Sunday, 1 February 2009

Textual Analysis of "NME" double page spread

This double page spread is from NME magazine. There are four main focuses on this double page spread, they are the artist, the artists name, the pull quote and the whole of the main text.

The image of the artist is quite and important focus of this layout. It dominates almost three quarters of the page starting from the left hand side. It is a long shot that shows both the artist and the background. The props use in this picture are a line of bunting. These are usually used on special occasions and festivals to string between streets for decoration. However in this particular image the artist is holding them and a layer of them is hanging don like a loop. On this loop her leg is placed as she stands on one leg, the other one bent and resting on the bunting. Her right arm is raised in the air, holding onto the bunting. The bunting is red which makes it stand off from the background.

The background is in pale, pastel colours but it has a ripped effect to it as though paper had been ripped off the wall. The artist is stood i the centre of the wall, but in the middle of the room so not resting against it. She is wearing black and white clothes which also draws the audiences attention to her as the black and white colour scheme has been used throughout the page. She has red hair which contrasts with her clothes.

One other focus of this double page spread is the title of the group. The font is a simple black font, in a mix of upper and lower case letters. The font is quite large and dominates the bottom left hand corner of the page. It takes over almost one third of the page and is wrapped around the side of the image.

Another focus on this page is the pull quote. It has been placed right in the middle of the text and covers two out of the three columns. It says "I spent my 16th birthday jumping out of a tree. It felt amazing hitting the ground". This is a direct quote from the artist herself and lets the audience identify the strucure of the text and shows that it is an informal interview with the artist which represents her own lifestyle throughout. The name of the artist who made the quote is situatedbelow the pull quote. The font used is simple as the lettering is white and the background for each individual letter is in a pink square which separates it from the background and the rest of the text.

The rest of the text is in regular black typeface on a white background. The first letter of the text "T"larger than the rest. It has been places in a purple box and the colour of the specific letter is white. It dominates a quater of the first column and takes over five lines of the rest of the text. The rest of the text is set out into three columns in smaller writing to the the rest of the double page spread. There is another letter "O" that is larger the rest f the text. It is on the third column just above the pull quote and is also placed in a purple square. Both these enlarged letters are eyecatching to the audience and a specific feature of the main text.