Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Content Analysis 1- Top Of The Pops

Images

The images on the contents page are often what the main articles in the magazine are about. The image of the front cover is useful for the audience since it shows where the articles are in the magazine. Also the pictures are usually corresponding with the ones on the front cover to keep the consistency. There are also some fashion and make up pictures to keep the reader interested and it gives them another incentive to buy the magazine. The quotes accompanying the photos usually are words such as "Shocking" and "WOW" to get the readers interest. 

Font style 

The font style is again chatty and informal to keep the reader interested. This form of address is common in pop magazines. The text itself is a combination of serif and sanserif as well as being consistent from this magazines front cover.

Articles 

The articles featured in this magazine are shown under in catorgores to keep the layout simple for the reader to follow. The headings shown are all categorized around generic things a teenage girl would like- "Boys", "all about you", "we love shopping", "wins &offers" etc. These headings are a accurate representation of the pop genre. The main articles are focused on current pop artists and celebrities, perfect for the teenage audience.

Color Pallet 

The color  pallet used is simplistic and vibrant, the three main colors are black, yellow and pink. The simplicity and how basic the color pallet is connotes that the magazine content is stripped back and honest. Giving readers the honest interviews and facts about the celebrities as well as bluntly being about the music. Also the color pallet is very feminine and goes with the front cover of this magazine.

Heading 

There are 62 page numbers listed on this magazine contents page This is typical of a magazine of this type because the price would be about £2.99, meaning there would have to be a lot of content. There is a photo of the magazines front cover, then page numbers directing to the coverlines of the front cover. Useful to direct readers to the right articles they want. 

Language

Like other pop music magazines I've studied the language used is chatty and informal, appealing to the younger generation (target audience). The use of slang and brackets appears more friendly and makes it more direct for the reader. The choice of vocabulary is simple, but not patronizing They use language that the audience can relate to and what they find easy to understand as well as formed to challenge their mentality-especially the youngest of the target audience. So in some ways it becomes a learning resource as well as a music magazine. 

House Style & Brand Identity 

All of the things mentioned above are combined together to create the house styles for this magazine. This magazine differentiates itself from other magazines because it has a picture of the front cover within the contents page. This is the only contents I've studied which does this. So this creates a strong brand identity. "Top of the pops" have a strong brand identity anyway, due to the TV show, so they didn't have to start from the beginning. This helped the business and was able to make the magazine a success easily. The house style of this particular magazine changes every time there is a new magazine, there are still vibrant bright colors to connote the excitement of the magazine but the colors vary and change each time. But keeping the same fonts, layout, masthead keeps the house styles the same each time. 

Monday, 13 October 2014

Time Management

We are on week three and l am currently behind with my blog posts. The reason l am behind is because l have used my time to do other courses first, but now l will concentrate on getting up to date.
All blog posts will be up to date shortly.

Monday, 6 October 2014

Magazine front cover analysis 2

Magazine Front Cover Analysis 2

The second magazine l chose to analyse was "Top of the Pops" because this magazine is the same genre of magazine that l want to create. I will analyse it to prepare myself for when i create my magazine, so l can recognize the generic conventions of a pop magazine. 

Masthead 

The mastead is "Top of the Pops", this is written in bold and the font is specifically a fun one, connoting the magazine itself is fun and exciting. Also this writing is a unique selling point of this magazine since no other magazine does it. The pink and white show that the target audience for this magazine will be girls. 

Target audience

Most likely the target audience is girls aged 11-16. 

Coverlines

This magazine in particular has a lot of coverlines presented. They are mainly on the left side of the magazine but there is also one on the right side of the mmagazine. These coverlines are the most interesting stories on a magazine and the topicality of them is based on the target audience. So the target audience of girls are mostly interested in boys, bands and upcoming artists. The coverline below the masthead is unusually placed since this is usually where the puff would go, but this magazine doesn't contain any puffs. The main coverline of this magazine is "Ariana Cracks up" this links in with the central image. This draws your eye to it because its placed in a bubble and is bigger then the other coverlines so it stands out and drws your attention to it. In the bottom left corner there is a cover line saying "WOW, whats joee essex done now?". The wording of this makes the reader curious and want to read that specific article. The wow is in bold and a different font to draw attention away from the main coverline. There is also one above the masthead, this is used attract potential buyers towards that magazine because of the amount of cover lines on it. The front cover contains a lot more coverlines then other magazines of the same genre, so it shows that this magazine is busy, fun and exciting. 

Central image

The central image of this magazine is Ariana Grande, because to teenage girls would be inspired by her. In this picture she is happy and her eyes looking into the lense this makes the readers feel more involved with the magazine since you're able to look into her eyes. The shot is a medium shot. Also this is key because the double page spread article is also about her, so it lets the readers know the main story of this particular magazine.

Mode of address

The mode of address for this magazine is typical of a pop subgenre magazine It's chatty and quite informal since it's aimed at a young audience. The informal lexis choices are used to make the magazine easy to understand as well as direct. Slang is used because of the informality of the magazine and explanation marks are used to emphasis the main stories and build up excitement about the magazine. 

Puffs

Surprsingly in this magazine, there are no puffs-however usually in pop magazines puffs are used ont eh front cover. 

Fonts

These fonts are bright and bold to connote a youthful magazine and to differentiate itself from other magazines. 

House styles 

the house styles for this magazine are bright colors and have very famine color palette. This is ideal because the magazie has a female target audience and the bright pinks love and emotions - which the magazine matches with boy bands. Making the ideal mix for a female magazine. In each magazine the house styles can change a little but they still remain bright, vibrant and feminine. 

Brand Identity 

The brand identity of this magazine is "Top of the Pops"-which is familiar and can be related to the TV show top of the pops. This brand identity has been built up over time and now one of the UK's top pop music magazines.. 

Magazine Analysis Front Cover 1