Mockup of front page, contents and two page spread

 

 

The use of photography in music magazines

Test shots

Music magazine LIIAR analysis

 


Front Cover

Language

The use of language on the front cover is to help attract the correct audience to buy the magazine, in this case the audience are teenage girls who have an interest in pop music.The slogan under the mast head is "don't bore us. get to the chorus" which relates to the fact the magazine is about music. The main story is obviously "Saturdays soap operas, tears, tantrums and total meltdowns" This is of interest to readers as people love hearing the latest drama about their favourite celebrities, and the Saturdays are a very well known girl group. The "12 page 1D pull-out spesh" of posters would help gain many buyers as the band one direction are very popular today, and this is a freebie the majority of readers would have an interest in. More posters are labelled as "Girl power posters" which readers would also have an interest in as the magazine is aimed towards girls itself. The story advertising the top trainers of the year would also be effective, as bright and colourful trainers are in fashion for young girls, so the words "top 10" would catch their eye as they will hope to be learning about the best ones available to buy.

Representation

The choice of having The Saturdays to model on the front cover is very relevant to the magazines genre. They are a well known pop music group, and many people would have an interest in reading about them. As this magazine is aimed towards young girls I think the idea of the main image having the models not looking "perfect" is a great idea. The idea of the image is that they are not ready for the picture to be taken, hence the fact their hair is still in rollers with smudged lipstick. This represents the fact that celebrities don't always look perfect to young girls. The outfits of the models are also bright and colourful, which matches the colour scheme of the cover which is white, blue and orange. Bright coloured dresses are also in fashion right now so younger girls would like to see what they consider fashionable on the cover.

Contents Page

Language

The title of the page is "We love this..." which is a relation to the magazines name and also a good title to help gain interest, as readers would be intrigued into what it is that they "love". There is a large amount of text on this contents page and a lot of it are actually quotes. The quote that is for the main story featuring The Saturdays is "I was in pieces leaving Marvin", which may make readers gain an interest into the story so they can learn who this Marvin was and what happened. Another quote is from the group the Wanted stating "we buy Tesco's own brand" which would make readers feel more related to the celebrities, as they love hearing that their idols are not that different to them. 

Representation

The representation of the contents page matches the rest of the magazine with the bold and colourful look. Some the images used on this page are more natural and not took in photo shoots, which shows young girls that the celebrities they love are not all different which is what they like to see. All the images are of well known pop music artists which helps the magazine achieve recognition from the readers, as the magazine would not be as easily recognised if the images were of unknown artists. As the bright colours are continued on this page readers will always be aware that the genre of music is pop through the representation, as pop music is often associated with bright and loud colours.

Two page spread

Language
There are a range of different uses of language in this article as there is a lot of text on the pages.The idea of putting "Exclusive interview" in the top right corner is a way for readers to think the article is more special and important, therefore making them want to read. I first realise the title which is a quote itself "Justin Biebers my mate, but... Maaan, I fancy Selena!" this use of language would interest readers as a celebrity is revealing who they like, and the fact that another celebrity is dating her adds more interest, plus the fact they are all in the pop music genre. A drop quote is also used, "When I met Selena, I couldn't speak, I just gawped!" which is a key answer to the interview made larger for readers to see, in the hope it convinces them to read the full article if they had not already. A use of language that relates to the music genre is "Now Nathan's GAGA for Grande" As Lady GAGA is a pop artist, so making this link is clever.

Representation
The images on this article are once again trying to show the normality of pop music artists, the main image looks to be from a professional photo shoot, whilst all the others on the page look to be shots taken by the paparazzi, therefore showing the celebrities having normal social lives. The colours on the page are keeping within the magazines general colour scheme, all of which typical teenage girls would like such as pinks, yellows and blues. The bold and highlighted parts of the text helps the most important quotes and questions stand out, which is a way for them to be repesnted more easily for the younger readers.

Focus Group Video

I asked my focus group a series of questions as part of my research, the answers helped me make some decisions about my music magazine before deciding on my chosen genre and target audience.

Social class table

I have decided to aim my music magazine towards young teenage girls, these would fall into the unemployed/recieving benefits category of the social class table I found. My target audience will most likely not buy this magazine themselves considering they are not at the working age their parents may buy it for them, because of this I need to make the price of the magazine as affordable as possible.

After doing some research on music magazine price I saw that they are very varied. Billboard magazine is definetly aimed towards middle class and higher, this is consdiered expensive for a music magazine to most. You can tell this mazgine is quite high end from the look and style aimed towards students and people older and will have a lot of  content inside. I can assume this magazine would have issues less frequently becuase of the large content and higher price, it may come out just monthly.

We love pop on the other hand is the opposite, at just £1.00 it is much cheaper. I can assume it has less pages and content inside and most probably no free gift, this is aimed towards young teenagers in other words those unemployed or in working class. The magzine may also have issues more often, for exmaple every fortnight.

Top of the pops seems to be in the middle compared to these two, at a price of £2.99. I assume this magazine would have a free gift included and a fair amount of content, this is aimed to younger teenagers also however it is a better magazine to some competition. This magaizne would be aimed to those from working class to lower middle class, and will probably also have an issue every fortnight.

   Top of the pops (£2.99)






          Billboard  (£5.50)








   We love pop (£1.00)



From this research and since my target audience is young teenage girls I will be pricing my magazine around the £2.00 mark, so most similar to "Top of the pops". I believe this is a sensible price as my magazine will feature a small free gift in very issue and have a fair amount of content, whilst being on the cheaper side compared to others on the market. Young girls aged 12-16 are the people who would most likely buy this, and considering my earlier statement of their parents paying for the issue I believe my chosen price is sensible and can be bought by even the lowest social classes.

Planning: Name & Colour scheme

Colour schemes of existing magazines

 

From research, I have discovered that existing pop magazines generally use bright and bold colours for the cover. This is obviously a way to get noticed by readers, but also a way to represent the genre as pop music is energetic and loud. A magazine usually has just three colours for the colour scheme, I have seen that normally one of these is black from my research, as it is a simple and solid colour for text.

 

 

My possible colour schemes

 

Name

 

I have decided that the name of my pop music magaizne will be Replay, I wanted the name to be in block capital lettering as I believe this makes the mast head stand our more and fill up the page better. I used some websites to experiment with fonts annd colours depending on my research.