Thursday 25 November 2010

Analysis of Q music magazine..


Language and Ideology: Q magazine is known for it's quality, specialising in quality indie and rock for example the Beatles and U2. This magazine is based on appealing to quality buyers having a more expensive look to it than NME magazine. The short snappy name leads us to our own assumption of what it stands for, the most popular being quality, this is good as it gets the audience thinking and feeling involved as if they made the name as well as this the name is easy to remember due to it being short and snappy meaning it stays in the audiences head.

The masthead of the magazine also helps to portray the idea of quality by being in a serif font having a more classier look to it, the colour red also helps to keep it looking rich as a deep red is a very rich colour and has the ideology of fame and riches due to things like the red carpet. The white on red causes a strong contrast in the masthead making it grab the audiences attention, this is the magazines house style.

The main image of this front cover goes with the theme of quality rock and indie by the artist being a more mainstream indie artist, helping to increase readership and with the use of panthers a deep dark rich looking animal, that it would cost to get showing that their front covers are not just cheap.
The subtext links to the picture well connoting what we see in th image the words "sexy beast" as the artist Lilly Allen is dressed provoctivally in a sexy way and the use of quite verocious wild animals links to the "beast" part of the text. As well as this the word "wicked" is in red making it stand out and connote that its one of the main hings about Lilly Allen as it is repeated twice and highlighted in a dangerous passionate colour as if these two things represent the artist. The use of Black writing makes the black panthers and the dominant colour that Lilly is in link.
The layout of the magazine is also inkeeping with the higher quality style, being simple and not to crowded or fussy.
The front cover also only uses 4 colours not over powering it, the chosen colours are significant on this front cover as they are; red, blue, white and black, the red, blue and white making up the colours of the union jack portratying the music mag to be the best of the british. The colour black adds a dark more rebellious theme to it so it's saying the mag has abit of edge as does the music included in the magazine. The partial nudity of this feature makes her seem confident and bold, representing the magazine in this light as if the readers who buy it will become confident and bold or already posses these two traits, the fact Lilly has her back to us yet her face towards us engages the reader as well as making them think there is more hidden inside the magazine just like the front of her is hidden, so to find out what is being hid we have to pick it up, buy it and read it. 
The puffs at the side of the magazine also add to the appeal of buying the mag with buzz words such as "exclusive" this particular word is also highlighted by the fact is it is in red when the surrounding writing is not, making it stand out.

Institution: Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is refelcted in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people inerested in the indie rock genre, who are aspirers and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher clas feel to this magazine.

Representation: The representation of this magazine is hight class indie rock, new and past music, that has had an influence on the genre.


Contents page
Language and Ideology : On this page of the magazine they have put the masthead to show that it is Q magazine as well as putting Contents so people know what page they are looking at, and to make it easy to find. 
The  Q contents page is taken up mostly by the main image, having a simple, classy lay out in keeping with the magazines style. The page does not look busy or overpowered unlike NME, having clear sections each being marked with the key colour red, drawing our eye to that certain section also making it easier to read, the colour of red being the colour we associate with this magazine due to the masthead as well as being a colour linked to music magazines. 
There is a main image of the band The Courteeners not looking trashy but being simply and quite blandly dressed not being to controversial for Q as well as this the page reference is also in red making it in keep with the rest of the page, as well as backing up my earlier points. 
The sub heading "Oasis Special!" is in a gold/silver colour, I believe this is to back up the fact it is a special, using colours which have connotations of wealth as we immediately associate wealth with rare, important and special things.

The band for review, is very similar to the band at the top of the contents page, creating continuity within the magazine, it also shows a similarity to the idea of the black blocks at the bottom of the contents page, being the house style of Q.

Institution: Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is reflected in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people interested in the indie rock genre, who aspire and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher class feel to this magazine.

Language and Ideology: This doubler page spread is key to the quality style of Q, immediately looking luxurious and showing continuity of the magazine.

The main photo of Lady Gaga immediately tells us who this article is about, not needing a large title telling us just her name simply in the top left corner of the screen, the fact that Q has an article on Lady Gaga is in keeping with the idea of this music magazine being top of the range as she is a world wide famous artist.
The style of this photo also follows the quality style, having a similar style to a cover shot for Vogue magazine a high end fashion magazine as well as following the black and white antique style often associated with class and wealth. Another reason I believe this photograph portrays quality is due to it's similarities to David Bailey's world wide known photographs which are shot in a very similar style. 
The artist's nudity also makes this article feel more exclusive as if she has posed especially and openly to us the audience, making us feel more connected to the artist, her direct focus to the audience also does this.

I believe the ideology of this article is sexy and dangerous, the idea of the chains and the colour red being dominant really brings across a dangerous side, however her soft hair, open mouth and partial nudity create a sexy inviting feel. As well as this Lady Gaga is known to have more female fans, this article makes her more appealing to the male demographic of the magazine. 

The letter L underneath the main text of this magazine also ties in with the the magazines masthead, being in the same font and colour, creating continuity within the magazine.

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people inerested in the indie rock genre, who are aspirers and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher clas feel to this magazine. 

Institution:  Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is refelcted in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 


Wednesday 24 November 2010

Genre's of music...





There are many different genres of music for example:
  • Pop
  • Indie
  • Heavy metal
  • Dubstep
  • R n B
  • House
  • Rock
  • Drum and Bass
  • Dance
  • Classical
For my music magazine I am focusing on the Indie genre, for example, The Libertines and Artic Monkeys, these are the type of bands that I will be focussing my magazine on.

Friday 19 November 2010

Analysis of NME music magazine....

Language and Ideology: I will be analysing this NME music magazine, Mastheads are a convention of all magazines, the masthead of this magazine is quite bold however is slightly covered by the main image portraying that the music artists are the most important thing of this magazine even more important than conventions, however we can see enough of the masthead for us to know which magazine it is and for out immediate association to the magazine.
The colour of the masthead says a lot about the music magazine, the red connotes danger, anger and being out there 'in your face' much like the music featured in the magazine and linking to the ideology of it.

The ideology of NME is alternative fresh youth full music being more rebellious.
The main image grabs our attention as every person in the image is looking directly at the reader making eye contact with us, as well as this Beth Ditto is looking over a pair of sunglasses adding an air of mystery or as if we've done something to grab her attention enough for her to look over her sunglasses at us.

One of the first things and one of the most important things of the front cover is the main headline that goes with the main image, as it tells us something about the main image for example who the artist is as well as what the article will be about.The wording of the main headline also links to the type of magazine it is for example the two words sex and skins would not be used in the main headline for a classical music magazine. The strap line tells us also the basic lines on what the article will be about saying "How three punks smashed the mainstream" as well as this it is important that this is in keeping with the stereotypical non mainstream target audience of NME that this band are not originally mainstream and broke the wall between punk and mainstream. 
One of the sub-headlines on the magazine is "blur reunion?" the use of the question mark leaves it un answered making the reader want to buy it so they can look inside and find out the answer to that question. 

The main headline is clever as it grabs our attention using short snappy words and then the title of a very well known song by the main image artist. The colours of the word 'Sex' and 'Skins' are red this connotes danger and sexuality. the colours of white with a black edge on the other words also helps contrast against the red making them stand out.


Audience: The target audience for NME is ages 18-30, mostly being students as it is a cheaper magazine and students live cheaply. The magazine has a social class of C2 to E as the higher social classes go for music magazines such as Q. We can tell that this magazine has a lower social class margin due to its look and price, the magazine is in a newspaper like material unlike the glossy Q.

Institution: NME's institution is IPC media who publish a range of magazines however similarly like NME have magazines for the younger audience such as LOOK fashion magazine, which fits into the same social class and age bracket as NME.
Contents page
 
Language and Ideology: The contents page is bold and colourful much like the front page carrying over the colour scheme we see on the front, showing that they link and are both NME. The Masthead has been continued onto the contents page, always putting in the image of NME into our heads so we remember it. 
The page has a busy layout in keeping with the target audience having 4 dominant colours red, black, yellow and white. these colours are also the colours we see in the Leeds festival advert, which is a indie genre festival, this keeps it attracting the genre taste in music the audience has. 
The ideology of this magazine contents page I believe is fun and young, trying to promote the Leeds festival as all the colours used are the Leeds fest logo colours which are used every year.
The main story featured in this particular issue is Noel leaving Oasis, we know this is the main story as it has the biggest writing and also has a main image which takes up a large percentage of the page, the image is of Noel and co oasis singer however it has been given a ripped effect down the middle reinforcing the idea of Noel leaving the group. The page reference being in red so it stands out. The caption that goes with the image is also in bold capital letters making it easier to see. 
As well it draws us in by having a brief description of the story, so we read that and want to read more, after just flicking through to the contents page. 


Institution: The institution of this magazine is IPC media, tis publishing company produce a range of different magazines however NME is their only music magazine, this shows how the institution is tailored just like the magazine to its audience. 

Audience: You can tell straight that the target audience for this magazine is youthful due to the messy house style and the bright colours, which immediately catch the eye. You can also tell by the faded look of the paper to suggest a unique style as well as making it cheaper, means it has a lower social class of C2 to E.

Double page spread

Language and Ideology: The house style of NME and it's newspaper like appearance is again continued into the rest of the magazine including this double page spread, even the column style of writing of black on white has newspaper connotations.
The main image links in with the title of Glastonbury which stays as a puff on both signs of the magazine.
Colour isn't used as much as it is in the front cover and contents page I have analysed however there are bands of colour which help to categorise the article and draw the readers attention to specific parts, breaking it up from a boring large blocks continuous writing which are normally targeted at an older targeet audience than NME's.
The idea of green can be linked with Glastonbury as it is a festival outside on a field, green will be the dominant colour, so it makes sense to use it in an article on it, so it makes the immediate association to the audience.
The main photo being black and white creates a vintage aged effect, vintage being largely linked with the indie genre and people who listen to the music.
The double page spread however keeps young by not being filled with just black and white photos as well as having more than one photo on the double page spread.
The magazine makes an immediate reference to it's genre by stating in the caption of the photo "The Indie pioneers." due to them saying they are the pioneers it also makes the article seem important if it is on that band.

Institution: The institution of this magazine is IPC media, this publishing company produce a range of different magazines however NME is their only music magazine, this shows how the institution is tailored just like the magazine to its audience. 

Audience: You can tell straight that the target audience for this magazine is youthful due to the messy house style and the bright colours, which immediately catch the eye. You can also tell by the faded look of the paper to suggest a unique style as well as making it cheaper, means it has a lower social class of C2 to E.




Thursday 4 November 2010

Conventions of a music magazine

Front cover:

  • Main image - usually centered on the eyes of the person in the image.
  • Masthead- title, genre, ideology. 
  • Banner headline
  • cover lines- selling lines.
  • Tag line
  • Puffs- e.g "free holiday"(found in corners of front cover).
  • Kicker- explanatory line to the banner.
Contents page:

  • Features- the articles special to that month.
  • Regulars- the articles there every month e.g editorial, masthead.
Double page spread:

  • Two pages of the same article
  • Main image usually dominates

LIIAR interpretation of the brief-

  • Language- camera angles, colour codes, conventions, layout (splash) and house style.
  • Institution- E.g. Q, NME, METAL HAMMER, as well as the publishing houses of the magazine and what other magazines the publishing houses publish.
  • Ideology- Morals, values, message, synergy, aspirational. E.g NME- new music express; portrays new music to audience quickly, hense the word 'express' like and express train, it also sounds like 'enemy' as the magazine contains indie genre music being the enemy of mainstream music.
  • Audience- age, gender, type, social class (target audience)
  • Representation- The representation of the central image for example music genre and target audience 

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Brief-

Main task- The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you- minimum of four images.