Magazine Poster Analysis

 In this project as well as creating the music video we must also create a poster advertisement for a magazine showing our band. I will be analysing a number of front covers and then posters from a range of magazines such as NME, Kerrang and Q.

The image above shows the front cover of an issue of NME which shows the main image of The Killers which will immediately attract the audience and the the main headline also does this. The title NME is clearly displayed in the top left hand corner in bold capitals and clearly stands out to the audience and grabs there attention. The magazine then shows a number of band names next to the title to make the reader aware of some of the content available in the magazine. The use of the skyline and the cover line also helps the magazine to display additional content in the magazine. NME use this effective layout for each of their issues as it provides consistency and clearly helps people to identify the magazine when they see it. The colours used on the front cover range but are used effectively with the background and this allows them to be clearly visible to the reader as a number of bold colours are used.

The image above shows the front cover of Kerrang which in its design is very similar to the front cover of NME. It again has a main attraction with a picture of a popular band which in this case is the Foo Fighters. The majority of the magazines title is hidden behind the image which, in my opinion is not an effective feature. The use of small headlines is then well used as they are clearly displayed through the use of bright colours such as red and yellow which instantly appeal to the audience. The skyline and coverline like in NME are used very effectively as this again clearly displays the name if numerous bands to attract the reader to the magazine. These also clearly display the main contents of the magazine as well as the items that come with it.

The magazine cover of Q is shown above and is very similar to both NME and Kerrang as the main image is again of a leading band to attract the audience with the use of bold and appealing headlines. The use of red headlines appears to be a common feature among these magazines and appealing to the intended audience. The title of the magazine is clearly shown in the top left corner and they use the tag-line of " The UK's biggest music magazine ". this shows the audience the popularity of the magazine and creates a sense of loyalty to the customer as they become aware this is a popular and successful magazine.

Album Covers

This post will show a number of album covers from a range of artists that link to my artist and music video.

The first image shown below is the album cover of the Kooks 'Inside In Inside Out'. This is a very basic design but is very effective. The cover shows the band with their instruments which could indicate they are performing or getting ready to perform. This is shown on a plain white background without anything spectacular on the cover. This means that all of the focus is on the band which is a very effective technique which i may use for my album cover.


The next album cover which is shown below is the Kings of Leon album 'Only by the Night'. This design is very unusual and unlike the Kooks it is not a simple and plain cover. The cover is split into four sections to show a part of the face of each of the four band members. However this also is integrated with what seems to be an owl to fit with the title 'Only by the Night'. It is highly unlikely that I will be using this sort of design and mine will show the band members but with a basic yet professional outlook upon them.


The next album cover shown below is of the killers album 'Day & Age'. The album cover for this is an unusual abstract design but again clearly displays the title of the album and the name of the band. The background has a range of colours with the bottom half showing bright colours such as yellow and orange with it getting darker and it appearing to be in the moonlight with darker colours used such as purple and black with stars also shown around the moon.

Target Audience

As mentioned in the band research the target audience for my video as well as the digipack and magazine article will be students to young adults both male and female. However i believe that the majority of the audience would be males due to the music and the way it is presented through the bands image. I will appeal to this target audience through the way that the video will be filmed and the range of extravagent camera angles/shots as well as the way the band will be presented e.g actions and clothing etc. I think that this sort of media is majorly consumed on the interent with people either downloading music online or watching the music video on YouTube. However a large group of music enthuisiasts still but the CD which is the reason why i will also be creating the digipack which would be for the CD to appeal to the target audience. Another aspect of this will be the magazine article which in the modern day is a very effecive way of introducing and advertising a band or artist and encourageing a consumer to buy the CD or view/download online.

Initial Ideas

When planning my ideas for this project i had a number of initial ideas with some not being at all and others featuring heavily in my video. This post will portray some of these ideas and explain either why they were used or why they were rejected.

Throughout the planning of my music video I have stuck to the idea of numerous shots of the band playing the song in a room on their own performing. This will include a range of camera shots and angles with lip syncing also used on numerous occasions. This will be of the drummer, guitarist and of course the lead singer of the band.

I was the planning the ideas to go along side these shots of the band that would tie in as the narrative. The main narrative which I decided upon using was the protagonist walking or wandering to tie in with the name of the song and to show that the protagonist is lonely.

The Killers- When you were young

The video begins with an introduction that does not contain sound. The actual music for the video does not begin for around a minute and a half. This is not a common feature of music videos today but the video portrays this introduction very effectively. The video is set in Brazil and during the introduction we see a man looking for a woman who is seen as his wife. It also appears that she is very ill as he finds her and holds her in his arms.

When the music does begin we instantly see a closeup of the bands lead singer which is a very common feature in music videos particularly of this genre as it creates a star attraction. This then quickly changes to see some candles and then this is rapidly followed by a shot of a woman praying in a church with rosary beads in her hands.Whilst the we see the woman praying in the church the shots are quickly changed from this to shots of the band playing the guitar and tapping to the beat. The majority of these shots are closeups of the band.

Once the woman comes out of the church a long shot is used to show this and she seems relaxed now and relieved. This again changes to closeups of the band however this now involves seeing the drums played but the main focus s on the lead singer who is lip syncing which again creates a star attraction as well as seeing his emotion due to the closeup used. We then see the woman walking in her husband whilst he is kissing another woman as she runs out and a tracking shot is used as she runs down the road. A number of closeups are also used which show her emotion as she is distraught which is contrasting to previous shot when she came out of the church as she and her husband were laughing and joking together.

Then the shots go to the bar where the man works and this shows that the band is performing there and it shows the two contrasting scenes of the band playing as a number of closeups are used. This is compared with the shots of the man and women  as shot reverse shot is used to show them having a conversation as they appear to be resolving their issues.The end of the video shows the woman walking out of the bar with the man after she was watching the band perform as a point of view shot was used. the final shot goes back to the introduction with a long shot of the man holding the woman in his arms on the top of a cliff looking over the city.

Band Contact

The screenshot below shows me contacting the band to ask their permission to use their song to create a music video for it. This also requires me making a digi-pack for their song and the band which is why we must ask the band if this was okay to use their song.