Double Page Spreads

In this double page spread, it is easy to find the title of the article as it is the band's name: The Teenagers. The blue colour represents masculinity and is used in several parts of the article to reinforce the male theme and to also highlight specific information about the band. For example, the "Need To Know" section is styled like a page ripped from a notebook, this could relate to school - as the band consists of three young males also known as The Teenagers - and it could also suggest that the text is important as it is seperate from the rest of the article and notebooks are normally used to note certain, important facts. The article itself is situated on the opposite side of the page with a white background and black text. This makes the text easy to read as it is the norm when reading a bulk of writing. On the other side of the page is a large main image of the band. All three members are male and are dressed casually and are in confident, laid back positions. The room in which the photograph was taken reinforces the name of the band and their personalities. It is obvious that they are in a bedroom as they are all relaxed on the bed, with posters which you would expect to find in a male, teenager's room. The fact that they are all in a bedroom emphasise their band name of The Teenagers as that is where most teenagers spend their time. Each member of the band is styled differently, though they all share the same style of dark clothing. The male in the centre of the picture can be assumed to be the leader of the band as he seems the more confident out of the three and seems to make a statement about his individuality as he is the only one wearing glasses which can suggest that he is intelligent and / or different. The member to the left appears to be the most relaxed member of the band who seems the more "normal" of the group. To the right, we can see that this member is very individual with his appearance and seems to represent the typical moody teenager because of his facial expression. A smaller image of a band member in action on stage is also shown with a caption explaining what the image is about. To interest the readers more in to reading the article, a quote is made to stand out, (blue background - again to represent the masculinity) which is written in white whilst the name of the person who said the quote is in black. Another technique to advertise the reader is to add a "NME loves" in a black starry shape by the title which suggests that this band are the next big thing due to the magazine enjoying them.

The colour scheme of black, white, blue and grey is used to create a sophisticated, simple approach to this artist. Again, a large image of the artist has been used on one side of the page and he is looking away from the camera which reflects his personality of being "cool" and relaxed. To me, he seems to know that he's good and is showing that through his stance of hands in pockets and looking bored. His dark clothing and glasses also suggests that he is comfortable with who he is and prefers to blend in with the scene, in this case, he blends in with the colour scheme. However, personally, I don't think that the blue writing fits well with the colours, however it could've been used to represent the fact that the artist is male. Though there isn't any title for the article, the largest writing on the double page spread is the artists name down the side of the male "Sebastian King". However, the readers know where the article begins with the first letter of the first word being larger than the rest of the black text of the article. There are several smaller images of the artist which show him posing in different ways which reflect his personality more, though it emphasises the orginial opinion of him being very cool and sophisticated.

In this article, the artist is again taking up a full page of one of the double page spread. She is dressed casually with her eyes being made to stand out using black make-up which could possibly have been used to tie in with her hair. Her stance is quite challenging which could connect to the title of the article as she is stood with her hands on hips, suggesting she is being quite defensive. The title itself is similar to cut out letters from a newspaper and is all black and white to emphasise this interpretation. It takes up most of the page, and some of the second page, to attract readers to the article. A consistent font is used but the letters vary in height; the title is also a quote from the artist which is explained later on by the sub-heading. The name of the artist is made to stand out in red, which could have been used to tie in with the colour of her shirt, and it also stands out in case you didn't know who the artist was. The article text is black on a white background and the beginning of the article begins with a big, black letter which is telling the reader "START HERE".

[http://jessicastarkins.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/article_nme_aug07_large.jpg]

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It was difficult to find examples of double page spreads to analyse however I found three which I believe share typical conventions of music magazines. Two of the double page spreads are from official music magazines whilst one (entitled Sebastian King) is a previous student's work. Above are the links to the images of where I found them from.

NME magazine

[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeeB2zflAHk3XcRYw0_0VuwZGiYf-uNKW6hC1v7nKFljES-8yX6Zv2k1ewEZ-Gwrsk0f_ATOCIywX1r9ZfQBztanQdGI5-E4yC6goi2qnqNCiXdRBd3IlihaeNT7uO8K-Kx5vPwRzgjo/s1600/magImage2.jpg] This is the website where I found this image.

NME Magazine shares many conventions with other music magazines. Similarly, it uses a red colour on the masthead of NME as well as on the bottom banner, it also includes a main image which blocks part of the masthead (which is typical in a lot of magazines, mainly because the masthead is supposed to be well-known). There are also banners used, cover lines, smaller images and white-coloured font. The name of the person in the main image is the largest font size (besides the title) which draws more attention to the singer. There are numerous other bands and singers mentioned to attract more audiences who are interested in different music genres. The genre's which I believe NME covers are pop, indie and rock. Finding the price isn't hard as it is easy to see under the title whilst the issue number, date and website can be found near the barcode. For the target audience, I believe NME is trying to appeal to numerous ages because of the variety of old and new music (example: Bowie is considered to be quite old whilst Lily Allen is fairly new to the music world) however, the main target audience is young people (15 - 25 years). The pose appears quite moody and un-smiling which relates more to the typical teenager appearance. There doesn't seem to be anything happy about the magazine or the contents as it even says "I can't keep on living like this, it's doing my head in".

Spin Magazine

[http://www.netmagazines.com/images/9343L.jpg] <-- This is the website which shows the picture.

Spin Magazine, though not as well known as others such as Kerrang! and NME follows the conventions expected of a music magazine."Panic! At The Disco" is clearly shown with a white-coloured font and pink background. Along with the coverline "How did these guys become rock's hottest new band?" the pink could symbolise the difference which is associated with this band as well as the magazine itself. The impression that I get from this technique used by Spin is that they are trying to be different and appeal to a variety of audiences. Pink is stereotypically a girl colour, so maybe Spin normally appeals to a more male audience but by having the pink, girls are also interested in this magazine. The main image suggests that this magazine isn't serious as one of the boys are positioned with a strange look on his face which puts a "Spin" on the typical magazine. It also shows that this band is completely different to some of them that you would expect. A banner is positioned at the top of the page above the masthead at the top left. Again, red is a colour which is used as the background of the title - an often occurance! There are numerous cover lines advertising further articles within the magazine appealing to numerous audiences interested in different genres; the most popular genre's being rock, indie and pop. In this type of music mag, the barcode includes the date, issue number and price which is easier in my opinion as the audience just need to look at the barcode to find out what they need / want to know (such as how recent the magazine is).

Rolling Stone Magazine

[http://www.shinystyle.tv/Keith%20Richards%20rolling%20stone.jpg] <-- The website where I found this image.

This is the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Because of the name of the magazine, we can assume that the target audience for this magazine is people who are interested in rock and/or are the older generation (30+). The main image of Johnny Depp and Keith Richards also promote the rock type of genre which is expected inside the magazine as they are dressed in a rock style. Again, the font colour is red which is a regular occurance with music mags as it easily stands out, it could also be read to emphasise the "blood" aspect of "blood brothers". The banner at the top of the page tells the audience of other large rock bands which are also included in this issue of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone is the institution of this magazine as it also has it's website near the top right of the page, accompanied by the price, issue number and date. A barcode is also easily seen at the bottom left of the page which is common with most magazines. Compared to Q Magazine, Rolling Stone has very little text on the front cover which narrows it's target audience to those who like the bands at the top of the page and/or those who like Johnny Depp or Keith Richards as the only cover line is related to main image. However, this could also be a technique used by the editor's to want to make the audience flick through the magazine and see what else is included, therefore, they've attracted the audience by having the cover less congested with texts and images as it is completely different to the other magazines on the shelf.

Q Magazine

http://www.dubechoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dubechoes_q.jpg <-- This is where I found my image.

This is just one front cover of the Q Magazine. It depicts several famous names of the music industry including: Bruce Springsteen, Blue, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, Prodigy etc ... All of these are appealing to a certain type of music audience - one which is interested in the more rock genre of music. It even says at the bottom of the page "Classic Rock" which can easily describe the whole magazine itself. The name of the magazine is easily identified in the top left hand corner of the page. 'Q' is also the institution of this particular magazine. This is postitioned there for a reason as when the magazines are on the shelf, the name of the magazine can be easily found. The aim of this magazine is commercial (to make money) so it has many adverts inside. The banner at the top of the page contains the tagline to accompany the name which sells itself to the audience as 'the best music magazine in the UK', which it has been proved to be. Though it doesn't need anything else to help appeal to the public, it also includes a competition advert on the bottom right of the page saying "WIN". It's large enough to grab the readers attention, but not big enough to distract them from knowing that it's Q Magazine. There is a lot of text in this particular issue which claims to have a lot of knowledge on other bands/singers/festivals etc ... Though this would help to promote the magazine, personally, I find it makes the cover look very busy and involves too much reading. My opinion of a main cover is to attract the audience to want to look and read inside the magazine, not know everything that it features from the front cover. The colour scheme works well as it is consistent everywhere on the front cover. Red and white are used to help reinforce the original colour of the name/logo of the magazine, whilst black is also used to help the other two colours stand out more from the page and to also make other articles more pronounced. The font styles are all consistent as well as the colour on the front page. This helps to keep the magazine in the same style. The main image consists of a long shot of a famous singer, Bruce Springsteen. Not only does this appeal to the audience who know of this singer, but it also interests females who may be attracted to the magazine because of the image.

Top Music Magazines

http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/musicmagazines.htm <-- this was the website were I found the "top music mags".

Some of the top magazines include: NME, Entertainment Weekly, Q, Vibe (and more!)

Conventions of a Magazine

Masthead - this is the name of the magazine. Examples include: Vogue, Cosmopolitan etc...
Main Image - this is usually of the main feature in the magazine. Sometimes, the main image covers the masthead slightly as it is normally well-known and can be identified by whoever/whatever the main image is. Examples include: U2 on the cover of Q, Cast members of Eastenders on the cover of TV Guide etc...
Cover Lines - these are titles or teasers of articles within the magazine. Examples include: "Foo Fighter's come clean" (Q Magazine) etc...
Secondary Images - these are sometimes included. They relate to other articles inside the magazine and often are used when there are several famous people included in that issue. Examples include: Images on the cover of TV Guide showing cast members of other TV programmes, Coronation Street, Casualty, Doc Martin etc ...
Barcode - there is normally a barcode so that it can be scanned when bought in shops. It sometimes has the issue number and/or the date near it too.
Price - the price of the magazine. Examples include: Q Magazine for £3.30
Date - this helps the reader/buyer to idenitfy how old the magazine is. Some magazines are monthly, others weekly. Examples include: Cosmo which comes out monthly whilst TV Guide comes out weekly.
Tagline - these help to "sell" the magazine. Examples include: Q Magazine "Britain's Biggest Music Magazine".


Music Magazines share many of these conventions with other magazines, including sports, entertainment etc... The only difference is that everything in a music magazine is related to music. The main image is of a band or singer, the articles inside are all about music, the secondary images include more bands/singers, even most of the adverts are advertising new music albums etc ...

The Points of LIIAR

L = Language - This is everything that is seen visually on/in a media text. For example, what you first see on a magazine is usually the masthead, main image, a secondary image and cover lines.

I = Institution - These are the different processes in which a media text is produced. For example, the BBC is a major institution as it has two of the main channels on television.

I = Ideology - This is what the media text is trying to communicate. It usually involves including what the institution wants to represent in it's text whilst trying to share what they believe their target audience would expect. For example, if you're looking for a sport magazine, you may look for an image of a sports person.

A = Audience - This is the any audience which the media text is aimed at. Each text has a primary (also known as target) audience which is who the text is aiming at; this can be easily identified by looking closely at the text. For example, if the front page of a magazine is mainly pink and purple, we can assume that its primary audience is aimed at girls.

R = Representation - This is what the media text is trying to represent and what we have to try to deconstruct. There are many reasons why something has been done in a media text and we have to try to understand what it symbolises or why it's been used in that way. For example, if a pink font is used in a magazine, we can assume that the institution have decided on that colour to appeal to a certain target audience.

Main Task

The main task is to produce: the front page, contents and double-page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.