. The colour i believe the dark pallet is used to establish the genre and reflect the seriousness of the magazine and how they feel about music. The photographs relate to the text and magazine: because their music fits in with the genre the magazine is promoting, Fall Out Boy create rock music, therefore it's featured in a rock magazine.

I believe the title of 'Kerrang!' denotates the idea of onomataphia reflecting the genre of rock. The sound of an electric guitar could reflect this onomatopaic word, which then again reflects the genre of the magazine witch is rock music and electric guitars are the dominance of rock music.

The main focus point, the photograph of the two musicians are warm and inviting, it also relfects the elxclusive side as you're seeing these musicans posing as them selves having a good time rather then how the marketing expert would make them pose for their album cover. The audience can't really see their costume, instead one of the musicians has his tattoos showing which reinstates the idea of promting self expresionism as a key feature throughout this magazine, the shadowing throughout the photograph is very shadowed which contributes to overall colour pallet of the magazine front cover. Their hair is very neutral which reinstates the idea of this being exclusive and as they're trying to connect with the average working class audience, they're not trying to sepereate the class divide as this could distance patential audiences.

It seems the representation through this magazine seems to basically be promoting self expresionism through body art, with all of the artists on the front page fitting in with this self expressionism theory, as they're all expressing themselves through art, wheather it be make-up, piercings or tattoos.

It's breaking the stereotype between men and women: with only women wearing make-up, as a male artist on the front page of this magazine is wearing make-up which again, reinstates the idea of promoting rebellious as well as self expresionism behavior. The splash is very white ethnic based which i believe is based from culture, as it sadly expected to find artist of other ethnic groups possibly in the R'n'B genre, this magazine isn't breaking the stereotype it's reinstating it which is basically being safe with the audience. The social status representation, is cleaver: as it's asuring the audience these musical artists are on the same social level by using eye leval camera angles and by making the photographs as neutral in terms of props this is contributing to this feeling. It would be different if the artists included a designer shirt in the photograph, or a designer bag: that would be seperating the social status, were as in these photographs there is none of that the audiences can fully connect with the artists featured.

The magazine is providing information for people who have interest in rock music. I believe it tries to challenge the status quo, as it photographs men wearing make-up and we wouldn't normally whitness this either in person or in other magazines: it seems their trying to continuesly individualise them selves as a magazine. The magazine seems to support the values of self expressionism with men wearing make-up and having a full arm of tattoos and face full of piercings; it supports the ideas of the stereotypical rock star.

The media text makes money by selling music magazines, advertisements on both: the radio station and the music channel. The interest of the reader are very important, as the magazine is targetting young adults the magazine is obviously not going to sell if it does not publish views with don't intreige or a view in which the audience cannot connect with, magazine's like this need to listen to the audience's views as the magazine is for the audience. The other media interests link with kerrang are the music channel and radio station: so this institution is very musical based rather then publishing what alot of other magazines choose to do to widen their patential audience by placing in information about film and actors: this is just strictly rock music. The market place is good for publications like this as institutions realised how teens spend more money on entertainment (films, games, fashion and music) therefore the film companies started to target films for the teenage patential audience, and magzines are also trying to do this: Teen vogue, Now for Teens, TOTP magazine, Sugar magazine excetera. I feel it tries to controll it's content after all if a concerned mother if she reads their childs Kerrang magazine and sees innapropriate content she won't allow her child to obviously read that magazine again; thus i believe the public have a large say in which content is published. I feel it's content is very indipendant, as the institution don't want the same magazine published by another company, as thats competition, it's better if the magazine tries to stay completley individual so no other magazines can be made just like it.