Textual analysis of "Kerrang!" magazine contents page.

Textual analysis of "NME" contents page.

Textual analysis of "NME" magazine double page spread.

Textual analysis of "V60" double page spread.

Textual analysis of "ASOS" contents page.

Textual analysis of "Billboard" magazine front cover.

Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover, using LIIAR.

Language - Not only the writing of the cover, the language includes text, images/graphics, colour, masthead and more. These are all dependant on the genre and targeted audience of a magazine, in this a music magazine would feature language appropriate to it's reading audience. For example a rock music magazine will use an image of musician (informs the audience it's a music magazine) with a guitar (informs the audience they're viewing a rock music magazine) with a colour scheme using dark colours such as black. These will attract the a particular audience and allow the magazine to maintain an audience with interests in the particular genre. When it comes to me producing my music magazine front cover, I will uses images that are relevant to the music genre, colours that will appeal to the audience of the genre of my music magazine.

Institution - Of the music magazines I have researched, they have always been produced and published by commercial companies for example NME is funded and owned by the leading leading magazine consumer and digital publisher IPC Media.

Ideology -

Audience - When it comes to producing or analysing a text you must always decide who it is intended for, because if your producing a text you'll be able to include relevant language that interests the audience your targeting at. And when you analyse a text, you'll be able to see why specific language is included in a text by the producer, due to you knowing it's aimed at a certain chosen audience. When it comes to producing my music magazine, stylistic decisions will be affected by my targeted audience. For example my main cover image, will appeal to a magazine interested audience, for example the photo's mise-en-scene will feature props such as microphones, guitars and other music technology/equipment.

Representation - All media texts reflect or represent reality, a good example is how social groups are represented through the media. For example the indie band "The Wombats" are represented in photographs as wild party goers through their costume.

Textual analysis of "OUT" Magazine Front Cover, using LIIAR.

Language - The front cover of OUT magazine December 2009, features pop artist Lady GaGa. The main image of her is unconventional in the sense of it's mise-en-scene, with it been slightly strange and weird, like Lady GaGa is her herself. The magazine also is targeted at a minority group - the gay community, the photograph which shows as her as different, strange and an outcast, allows the audience to relate to her. She is nude and her mouth is covered in blood, this could be a reference to her performance at the VMA's 2009, which was very controversial. The photographer has chosen and designed the mise-en-scene to be controversial, to reflect upon the artists career, costumes, music and personality. The colour scheme of the front cover is white, black, fleshy brown and a darker brown. The typeface of the masthead "OUT" is in a sans serif font, and is in bold and larger then any other text on the front cover. This is so it's dominate on the page, over any other text on the front cover, drawing the audiences eye to inform them of the magazine they're reading. The colour of the masthead is white and placed against a dark background to allow it too stand out. Every other piece of text such as the cover lines, headline etc are in a serif font, this is to allow the masthead to stand out and dominate even further. The cover lines are all subjects that interest and appeal to the target audience - the gay community for example one cover line says "35 PAGES OF THIS SEASON'S NEW LOOK" which would attract the gay community, since in general they're more interested in fashion then heterosexual males.

Institution - OUT magazine is published by LPI Media, the largest LGBT publisher in the United States. It is an commercial company with it's revenue in 2005 been $29.0 Million.

Ideology -

Audience - The audience this issue appeals and is targeted too is the LGBT community, since the magazine's content is gay culture and related, and also Lady GaGa fans, with the main cover story been on GaGa.

Representation - The image represents GaGa as different, over the top and controversial, this is how she's been represented in the media frequently. This magazine does this especially to allow fans and the LGBT community to relate to the pop singer.

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover.

In this entry, I will detail the conventions of a standard magazine in general.

Photographs/Main Image - Magazine front covers's will always feature an main image, typically a photograph taken by an photographer employed by the magazine's producers, it will always be directly connected to the main article, that is featured within the magazine. This image will always dominate the entire cover and grab the attention of the audience immediately, over every other item featured on the front cover. This image informs the audience of the subject/issue/person the main article is about. Additional a magazine cover may feature other photographs that are connected to the cover lines, informing the audience of what the other articles in the magazine are. The main photograph will always be accompanied by a main cover line.

Logo - An image or piece of text that will always be featured on the front cover of every issue of a magazine. Usually simple in design, the logo becomes an icon of the magazine immediately making the audience think of the magazine when they see the logo.

Selling Line - Usually accompanying the masthead, this will be a line of text that upsells the magazine or gives some more information about the magazine. For example "Q" magazine currently uses "THE UK'S BIGGEST MUSIC MAGAZINE."

Masthead/Nameplate - The title of the magazine, this will always be dominate on the front cover to inform the audience or potential audiences to the name of the magazine they're viewing.

Price - To inform buyers of the magazine, the cost of the magazine.

Bar code - For retail purposes

Date & Issue - Used to incidate to the audience what month and year a particle magazine issue was published and the issue number informs them how many issues of the magazine have been published.

Colour - Colour is used on magazine covers to drawn in an audience and also can communicate to the audience along with other elements of the front cover, what type magazine they're viewing. For example a magazine that features an main image of a guy with a guitar, informs the audience they're a viewing a music magazine, however if the colour scheme of the magazine is dark colours and features alot of black it informs them that they're viewing a rock magazine.

LIIAR - Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience & Representation.

Language - Not only the writing of the cover, the language includes text, images/graphics, colour, masthead and more on the front of the magazine cover. It is everything that is used in the design and production of a media text, for example a medium close-up is media language, it is a type of shot used for an image, which is part of the construction and design of an image. These are all dependant on the genre and targeted audience of a magazine, in this case a music magazine would feature a main image of a musician for example on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine, which is a diverse music magazine that features world class artists, could feature an image of the pop singer Britney Spears to a metal music artist such as Aerosmith.

Institution - In terms of media, an institution is an established, usually commerical organization, that deals in the in the production and distribution of media texts.

Ideology - Ideology in media is a set of beliefs and ideas, the media text and it's producers have.

Audience - The specators, listeners or consumers of a media text.

Represention - How something is presented and shown to the audience in a media text.

Music Magazine: The Brief

Main Task: 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.