Textual analysis of Q music magazine

Textual Analysis of Q magazine

Denotation:  The magazine cover consists of two coloured photographs of group males who are looking directly at the camera while the other photograph is of a male who is looking directly at the camera and pointing directly at the camera.  It is a close up of the group showing all the band members other then one who head is slightly cut off. While the other photograph of the male of his own is close up aswell the reader seeing his mysterious look and him pointing his finger. The photographed groups name is in bold while the male on his own is in standard font, but his group name is bold. There are two other cover-lines which are in black and white. The bar code is visible on the right hand side of the magazine.

Masthead:  Q’s Masthead is very distinctive and stands as the background is red with the actual Q being white. The font used is sons-serif and the letter is of capitals. All the musicians that’s feature on or in this magazine have a reputation of having rock and roll lifestyles.

Characters: The cover photographs consist of the band U2 and Brandon Flowers from the band The Killers, who have been around

Composition:  The bands are posed in a relaxed kind of way but showing their seriousness while the male on his own is posed in a dominant way.

Costume: The clothing of the band U2 is very old fashion and looks like the photograph was taken years ago, with one member of the band wearing a sleeveless top while another member is wearing a shirt, along with another wearing a black jumper and the male at the front is wearing a black blazer with a brown strip on either side, with two band members wearing cowboy hats which back in those days could have been the fashion. The male on his own has taken a more modern approach with him wearing a black tuxedo showing that the times have change along with the fashion industry.

NVC: The male on his own, Non-verbal communication is very dominant as he is pointing his finger with a very no fear expression on his face. While the bands have taken a more relaxed approach as they have a care free pose for the camera.

Lighting:  The lighting is high key as the male in tuxedos want to be the dominant figure on the front cover, while the lighting for the band members is very high key aswell as the photograph is meant to display daytime.

Setting: Their is very little setting however  the blue background could indicated the peacefulness  and togetherness that the band are trying to show. While the white background  shows the dominance that Brandon Flowers has as black and white are opposite.

Cover-lines: The main cover-line that relates to the photographs of the male on his own says “Brandon Flowers makes his point”, this indicates that he is fed up with something and has had enough of holding his emotions in and wants to let it out once and for all.  However the other  cover-lines on the front cover are of  the U2 band where there is a 27 page special about their inside story and there new album.

Target Audience: The Likely target audience would be male and females and targeting the older generation, so the aged group would most probably between the ages of 25-40, but that’s not stopping anyone younger from purchasing the magazine, as it depends on people’s taste of music, as the Q magazine has a heavy rock background.