Similar to most soap opera magazines the background of the front cover is a light blue, the pastel colour is eye catching and welcoming to the reader; attracting their attention instantly. The colour blue also has connotations of relaxation, something television is often used by society for; deeper than that is the connotation of sadness, an emotion commonly associated with soap operas as they highlight the darker, more miserable aspects of life. The main feature of the magazine uses an oxymoron to attract the reader attention: “love cheat”, the two words oppose each other which would increase the interest and curiosity surrounding the storyline. The main masthead is immediately recognisable due to the large, bold bright yellow font; it is also outlined in a vibrant red which makes it appear 3 dimensional-like, instantly gaining the attention of the reader. The colours are chosen as they run parallel to the word “fire” written in the tagline underneath; this combination highlights the dangerous element in the storyline and creates a sense of excitement and suspense amongst the reader. The tagline underneath, is a simple exclamatory that further explains the storyline whilst developing the curiosity about it, the sentence names one of the characters involved and uses the powerful lexis “fire” to draw on the dangerous and passionate pragmatics that are associated with it. The tagline also reveals the magazines main target audience as soap opera watchers, as most of the features are about soap operas and the main feature’s soap is not named, therefore the audience must have prior knowledge. The image used within the main feature is, like most main features within soap opera magazines, staged so that the reader must buy the magazine to find out information.
Both characters are wearing suits, connoting a power or control struggle within their relationship, the female wears a pastel green suit and the male a dark blue suit, both colours are bright in comparison with the stereotypical suit, therefore changing the connotation from mystery and evil to happy and passionate. The character max is staged in a way which highlights many conventions to represent a cocky, sale’s man stereotype – he stares directly at the camera, his facial expression is similar to a sneer and he is wearing a suit. The woman within the feature is also wearing a suit, representing her as a strong modern female character; this suit is combined with prefect make-up and blonde hair, other conventions associated with the stereotype. In the top left hand corner is the television magazines logo, this stands out from the page being shown in a block, bright red colour portraying the magazine as important. The word “TV” is the largest piece of font within the logo, showing that this is the main focus of the magazine. In the bottom left corner is another feature, this is larger than the other two which hints that this many be a more controversial storyline. The image is once again staged s that no other information about the storyline is given to the reader, both characters wear wedding outfits – represented as the bride and groom. However, they could be described as countertypes as both of them have grim facial expression, something that would create curiosity amongst the audience as your wedding day is supposed to be happy; this is linked with the masthead layered over the image. The masthead uses alliteration via the words “joy” and “jail”, these two lexis juxtapose each other, they could be described as antithesis, used to persuade the reader to buy the magazine by creating suspense and tension, triggering the reader to wonder how either extreme could be reached via the event. The syntax of the sentence introduces the wedding first, creating mystery by creating a happy semantic field ,”wedding … joy” and then contrasting it with the word jail.
Both characters are wearing suits, connoting a power or control struggle within their relationship, the female wears a pastel green suit and the male a dark blue suit, both colours are bright in comparison with the stereotypical suit, therefore changing the connotation from mystery and evil to happy and passionate. The character max is staged in a way which highlights many conventions to represent a cocky, sale’s man stereotype – he stares directly at the camera, his facial expression is similar to a sneer and he is wearing a suit. The woman within the feature is also wearing a suit, representing her as a strong modern female character; this suit is combined with prefect make-up and blonde hair, other conventions associated with the stereotype. In the top left hand corner is the television magazines logo, this stands out from the page being shown in a block, bright red colour portraying the magazine as important. The word “TV” is the largest piece of font within the logo, showing that this is the main focus of the magazine. In the bottom left corner is another feature, this is larger than the other two which hints that this many be a more controversial storyline. The image is once again staged s that no other information about the storyline is given to the reader, both characters wear wedding outfits – represented as the bride and groom. However, they could be described as countertypes as both of them have grim facial expression, something that would create curiosity amongst the audience as your wedding day is supposed to be happy; this is linked with the masthead layered over the image. The masthead uses alliteration via the words “joy” and “jail”, these two lexis juxtapose each other, they could be described as antithesis, used to persuade the reader to buy the magazine by creating suspense and tension, triggering the reader to wonder how either extreme could be reached via the event. The syntax of the sentence introduces the wedding first, creating mystery by creating a happy semantic field ,”wedding … joy” and then contrasting it with the word jail.
This is an interesting magazine cover, once again the use of a blue background is a feature that should be included within our soap magazine as it seems to be a common feature. I like the link of colour and word within the main masthead and tagline (red and yellow and the word fire), I think it highlights the themes to the reader, creating more excitement about the storylines. The outlining of the masthead also makes it clearer to the reader and is a clever technique to attract their attention. The staged images are successful in creating curiosity with the reader as they have no further information, other than the masthead, about the storyline, this means they must either buy the magazine or watch the program to figure things out. I think it is also important to use exclamation’s to create atmosphere and emotion about the storylines and interrogatives, as a form of interacting with the audience and developing the chatty tone soap opera magazines use.
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