Textual analysis 3 - Bass

Textual analysis part 3

Bass guitar magazine is part of a group of music magazines created by ‘Oyster House Media’. They also sell magazines such as ‘Drummer’ and ‘Acoustic’. These all apply to the music market but each magazine targets a particular area or niche. It is clear from the masthead that this magazine has a specific audience; those who play or are interested in the musical instrument. 

The tag line, shown on the front cover, of this magazine is “The UK’s number one bass guitar magazine”. As there are not many popular magazines that fully focus on bass guitars, this magazine has an immediate advantage over any others that there may be because they have stated that they are number one; you will not find a better bass guitar related magazine than this one.

The cover lines on the front cover are also all related to musicians who play guitar and things you can do/buy if you are interested in it too. The text is all written in capital letters. This means that the words are clearer for the audience to read. This way, they can find out information fast, they will not get bored with large sums of writing and it will help them figure out if they want to purchase the magazine or not!

The background colours are kept fairly simple, just red and yellow. These two colours represent a fiery atmosphere which portrays the magazine as hot and maybe even trendy. The red is the heaviest colour out of the two and that is in the background of the ‘Bass’ text. This puts emphasis on the masthead, making it appear to the reader as the most important part of the magazine. The yellow enters further towards the end, where the majority of the cover lines are located. This gives a lighter hearted feel to the stories, as if they are nice to read. This would make the potential buyers feel happier about reading the inside stories.

The colours used are kept to a small range of yellow, black, white and red. There is one cover line however that stands out from the rest as it is in blue. It reads “Interviewed Bootsy Collins. School’s out at Funk University!” We know from this bold statement that this would be the main article featured within the magazine as it is bolder than the other cover lines and it also relates to the model on the front, Bootsy Collins.

Bootsy is wearing a yellow suit. This goes well with the colours of the back ground as he seems to blend in. The large matching yellow hat shows that he clearly thinks he is a big deal in the music industry. It also shows that he is not afraid to wear extravagant clothing. The way that the model is dressed may represent the magazine in general; they could be trying to say that they are a big deal and contain a lot of surprises, a bit like Bootsy’s wardrobe!

The shot that Bootsy has been captured in shows his torso and hips. He is leaning slightly which could represent that the magazine covers many angles of the music industry which relates to bass playing! We can see on his face that he is happy, most likely meaning he is happy to be modelling for the magazine, portraying it as a nice company, encouraging sales! We cannot see Bootsy’s eyes which creates an element of mystery, this would create intrigue amongst the audience, making them want to buy the magazine and read more.  

Finally, this magazine creates a bright, happy and energetic aura which would aid people’s decisions when they consider purchasing it.