Article Analysis no.2

Magazine article analysis: NME magazine

The magazine article I will next be analysing is a review of a live gig in London from NME magazine. It comments on the four musical acts that performed that night giving a declarative and opinionated review.
Structure and Organization
The layout of this article is a double page spread with a small separate article on the right hand side of the second page. The first whole page is dedicated to the main image and a large box of bold text saying ‘LIVE, upfront and backstage’ which is the subtitle for the upcoming pages and what the articles are based on; (live music). The image has a whole page to itself because this is what is going to catch the reader’s eye, it needs to be kept away from the review so people don’t lose concentration. Also at the bottom right hand side of the main image there is a small text box containing a humorous comment about the image itself, it has a white background and simple text to make it stand out against the dark image. The mast head is exactly half way between the two pages, it half covers the main image and half covers the review side. It is not so large that it takes up a lot of space but it is still noticeable along the top, it has the same sized font and it is black and plain, rather like a newspaper article, this masthead would make the article look quite formal without the neon pink colours surrounding the article and the rebellious looking images. The background of the review side is plain white with the black typed text in neat rectangle columns which also adds to its slightly formal side, however it steers away from this as the bands names and first letter of the review are made bold with a neon pink colour to show the magazine doesn’t want to be taken to seriously.
There is a banner and a strap line underneath the masthead; the banner contains a picture of a map to show where the gigs took place, then the names of the bands and where exactly it all took place. The banner is neon pink to match the colour-scheme and used bright white bold text in capital letters to contrast with this. The strap line has no background; it is just black, plain text that is directly above the beginning of the review, showing that it is a brief introduction of what the article is about. There is also a smaller picture on the bottom left hand side of the review page which links in with the text and it contains another small humorous text box.
The overall organization of this article is very neat and well organized. It looks formal with its newspaper like columns and perfectly square images but has a rebellious edge to it. With the neon pink colours and the big bold text on the top left of the main image: (LIVE!) it makes it look very modern and individual.

Maintaining Interest
The audience maintains interest throughout the article because of the interesting pictures such as the main picture which depicts a musician crowd surfing; this grabs their attention away from any other article and holds their gaze for a moment. Also the band names mentioned in the article are highlighted in pink so the reader knows what’s coming next and they will want to read on to get the news about them. The language itself will keep the audience interested, it uses lots of alliteration to keep the text flowing: ‘spasm in epileptic ecstasy.’ and ‘swamping stoned lullabies’. This helps to make the review flow easily and quickly so that the audience don’t get bored. The article holds very wacky and descriptive sentences such as: ‘beats to heavy they leave craters’ and ‘teenage girls who mirror their every twitch, jerk and spasm.’ This creates visual imagery in the readers mind and also makes them have to contemplate what it means occasionally, thus making them drawn into the article. Also the tags on the pictures are humorous and keep the article funny and unserious, they also could catch the readers eye and draw them back into the article if their attention lapsed for a moment.

Language used for target Audience
I believe the target audience for this magazine is mostly men in their late teens to late 20s and I feel this article is successful in appealing to this audience because of the layout and the language used. The review informs them about the modern bands and this would appeal to them as they would want the latest news and opinions on how the bands are performing at the time. However the language I feel is more appealing towards men as there is a lot of swearing and complex, wacky language that could be represented as being more of male orientated language.
-Layout
The layout of the article appeals to the target audience because of the formal text in columns which appeals to men more because it is uncomplicated text, whereas women like bright, colourful and bold text. The main picture appeals to the audience because it’s a situation they can recognise; they can feel the exhilaration and the rush of being in a crowded and energy filled gig. The colours in the picture are dark and represent the genre of music and the situation. The colours are limited, mainly black and white (masculine) with some occasional pink which could represent the wacky and lively genre of music and catch the attention of the audience. The font of the masthead is very basic and black again referring to the simplicity that appeals to the male audience, also the strap line’s text is basic and black typed text. The tag line text box saying ‘LIVE!’ immediately gives the audience an idea of what the next few articles are to contain and this appeals to the audience as going to live gigs is one of the best aspects of music and they will want to know the review and find out how the gigs were.
-Language
Furthermore the language used in this article appeals to the target audience because it manages to keep flowing at a fast pace, this is essential to an article that contains a lot of text and needs to keep the readers attention. The masthead of the article uses a declarative and slightly wacky sentence: ‘This is computer love’ the word ‘computer’ gives an idea of the type of music it is reviewing and the word ‘love’ linked with computer puts a positive light on the article and the genre of music. The lead then reinforcees the idea of it being computerised music ‘The electro-punk noise…’ this then grabs the attention of any electro music fans reading the magazine. Also in the lead there is: ‘bring the (white) noise to the capital’ referring again to what the music is and sounds like, perhaps the noises from computers and the audience reading this would understand what it meant and other people may not be able to. Throughout the article there are names of bands and singers dropped into it; ‘Crystal Castles’ , ‘Alice Glass’, ‘The Big Pink’ and many of these are highlighted in bold pink text to put emphasis on them, this is because the audience reading it would recognise them and be interested to find out about these bands/singers.
At the beginning of the article the language used is very brutal and creates strong imagery in the readers mind: ‘you need to be up front tonight, shoved against the wall, beaten out the way by writhing teenage girls who mirror they’re every twitch, jerk and spasm’ this appeals more to men because women don’t appreciate harsh language so much as it sounds very rough and physical. There is a lot of alliteration (as mentioned before) to make the article interesting to read, but overall the language used is very complex, perhaps too complex to keep younger teenagers minds from wondering when they read it. There is occasional swearing in the text, which perhaps makes it slightly conversational: ‘felt like a band too f***ing cool’ and is like spoken language; this again appeals to the target audience as older males sometimes have a tendency to swear in conversation.