Texual Analysis

Before I could start to construct my college magazine, I had to analysis an exsisting college magazine. I found this was helpful for my actual magazine cover because I also found that a magazine cover can convey many different messages.

Analysis of College Magazine:Ridgewater College.

Ridgewater College’s magazine cover is one of brightness and its front page is packs with information about the content of the magazine. First of all, we see a young Asian lady as the centre image. The cover of the magazine shows, a warm and good atmosphere. In first instance, we connote that the lady is a student and it attending Ridgewater College.

She is in room which seems to be a like a common room or a chaplaincy. We see a lot of chairs surrounding her own which connotes to us that she is in a community area and it also brings in a sense of society. Also because the lady is not of Caucasian decent, it brings in the idea that the college is culturally diverse and will offer places to people of different cultural backgrounds.
The background is bright and has high-key lighting to emphasis the warm surroundings and the happiness that the college will bring. Also, the lady has a smile on her face, to show that she is happy and maybe to express the joy that she feels for attending Ridgewater.

The lady in the centre of the cover is dressed casually which connotes a relaxed atmosphere and a chance for students to feel accepted by the community; no matter what they wear. Although her clothes expose some skin, she is still appropriately dressed which also sends out the message to other students to dress appropriately. The lady is an ordinary student, which connotes to the target audience that anyone could be on the front of that magazine.

Props used in the image are the use of the chair in which the student appears to be sitting on, also the lamp in which is providing light to brighten up the scene. The room also has plants and lamps which make it more homely for students so that they feel free to relax and also so that they feel as if the college is like their home. The globe is also present in the image showing that not only is this a room for relaxation, it could also be used as a resource room or a room for studying.

The image is in the centre and is mid-shot as we can see the lady’s face and part of her body. The angle of the camera is slightly raised as the lady appears to be looking forwards into the camera raising her head and eyes to contain full eye contact with the camera. The focus is soft as we can see the sharpness of the image taken.

The title is written in Times New Roman text and is big and easily catches the attention of the audience. The font is white and seems to stand out amongst the rest of the text because of the size. When things are written in Times New Roman, they are usually meant to be serious and by this, we can tell that although the magazine connotes a warm and loving atmosphere, it is also wanted to be taken seriously. The text also looks old-fashioned which connotes to me that the College has been running for a long time and is probably well known and old. The sub-headings for the college are in more warm and inviting fonts as it does not have the seriousness of Times New Roman. The words “GLOBAL WARMING” is bold and express that it is an important subject which, is going to be looked at in the magazine. The rest of the magazine has very limited and small writing.

The lady, is seen to be smiling which shows that she is happy with the choice that she has made to attend Ridgewater College, and could also mean that everything is going well and is running smoothly in regards to her college life. Her body language connotes that she is relaxed and comfortable in her surroundings as she has her arms over one side of the chair and her legs are placed in a “relaxed” manner. Meaning, she has no hostility against the people in which surround her.
Fenetta Agyemang A.S Media StudiesMr Jadeja.