Research for main task - NME front cover

The front cover of NME magazine has two models positioned with one touching the other, this creates sex appeal and suggests a sense of provocativeness as the male model is touching the females mid area. This area of her body has a channel logo on it which illustrates a high end fashion look demonstrating an up scale target audience. The model is also smoking a cigarette which shows she is extremely rebellious and subversive as she is risking her life in order to look what is considered "cool". Also she is promoting a lifestyle of drugs by smoking. The female model is also the more dominant model out of the two as she is the main focus of the shot this can be due to her being the main singer in a band therefore being in the for front of the magazine. The model is leaning on the masterhead as nothing is controlling her she is therefore placed in the front of title. Also everything is placed around her this includes straplines, masterhead, kicker and skyline.
The straplines also link to the type of magazine it is as they talk about "MURDER,DRUGS AND TWISTED LOVE," these are considered very dark ad sinister subjects which the magazine are speaking very openly about. As a result the magazine is fairly non-judgmental, consequently this may lead to some criticism towards the magazine as they are not displaying a negative image on the topic as this would be the usual response to these sorts of topics (negative media).
Also another example of a stapline is ""my life in Kurt" ex manager speaks" here the magazine displays a exclusivity that no other magazine may have as they have the death of a legend speaking openly about for the first time.
Finally the last example of a stapline on the front cover is one in which is promoting the Kaiser Chiefs latest album where it uses explicit language such as "F***ED UP". This illustrates a very rebellious, hard core and subversive side to the magazine once again.
The mise en scene of the image includes the clothing this also represents the more rebellious side of magazine. As the female model is wearing leather which demonstrates a rocky edgy look which much of their target audience would aspire to look like. The positioning of the image is medium shot, taken from the above angle as she is looking up. This is very different and unlike and other magazine therefore thus, making it unique.
Also the layout is very unusual as it has the kicker running through the middle of the page and straplines on running across the left hand side. These are not the typical conventions of a magazine but with that specific cover image, to make it seem balanced everything was placed on the one side as the other was mainly covered with the two models. As a result this created a slight difference in the way it was constructed, as specific elements had to be placed in certain areas of the magazine in order for the presentation of it to look correct.
The last element of the magazine which resulted in the final touches of the magazine were the colours used, this consisted of yellow, red, black and white. These colours are associated with goths and rebels through the contrasts they create this as a results meets the demands of their target audiences.
Overall, the magazine was created for a niche market which meant that certain aspects of the cover were altered in order to meet the demands of the target audience. This resulted in the build up of many layers as more straplines were placed on the cover to promote more headline stories.