Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Conventions of a music magazine


A music magazine has many of the same conventions of any other type of magazine, although there are some differences in all aspects of the LIIAR. But all music magazines still have a masthead, coverlines, a main coverline etc. The language in a music magazine will depend on its target audience, for example as I am looking at NME magazine, the cover of this magazine suggests that it is more aimed at men aged around 17+, I get this impression from looking at this magazine cover because the main image is of the Arctic Monkeys, who are all young men themselves, also the colour scheme and the background seem to be more aimed towards males. Although there will definatly be some females who are interested in this type of music, and may want to read this magazine as they are attracted to the front cover, this magazine cover has mainly been constructed to appeal to men.
The ideology is a very important aspect of a music magazine, the company that produce this magazine will need to carefully consider what is important within the magazine, and portray the style of music towards the potential target audience. The style of music which the magazine includes will need to be clearly shown on the front cover so that the buyer will immediatly recognise if this is a style of music that they are interested in. The ideology on this magazine cover is shown from the main image, we can tell from the image that the style of music is rock/indie. Some aspects that put across this image is the colour scheme, the style of clothes the band are wearing, and the background of the photograph. Not only does the main image tell us about the style of music, but like any other type of magazine, the main image is possibly the most important part of a magazine, because if the front cover is appealing, the more likely the target audience will buy it.
From just looking at the front cover of a music magazine, we can usually recognise the potential target audience, from looking at the style of the front cover and main image, we can usually tell the age, gender, backgrounds and interests of the target audience. From the cover of this NME magazine, I think that the magazine is aimed towards males, an age of 17+, and I think that the interests of the target audience would be indie/rock music, and maybe fashion, as many young people seem to follow trends of famous artists etc. From looking at the main image of this magazine cover I don't think you could really tell the background of the target audience, I think that there may be a wide range of backgrounds as it doesn't look like a very top class magazine, this is because of the background of the main image, as it just looks like a normal urban environment.
The representation of a music magazine is probably one of the most important parts, the representation is the way that the artists/groups appear in the magazine. So the way that the individual/grounp look in the magazine, will show the audience what type of music is included within the magazine. On the cover of this magazine, the band members look quite relaxed, the way that they are all looking straight at the camera could be implying that they are confident, so this may attract some readers to this magazine.

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Conventions of a Magazine


Here is one front cover of More magazine, the main image is of a very famous artist, Lady Gaga. Meaning that this magazine will appeal to a certain type of music audience, this would be people who are interested in pop/dance music. The masthead for more magazine is recognisable to regular readers, it is clearly shown at the top of each cover so it can be easily seen on the magazine stand. To make this magazine more appealing to the reader, the price is clearly stated in the top right hand corner, highlighted in yellow so it stands out. Also just above the masthead there is an offer for every reader, this may appeal to certain members of the public, persuading them to buy this issue. This is stated right near the masthead so it is easy for the buyer to see, but not distracting them too much from the masthead and main image. There are not many coverlines used on this front cover, there seems to be one main coverline which is: Lady Gaga: 'Finally... Men think I'm sexy' In my opinion this coverline is quite intriguing, this seems to me like the artist is giving us a hint to their past, and any big fans of this artist would enjoy reading about this. So as this is such an interesting main coverline, other ones may not be needed. Also I think that this front cover is very attractive, the use of bright colours will make it stand out on the news stand, so I don't think that many coverlines will be needed, as readers will not want to know everything before they even open the magazine. The main image on this cover is a medium close up of Lady Gaga, this image will attract her fans, and possibly people who like her style on this cover.






LIIAR



  • Language: The type of language which is used in certain magazines, e.g. the type of language used towards artists in music magazines.




  • Institution: All institutions have a commercial purpose. This is the company that controls the production process of the magazine.





  • Ideology: What is important within the magazine (what I need to consider) for example for a music magazine - the style of music.





  • Audience: The group of people that the magazine is aimed at, this is usually determined by gender, age, background, and interests of the target audience.





  • Representation: This is the individuals/ groups that appear in the magazine, and how they are presented in it.

Main Task Brief

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.