Practice essay 3



Heat magazine



Firstly, the main story which is on the cover is about Britney's sister being pregnant, and it is her 'first' interview. This is in the middle of the page and takes up the most space with a picture of her too. There is no name of her, which means she is identified through Britney. This is because Britney is very well known ampngst magazines like 'Heat' and has recently been in the limelight for the wrong reasons. The typography is bold and bright yellow. This yellow is against a black background which makes it stand out to attract readers so it is the first thing they see. On top of the headline it reads 'World exlusive!'. This makes the reader think they are getting all the gossip before anyone else and it must be true because it is her first interview and everything will be revealed. There are also quotes underneath the headline: "Yes, i'm 16 and pregnant." Again, this reassures the reader they are going to get facts and truth from the interview. This suggests the target audience of 'Heat' are people who like celebrity gossip and watch a lot of TV. Also, because women are associated with gossip more, it could be targeted at women, from 14+.


Furthermore, the second main headline is an article about Posh and Becks. There is above the title of the magazine. This is probably because Heat include an article about the couple almost every issue which shows they are so common to the magazine like the title. This is probably what sells the magazine because if there is an article about them every issue then people probabaly rely on that article which is why they buy the magazine. The article is about their marriage whcih is what people always want to know about because they have been married for a long time which is unusual for a couple who are that famous, and there is always suspense as to whether they are stable or not, especially after David's alleged affair with Rebecca Loos a few years ago. The pictures of the two of them also create suspense because they do not look particularly happy. Also, they are not together, their pictures are on different sides of the headline which makes it look like they are distanced from eachtother. Because they have an article on Posh and Becks, this suggests that maybe the target audience are working class because upper class will not be interested in them and because it is celebrity gossip. The price also supports this because it is £1.65 which is cheap for a magazine, because something like Vogue is approximately £5.


Moreover, one of the predominant features on the page is the 'free 10 torso posters'. The typography of 'free' is in bold and capitals letters with an exclamation mark at the end. This makes it stand out from everything else. Because the torso's are of male's, it suggests the target audience are obviosuly women. This also suggests they are young because people of 30+ will tend not to have posters of half naked guys in their rooms. The colours of the title and background are red and white which connote a British ideology. This could also represent British people as gossips. Also, because the title is read and the title is 'Heat' it could also be to reflect the word 'heat' and is red like fire.

The overall look of the magazine looks really action packed. There is information of what is included in the magzine everywhere. As opposed to the cover of the Guardian magazine, Weekend. This is done to reassure the reader they are getting what they pay for. It also rwassures them they are up to date with the celeb gossip. 'Heat' has a reputation for gossip and the cover reveals three stories which will be included. These are all of well known people who are in the limelight at the moment, for example, Eca Longoria, Britney's sister and Posh and Becks who are all a list celebs. As opposed to the Weekend magazine where Charlie Brooker was on one of their covers and he is not that well known. The use of rhetorical question on the Eva Longoria story and whether her husband is cheating on her or not is done to encourage the reader to buy the magazine because they will be certain that the answer is in the magazine. Also, this magazine has celeb news from both America and England. Unlike the Sky (Jan 2008) magazine cover and Weekend magazine cover. Again, this is to reassure the reader they are getting gossip from all over and are not missing out on anything.