In this essay I shall use semiotic terminology and discuss the denotations and connotations, the theory of Roland Barthez suggests this.

When first viewing the title of this music magazine we immediately pick up on the onomatopoeia in which is used this case Kerrang!. The word itself sounds like a heavy note being played on a guitar this connotes that the genre will be heavy rock, with this the font has also been cleverly made to look like the music is extremely loud and has cracked the lettering. The colour used for the mast head contrasts greatly with the dark background this helps advertisement purposes as the two work against each other and the white typography would be able to attract customers from a long distance.

The target demographic for the music magazine Kerrang! has changed over the years once a target for people in their mid twenties the target audience has dropped and many teenagers purchase this magazine. In this case for both male and female as the genre is niche.

Analysing the magazine through mise-en-scene the thing that strikes us most is the image of Led Zeppelin, with the image stereotypical traits have been used for example the facial expression showing attitude and passion for his music and the overall appearance of Led having long black hair and his body showing through his jacket, this is used to make the front page simplistic and easy for the audience to grasp. When looking at colours a sepia, gold colour is present this connotes that Led Zeppelin is an ideal self and is legendary. To help this the creators have also used a low angle shot this helps Led to have a powerful status and gives importance to the front page. Other smaller aspects are denoted as well as this, red is used for urgency and is excellent for attracting its target audience symbols are also present the star gives an exclusive feel to the media text and lets the consumers feel like the articles are only for them. The text used is all San serif this is wear no little bars (serifs) hang over the letters this is used not only with the mast head but on the sell lines and banners making the magazine stand out.

The mode of address of Kerrang! has an overall informative register which is frozen keeping distance from its consumers. This is used with simple declaratives which makes the consumers tempted to read on and buy the magazine. If the publishes had not restricted the content the target audience wouldn't need to buy the text as they would know what is going on just through the front page. The discourse structure compliments the image as the text is not overlapping or horizontally through the middle this makes the audience at ease and doesn't confuse them. Colours of the front page are appropriate for the genre in this case of heavy rock. The blacks are suitable as they juxtapose with the mood of the music.

The purpose of a contents page is simply to promote what the magazine has to offer, along with this it has to be simple for readers to follow and

understand.

The colour scheme is also themed and has also been used to an advantage juxtaposing the numbers to the sub headings making the layout easy to register. The page is also crammed with pictures and having one larger than the rest connotes importance and is the main attraction the rest placed smaller around.

Coming to the gender and the lack of females on the page is immediate from the start. The individual styles and fashion that are denoted can have many effects on the target audiences on one hand being ideal self's for large groups of male fans females can also admire them to be ideal partners. One aspect to follow is the lack of females on the content page this is stereotyping females in a negative way suggesting males control the rock industry and women artists don't have an input, this isn't always the case.

With the double sided spread the producers try their best to sell

their stories and with this one using alot of imagery of bands in action to excite the audience the pictures are also from live gigs this sets the mode of address and sets a friendly mood connoting that the pictures are exclusive and private to that consumer.

Juxtaposition is used to a clear advantage through having one big image of the band member it is clear that the other smaller pictures are connected having similar characteristics such as the back ground being a concert stage and body gestures of stereotypical rockers from this a wide spread confident stance and dark clothes which we suspect to see with this type of genre.

Similar to the content page the producers have used a rough effect, torn and ripped around the images this has strong connotations to us the audience in that the denotations of the black rough ink could reflect on the band members personality and way of living this consisting of a rough lifestyle and that they don't take life too seriously having attitude.

The use of a rhetorical question also gets anchorage to the pictures of the band in action and is great for making a connection with the reader giving them a sense of opinion and all at the same level of status, the fact that the black text if placed on a grey long rectangle successfully makes the foreground jump of from the black background.