Contents Page Photoshoot

These are the photos I liked best from my photoshoot:

1. Radio / Hi-Fi

After I'd 'smart fixed' both photos on photoshop and changed the brightness + contrast, I decided that the first photo (without flash) looked better, so I lassoed out the background and colour filtered it to light blue:

2. Many CDs

Out of these two photos I chose the first one as it came out less blurry than the other one. I also 'smart fixed' this photo to make it even less blurry, and I adjusted the brightness + contrast because without flash it appeared a bit too dark:

3. Classic Guitar

Even though in the planning for the photoshoot I said that I would not use flash for this photo, I found that there was not enough natural lighting to make the image look bright enough. I also decided to experiment with different angles as I thought that this would make the contents page look more interesting. In the end I thought that the second picture looked best on the page as it also filled more space, so I used the 'Magnetic Lasso Tool' to get rid of the background:

Contents Page Photoshoot Plan

Front Cover

I decided that the house colours for my magazine would be purple, pink and blue after carrying out my questionnaire. I therefore mostly used these colours when creating my front cover. With my cover lines, I made the kickers a different colour from the explanatory text because I had seen this done in other magazines. It also made the page more colourful, which related to the genre of 'FUSE' which is mostly pop. Pop is usually associated with multicolour / technicolour (see Mood Board). I feel that the masthead font links in well to modern music theme, so I kept it for the sell line and date because they were close to the masthead.

I managed to give the button the pattern of the union jack using Adobe Photoshop. I feel that the colours of the flag provide a bright, eye-catching contrast to the other colours used on the page.

I also used Photoshop to make the model in the picture's head come over the masthead. I used this technique because many popular magazines do it because they are already so well known that they are recognisable even if part of their masthead is hidden. I wanted this idea to be created on my front page.

I rotated the barcode and put it on the side of the page so that it would not fill up the space needed for my cover lines and so that the right hand side of the page would not be too empty.

In my cover lines I included buzz words such as 'EXCLUSIVE' and 'WIN!' to attract the reader. I also used the words 'SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK n ROLL' in my main coverline because this kind of language will appeal to my target audience- young adults.

I made some slight changes to my mock up. Instead of putting the date underneath the sell line I decided to put it on top of the masthead as I felt this took up less space.

However, all the coverlines are positioned as explained in the mock up. I placed the main coverline in the bottom right corner because I thought it looked good there and I saw this done frequently in other magazines such as 'Marie Claire':

Front Cover Photoshoot

Front Cover Photoshoot Plan

Double Page Spread Presentation

Questionnaire

I chose a wide variety of questions so that most aspects of my magazine front cover could be based on the preferences of the people questioned, who are also the target audience of my magazine (teenagers-young adults). I got ideas for questions from looking at examples of questionnaires other people had made before. I also thought of the conventions of magazine front covers such as the masthead and sticking to house colours and asked relevant questions. I looked at other magazines when planning my front cover so that I could get realistic options. For example, when asking what price would be the most reasonable, I put prices that I knew were realistic for a magazine, which were in between £1 and £3, rather than giving exagerrated prices like £10 or 1p.

Front Cover Mock Up

Front Cover Analysis

Rolling Stone and Q magazine are both music magazines. While Rolling Stone is designed to target younger, teenage audiences, Q is aimed at quite an older audience. This is obvious mainly because of the model featured on the front cover, which is Madonna. Madonna is 50 years old and therefore middle aged women can relate to her and will be more inclined to buy the magazine. Rolling Stone, on the other hand, has a relatively young model- Britney Spears, who is 27. She has much more in common with younger people, and so the magazine will appeal more to teenagers.

Q magazine seems to be aimed mostly at women, firstly because the Madonna is a big female figure and secondly because some cover lines suggests that the magazine is inclusive to women- ‘WOMEN IN MUSIC’ is a feature clearly aimed at women only. However, although Rolling Stone also has a female model, it doesn’t seem to be inclusive or exclusive to any gender. The inside stories, such as ‘How the democrats screwed the anti-war movement’ are not aimed at solely women or solely men, it is a general issue that both genders may be interested in.

By looking at these front covers it is obvious that there are going to be articles on the models featured as they are the main cover lines of the magazine. On both front covers there is a list of artist. This shows that they too will have articles in the magazine. The two front covers are very different. While Q, like a typical magazine, is crammed with cover lines, buttons, banners and promises, Rolling Stone is a lot simpler. The main focus for this issue is clearly Britney Spears, as other than her as the main cover line there is only a list of names and a small banner in the corner of the page to keep the focus on Britney’s photo. The banner is to do with the anti-war movement and politics, which has nothing to do with music and shows that Rolling Stone is quite a varied magazine in terms of content, appealing to a wider audience while Q magazine tends to revolve solely around music. This means that it has a more select audience and is more inclusive to people with musical interests.

The mode of address used in Q is very direct towards the audience. It uses phrases such as ‘AS VOTED BY YOU’, making it more personal to the reader. The magazine does this to create some kind of attachment to the reader. It also uses informal language (e.g. ‘Stupid Question! Next!’) to make the magazine more familiar and also attract a younger audience who is not looking for very serious articles. The mode of address used in Rolling Stone is very different to this. It is more detached as it does not make any direct connection to the reader other than appealing to their emotions by using a clearly sad model and the cover line ‘BRITNEY SPEARS // INSIDE AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY’. The magazine looks a lot more serious than Q- it is in black and white and the few other cover lines are written very factually and in a neat list. However, there is some informal language clearly meant to appeal to a younger audience in the banner: ‘HOW THE DEMOCRATS SCREWED THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT’. This relieves some of the seriousness in the rest of the front cover.

The main cover line for Q is ‘…ALL INTERVIEW MADONNA ‘Stupid Question! Next!’’. The name ‘Madonna’ is written in very big font and goes across the whole page. This implies that she is a very famous and iconic artist. The quote: ‘Stupid Question! Next!’ also gives the message that she is not very serious as she is using informal language; this image will attract younger readers. The main cover line for Rolling Stone is ‘BRITNEY SPEARS // INSIDE AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY’. This implies that the artist featured has had some problems and that they were very big as they used the words ‘American Tragedy’, meaning that the issue was known nationally and is relevant to the country’s people. The word ‘Inside…’ was used, suggesting that the magazine has detailed information on this popular story. All this will attract more readers to buy the magazine as it will arouse interest into the story.

Q magazine uses some buzz words to attract readers. For example with ‘FREE INSIDE’, ‘FREE’ would be the buzz word. It promises the reader more than just a magazine for the same price, perhaps guaranteeing him/her more than other magazines it is in competition with. This persuades the reader to buy the magazine. Rolling Stone, however, does not have any buzz words as it is a more solemn front cover for a more serious issue. The effect of this on the reader is that he/she will focus more on the main cover line and on the most important article dominating the magazine.

The design of Q’s masthead is very simple. Although it is quite hard to tell, it looks more serif than sans-serif. This type of font is the most formal, suggesting that the magazine is quite serious. Since I know that this is not the case, the effect of the masthead’s font is that it suggests class and some kind of sophistication. This idea is reinforced by the fact that the magazine is so expensive (£3.90) and that the title is a very basic 1 letter Q (instead of a longer, more creative name). The plain design of a white ‘Q’ on a red background suggests that the rest of the magazine will have a simple layout and colour design, and that the house colours will be red and white. Simple, sophisticated mastheads rather than colourful ones in decorative fonts will appeal more to an older audience with quieter tastes. The masthead is also quite an unconventional one for a magazine as it is so small and is in the left hand corner of the page rather than expanding the length of the top of the page as most magazines do.

The actual title of Rolling Stone is very different to the one letter Q. It is a longer title and takes up the length of the cover as is conventional for a magazine’s front page. It also gives the magazine some meaning, whereas the name Q’s significance is very ambiguous and unexplained. The name Rolling Stone has a direct link to music as it is very similar to the famous band ‘The Rolling Stones’. Since this band was a rock band, it can be assumed that the magazine is mostly rock-orientated. The genre of rock appeals to a middle aged to young audience, attracting a large number of people but excluding the elderly and young children who do not usually take an interest in this type of music. The font of the masthead is bright red, suggesting that the style of the magazine is quite loud and colourful. The serif font gives the magazine quite a classy image and also quite a lot of status, just like Q.

Unlike many other magazines, Q has only two clear theme colours- red and white, and these are the only ones used for all of the text on the front cover. By sticking to these two colours the magazine becomes more recognisable on the shelves. The bright red with the white, which contrasts against the dark background, also makes the magazine stand out more. I find the colour red quite attractive, but I think that its use on this front cover is to make is as eye catching as possible. The banner is in a grey colour, which draws attention to it because it is different from the other colours being used on the page. The button is in the colours of the British flag, which shows that the magazine’s target audience is British and also attracts interest. Other techniques that Q uses to attract readers are to put a big promotional banner in a contrasting colour with the buzz word ‘FREE’. It also uses an eye catching promise in the upper left hand corner. It is eye catching because it also uses a contrasting colour and it has a shadow to make it come out from the page more.

The Rolling Stone front cover for this particular issue is not very colourful at all. The only bright colour used is for the masthead as this is its usual colour, while the rest of the text is either white or light yellow. The main image is in black and white, making the page quite solemn. The magazine is aiming to create a serious, slightly sad mood on the front cover to match the main story which is Britney Spears’ ‘tragedy’. This makes the magazine appealing as it is a special edition of the usually more colourful magazine. This will arouse interest and attract people to the magazine. Another technique that the magazine uses to attract the audience is to include a banner over the masthead. The contrasting colour used and the fact that it is on top of the title makes it stand out and attracts attention. By listing the bands and artists featured in a clear and structured manner the reader can easily recognise someone they are interested in and this will attract them to the magazine. Q magazine also uses this technique.

Q magazine’s sell line is ‘Britain’s Biggest Music Magazine’. This acts like a guarantee to the audience that they are buying a popular, good quality music magazine, because they are interpreting the sell line as meaning that Q is Britain’s best music magazine. The sell line tells me that the music magazine is an important one in the UK, and to do this it has probably been around for quite a long time.

Rolling Stone does not have a strapline. This could mean that the magazine has already established a good name for itself, and is well known enough to sell well without having to include many persuasive techniques. This would also explain the lack of coverlines and simplicity of the front cover.

Double Page Spread Analysis

1) How does the choice of band featured in the article suggest who the target audience will be?
One of the double page spreads in NME magazine is on ‘Empire Of The Sun’. This new band has just released their debut single and their genre is fantasy pop. The fact that this band is still obscure suggests that the magazine tends to focus more on these kinds of artists rather than more popular ones. This could mean that the target audience is one very interested in music rather than simple celebrity gossip. The target audience is also a young one, from around 12 to 25, because this band’s genre is very contemporary and modern, and therefore youthful. The magazine is not meant for older audiences because the type of music it focuses on is not suited to them like classical music would be.
The second double page spread is on the ‘White Lies’. This band is also quite obscure and its genre is ‘morbid’-rock. The fact that this genre is so different from the previous band’s shows that the magazine is aimed at people with an interest in varied genres and not one specific one, like Kerrang. This genre of music also appeals to young audience.

2) What type of language is used in the article? Give examples of words or phrases which are specific to the style of the magazine +
6) What tone is the magazine using when addressing the reader (as a close friend, a member of an 'in' crowd or an informed intelligent fan?) - provide evidence
The form of address used in the article for ‘Empire of the Sun’ is very varied. It starts off with a fantastical narrative: “Once upon a time in faraway place in the East…”. This language is slightly mystical, like the band. The form of address then changes from direct, when the writer is speaking directly to the audience: “If you’ve seen…” to indirect, when the language is more factual and informative. I find that this variety makes the read more interesting. Generally though, the type of words and language used is colloquial, especially when quoting, for example “I heard prog rock referred to as fart in a jar recently”. This type of language is specific to the magazine, which is never afraid of offending anyone and is not very serious- you will often find slang and swear words in the articles featured.
The article on the ‘White Lies’ double page spread uses mostly an indirect form of address. Being in the same magazine as the ‘Empire of the Sun’ spread the language used is very similar- it is not to serious and makes some jokes- “a fruity bass voice that a) shouldn’t really belong to a 20-year old and b)…” but it is also factual and informative. It uses quotes from the band to make the tone of the article more conversational and to give the reader a portrayal of the band, because this, along with details on the artist/s is the purpose of the double page spreads in the ‘New Noise’ section of NME.
Both articles use the same tone- the language they use is friendly as the magazine is not afraid of offending anyone. This friendly tone is created by not using too much formal language and making the language quite conversational and at times direct “When you think of White Lies…” This tone makes the mood less serious, which it needs to be because NME is a music magazine for young adults who will not want the article to be too formal. The tone also makes the writer seem like an informed fan because the articles show the artists in a positive light and also give a lot of information on them. “The band are getting 15,000-plus MySpace hits a day and are currently living the dream”.

3) How is colour used?
For the ‘Empire of the Sun’ article, the image is both a photograph and an illustration. This makes the image look more cartoon-like, and the bright colours and extravagant costumes add a feeling of fantasy to the page. This was all done to create the band’s theme, which is fantasy pop, on the page. The illustration in the background of the image is of wildlife in a reddish landscape. This is to make the picture relate to the band’s nationality which is Australia.
Other than in the main image, colour is also used in other areas such as for the slug and the drop cap. The shapes and colours are the same- they all use squares and pink, purple and black. By doing this the magazine is creating a theme colour for that page and that section of the magazine, which is ‘New Noise’. This is because the same colours and shapes are used in all the other articles of the same subject, such as the ‘White Lies’ article.
The ‘White Lies’ article does not use much other colour on the spread. The colours in the main image are very dull, quite dark and the band is dressed in black. This gloomy look is used to make the spread relevant to the band as their genre is morbid rock, quite a dark kind of music.

4) What style of text is used? Is it similar to any other pages? What does it say about the image of the magazine and the audience?
The style of text used in both the double page spreads is the same as the one used in all the other pages under the ‘New Noise’ section. Everything, including the slug, title and text is in exactly the same font as in all the other spreads. This makes the magazine easier to read as articles under the same subject are grouped in this way and are easily recognisable. However, it does not give away the genre of music of the artist featured and does not contribute to the mood of the spread. The reader has to rely on colour and images for this. Also making the spread easier to read is the serif font used for the text and the sans-serif font used for the title. This is the typical convention for a magazine as it is the clearest font layout to use. Sans-serif is also used on the pull quote which is in a larger font than the rest of the text. This font is used because it is more eye-catching on large text, and the pull quote is meant to attract the attention of the reader.

5) How is the double page spread laid out? RULE OF THIRDS How much of the pages are taken up by images and how much by text? How does this reflect the audience? What do they value?
For both double page spreads, the picture takes up a whole page and part of the second page. The large image makes the spread more appealing and eye-catching. This shows that the audience is very interested in the image of the band and of the magazine. They want to know how they dress, perhaps what objects / instruments they use / like and the way they portray themselves. Their genre, or the mood of their music, can usually be easily determined just by looking at the image (for example, for ‘Empire of the Sun’ it is quite clear that their music is some kind of colourful / fantastical pop because of all the colour, eccentric clothing and illustrations) which means that this is something the readers care about knowing. This could mean that the target audience is quite superficial- the text is in very small font so the reader will mostly judge whether or not they want to read the article by the image on the spread. The pages are very structured and look neat and attractive, meaning that they do not confuse or repel the reader.
For the ‘White Lies’ photo, the rule of thirds is used very clearly. Since the band is made up of three people they all fit into one third and are kept in the centre of the page. This makes them look quite powerful and interesting and puts the focus on the band members rather than anything else that might appear in the photo. The person in the centre takes up the most space and is more in the foreground, showing that he is the leader of the band. The lead of ‘Empire of the Sun’ is also more in the foreground. This technique is used a lot as it makes the status of each band member more obvious and makes everything clearer to the reader. For ‘Empire of the Sun’’s image, the rule of thirds is also used to make the photo more interesting, but since there are only two members of this band, both the men’s faces are put exactly on the two crosses on the grid. This makes their faces, which are full of expression, the main focus of the picture.
Both spreads have quite an unconventional layout- the picture is quite a lot bigger than usual and there is usually some text wrapping, while here the article and the image are clearly separated. By going against conventions NME is making its pages more interesting, and this could show that the audience likes originality and new ideas. However, eye flow is still created on both spreads. The ‘Empire of the Sun’ spread creates a C-line, meaning that when you look at the spread the eye tends to move from the top right corner of the right page to the centre of the left page and finally to the exit in the bottom right corner of the right page. The ‘White Lies’ also creates a C-line from the slug on the right page to the faces on the left page to the exit point on the right page. By creating C-lines, the magazine is facilitating eye-flow on the pages, making reading easier. If the pages were too busy and unstructured the reader might be less inclined to read the spread because it was too confusing.

7) How is the artist/band presented to the audience through the images? You may wish to carry out a textual analysis.
On the ‘Empire of the Sun’ spread the image presents the band as very out of the ordinary. This is because of the clothes they are wearing, the colours and the illustration. The magazine’s aim is to portray the band in their unique style so that the reader has a clear image of the band’s values and genre. For this reason the image of ‘Empire of the Sun’ is very colourful, like their fantastical pop genre, and their eccentric clothes reflect their eccentric music. The illustration and unusual props (a photo frame guitar) add to the sense of unrealism surrounding the band.
The ‘White Lies’ are presented in a very different way from ‘Empire of the Sun’ because their genres are very different from each other. The ‘White Lies’’s genre is morbid rock, quite a dark type of rock. For this reason the image on their spread is very dark and the band members are all wearing black in contrast to the bright multicoloured clothes of ‘Empire of the Sun’. These gloomy colours, along with people in the image’s serious expression and pose, present the ‘White Lies’’s genre to the audience very well.
The different genres presented in NME will attract a variety of different audiences with different tastes in music / values which is likely to increase the magazine’s readership.

8) How does the style of the article match the style of the front cover?
Both spreads only vaguely match the style of the front cover. The similarities are that the titles on both pages seem to be almost exactly the same font of the masthead ‘NME’, and the serif font used for the banner is similar to the one used in the article. Other than this there are no more similarities- the front page’s layout is very busy and loose while the spreads are structured and neat and the house colours used on the front cover are not used on the spreads.

9) Does the article demand any prior knowledge? Give examples.
These two particular articles do not require any prior knowledge because their purpose is to inform the reader on the bands. The bands are in the section ‘New Noise’, which means that they are new and therefore not many people know about them. The article is there inform the reader, so the reader does not need to know anything about the artists beforehand – “If you’ve seen Empire of the Sun’s video you might have an idea of what’s going on; if you haven’t, maybe we should explain.”

Questionnaire Analysis