Liiar analysis of three media magazines

X Factor Magazine

Language- There is six photographs on the front of the x factor magazine, there is one main image which takes up the majority of the front cover but has being put to the right slightly which makes the editor able to put in some inserts to the front cover which are the other five images.  The magazine uses very bright colours which connect with the connotations of pop music, the colours used are; bright pink, bright yellow, white, black and red all these colours draw you in to the magazine and make you want to pick it up and have a look. The text shown on the front cover seems very persuasive it only shows a snippet of each story but it makes you want to read more.  The mast head on the magazine is in the top left corner and they have made the main image cover a bit of the masthead. They have used the logo for the X off x factor which would show the reader straight away what the magazine is going to be about because the logo is very well known.

The contents page of the magazine shows a flow from the front cover by the use of bright colours and also some of the same people on the pictures what are on the front cover. In the contents page there are five pictures and a band of little photographs along the bottom showing who is still in the x factor. The colours used in the contents page are; blue, pink, yellow and red. The contents page is nicely laid out it gives titles then what it going to be under that section so stories are easier for the reader to find.

The double page spread has four photographs within, the interview is with Danni who was the main and is a question and answer interview. There is a big image of Danni then little inserts of her whilst being on the x factor as a judge.  The masthead of the double page spread is a quote from Danni “Aiden is hilarious, but how could I get that across?”

Institution- The x factor magazine is published by Fremantle media, who are a large global company.
Fremantle Media is one of the world's largest and most successful creators, producers and distributors of outstanding entertainment brands. From prime time and serial drama to entertainment and factual entertainment, our programmes continue to excite, challenge, entertain and inspire audiences around the world. This is a quote from the site: http://www.fremantlemedia.com/About_Us.aspx this shows that the publication is does not only publish magazines but also creates serial dramas.

Ideology- The x factor magazine comes across respectful and the people on the magazine could be teenagers and adults role models. On the front of the magazine there are all nice images know body is upset or drinking alcohol or smoking thing that are not very respectful and things that people don’t want their children to be seeing. Because this would be the first thing people see when they pick up the magazine you don’t want anything to be portrayed in a bad way.

Audience-The audience of the x factor magazine is proven to be more women and young girls who buy the magazine and not so much men. The magazine looks a little bit like a woman’s chat magazine would look; it’s all about different people’s stories and is set out a bit like the heat magazine and the closer magazine, very bright colours and quite girly colours.
Representation- By looking at the artists shown on the front of the magazine it would help the reader get a feel to what genre of music the magazine is going to be about. If the people on the photos was wearing all black and had drums and guitars this would show a heavy metal band which would create a total different feel for the magazine, but because its well groomed good looking men and women it’s again showing the stereotypical image of pop groups which would be “perfect” girls and “perfect” boys.

 XXL Magazine

Language- there is only one main image on the front of the XXL magazine and it really tells you about the audience which this magazine would cater for. The image is very bold and stands out because it covers a bit of the mast head which makes the picture stand out more. The colours used on the front of the magazine are grey, black, white and red. The red masthead and the gold jewellery really make the magazine more attractive because the dim colours don’t make the magazine very eye catching. It looks as if the photographer has purposely centred 50 Cent and Soulja boy to the right so that they could insert writing down the left hand side and so it all looks tidy they have made it all in line with the mast head. The mast head XXL could mean a lot of things but this magazine seems very stereotypical towards rappers and gangsters their for it would be to do with things thing that these types of people like or what there wear, for example baggy jeans could be XXL. Also it seems like the people focused in this magazine are very rich with all the jewellery they wear which make you think they do things a bit bigger than the rest of us. They have followed the image on from the front cover of the same two people and have kept them to the right with the writing on the left hand side. The same colours have also being used which is a good flow between the two. The double page spread is also about the same two people, there is still like the rest of them only one image and the colours are also still the same.

Institution- The institution of XXL magazine is Harris Publications. This is from the site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Publications Harris Publications Inc. is a consumer magazine publisher located in New York that publishes over 75 titles including: Juicy, XXL, Small Business Opportunities, Start Your Own Business, Men's Workout, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, Tactical Knives, Combat Handguns, and many more. One major division, Harris Outdoor Magazines, publishes several titles on hunting, fishing, and firearms.

Ideology- XXL magazine could be quite controversial on whether or not the magazine could be representing good behaviour and good role models. This could be because of the image on the front of the magazine, the two men on the front are very well known rappers what young boys do look up too. But all the tattoos all over soulja boy’s body and 50 Cent in the balaclava don’t show a very positive image.

Audience- The audience of XXL magazine would be people that are into this type of music. I think that the audience would lean towards more male buyers of the magazine than women buyers. The front cover of the magazine makes it look more masculine. Finally, I think that the ages of the people buying the magazine would be teenagers and people in their twenty’s because not many older people like rap music and this type of scenery.

Representation- I think that the representation of this magazine is good and what the creator was looking for, because it shows well the genre of what the magazine is going to entail. The colours of the magazine are a good choice as well because if it was very bright colours and girly colours like pinks it wouldn’t represent the magazine like it should be and people would get  very confused about the image the magazine is wanting to portray.

NME

Language-The image on the front of this magazine is in black and white and the Mast head and the main focus what the magazine includes is in red. This makes the mast head and the heading stand out and makes the reader focus on it. The image would also draw peoples attention because unlike other magazines this one has the image of a famous member of a band swearing. What’s good about this image is that you feel as if his fingers are coming out at you, because they cover a bit of the mast head. The image is placed in the middle of the page but because the background is white this works and allows you to put text at both sides of the image. The man is also wearing a black jacket and the text goes cross his body but the text is white and red so it is a good choice of colours. The Contents page has a good flow of colours with using black and white text and also an advertisement which is red. There are seven images on the contents page each showing who is involved in this publication of NME. The biggest image on the contents page is also in black and white like the front cover. On the double page spread, is the band which had to lead singer on the front cover. There is a big photograph and only a little paragraph of text; the colours used are teal, pink, yellow, red, and blue, green, black and white. This is a lot of different colours and you wouldn’t think that they would go with each other but because the image is on a white back ground they all stand out and look good. Institution- The institution of NME magazine is ipc media. This is a quote from the site http://www.ipcmedia.com/about/ The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963. IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men –almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month. 

Ideology- The ideology of the NME magazine could come across and quite controversial because on the front cover it has somebody swearing on it. I feel that the type of people that would buy this magazine wouldn’t be bothered by the image on the front cover so it’s ok and would be acceptable to them. Audience- I found the audience of NME magazine from the media pack. The magazine would attract more male readers then female and the percentage is 74% male and 26% female. The people that would buy this magazine will be people that are obsessed with music and love bands and knowing things about the latest bands. Finally, it would appeal to people that go to festivals as the magazine has the types of bands at festivals and has a festival feel to it, also the magazine actually features the festivals when they are on. Representation- I think the representation of this magazine is good, and that the image on the front cover would represent the type of people that would buy this magazine well. Although it doesn’t really show the type of genre of the magazine, maybe this is because the magazine could vary through many different genres therefore it wouldn’t be right to focus upon one. On the other hand, maybe they didn’t choose to make this publication of NME to focus upon a genre because the man on the front is from the band Pulp and people know what type of music they do therefore they would be no need to dress him up in a certain way.

The Music Magazine Brief

 For this piece of coursework, I have to create an original music magazine. I will have to choose the genre of my magazine for example; dance, pop, mental, rnb. For this magazine I have to get at least four original images for the magazine and also do a front cover, contents page and double page spread..


What is the chosen music genre, which your magazine will focus upon?
I have chosen pop music to do my music magazine on.

What are the key feature of pop?

Pop music has always been thought to be very cheesy, in the music magazines for pop they use very bright colours to identify them. Most pop bands have this stereotypical image of being “perfect” they have to be innocent because the majority of the audience for pop would be teenagers and young children. More key features would be things such as; happy, girly and they would wear fashionable clothes which is different to how it used to be 10 years ago as they would wear crop tops and little shorts.

What magazines are currently in publication that cover this genre?

They isn’t that many magazines that cover pop music,  top of the tops which has a very stereotypical image for pop, sugar and the X Factor magazine. I couldn't find top of the tops or sugar magazines so i have chosen to analyse the X factor magazine and XXL.