Analysis 2 - Double Page Spread (MOJO)

This is an another example of a double page spread of a music magazine, this time, MOJO. Again, it follows the same conventions what other magazines I have looked at do.


In terms of Media language, it has a main image of "the Go-Betweens", which takes up most of the left hand page. Additionally, you have the title, which is the name of the artist in this case. However, there is one distinct difference between this one and the last Kerrang Magazine which I analyzed. This one has much more to read than the Kerrang double page. However, a good magazine should have pages which are mainly pictures, and then pages which have long articles. A good mix of the two.         


The Institution is a commercial institution, MOJO, which also has a radio station and a website. Therefore, the expectation would be high of the audience for some good material in the magazine, as MOJO is an established institution. It would rely heavily, however, on commercial revenue.    


The ideology behind this page is to promote the band, "the go-betweens". Therefore, it has a large picture of them, a bold title that stands out; the idea been that the audience will instantly recognize it as that particular group.


The Audience for this page would be people that like the go-betweens, or who have perhaps heard about it. However, it could also be people who haven't heard about them so it has to appeal to newcomers, with the text broken down and images scattered around. In other words, it has a good graphological style.




                            

Analysis 1 - Double Page Spread (Kerrang)

This is an example of a double page spread from Kerrang Music Magazine.

The Media Language on here instantly tells us that this page is based on rock. Firstly, this is because of all the images, which all have connotations of rock (I will explain about this in more detail later). Secondly, we know it's based on rock because it say's, 'kerrang week of rock' in the top right hand corner.

The institution of Kerrang is that it is a commercial music magazine, which makes it's money out of advertising. This page, I acknowledge, doesn't have any advertising on it, but other pages will. Kerrang also has a radio station and even a TV music channel so it's a pretty big institution.

The Audience for this particular page is of course rock lovers; people who like that genre of music.It will be predominantly males, as you don't get many female rockers. But also, you can tell that this is for males because it's only used images of males on it.

The main image has many connotations with rock, and he has being represented as a rock artist. The picture has being taken from a low angle, which introduces superiority to the images meaning. These are just a very few of the conscious decisions that the photographer makes when taking the image.

The ideology behind these two pages is to promote rock music.

Layout of a double page spread

This is an example of the layout of a double page spread of a magazine.You can see that it has a basic layout, with lots of pictures, well organised text in columns, and headings and subheadings. Not only that, but it looks like something you would want to read or scan through. This is because of the variety of fonts and colours this page has. In other words, it's not just good to read, but it's good to look at. Purposely, I chose a double page spread which can't be read (because of the size), however, it's still instantly recognisable as magazine layout.

Basically, all magazine spreads follow a similar layout design. There is a particular way to go about creating a magazine spread and that is what I will need to consider when creating my own music magazine.

Analysis 3- MOJO

The audience for this magazine is prodominantly males, who like rock music. It is people that find rock music interesting and want to know all the latest about it. You can easily tell that this is a rock magazine by looking at the main image and title, which is clearly a rock band.

The institution for this magazine is Mojo, which is the sister magazine of Q. Q radio is aimed at people who read mojo and people who read q. It's a mix of both!
Again, like most music magazine's, it's commercial which means it gets it's money from advertising revenue. This is instantly recognizable because of the barcode.

The ideology of this magazine is to tell the readers about rock music, and the whole sort of 'rock and roll' genre.

The language for the front cover  has a lot of rock related words and obviously the names of rock bands and stars. You've also got the phrase "they rock out, they have fun" which furthens the whole rock and roll idea.

Finally, this magazine represents rock music in a positive way. Specifically on the front cover, Led Zeppelin are represented as confident musicians serious about music. Also the fact that they are looking down at you  makes it seem slightly intimidating on the audience, and makes them seem much higher class and very successful.

Analysis 2 - Q Magazine

Firstly, the language for this magazine is positive about music. Like all magazines, it has a main heading and a main image as well as a number of other subheadings and images which communicate to the audience that this is a music magazine intended for people who like music.

The Institution is Q, which also has a website, as well as a radio station. Therefore, it's already a pretty wide institution. You can instantly recognise that this is a commercial magazine because of the fact that it has a barcode. The barcode tells us that people pay for this magazine and so it is sold in shops. Therefore, the institution is there to make a profit. It also makes a profit from advertising revenue in the magazine.

The ideology behind this magazine front cover is to tell the you about the latest music, providing extensive reviews on the latest albums and singles. It also has interviews with the latest music based 'celebs'. The magazine is going to make out music to be a good thing as it is aimed at music fans, however, as a magazine, it has the right to to make any criticism's it wishes to make.

The Audience for this magazine is people who like to be very up to date with the latest music, as well as all the latest gossip that comes with it. People who buy the magazine will also be very likely to listen to the radio station that the institution provides too. Because this magazine has Madonna on the front, it would suggested that the magazine is aimed at women, as very little men actually listen to Madonna's music. Therefore, the artist(s) on the front are very important as they suggest who should read the magazine.

Finally, the magazine represents music in a positive way. Specifically on this front cover, Madonna is represented to look all glamorous, and at the same time, very focussed and confident, which could be associated with her latest single. If she was dressed in bright clothes, jumping on a trampoline or something, you'd get a completely different idea about her. Also, she stands out more because she's the main image and she has been placed over the logo

Analysis 1 - NME

On the Cover, the language is pretty straight forward, as it would be on a front cover. You have a heading and then a sub heading. The language is also quite positive, and makes out indie music in particular to be a good thing. It also uses the names of artists on the front, as these are the main features which will attract the audience in.

The ideology is that it needs to inform people about the latest bands. Just by looking at this front cover, you can see the names of numerous artists, which are what will attract the readers in. However, the NME is quite different to most magazines. The NME is a "indie" style magazine looking for the next big thing. In other words, it considers itself serious about music. Although it features well known and established artists, it also features 'new' artists who aren't very popular, don't have chart topping hits and are not considered commercially successful.

The Institution is NME, which makes the magazine. This particular magazine, like many others of it's type, is commercial. This means that it will make a lot of its money from advertising revenue. The more adverts which are in the magazine, the cheaper it will be for the buyer

The audience for this magazine is people that genuinenly love music. However, the NME is specifically aimed at people who like artists that are not exactly in the spotlight yet. The specific target audience for this magazine is men aged 15 -24. In addition, 80% of these readers believe that music is an important part of their lifes. These statistics show that the NME know their target audience inside out, and so they can produce a magazine relevant to their target audience.

Finally, the magazine represents music, specifically indie music. The bands and artists that the NME often features are not very well known, and the NME represents these artists in a positive way, claiming that they could well be the next 'big' thing.

Front Cover Layout - What have I learnt?

These are examples of just two magazines I have looked at, even thought I have looked at an array of others. I have found out they all follow the same conventions. 

1) They have an image that really stands out from the page. They make it stand out further by putting it against a light background and cutting it out and placing it partially over text or the logo of the magazine. This is especially true with the Kerrang magazine. The main picture is covering up half of the logo, yet you still recognize that it is Kerrang. This is because it is a well established institution which people have heard of, so as long as you can see part of the logo, people will know it is that magazine.

2) Both of the magazines, as well as many others I have looked at have at least one banner running across the top or the bottom. The banner gives the reader extra information about what is inside the magazine such as posters, reviews and competitions. It also may have a slogan on it.

3) Both of the magazines have similar positioning of the logo. They are both at the top of the magazine front cover, and usually on the left hand side. This is a typical convention of a magazine front cover mainly because it is easier to find the magazine in a shop if they are stacked in the usual way.

4) The magazine covers have a main title, which is always related to the main image. This is usually short and brief, and gives you a good indication to what the rest of that particular magazine article is about. With the title, there is nearly always a subtitle, which basically gives you extra information about that story.

5) There are also a number of other stories 'scattered' around the page, along with relevant pictures and subtitles.

6) Also, I have noticed that all of these magazines have a particular colour scheme, which helps the magazine look better visually.

Layout of a Music Magazine

Below are 2 examples of music magazines. I have annotated them to show how they have both been put together and to show the conventional elements that they include.

LIIAR - The KEY concepts of ANY media product!

LIIAR covers the key concepts of media, and is useful for analyzing, creating and evaluating media products. The Letters stand for language, ideology, institution, audience and representation, all of which I have explained about below.

Language - The Language is the particular terminology used in a media product. It has to be relevant to the audience that the product is intended for. For example, a music magazine will include specific music terms relevant to readers of music magazine. A car magazine will include specific terminology aimed at people interested in cars. So not only is the language relevant to the audience, but it has to fit in with the genre of the magazine.

Ideology - This is basically the ideas, beliefs and values behind a Media product. The ideas behind a car magazine is to inform the audience about new cars, and any other information about transport. The idea behind a music magazine is to tell the audience about new bands, new albums, recent gigs and gossip to name a few. You could say it's a sort of theme.


Institution -  The institution is who controls the production process, who who makes money out of the magazine. In short, it is any company or organization associated with the media product. After all, one of the key things about the media is to make money. This is true in commercial magazine, where you will find that a significant proportion of the magazine is taken up by adverts, which are aimed specifically at the readers of the magazine. In return, the advertisers pay the magazine institution a lot of money for showing their advert.


Audience - The audience (or target audience) is simply who the media product (magazine) is aimed at. For example, a music magazine is aimed at people that genuinely love music. It is vital that the producers of a media product know their target audience inside out. This is because they need to know what the audience wants from a magazine, so they can design it appropriately to their need's, and include specific content and language related to the audience.

Representation - This is predominantly what the magazine represents, and more importantly, how it represents this. For example, a music magazine will want to represent music in a positive way, and make it sound like it is the talking point of the moment. A car magazine is aimed at people who like cars, so it's not going to represent them in a negative way. It's going to talk about the positives.



I will be using LIIAR throughout my coursework to demonstrate my understanding of these concepts. I will use it in all of my analysis, and apply it to my planning. I will also talk about it in my final evaluation.

The 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.