For my AS coursework I have been assigned the brief to create a magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread so in order for me to be fully aware of the common conventions of each of these, I need to analyse existing products. Having already analysed 3 front covers, I will now analyse 3 contents pages.
The main image is a medium shot of a non-threatening girl (casual clothing, natural coloured hair etc) extending her arms out towards the camera, as if to invite the reader into reading the magazine, with a slight smile on her face, there is a number at the side of her which is indicating that on that page in the magazine there will be a feature on her (probably the main feature as this is the biggest image). Even though the main image on this contents page contains a female, she is not the stereotypical 'cover girl' that makes women aspire to be her so for this reason I would say that the primary target audience is males. This links to Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze (1975) which states that women in the media are sexualised for the enjoyment of males. However, this image slightly challenges this theory as the girl in this image is not being sexualised in terms of what she is wearing or the poses she is doing. It is not a common convention for females to be used in the main image on a rock magazine because the primary target audience is males so they would not likely be able to relate to a female. The female in the main image is looking directly at the camera which means it gives the effect that she is making eye contact with the reader making it more personal and that they are being invited in to the magazine, making them more likely to purchase it.
The block of text on the right hand side (the main section of contents information) is neatly arranged so that each 4 or so pages has a subheading explaining which section will be (for example, posters, reviews and news). This makes it easier and faster to go directly to what you are looking for in the magazine which is a positive if someone is debating whether or not to buy the magazine or not as they will be able to see the content in the magazine quickly or if someone wants to buy the magazine just for one particular section as they will be able to see what is in this section and decide whether it is worth purchasing. The neat styling and positioning of the text boxes on this page go against the connotation and denotations that surround 'punk' which is why they have put the images of the features of the 'pop-punk' category in a slightly messier way over the main image as these conform more to the connotations of punk (trouble, not conforming to society's expectations, rebelling, messy etc).
There isn't any obvious colour schemes on this page except for the fact there is lots of yellow. This may be because the bands featured in Kerrang! are seen as rebellious, not mainstream and want people to look at them so that they can see that they are different and the people who read Kerrang! aspire to be like this; Yellow is the colour that is disliked the most and the brightest therefore catching peoples eyes and also relates to the target audience of this genre/magazine as they want to be disliked which is why they rebel against the social norms. However, there is also a surprising amount of pink and blue on the page which is surprising because stereotypically Kerrang! readers (14 - 24 years old, mainly heterosexual males because of the girl in the main image and also because they are stereotypically the gender that listens to rock music) do not like these colours, but of course the magazine could have taken that fact to mind and done this deliberately as reverse psychology (telling people who fully believe the stereotypes are true that they are in fact not true). This also may be because the areas which are in pink are advertising Kerrang!'s 'pop-punk' features which is generally seen as the 'girlier' area of rock and males stereotypically do not listen to it as it is not 'heavy' enough for them. This feature and the use of the colour pink (which is a colour stereotypically linked to girls) may have been used to try and draw in a bigger female audience than they usually have as females generally would not buy this because of its boyish connotations and how it is usually not directed towards females and usually has no content for females to relate to. The colours and use of a girlier sub-genre of rock are where the female features end as the typography and other colours used are very 'boyish' and also as all of the other images on this page feature males and no other females. Pop-punk is a genre that is usually only enjoyed by young people which is another reason why I do not think the target audience would be older than 24.
The social grade of the target audience of this contents page is likely to be between C1-E (lower middle class to unemployed). This is mainly because of the age of the target audience (14-24) as the majority of the people in this age range will be students and if they are employed, they will likely not have a very high paying job as they are too young and not experienced enough. It is also because of the 'punk' features that are advertised on this contents page. Higher class individuals are stereotypically not likely to agree with punk music and punks themselves, as punk is all about rebelling against the social norms and not conforming to society and therefore causing trouble which is seen as hassle by older generations. Another reason for the social grades and ages being this is that everyone featured on this page is young and do not look particular high class which is likely to be a direct reflection of the target audience so that they can relate to this magazine and be more likely to purchase it. There is an image of the editor, James McMahon, in the editor's note at the bottom of the page and it features him looking extremely casual wearing a tshirt and holding his thumbs up to the camera (in the same style that the girl in the main image of this contents page is doing) which is also likely to be a reflection of the target audience and is there to make the readers feel more involved in the magazine and also more accepted, making them more likely to buy it.
In the bottom right hand corner there is a small box promoting and giving information about subscribing to this magazine. The offer includes a free book which is likely to persuade more people to subscribe who normally would not. This shows that the magazine has regular readers and the editors feel that these readers would benefit by subscribing. However, it may also mean that they do not sell enough copies and need people to subscribe which is why they are using this space to advertise it and offering a free gift to try and entice people into taking advantage of this offer. Another example of self-promotion is that at the very top of the page there is the Kerrang! logo is big, bold letters. This is a common convention of any genre of magazine so that the contents page links to the front cover and also to add a sense of familiarity for readers.
This contents page from Rocksound is considerably different to the one I previously analysed in terms of conventions used (such as colour scheme, typography, lay out etc). The main difference is the layout. It is simple, easy to look at/read and more mature than Kerrang!. This is because it is 'neater' than the Kerrang! contents page in terms of all the images because horizontal instead of diagonal and all of the images being similar sizes to each other. It also appears neater because of the use of colours. There are no bright, harsh, 'in-your-face' colours such as pink or blue on this page which makes it easier on the eye meaning it is more pleasing to look at. These factors may indicate the target audience as Stanley Hall (1904) said, youth need excitement in there lives at all times and if they do not have it, they will seek it in the form of rebellion. This links to the target audience as if it was fairly young (aged similar to the target audience age of Kerrang!), it would have the added exciting extras such as slanted images and bright colours (exactly the style of the Kerrang! contents page above). But as this contents page does not do this, it means it does not want to, and is not trying to, appeal to the younger audience.
The target audience of this contents page are likely to be white, heterosexual males in social grades E-C1, from age 14 to 26 (a higher age that Kerrang! because of conventions such as the colour scheme being more mature colours as they are darker and more sophisticated and the layout being generally neater and tidier as Kerrang!'s contents page has images that are slanted whereas the images on this contents page are completely horizontal, making it look tidier). The reasoning for the social grades being E-C1 is because this is anything between unemployed/students to lower middle class. The reason for the target audience only reaching as high as lower middle class is because (as I stated for Rocksound) rock music stereotypically does not appeal to the higher classes as a connotation that surrounds the genre is 'rebellion' and this is something higher class people are likely to be strongly against. Also, the rebellion that young people carry out is usually towards the higher classes (seen heavily in the Punk scene in the 1980's), so in theory, higher class rock listeners would be rebelling against themselves and their families, which is not something they are likely to do. According to Marxism theories, all media is created by white, heterosexual middle/lower class males so they create media products that appeal to them which causes the audience to consume the same views as them, meaning media products are most likely to appeal to audiences who have similar profiles as those who create it.
The colour scheme sticks to 3 main colours which are black, red and white. The black of the text is likely to have been chosen as the main images all feature black making the page look coordinated. There is a small amount of blue in the text which is used to highlight certain points that are thought to be important to the reader or something that is likely to be a main reason why the reader bought the magazine (for instance, a poster or a feature). Something that is similar to Kerrang! however is that this contents page also uses the block style with the block of text at the bottom and the block of images at the top. Black is likely to have been chosen as this is stereotypically the colour that listeners of this genre (rock) like the most and by using their favourite colour, the magazine is more likely to draw an audience in. Red is likely to have been chosen as this connotes danger and passion, something that young people (the age range of the target audience of this magazine) are said to enjoy, according to Stanley Hall: "youth must have excitement in their life or they will turn to alcohol, crime or drugs" and this is represented on this contents page as the colour red this may also be why young people listen to this genre of music as it is fast, upbeat, loud and generally seen as exciting).
The images at the top have the number of the page where you can find more information about that certain piece (these are the main articles which are the ones that are more likely to be read and feature things that a large audience will want to read about), they also have text on them which tells the reader which part of the magazine these certain things are in and what they are. This is so you can quickly find what you are looking for to read about in the magazine and don't have to go all through the small text at the bottom. The main text section of the contents page is organised simply and intelligently with a subheading over each block telling you that the magazine is organised into sections and what page you can find these on.
There is a box at the side of the page which contains a note from the editor informing the reader about the band that is on this issues' front cover. This makes it feel more personal and as if the magazine really care about their readers and want to provide the best reading experience they possibly can for their target audience.
The images themselves and the people in them are edited in a way as to make their audience aspire to them. For instance, there is a range of artists featured here from someone with long, black hair with black face paint on, a 3 man band all dressed in white which is seen as the colour of purity and innocence and a man who is screaming at the camera with his hand very close to it looking slightly aggressive. By doing this the magazine can make sure they appeal to the widest range of readers possible.
Unlike Kerrang! this contents page features no self-promotion or persuasion which indicates the magazine is confident with their readership and does not feel the need to push anything on them. This also may indicate that Rocksound's target audience is younger than Kerrang!'s as young people are not as likely to subscribe to a magazine and are also not as likely to read parts of the text that they do not think looks interesting.
This contents page from NME is the most old-fashioned out of the ones I have analysed which I think is because of the colour scheme which is not bright colours and the layout is not anything eccentric but simple and plain. This straight away tells me that the target audience for this magazine is older than the target audience for Kerrang! and Rocksound, roughly about 24 - 40+ and males in the social grades C1-A, higher grades than Kerrang! as this magazine is not as likely to be aimed at unemployed students. This contents page looks like it is printed on newspaper style paper which is accompanied with the newspaper type font and text style, this is another reason why I think the target audience may be slightly older as stereotypically newspapers are read by the older generations. The clothing that the people are wearing in the main image look like clothes that would be worn by older generations therefore also backing up my idea of the target audience. If the people in the main image were wearing modern, fashionable clothes or if the layout was more modern etc, the magazine would be less likely to attract the same audience that they do.
All of these conventions relate to Medhurst's theory (1998) that the people who produce mass media products are white, heterosexual, middle-class males so anyone who doesn't fall into very similar categories as them are "awful because they are not like us". This means that the people in the main image on this contents page as well as the mise-en-scene, typography, lexis, layout and colours used represent the middle class males who created this magazine as this is what they like to see.
The layout of this contents page uses a lot of common conventions of generic contents pages such as, a white background so the text can be seen and read easily, the masthead of the magazine at the top of the page to add a sense of familiarity for the reader and also the link the 2 together to create a brand image, the content layed out in clear and neat sections each with their own header making it easy to go straight to the type of article you want to read (news, features, reviews etc) and there are 2 main images in the centre of the page (which are made to look like one image which will reward the reader when they realise it is actually two) which is likely to be the main feature article that is advertised on the front cover. The page is split into 3 columns which helps to make the page easier on the eye and easier for the reader to find what it is they are looking for. The classic layout of this magazine represents the reader's personas as they are likely to be classic males who do not want to see any arty, modern layouts as they just don't appreciate it and are much more interested in the content instead.
The colours used on this page represent the genre of music that NME focuses on, generally rock and indie, as the colours black and red are the colours most associated with rock and indie and are also the colours that are used in NME's brand image, which again, adds a sense of familiarity for the reader. This is because rock music is generally seen as rebellious, dark and violent, which are the exact connotations that surround the colours black and red. However, as this magazine is aimed at older generations who are stereotypically likely to be done with their rebellious lifestyles and are wanting a much more quiet life (this is also shown through the bands that NME feature as they are never as heavy as bands featured in Kerrang! and usually consist of older band members too) because they are at the ages where they are likely to have children and a wife and a stable career, the colours black and red are balanced out with a white background which is used to add a sense of purity, innocence and peacefulness as these are connotations that surround the colour white.
The colours are used primarily to make the layout more aesthetically pleasing and to highlight the things that the editors of NME see as the most important things on the page. For instance, the box at the bottom of the page advertising their subscription service is the brightest colour on the page which means it catches the readers eye more than any other features on the page. This suggests that the creators of this magazine want you to notice this the most out of any other content on the page because this is how they are going to make money. In contrast, the smallest test on the page is the text that is telling you what content is on which pages which is surprising as this is the ultimate reason for having a contents page. The colours are what differ this contents page's target audience from Rocksound's and Kerrang!'s as the colours used for NME are much more mature which represent the target audience as they do with the other 2 magazines.
The lexis on this page is fairly traditional and challenges no generic conventions. This is because there are no rebellious quotes like Rocksound and Kerrang! And rather just focuses on getting all of their points across in the most effective way for their target audience. This means that they had to be careful not to be too chatty and informal (like a woman's gossip magazine would be), but subtly made sure not to be too formal (like the Telegraph would be). They achieved this by using an exclamation mark in the header 'live!' (which is informing the reader on the best gigs of that week) which adds a sense of informality to this section, which is a denotation of a live concert as they are not pre-recorded so any mistakes they make will be seen by the whole audience and cannot be edited out. Another way that the lexis uses subtle hints of informality as not to be too over-the-top with it in order to retain NME's reprutation, is by speaking almost directly to the reader by saying "The moment that everyone got on board the Africa Exprez" which gives the tone that it is trying to revoke a memory in the reader's head that they and NME shared together, making the feature article seem more personal and as if it was a friend talking to them meaning the reader will enjoy it more and feel rewarded for being friends with NME.
No comments:
Post a Comment