The main image on the front page of any magazine is used to catch peoples eyes and draw them in making them read the magazine.

On nearly every magazine i have looked at they have shown that the shot of the main image on the front cover of the magazine is either a close up of the person, this is where the shot focuses on just the head to the shoulders only, or a medium close up of the person, this is where the shot focuses on the head to the waist only. The editors do this because it looks more effective than if you used a long shot, this is where the shot focuses on the whole body. Using a medium close up or close up of a person makes them stand out and they become the main attention and the most important thing on the page and it is where the reader is first drawn to.

 

Front page shots are nearly always studio shots, there never normally taken outside. The artist being focused on is always made up in some sort of make up, some more than others, mainly rock artists. They are dressed up in clothing representing their genre of music, this is also done not because that is their genre but so that for readers who might not know who the artist being featured is, they will know what type of magazine it is before buying it, for example whether the magazine is a rock magazine or a classical magazine etc.

 

The pose of the artist normally reflects again their genre of music for example, with magaznes such as KERRANG! it is a rock magazine and the poses of the artist are normally aggressive or angry. This connotes with rock because we would normally associate rock with aggressive behaviour. However it is more common for the males to perform these aggressive poses such as screaming or punching than females.

 

 

Close-up shots on music magazines: