Inside- Magazine Analysis

Inside

In total there is 70 pages in the magazine and there is 20 pages that are used for advertising. Therefore 28% of the magazine consists of advertising. This does in fact show that Kerrang relies on adverts.

The advertisements used are categorized into Programmmes, Gig information, Clothing fashion, and Phone deals (Vodafone). All advertisements in this magazine fall under these headings.

The articles in this magazine differ from each other. Firstly the first article is about the lead vocalist in a band and talks about the “Rock world” of her band. This is a very short article although it’s a double spread one side takes up of a photo of the vocalist. In addition another article discusses a gig that happened on the 3^rd November 2010- It gives an almost diary of the gig and how it went. Additionally to the side of the article there is the opinions of people that went to the gig so overall feedback from 5 people. The main article will be the interview with Paramore- This is spread over four pages it is not all interview questions but questions are randomly placed onto the pages with a background in which the audience can clearly recognize are interview questions. This helps the reader, as they may just want to read the questions than a detailed perception of there “amazing year”.

If I was to categorize the articles I would say; Interviews; Diaries; Summaries and perceptions.

How many double page spreads are there? What are they about?

The first double page spread I come across is about the lead vocalist from the band “Arch enemy” the masthead reads “Highway to health” straight away we realize that this has something to do with fighting away health risks- Also to back this point up the picture of the vocalist is set as if she is in a boxing ring with her fists clenched and make up to suggest she is in a fight. In terms of the content it talks about how “The last 12 months will sadly be remembered as the year we lost several heroes in the world of rock”. This is a very compelling article, which will inevitably cause great sympathy to the readers. However the article later goes on to discussing the bands upcoming tour and talks about the “new materials” they have created.

The next double spread is a diary from the live gig in London from the “Parkway drive band”. 10 Photographs are placed on this article and there is little writing however the cover lines within the article stand out using a key also. To the side it states KKKKK= classic KKKK= excellent KKK= good KK= average K= poor. This could help the reader in deciding whether they read the article or not, in this case the ratings given are KKKK therefore entices the reader in to reading the article. The article talks about the bands recent success but primarily focuses on the gig mentioning the support bands “Comeback Kid”, “Bleeding through” etc.

Overall there are 6 double page spread articles which full under the categorizes Interviews, diaries and summaries.

After analysising the magazine I had come across one part of the magazine in which I was not sure if it was an advert or an article. It is about the band “My chemical romance” and gives a large context- after reading it; it talks about the new album and how it differs from recent success. However at the end of this context it reads Download! And gives the date and also shows the front cover of the album. In my opinion I would say that this is a mixture of both article and advertisement as it is promoting their new album however gives context about the band and their upcoming success.

Kerrang does in fact have a unified house style. The language used is definitely for the audience of 15-20 year olds as it using swear words such as “Pure fucking metal”. This is consistent throughout the cover lines and also the articles. Additionally throughout the magazine the colours schemes are kept very dark as shown on the cover- it could be suggested that if a double page spread were taken out of the magazine it would be easily recognizable due to the colour. The text is kept the same- all mastheads are the same font and also the same size this is unified throughout the magazine. Graphical elements have been placed within the articles and also borders have been placed around but look more graphic this has been placed on more than one article and advertisement. The fact they have kept this unified style throughout shows the constancy in the magazine and also shows theyre target audience. The use of swear words reveals the audience they wish to captivate.