Music Magazine Analysis

I am going to be examining a magazine front cover and I am going to be covering all the key and main aspects that make up a magazine front cover. I am going to go through step by step all the key elements of a magazine front cover

Natasha Lyonne - GoreZone Magazine [United Kingdom] (December 2009)
 The above magazine I am going to be examining, 

The Sell line is the long line on the left side of the magazine and it is meant to draw audience in and in this magazine it used the text “Worldwide no1 horror entertainment magazine” this tries to prove to the audience that this magazine is the best choice for people who are interested in that gene as it says what is probably its own personal view that it is the no1 worldwide horror magazine, there is no 100% way to find out whether this is true and it’s a common use of self-hype in order to draw more people to buy this magazine.

The use of lots of red text makes the images stand out on the white back ground and emphasises the horror genre which is a common link with danger, which the colour red is usually associated with. The use of red also is used to represent blood as used to the image of the girl in the middle this is all related in terms of the horror genre as blood is often used if not all the time and this emphasises the gore factor.

There are puffs used (without borders scattered all around the page) in one of the puffs it mentions a bug Hollywood star this will not be just for any reason this would have been done to emphasise the magazines superiority and to show its position of power in the magazine genre.it would be highly unlikely another magazine will get a bigger Hollywood star than the one mentioned on this magazine which is Cameron Diaz, not exactly known in the horror genre although. Despite this, the main puff will only of been used to show that they can get high powered stars or celebrities to be a part of the magazine. Puffs are also recognized as pugs and they are used to give information to the audience about what the magazine is going to contain.

There are some Cover lines used underneath the puff titles this is used to give a clue about what the numerous chapters inside the magazine will contain such as, “interview with Michael Jackson…Mj discusses his new and upcoming tour”. It gives the reader a small insight as to what parts are good enough to be mentioned as is used to stand out as the audience may pick up the magazine to have a quick look as to what is in the magazine and these help gives them an idea of what will be in there.

The big masthead is the most traditional item of a magazine as it makes the magazine and gives it a name, it’s the most important thing in the whole of the magazine in my opinion as it shows the audience exactly what they are buying and can in some cases of the huge magazine company it can be worldwide known to millions of people.

The magazine front main image doesn’t use or contain the full typical conventions of a horror film it uses a white background compared to either black or red which are more often associated with horror. This was used for a purpose to make the image stand out with the splatters of blood more directly noticeable. The main image is a true key point as it is the first thing that the audience will get to see when they either choose to buy the magazine, the magazine creators will have to make an image more creative and make it stand out in order for people to notice it at first glance and even think about buying it.

Comparing the magazine to other magazines of this genre I think it is of high standard due to the simple mention of a high Hollywood star, and the conventions shown indicate that there is a high quality of knowledge taking place behind the scenes by the people working for the magazine, comparing it to the magazine above there is more special effects gone into the front main image compared to the first image, this shows that the main focus is on the image to try an draw the audience. Although there is barely any text written and surrounding the main image there  is on the first image this will be because the other magazine may contain more relevant thing inside the magazine and the first magazine may simply have better information or interviews than the second magazine etc. 

College magazine analysis

What images have they used?

The image the college have used is a medium shot of a girl studying in the college.  The image used shows a girl approximately aged 16-18 wearing her own style of clothing studying and working inside the college. The lights are shown in the distance while the main focus is on the girl.

What is the mise en scene used on the cover?

The mise en scene used shows a light setting and shows the amount of space available to the students. it gives a brief outlook of the facilities also. the lighting is light behind her this shows that she will stick out as the main image on the page. The props used of books and a pen connote school life as she is working away as this is what the college expects from students.

Would the front cover engage the audience?

The front cover is terrible when compared to actual magazines on sale as it gives off limited information and it very poorly put together. The magazine front cover is of high quality as it shows the determination of students to work and what the people in the college expect from their students and pupils.

Who is the target audience?

The target audience is male and females in the college aged 16 to 18 who would like to know more information about the college or parents who are interested in finding more information about the college

How does the magazine engage the audience?

The page engages the audience by offering agony aunt with problems page relate-able to the students. it also offers stress tips of how to cope with it, this could be useful to some students, this shows that the college cares about the students well being so could be bought because of this.

How do you know its for the particular target audience?
The girl on the front gives off an example of who should be reading the magazine, as she is from the same age range and also a students at the college. This connotes that she is apart of the readership population of whom the target audience is.

What is the ideology and what does the college consider important?
The college  considers the college students' well being important as it wants them to be able to cope with stress the college considers the students' needs and wants important.

College Magazine Pictures

This image is an over the shoulder shot, the simplest name for a simplest shot as it takes place over the shoulder of a person.

This is a long shot, the reason it is a long shot is because its taken a long way away from the person or object that we should be focusing on another example of this is taking a photo of a bear in a woods from 200 yards away. (This is not recommended).
       











This is a birds eye shot, this is called a birds eye shot is because, this would be directly what a bird would see if it looked down. Its taken from a high point vertically and focusses on the floor at the bottom where our eye focus comes to an end.













This is a medium shot, i have edited this photo on my I-phone and made it black and white faded this in my opinion makes it look better. This is a medium shot as you can still make out a lot of detail on the main object/person of whom our attention and direction is drawn to.

These are images that I have taken specifically for my college magazine creation the two main image that I will use on the magazine front cover will be either the birds eye view, the establishing shot or the medium shot of the student singing for media. All these images are specific and relevant to the genre that I will be covering in the magazine. Its necessary to have taken several images as the best music magazines usually have more than one photo in order to keep the audience interested and entertained. In my college magazine I will only be using one or two of these photos as I don't feel as if they mix well with each other. They are all pictures I could use as my front cover page but I will only be using one, the final creations of my college magazine cover will be available soon, keep visiting here for my three piece college magazine.         

Music Magazine Layout

Below is an image of what the typical music magazine layout will look include, the words have been explained on a previous blog post as to what they represent: music magazines have certain layouts that they tend to keep the same in order for the audience to easily recognise the magazine, the typical music magazines sticks to this layout.

Photoshop introduction

This blog post will be used to show how i have shown briefly my ability on photoshop via merging two images together. Photoshop is a software that allows you to edit text, images or anything else you want via numerous ways such as changing colour or size and many other ways. I wanted to create a funny style image that was combined of two famous faces to add a bit of humour to this blog rather than bland blog posts with no amusement.  The software I am using isn't top quality as I am currently using a school Macintosh computer which is hard to replicate certain things I have done on the past.

My use of Photoshop is very bare as I haven't used Photoshop for about 2 years so I will need to do some research to be able to create a better magazine on Photoshop at the end of the course. The image below is what I am currently able to create on Photoshop. I have taken a picture of Eminem and made text all over his face so that the text looks like it belongs there.

Rock Moodboard

This the a moodboard for the genre of rock, the rock genre has been around for generations with several bands becoming huge succeses through the genre. Bands that are shown above are Foo Fighters, Kiss and ACDC these are well known bands that have been extremely successful attaining mass interest from the audience. The two coloured images are logos for the band KISS and the band Foo Fighters these help the audience indentify the band and distinguish them from other similar bands.