Music magazine contents page & Double Page Spread (conventions diagram)

Music magazine contents page (conventions diagram)

Music magazine contents page (conventions diagram)

Music magazine front page & double page spread textual analysis

Trey Songz Jet Magazine



Denotation

The cover is of a colour photograph of a man who is looking at the camera. It is a medium shot showing his head, arms and waist. He is standing up which we can see even though we can’t see his legs but from tiny bit of his waist which he is showing. The background of the photograph is ice white, and the photograph covers the whole of the magazine cover, but the man in the photograph has been placed on the right half of the image. In the top left third is the Jet Masthead, and in front of him are two separate cover lines in white and black. The photographed man’s name is in red, there is also a bar code and price details in the lower left third of the cover.

Masthead

Jet’s Masthead is very modern: jet black. The font used looks to be the As destine, the J is very separate from the E and T which are both connected from the top of the letters. The font which has been used is a very modern and futuristic and seems to be a suitable choice for the magazine.

Character

The cover photograph is of a very successful and popular American R&B artist.

Composition

He is posed very casual and looks very comfortable, his hand gestures where he is rubbing his hands together show to us that he was going for the maybe very cheeky I’m ready look.

Costume

His clothing is very simple and casual black high neck chunky knitted jumper, he is also wearing a very visible and expensive looking watch on his left wrist. The reason in which they have dressed him in casual clothes and have not put him topless is because they want to give him across seriously and just make his face the focus.  

NVC

His non verbal communication is very cheeky and can be seen as seductive from the expression through his eyes looking straight at the camera, the raise in his eyebrow and the little pout in his lips.

Lighting

The lighting is high key, and plays nicely with the background and clothing.

Setting

There is no setting in this photo it has been taken in a studio and a white back drop has been used.

Cover lines

The main cover line that relates to the photograph says; “Take notice Trey songz: won’t stop until you know his name”. This is making a reference to one of his hit song (neighbours know my name) and could be named as one of the songs which he is known for, this could also be the reference to that his song was playing over and over again everywhere “won’t stop until”. The other cover lines are related to the other articles which are feature inside of the magazine.

Target audience

Looking at all the points the most likely target audience would be (male and female, though more female audience members than male) aged 25-40. They would have a good knowledge of what music is popular at the time and probably have a favourite music genre which would be R&B. They are likely to be well read and have an interest in what is going on in the American society.     

 

 

 

 



Soulja Boy Vibe Magazine



Denotation

The main image is of a colour photograph of a man his head is faced sideways to the camera, he is smiling we are able to see this because his teeth are visible from the side. The shot is a close up showing just his head, his neck and just the top of his shoulders. The background of the photograph is white, but you are able to the shadowing around his head from where the lighting has been placed during the photo shoot. The photograph covers the whole left side of the double page spread. Opposite on the left hand side of the spread we can see a written quotation which is in black and white, in the top right hand side of this page there is some sort of barcode or magazine tag.

Character

The photograph is of the successful American artist ‘Soulja Boy’

Composition/ NVC

He is posed in a way that we are only able to see one side of his face just from the top of his shoulders up, his facial expressions look to be very cheeky with the big smile which he has on his face.

Costume

From the photograph we can’t really see if he is wearing a costume but we can call the detailing on the side of his face part of his costume. On the side of his face he has been written all over with certain words (some of them the titles of his own songs) and some of little images. This may be to promote those certain songs or could be a relation to the featured article. Some of the tattoos are some of his own original ones.  A few of them look as if they have been added using editing software. The whole detailing of the face also looks similar to the tattoos in which the American gangsters have to show status and life stories. The colouring of the black and red again is the contrasting colouring with the rest of the article. His is also a diamond earring in the ear which is on show this could be to show wealth and a bit of sparkle to the photograph.

  Lighting

The lighting is high key, as the photograph wants t show all the detailing on his face.  

Setting

We do not exactly know what the setting is but is more likely to be in a studio where the lighting can be adjusted to the correct amount.

This double spread does also include a quote like most others do; this may be taken from the interview. It has been enlarged and written in a natural hand writing style which may be the artists own.   

The strap line has all been written in capital letters and centred I feel this creates a nice effect so that its stands out, and makes the layout of the page look edgy.  

Some parts of the article at the beginning have been coloured in a red (such as the artist’s name) this has been done because they are important facts.

Target audience

Considering all of these points put together, the target audience for this double page spread is more likely to be young adults between the age range of 13-25. They would have a good knowledge of popular culture and have a high interest in hip hop music, and the industry surrounding it. They would probably have suitable reading skills and have and understanding of colloquial slang.

Music magazine front page textual analysis





T.I. Vibe Magazine



Denotation

The magazine cover consists of a colour photograph of a man who seems to be looking directly at the camera. It is a medium close up shot showing his head and shoulders. He looks to be standing up but we are not quite sure of this because he may be sitting down and we are just unable to see this because of the view which we are given. The background of the photograph is white, and the photograph covers the whole of the magazine cover. Behind the man is the Vibe Masthead, and in front of him there are four different cover-lines in black, red, gold and blue. The photographed man’s name is in black. The cover lines on the right of the page in black and gold are separated by the change in colour. As well as the ones in the small bordered box on in the left third the type is in two different colours black and blue, under this box is the barcode visible at the bottom. In the lower right third there is a bubble with red and black writing.

Masthead

Vibe masthead is very distinctive: it is a block red solid colour. The font used Arial Black font, after each letter of the word there is a space so that the word looks more spread out and creates an impact. The word ‘Vibe’ is written in this writing because of the origin of the magazine for hip hop music so this would need strong writing. The actual word ‘Vibe’ is an urban slang word known or connected with the noun rhythm and as well with any musical aspect or quality indicative of a genre mood or atmosphere. So the name ‘Vibe’ tells the audience that the magazine is music based.

Character

The cover photograph is of a popular American Hip hop/Rap artist ‘T.I.’.    



Composition

He is posed in actually a very casual way and seems to be a very relaxed photograph. His facial expression and the way he is standing with his head up and the big grin on his face, show that he wants to be shown as a very happy person and the cheesy grin is done to give the readers the cute “Aww” effect when looking at the cover picture.

Costume

His clothing is a white suit dinner jacket; with a white shirt and a black bow tie which has been undone which is the same with the first few buttons of his shirt. This outfit has been chosen carefully to appeal to the target audience of the magazine, which most likely is to be women. The style of the crisp white suite and bow tie is trying to give the image of the ‘Bachelor’ who knows how to dress well and likes to have fun.

NVC

His non verbal communication is very cute and quite cheesy but not overly so that it is as much as to be a turn off. His mouth is in a big grin to show his white teeth and he is looking directly at the camera.

Lighting

The lighting which they have used in this photo is high key lighting because it wants to give correspond and play against the bright whites in the photo and the black bow tie.

Setting

There is no setting in this photo and looks likely to be done in a studio and on a white background.

Cover lines

The main cover line that relates to the photograph “T.I: Has the last laugh”, the main cover line is a line which opens the readers mind to want to know why he has the last laugh. This also relates to the non verbal communication to why he is so smiley and looks to be laughing in the photo. The different cover lines tell us that the magazine does seem to focus on just one genre but we may be wrong and it may just be for this on of issue, but most likely it does just focus on one genre of music. Artists mentioned on the cover lines include T.I., Common, Marc Anthony, J.Lo, and Kevin Michael (there is a definite emphasis on American artists). We can also see that the way that the cover lines are written tell us that the magazine also looks at current news events aswell-e.g. “The confessions of Mayor Ray Nagin”.

Target audience  

Considering all the points and putting everything together, it is likely that the target audience would be people (male and female, but more likely to be a female audience than male) aged 20-40. They would have good knowledge of what was hot at the moment and what wasn’t, also a wide interest in mainly the music genres of R&B, Hip hop and rap. They are likely to maybe lower class or even middle class, maybe not particularly well read but they have a good interest in American urban music culture.





Main Coursework-Introduction

I have been asked to create a music magazine front page, contents page and a double page spread for a certain genre and audience of my own choice. I will record my progress on this blog.

How the magazine pages where made.

Front Cover

The first thing which I done to create my front page cover was to take an image for it, we had to choose some one which was in are media class to do this. We took these pictures using a camera which was provided to us by the college I decided to take my picture round the back of the college near the benches, with the secondary school which is close by in the background and the green gates in the background as well. My image was a medium close up shot showing the models head, shoulders and waist. The photo has nearly all the focus on the model and the background was out of focus to give the slight blurred effect. It was an important factor that in the photo the model was giving of good non verbal communication to attract the readers as well as looking intelligent and as if they attend college we can see this from his college pass being worn around his neck. 

After taking the image I transferred it into the Adobe Photoshop software, this is where I changed the size of the picture to take up the whole of the cover which will be A4 size.  Here I also wanted to make the image look more attractable so I played around with the exposure and brightness of the photo to also give more light to it.

My Masthead was the name of my magazine which is called ‘Aspire’; I decided to do this in a darker blue colour so that it stands out form the sky which is behind it. My cover lines are all in blues or white which both work well as complementary colours with the setting in which it was taken in as well as the blue t-shirt the model is wearing.  The last thing in which I done to make it look more like a magazine cover was to add a barcode to the lower left third of the page.   

Contents page

I did not spend too much time doing a contents page because we were told that it was not the most important thing that we need to focus on. What I done to create this contents page was to add a black background because of the fact that in my magazine I wanted to have a black, blue and white colour theme running through out. I also think that it works nice with the black background and the white writing it even gives a sense that I cut out the words. Because the magazine is an a college magazine the title saying contents page I decided to put them on post stick notes and again sticks with the education theme. A last minute decision was to add an image with I wanted to be simple and not stand out to much, so I choose simple image of a group of students then I changed the colour to black and white and posterized it as well this was all done on the Adobe Photoshop software.

My college magazine contents page

My Finished College magazine cover

College magazine cover Textual Analysis

The front cover of a college magazine is very important and the way it is designed has to be thought out carefully to draw in the certain audience that they want. Also on the front over it reveals some of the content which can be found inside of the magazine and also gives a slight taster. The most important reason why the front cover has to be done right is because if it is not done correctly then they may loose out on a wider audience.

Denotation

On the front cover of the magazine we can see that is a colour photograph of a man, which is holding books for law business and society and is looking directly at the camera. It is a medium shot showing his head, shoulders, arms and waist. He is standing up and the photo has been taken on which seems to be a black background, the photograph takes up the whole front of the magazine cover. Behind the man is a visible Masthead, and as well there are around nine separate over cover lines in white and yellow. There is also on the right hand side of the page a shape of a splash which is in a vibrant pink with again the yellow and white writing inside of it, a barcode is also visible in the lower left third of the cover.

Mise-en-scene

Costume His clothing is very simple and looks very casual and what a student would wear to college. He wears a white t-shirt, a black tailored military style jacket, dark jeans with a belt and a long thick chain around his neck.  The reason in which I think they have dressed him very casually is to state this is what a student would wear to college, the reason in which I think that chain was worn is because the magazine is trying to advertise there self to a certain group of people. Also to maybe correspond with one of the articles which is featured in the magazine ‘College Couture’.  

Props There are not many props used on the cover accept from the Law business and society book which the man is holding in his right hand, this is also a hint to remind the readers that this is a magazine aimed at college students.

Setting There is no setting the photo looks to have been take in a studio and take on a black back drop.

Lighting The lighting which looks to be used is very high key and the exposure looks to be very high on the man in the photo. But when looking at the back ground it looks to as if an spotlight has be used from the rounded light on out line on the black back drop.

NVC The non verbal communication is again very casual and he is not to over posed for the photo, he just has a very at ease slight smile on his face o show a friendly face to the readers.

Anchorage

The main cover live shows anchorage to the picture about who the man in the picture may be, an again to the ‘College Couture’ which connects with the way in which he is dressed.

Cover lines

The main cover line relates to the picture and does stand out from the others because of the size of the writing and the boldness of it so that it attracts the reader’s attention. The title is used to show that it is a college magazine and the cover lines are in a bright striking yellow to stand out from the image and background to attract the reader’s attention. The cover lines are all presented to the left and the right of the cover so that they do not attract any attention away from the main image.  

College magazine Cover research

Introduction.

My name is Rianne stephens-Jones and im in my first year of college at Christ the king Sixth form college, and i am doing an Media A level. I have set up this blog to record my coursework for media studies.
The task which we was first given to do was to create an college magazine front cover and contents page, for an college student audience.