second music magazine analysis - q magazine
TRANSCRIPT
Q MAGAZINE ANALYSIS APRIL 2006 ISSUE – TASK
2
JERMAINE MILLER
MASTHEAD
The masthead follows the house style through out all Q magazine issues of the red white & black colour code. This gives the magazine its recognition to its audience
Cover lines
Using the same font all around on the front cover, they both match the genre of the music of the artist in the main image. The artist/band names are in bold representing the importance of them.
Footer
The footer shows the review of the magazine as a 5 star in a pink box which attracts the audiences attention due to the colour not matching the house style of the front cover, it isn’t very formal either, it is straight to the point which may represent Bob Dylans Personality
Date/Price/Website
The date, price and Website is all in black box under the masthead very straight forward with no punctuation, this may represent Bob Dylan's personality aswel as the music genre as being quite informal. The importance of the date issue and price shows importance by being bigger than the website and much bolder
Header/Strapline
Also very straight forward, and could be seen as bias, but represents the confidence of Bob Dylan giving the target audience an idea of he’s personality.
Barcode
Flasher
Also in pink standing out from the house style of the magazine. “50 Cult Dylan tracks” the number 50 is big and bold to stand out to the target audience letting them know that 50 is a good number of tracks to own. It is also using very direct language “You must own!” persuading the audience to pay more interest to Bob Dylan
Main Coverline
“Bob Dylan” is very big, straight and bold representing his bold personality stating that he is a straight forward blunt person, this also shows that the magazine front cover is based on him other than the main image. It is also quyite formal showing his first and last name to suit his formal dress sense
Main Image
Bob Dylan has a blank look on his face, showing his straight forward personality relating to the language, font and house style used on the front cover. There is also a plain white background representing his formalness as he is also dressed quite formal and plain. The close up shows his face expression as being quite blank but serious, this may relate to the housestyle of the magazine as it has a colour scheme of red and black
Cover line and image
The man in this image also has a blank look on his face but we can see that it is of a different story due to the informal language used: “Morrissey” and it isn’t direct at all, so it separates itself from the front cover story.
This “Q” magazine issue suggests that the target audience are mainly male aged 18 - 30 due both images being of males. The background and face expressions might suggest that the target audience don’t have much of a social life or are quite formal due to the main cover line being the celebrities first and last name in huge bold font. This also shows the relationship between Bob Dylan and the reader that the issue is trying to portray making the audience feel more close with him.
Other artists/bands mentioned aswel as Bob Dylan are within the rock genre, which suggests the target audience to be into rock also.
The price of the magazine is quite deer, this may be because it is a monthly magazine but suggests the working class may be either in office or of high maintenance. Due to Bob Dylans race and dress sense the target audience may stereotypically be of white ethnicity.
Housestyle
The masthead taken from the front cover is placed in a smaller sized in the top right corner of the page; same place as the front cover. The housestyle of it is used through out the whole page: red and white on the index and footer. The issue number is next to the masthead in red and contents next to it in black then the date of the issue is placed next to that in grey. The different colours of these words attract the readers, although it is informal due to there being no punctuation and the date isn’t written out fully, this shows the magazine house style is straight forward. Rule of thirds is used but not bluntly due to the image taking up the whole width of the page swell as the banner and footer but we see that the page is structured out neatly and plain. The story from the front page of Bob Dylan has its own section as we can see on the contents in big bold writing compared to everything else this stands out. it also has more colour on the section with the page numbers coloured red and all other font being black in a white watermarked box. The other 2 headings are highlighted red with the white heading and boldness of it standing out. The introduction to the stories are in a very small white font but the titles are bigger and bold to give more interest of the story to the reader. This suggests that the target audience aren’t much of the reading type.
Main Image
The main image is of Kanye West dressed quite casual representing his personality. He is holding a bag which may suggest he is a busy man, the glasses he is wearing may represent he’s social class of high maintenance of him being a celebrity trying to keep secrets away from the reader, but seeing that there is a story on him in the index will entice the reader to find out more about him due to there not being much information about him on the contents page but he is the main image which may confuse the reader. This also suggests that he is separated from the target audience of the front cover because he is a rapper in the genre called rap which is totally different from the rock genre. He has a very blank look on his face and this may relate to the plain structure of the contents page and the indirect language used. Next to him is a brick wall which may represent his street life as a child but he doesn’t acknowledge the wall so this may show how he’s life has changed from that. The background is quite shadowy and dark but he is standing in the sunlight, this shows how he has came out of a dark past and is now in a bright future.
Footer
Relating to the housestyle of the magazine part of the footer is red and the other in black which suggests the importance of the story, also, moving from the house style red represents danger and the story is quoted “BONO HAS A |FORM OF MENTAL ILLNESS: PAUL WELLER p60” this is very formal due the actual names being mentioned showing the seriousness of the story. It is also straight forward due to the page number being mentioned straight after the name separating its self from the index. The red arrow pointing to the next page persuades the reader to read on and find out more about all stories.
Header information They have put information about the magazine at the top because it is one of the first things you look at. This makes the magazine available to a much wider audience also allowing them to advertise more.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ANALYISISHousestyle
The by-line is the only thing following the magazine house style due to one part being red and the other black in straight bold font.Rule of thirds is being used and the text uses different alignments to cover all 3 sections, the text font is very small and black which also helps the by-line to stand out fully. One of the 2 images on the first page is overlaying on the other one with a border around it which may represent Bob Dylans life style as being quite busy.
Tag - The tag in the top left side of the 1st page says “Dylan” this informally tells us that the article is about him.
Images
All images are in a black & white effect because the clothes being worn by people in them, are dark colours which relate to the rock genre and suggests that he has had a hard life. The image of the man on the bike is slightly slanted and over laying on the other image which may represent Dylans life style as being quite busy. The image on the right of the 1 st page is performance, he also has a guitar in his hands being played which is a recognisable instrument for the rock genre. Bob is closest to the camera in this image and we see another person playing a guitar behind him, suggesting that they are in the same band but suggests that Bob is the leader, Compared to the other image which takes up the whole of the 2nd page we see that Bob is more in with the crowd of children which may relate to his child hood. The image is also black & white and we see that they are sitting in a door way with a brick wall either side suggesting he had a hard childhood growing up in the streets. A humble side of Bob is shown here sitting in with the children, they all have happy face expressions and Bob’s is very blank with he’s eyes being covered by black glasses, this shows that he doesn’t have a very loud, or happy personality but compared to the image on the 1 st page we see that music makes him feel different due to his face expression being more flamboyant.
Q MAGAIZINEhttp://www.qthemusic.com/
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom founded by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth . Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring: new releases (music), reissues (music), music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It uses a star-rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". Every other month, Q — and its sister magazine, Mojo (also owned by Bauer) — have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician. In 2006, Q published a readers' survey; the 100 Greatest Songs Ever, won by Oasis' Live ForeverIn the April 2007 issue, Q published an article containing the 100 Greatest Singers, won by Elvis Presley. Q Magazine aim to a wide range of target audiences but in all the target audience are people who love music, finding out album releases and songs to listen to. Aiming to a wide range of genres helps build the target audience helping the magazine to sell more and cover more content in each monthly issue.
Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_%28magazine%29
