Analysing
magazines
Mise en scene – The first thing that draws attention is the
character in the middle of the image and how the red and white contrasts with
the blue background. While the gaming community is quite exclusive compared to
news magazines, there is a large following; PlayStation has a large niche
audience that has increased due to cross platform, the PlayStation now being
utilized as more than a gaming console such as using the internet, watching tv
etc.
The character is
stood in front of the masthead which shows that the splash is a higher priority
than branding. The character stands at a medium shot camera angle which creates
an interesting and powerful pose that would appeal to the male audience who
aren’t followers of the game or company franchise. This shows that the [1] representation
of the character can interest viewers who aren’t knowledgeable of the franchise
which is also an example of merging audience interests. [1] See Stuart Hall’stheory of representation. 
In the middle of the magazine is the splash, they have used
the logo of the game as a title so that to those who recognize the logo are
interested and so that the interesting title draws outsider audience in. They
have also sensationalised the standfirst by using the term ‘Everything you need
to know about PS4’S #1 game!’ this creates the ideology that the game is of
high quality and worth reading about. This is also seen through the name CoryBarlog, to those that do not even recognise the game, it still shows that the
splash is of high importance by including a person on the front cover. To those
that do recognise Cory Barlog, who is the creative director of Sony
Entertainments, interests them because of their appreciation for him.
On the left side of
the page is a contrasting section that interests the viewer because of the
colours and the bright text. This advertises the game presented, the Gran
Turismo sport. Below that is the exclamation of being a ‘world exclusive’ which
creates the idea that this is exclusive to the viewer and the idea that this is
theirs which appeals to the instinct of claiming objects and owning things.
On the other side is what seems to be the off lead of the
magazine which lists two separate types of subjects into one story. Because of
the magazines niche audience, it is obvious that the names of these games would
have a reputation towards them however without actual images it is not
advertising towards outside audience, this means that the magazine is relying
completely on the splash to draw in new readers. This means that other stories
on the front cover would only interest those with knowledge of their
reputation.
