Thursday, 15 October 2009

Content analysis of NME cover...

The cover of this issue of NME has musician Jamie T as the main image. He is positioned slightly off centre, looking directly at the camera. The look of his appearance is that of someone who hasn't washed or shaved in a couple days, with some stubble left on his face and a messy hair style it portrays someone that hasn't also slept a lot in a few days too. With bags under his eyes as well as him looking half asleep, the line that reads 'Jamie T on drugs, violence and pulling his Uk tour' links clearly with the photo as someone on drugs or drink, someone who has been in a lot of fights or related to violence and more importantly the kind of person that couldn't perform live in concert to save his life because of the state he appears to be in.

The way his teeth are positioned look like has been in a few bust ups with people, the image doesn't look to have been photo-shopped in anyway, it looks more natural like the photo has just been taken then literally placed on the front cover without any manipulation.
The colours are the typical two, always found on NME magazines, black and red. The fonts are writing in both these two colours as well as the main image is linked to them too, the clothing the model is wearing is a white t-shirt with a black and red checked jacket. The white t-shirt or white teeth could be the colour which links to why the background is also white.
The issue as a whole gives a very dark over view, although the main colour is white, the way the writing sounds it portrays a different image within our minds. There is the main story with Jamie T and drugs and violence, paramore with vampire curses and band therapy, liam ghallager after his bust up and split with fellow oasis band members and james glasvegas on why he went awol. The image of Liam Ghallagher with his hair cut very short and hoodless jacket gives the impression of a football thug, the way his hands are at the top of the zip and his head slightly leaning to one side makes him look like he is preparing for confrontation but gives the image that he doesnt take no nonsense.
The way the lead singer from paramore has been positioned is to look like a butterfly with the image of wings behind her. However this is a clever contrast to many things within the magazine, firstly the bands songs are dark, rock type lyrics. Secondly the wings themselves are painted in black which also gives the 'emo' type feel to the image as they arent as beautiful as a real butterfly and thirdly it ties in with the vibe you get from the whole magazine that it is about drugs and violence, you get the feeling from the paramore image that she is a kind of dark angel.
The way the cover model has been positioned infront of the masthead shows that this is a very exclusive story and that it is a real life situation for this person, not something that has been made up. In contrast to other magazines of NME, the previous issue showed Kurt Cobain. On this cover his photo was not place infront of the masthead because he has passed away and not seen as so important than other musicians.

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