Front Cover Of A Music Magazine Textual Analysis 3.

On the cover of this 'The Source' magazine we can see a image of The Game who is being represented in a suicidal manner. The image of him holding a gun to his neck with his face scrunched up is very suggestive that he is going to kill himself. The use of the gun as well as the tattoos we can see that The Game has is very stereotypical of gangs but also stereotypical of R'n'B style music. The image relates well back to the main headline which reads 'The Game - Suicide is not an option' this headline could be suggestive of the idea that whatever hasn't been going well for him in the music industry can not be solved by suicide which is a rather strong message that is being put forward to the audience. Also, considering people that listen to that particular style of music would look up to successful artists such as 'The Game' as a role model, they would take on board what he has said. The background of the image looks as thought it a concrete type of wall giving off a very hard and solid image.

The colours used for this magazine cover as far as the text is concerned all relate well back to the main headline as the colour red connotes the idea of violence and blood, the colours are also bold and eye catching gripping the attention of the audience. The font used on the front cover of this magazine is very bold and strong which relates back to the idea of the R'n'B style music that the magazine covers.

The camera shot that has been used is a medium close up which draws attention to the expression on the artists face and also the range of tattoos that he has which are connotational of the R'n'B genre.

In this Source magazine, I believe that the target audience would be of the age 20 - 24 and more directed at males rather than females due to the fact that it is more of a hard style magazine and not as casual and laid back as Vibe magazine.

Front Cover Of A Music Magazine Textual Analysis 2.

The image on the cover of this VIBE magazine breaks from the typical, conventional images of magazine covers. The image has been taken in close up rather than a mid shot which in this case is being used to exaggerate the emotion on Kanye West's face in order to back up the main cover line 'Kanye West - I Am Rap'. The expression on his face has what seems to be a very confident and possibly 'cocky' look to it. The costume we can see is very minimal but appears to be a grey jumper with a blue collar which is very casual. Also, the idea that Kayne West is looking directly at the camera makes it more personal towards the audience allowing them to feel more involved.

The colours that are used on the cover of this magazine are all very bright and eye catching. The neon blue colour of the text on the magazine is similar to that of the blue colour on his collar which provides a house style as well as connoting the idea of 'party time' along with the neon pink that we can also see on the cover of the magazine. The colours that are used suggest that the genre of music the magazine is based on is very party like. The text used is very bold and simple which is easy to read and also has an impact on the reader due to the fact that it is bold and 'in your face'.

The cinematography used in this image is fairly basic as it is just a straight on shot in close up of Kanye West which like mentioned earlier is used to emphasise the expression on his face.

The intended target audience for this magazine would more than likely be males from the age of 16 to 24 that like Kayne West and RnB music. I believe that this magazine front cover captures this target audience due to the colours used and the general laid back feel that the magazine produces for its readers.

Front Cover Of A Music Magazine Textual Analysis 1.

On the front cover of this 'Vibe' magazine, Usher is being represented in a way that is connotational of war. The army/pilot type costume he is wearing as well as the aviator sunglasses and the helmet he is carrying are all stereotypical of war and people in the army which produces the ideology of war and battle. The use of the mid shot gives the impression that Usher is walking towards the camera and towards the audience. In the background we can see what appears to be a fighter plane, this and the fact Usher is in the pilot costume holding a helmet suggests to the audience that he is has just emerged from the plane. The location appears to be in a rural area as we can see trees and greenery and can clearly see the landscape as well as the sky and the sun. This image and the idea of war is backed up by the main cover line in which reads 'Usher - There is no competition'. The fact that this has appeared on the cover of a music magazine connotes the idea that Usher believes there is no competition with his music and that of other artists.

The colours used on this front cover for the typography all connote the idea of danger and hazard. The black and yellow we see is very commonly used for hazardous products or buildings that in danger of collapsing etc. The fact they have used these colours represent the fact that Usher is a hazards to the music world and the other artists.The font used for the masthead is very bold and set behind the image which is done because people that purchase this magazine wouldn't need to see the full masthead to know what magazine it is. The font used for the cover lines is also fairly bold but not to the extreme of the masthead.

The mid shot we see appears to have a central focus on the stomach of Usher which allows him to look a great deal bigger then he actually is. This produces the idea that he is a giant in the music world which anyone that follows him will know that he is a very successful artist. Also, Usher is set in the foreground which makes him look a great deal bigger than the plan that is set behind him.

The target audience for this magazine front cover would be males in the age range of 16 - 24 who like usher and also like RnB. This magazine could also attract a female audience if the also like Usher for different reasons to that of a male audience.

Music Genre.

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music.

R&B

My genre choice for my music magazine is going be R&B.

Contemporary R&B (also known as simply R&B) is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, R&B, and soul music.

Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in the 1980s. Some sources refer to the style as urban contemporary (the name of the radio format that plays hip hop and contemporary R&B). R&B has also been used to refer to rhythm & bass although the accuracy of this abbreviation is open to debate seeing that bass forms part of a rhythm along with the drums.

The reason I have decided upon choosing this music genre is because I like certain parts of this music and I also believe that taking images for my magazine using this type of genre will be interesting and different.

Conventions Of A Music Magazine - Taken From Q Magazine.

Masthead: The masthead tends to be big and bold which usually stands out from the background of the magazine. They are all visually branded in different ways due to different colour schemes and titles. The colour of the title on the Q magazine is red and white, the red connotes excitement and also stands out on the page attracting people's attention and draws them in due to the boldness of the colour.

Dateline: Music magazines all have the month and year that they came out as well as the issue number which allows potential buyers to be able to know which issue they need and whether they have bought it or not. This never takes up a large part of the cover and is just a small informative section.

Main Image: This tends to be one big image that takes up the majority of the page usually a hit artist or a band that has made news or made a come back or even bought out a new album. The band always relates to the theme of the magazine i.e. rock, pop, r'n'b, punk, hip hop. On the Q magazine the image is of U2 which tells the audience that they are the main storyline in the magazine and could also connote a rock theme but Q magazine covers a vast range of music types so it changes with each issue.

Cover lines: Cover lines are used to inform the audience what has been covered in the magazine usually other stories apart from the anchorage. The text is usually bold and colourful but doesn't take the attention of the main headline and is used to inform people whats has been covered in the magazine which could attract them if they admire a certain person in the magazine but if they didn't like them they could also avoid the magazine.

Main Cover Line: The main cover line (or anchorage) relates back to the main image. The main cover line is the biggest story that is in the magazine which is different in every issue of the magazine. It is usually information about a music artist for example if they have released a new album or if rumours have been spread that they are going to split up. In the Q magazine I have looked at the Main Cover Line is "U2 ARE BACK" which would make the target audience buy it to find out what they are back from

Bar code: Every music magazine has a bar code which tends to contain the information about the date of the magazine and the price.

Selling Line: Most music magazines have a selling line such as 'Live Life Loud' which is the selling line of Kerrang. Magazines such as Q do not have selling lines.

Conventions of The Brief.

- Front Cover
- Contents Page
- Double Page Spread
(must produce 3 different textual analysis posts for each of the above)

Front Page: Main image, masthead (title, ideology which represents the magazine genre), cover lines, left third, banner headlines (gives main anchorage and anchors the meaning of the image), selling lines, tag line (sums up editional philosophy), bar code, price and date, puffs (advertises something on the magazine i.e. competitions) and kickers (explanatory line for the main banner).

Contents Page: Masthead (contents), page numbers, images, headlines, features and regulars (features are specific to the edition whereas regulars are regular to the magazine.

Double Page Spread: Domineering image, headline, story which relates to the main cover line on the front page - provides continuity throughout out the magazine.

L.I.I.A.R Interpretation of The Brief.

Language: Media language refers to various conventions of magazines which include camera angles, colour codes, conventions, layout or 'splash' and house style (the look of the magazine).

Institution: Institutions are any company that creates or produces media texts. Examples of these are Q magazine, NME and Mix Mag. The institution also contains the publishers of the magazines and what they are involved with.

Ideology: Ideology is a dominant set of ideas which present themselves as a common sense or truth. Power relations are reinforced through ideology. This also contains the idea of moral values and what message the magazine holds such as NME(enemy of main stream music which we interpret through the name and how it sounds) connotation of the mast head. Q - quality music magazine. Duel cover magazines are also sometimes used to attract a wider range of audience. Synergy (different aspects of media which promote each other) Ideology is also seen to be aspirational and the image of the magazine reflects the genre.

Audience: A collective group of people reading/watching/listening to any type of media. Every part of media also has a target audience that they have in mind which they appeal to by having certain themes or story lines that would attract the intended audience. Audience also covers age, gender, type, social class and defines the target audience. We can define social class with audience by breaking it down into the social status:
- A = upper middles class i.e. doctors.
- B = middle class i.e. teachers.
- C1 = lower middle class i.e. police officers.
- C2 = skilled working class i.e. plumbers.
- D = working class i.e. manual workers.
- E = underclass i.e. casual labourers, unemployed or students.

Representation: How the image, setting, text and themes are shown to the audience and how they see it. This is done by referring to the theme of the media text and having the images, setting and text relate back to it. Representation also covers the idea of target audience, the central image on the splash, the music behind the magazine (how the name of the magazine reflects the music genre). This also goes on to represent the music genre and the ideology.

The Brief.

Main Task: Produce the front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images must be original, produced by you. Must have a minimum of four images.

Evaluation.

After researching and analysing several different college magazine covers, I decided to produce the idea of having a magazine based on a fresh start and decided to make the magazine the first issue in order to create the sense of continuity with the idea of a fresh start and a new fresh magazine.

Upon analysing college magazine covers, I came to notice several different conventions in which each one included. The masthead was big, bold, colourful ad stood out from the page which was also accompanied by a main image which was generally of a student. The image always related to the main cover line which is the case with every magazine so I decided to carry on the idea of doing this as it only made sense. Other cover lines that were found on the front covers where sometimes accompanied by small animations or small images which I believed was a good way of introducing colour and excitement into the front cover.

Taking my idea into consideration, I produced a plan on Microsoft publisher in order to create a vague idea of the layout of my front cover. After this, I went on to take several pictures which I then narrowed down to just three in which I thought gave the impression of a new start to the audience best.

After narrowing down my pictures to just these three, I then went on to choose the picture in which there is only one student stood in front of the college building. I decided to use this particular image as I felt it was more capable of putting across the idea of a new, happy and fresh start. If I was to retake the pictures, one particular aspect I would change would be the fact that there are no other people in the background. I believe if the image had other students in the background all sat talking, it would give of the impression of the college being a sociable and happy place whereas in the image used the college looks empty.

After selecting the image I went on to alter the lighting and vibrancy of the colours by using a picture editing website called ‘Picnik’. On this website after altering the image, I then went on to add the text onto the front cover which made it feel more like a magazine before I had finished it. I then uploaded the front cover onto paint which is where I went on to add the barcode as well as the information bar across the bottom.

The target audience I aimed for was new students that had just started the college. I believe I achieved this due to the image used as well as the choice of headlines and colours which all major factors of creating a teenage magazine that looked interesting to read as well as giving off a happy impression.

Magazine Front Cover.

Contents Page Mock.

Front Cover Mock.