Project Three
Project Three
The Key Stylistic Figures of a Magazine are: the masthead, the lead article and the main sells. The Masthead is the name of the magazine and is usually situated at the top of the magazine cover. The Lead article is usually the story behind the main photo on the cover and so is usually of a celebrity whom is being interviewed by the magazine. The main sells are the smaller articles on the cover which tell you about things to read inside the magazine, usually other interviews or stories.
It is easy to spot the masthead, 'Mixmag', on this cover as the graphics show the masthead as the biggest font on the page and it is a bright colour which makes it very easy to spot and to recognise. The slogo is 'biggest clubbing and music magazine' and the lead article and image are on Calvin Harris, a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. The main sells are down the side that read 'Could Chewbacca fight a camel?' and 'A DJ set at Global Gathering'. Though a lot of this magazine cover is taken up by the advert for the free music CD that comes with it, which to me, seems unnecessary as though it helps sell the magazine, it ruins the colour scheme and the structure of the cover. This Magazine is obviously of Dance Music Genre and seems to be aimed at older teenagers and young adults of Eighteen to Twenty Nine.
On this cover the masthead, 'Kerrang!'; is a little hard to read because it is half covered by the graphics and the image which would make it hard to spot or recognise, unless you already know of it. The slogo is 'Life is Loud and the Lead Article and images are on Panic! At the Disco, a popular rock band. The main sells are on Within Temptation (with a photo), another popular Scandinavian Rock band; and other bands like New Found Glory and HIM. The cover itself is a little bit overcrowded but that seems to be the style that it is going for. This magazine is of Rock Genre and seems to be aimed at the Teenage and Young Adult community of Fifteen to perhaps Twenty Five.
The Masthead on this magazine, 'NME' is also easy to spot as the graphics are bold and outlined, however, the masthead isn't in the centre of the page which is usual for most magazines so it might be easy to miss at first glance, unless of course, you already know and recognise the magazine. The Slogo is 'New Musical Express' and the lead article and picture are on The Enemy, an English Rock Band. The main sells are on The Manic Street Preachers which also has a lure, Pete Doherty (with a photo) and The Last Shadow Puppets. The cover is well laid out with everything easy to read and it is not overcrowded. This magazine is of Indie and Alternative music genre and is probably aimed at Teenagers to Young Adults from say Fifteen to Twenty Five.
ABC Magazine Statistics
I went on http://www.abc.org.uk/, where I found many stastistics on Music Magazines. By searching for music magazines on the website, I found this information.
From this information, I have found that the Magazine 'Q', a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, is the magazine with the most Total Average Net Circulation, and also the most in the United Kingdom. This could be due to its alternative take to Rock music, and the fact that it is not solely dedicated to the Rock Genre, unlike say Kerrang! Who generally stick to Rock music and rock bands, also Q has been a Published Magazine for a lot longer than most of the other magazines and therefore is more appealing and has more income and can afford to advertise expensive products such as Watches and Cars. However, Q is not as popular in other countries unlike Mojo Magazine, which has sales of 47,969 Total Net Circulation in other countries. This could be because Q Magazine and Mojo magazine are very different in the way that Q advertise and interview many more 'mainstream' bands like Madonna and The Killers whereas Mojo tend to advertise and interview bands that are well known but not always the most popular like The White Stripes and Oasis, who are not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ and also because the music Mojo advertises is more based in other countries like America where music artists are of greater quantity. Magazine’s like Kerrang! And Mixmag are not as popular as other magazines and this could be because they both stick to one genre and haven’t been going on as long as other magazines. Also, they both tend to advertise bands, singers and DJs that aren’t perhaps well known in the General Public, making both the magazines of acquired taste. However, they both sell quite well in the United Kingdom which could be down to the fact that nowadays, it is seen as ‘cool’ to like non-mainstream artists.
Representation
The word Representation means a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image. Representation is very important in Media Studies as Media is all about presentation in the form of image and/or sound. Without presentation there would be no Television, Movies, Radio or Advertisements as Presentation is essential for these things. In Television, representation is used in the form of images and pictures, music, camera angles and shots, for example to represent a Horror story in a movie, the director would have to consider darker lighting and costumes to match the genre, more eerie music and a creepier script, and perhaps more edgier camera angles e.g. first person to help the viewer feel more involved and to make it more real, or an overhead view to make you feel like you're actually watching in on what is happening.
Representation is very important within bands and groups as it shows many things about the band itself such as their genre of music, their preferances and their style.
My Magazine Cover
This is my Design for a Magazine Cover. The model in the picture is myself and I created the image with a Canon 400D D-SLR camera by slowing down the Frame rate and drawing around my own head with an LED light and editing the photo in Photoshop. I then added the Masthead, slogo and main sells onto it also with Photoshop.
