Rolling Stone contents analysis 1

Mathead : Unlike other content pages in other magazines, the Rolling Stone magazine doesn’t have their own masthead,“Rolling Stone” on their contents page. Neither do they have an image of the front cover of the magazine, which shows that the Rolling Stone are confident enough to know that their magazine is famous enough that they do not need to emphasize their name as much as other magazines do. Instead, they have a title “RS968” which is the Rolling Stone title and the issue number. This helps the audience to know how recent the issue is, so they know they’re catching up with the recent music news, and could also be that Rolling Stone are bragging about their magazine, and are proud about how many magazines they’ve issued.  The title and issue number are in different colours and fonts, to make the audience notice the difference between them. This helps the audience to understand what each means, and identify it easily. The title is in serif font and are in black bold letters, making it look like a number plate on a sports player’s shirt. This makes Rolling Stone look like a team, and the audience, a member of the team; the people will relate to the Blumler and Katz’s theory of identifying with the media, by feeling like a part of it, as a member of the magazine world. The under-line of RS emphasizes the title, and makes the numbers 968 look like they are covering the line, as if it were more important than the title. This makes people focus more on the issue number, and the colour is the same as the other page numbers on the contents page, which makes us focus on the important page numbers as well. Pink is a girly colour, so if may be attracting more females than males.    

                                 

Main Image: The main image is a black and white photo of two men, one caucasian and one negro. The caucasian man is wearing white clothes and the negro man is wearing black clothes. This may seem to connote the racism between them and it could be shown as a serious photo, but as they are dancing together and both of them are standing side by side, it could mean there is more equality between them. The photo was taken in 1967, which is after the two world wars and way after slavery, so the main image can further emphasize equality. They are both dancing and snapping their fingers, and there are drums in the background which connote a lively and fun feel, and because of the contrast of the negro man’s black face and his white teeth, his smile looks very big making the audience want to smile as well. The photo was taken sometime ago during a talk show and wasn’t taken for a magazine, so the quality isn’t the best, which gives a relaxing feel to the audience, making us blend into the lively feel. The picture is giving us a natural feel, instead of a fake, unnatural feel. The facial expression of the caucasian man is also relaxed, which again gives a relaxing feel. This relates to Blumler and Katz’s theory of the audience identifying with the media by feeling happy and lively as well, like the image. Their mode of address is towards each other’s feet, which again helps us realise that they are dancing,and having a good time. The light is shining in front of them, with the shadow behind them, which shows that they’ve got a bright future waiting before them, and the dark past has already left us all. The light is shining on the caucasian man’s hair making it look like silver hair, connoting elderly people and ageing. On the other hand, the negro man’s hair is pure black, giving a contrast between them. This attracts a larger range of people to buy the magazine, because even elder people feel like they’re right for the magazine.

Secondary image: Unlike the main image, this picture is a modern picture taken recently, in colour. The contrast between the two images are very big, because while  the main image has a relaxed feel, with the two men dancing slowly, the secondary image has a more aggressive feel. Beyonce is known for her girl- power songs, so in the photo she is possibly singing one of them. Her hair is very messy, and the black background emphasizes it more because of the colour contrast. Her mouth is wide open, singing very passionately. Her eyes are closed which again, shows her passion and she is clutching on to her microphone. This all shows how aggressive and powerful the secondary image looks. The photo of her is in a monochromatic colour, all in brown. Her hair, skin tone, clothes and accessories are all brown, which relate to the simplicity from the main image. Although they both convey very different messages, they are related in some ways. Neither of the photos were taken for the magazine, but were taken when they were dancing / singing. This again, shows how easy going the whole page looks, which may relate to Blumler and Katz’s theory of the audience identifying themselves through the photos, because it will make the audience relaxed, reading this magazine as well. The mode of address of everyone is either toward each other’s feet, or closed.This shows for both photos, that they are very passionate for their music, and they are having fun of their own.This drags the audience into the music, which relates to Blumler and Katz’s theory of escapism.

Subtitles: The main title Johnny Be Good is based upon a song title “Johnny B Goode” by Chuck Berry, another negro man, who was famous and popular at the time the photo was taken.This title is there to attract more people, including fans of Chuck Berry. The title can be understood literally, as the caucasian man in the photo is a TV host named Johnny. In the description underneath, it says the page is about Johnny Carson’s career, so with a title like this, it could mean Johnny Carson had done something bad when he was younger.It could also be meant to emphasize the photo above, because both the man in the picture and Chuck Berry are black, again relating to racism and equality. The subtitle “Money Honey” attracts people with the use of rhyming words, and the use of the word money. People are always chasing after money, and if there is the word money, people would think that by reading it, they will also be able to earn a lot of money. The quotation above the secondary image, “All the News That Fits” makes it seem like the magazine is flooding with news, and that there are so many interesting articles to read on it, attracting more people. The fact that it has speechmarks, attracts them even more because it sounds like a slogan as well.

Layout: It is in three columns with the black and white photo and subtitle with the description, covering two thirds of the page. This shows immediately what the magazine is making us focus on. The top of the left column includes the title and the secondary image with a subtitle and description.  We normally tend to look at the left side of a page first when we read, so we would easily focus on the main title and the coloured image, because colour is more eye catching. On the bottom left is the contents of important pages. Although this is the main point of the page, it isn’t as important as the other pictures, so it is written in smaller letters and in a small column. On the very bottom of the page is the information of the cover photo, written very small, because it isn’t very important. The whole page is divided and made small/big to grab attention of as many people as possible.

Fonts: As I said earlier, the title has two fonts, emphasizing each for different meanings. The two main subtitles are also in serif font making it look more elegant, attracting more adults, but the contents section, is in bold sans serif font. This makes it look more unimportant, and helps the two subtitles grab more attention. The information about the cover photo is all in sans serif font because it isn’t about the contents of the magazine, but the front page, and is again, unimportant. The colour is also mainly black and white, excluding the numbers 968 and the page numbers. This shows that this magazine is made for people around B to C2 from the demographic model.

Website Details and Competitions: There is a website URL near the bottom of the left hand side of the page. It is also written in blue, which has no relation to the other colours in the page, which shows how it is standing out, for people to go to their website more often. It is also in italic, which again shows how it is trying to attract itself. It is right underneath the contents, so people who have finished reading the contents will automatically see the website, so everyone’s eye will catch it.