Look at this slide to see what terms are given to items on the front cover...
Masthead
This is the title of the magazine - usually prominent, usually taking up 15 to 20% of the magazine cover like a banner. The title will usually make the audience aware of the brand identity of the magazine and the house style. Mastheads are quite often just a single word and are a great place to start your analysis as they will often have more than one meaning.
Strapline
This is a phrase or slogan usually just positioned below the masthead that sums up the tone and the ideologies of the magazine. It will also sometimes be a play on words or have multiple meanings, some of which may only be understood by the target audience due to the necessity of some specialist information.
Coverlines
These constitute most of the copy on a magazine cover and are short description of the stories that can be found inside the magazine. Of the coverlines there will be one that is more prominent than the others and this is called the Main Coverline. In a newspaper we might refer to this as a Headline. But not on a magazine!
Main Image
Rather self explanatory but important nonetheless. The main image of a magazine usually fills the entire cover and can be deconstructed in the same way as any other still image, so look at the framing/shot type, the composition used (for example - has the rule of thirds been employed) and see how it works in relation to the rest of the magazine.
If there are other images on a magazine cover then these are referred to as Small Images or Inserted Images.
If this looks familiar, it's because it is one of the first things we looked at during the introduction to the course (remember the picture of the dog, next to the word: DOG?)
This basically tells us that anything in a media text can be considered as a Sign - which means it has been constructed and has meaning.
Anything that has meaning can therefore be deconstructed! And that is why we're here. Our aim is to conduct a semiotic analysis of a magazine cover - but before we can do that we'll need to know a few more key terms...
These next two terms are also of vital importance but we'll be looking at them in more detail later...
Go into any newsagents or supermarket and you will see hundreds of magazines lining the shelves - even if you have a specific interest or need a magazine for a specific purpose - how does a magazine win its audience from every other publication that is offering a similar product and content.
It has to shout louder than the other magazines around it and it has to prepare the audience for what is inside - it needs to show the potential audience member exactly what this magazine is all about - its tone and its ideologies need to be clear to the audience if they are to even consider consuming the text.
This shouting loudly and clearly is the process of Interpellation...
The second slide has two very different magazine covers - but both are employing processes of interpellation that tell the reader exactly what kind of magazine they will be consuming if they purchase the magazine.
Here are just a few of the processes and what the reader will understand about the ideologies of the magazine...
TIME
Time is a current affairs and news magazine published in America but read around the world.
The masthead has lots of connotations. Time can signify the past, present and future. It can signify something current or up to date - furthermore it could represent the magazine as dealing with issues that are relevant eternally - whatever the reading taken by the audience, it is clear that the magazine has depth and encourages an inquiring mind.
The main image is of the (then) president of the USA George W. Bush and behind him his vice president Dick Cheyney. Interestingly it is the more famous of the two, George W. Bush that is out of focus and Cheyney is sharper even though he is in the background - this might suggest to the reader that the magazine will take an alternative approach to the news - an angle that other magazines wouldn't necessarily look at.
The main cover line: "Sticking to His Guns" and the following summary of the article offers anchorage for the text - it suggests that the article will take an in depth look at Dick Cheyney as a politician without necessarily offering its opinion - the reader would be made aware that this is a magazine that looks in depth at important issues and expects its audience to make up its own mind.
There is also a joke in the main coverline that would prepare the audience for the magazine's dark and rather dry humour. Whist the coverline can be read in a straightforward way: "Sticking to His Guns" a phrase which refers to someone who is either stubborn or has integrity and refuses to change their course of action. The phrase is also a reference to a hunting incident involving Dick Cheyney when he accidently shot a friend in the face! If understood by the audience, this play on words would prepare them for an unusual and perhaps satirical take on world events.
NUTS
Nuts is a men's weekly lifestyle and entertainment magazine - it belongs to a subgenre of magazine often referred to as a 'Lad's Mag' attributed due to it's stereotypical content and tone.
Again the masthead has various connotations. Nuts can mean crazy or bizarre, it can be a slang term for testicles or it can refer to a bar snack usually consumed with beer - already we can begin to see that the magazine is preparing a potential audience with the content inside.
The magazine clearly uses sex as a selling point - the naked woman on the front cover is part of the interpellation process that will attract an audience that are looking for this as a gratification - however the representation of women in this way suggests that they are eroticised - many may find this derogatory representation sexist and therefore should expect to find an attitude towards women that debases and objectifies women inside the magazine.
The other key process of interpellation is the humour used. This magazine clearly has a light hearted tone that does not take itself seriously at all. Readers are therefore to expect flippant and perhaps even nonsensical items and a comical look at news and perhaps even life.
Now that you have been made aware of lots of new terms and considered the interpellation of two (very) different magazine covers. We can throw together a short semiotic analysis - something like this...
Try your own Semiotic analysis with this magazine...
Stuff
This is a consumer lifestyle magazine for young men in the 18-30 age bracket. The men are likely to have a large disposable income and are therefore probably from the Succeeder audience type from Young & Rubicam's 4Cs model.
Use this information to see what techniques and processes of interpellation are being used here to attract the target audience and remember to consider how the magazine will try to fulfill the needs of its audience...
Use this information to see what techniques and processes of interpellation are being used here to attract the target audience and remember to consider how the magazine will try to fulfill the needs of its audience...
