Double Page Article Analysis

 

 


The article features Brandon Flowers, who is a former member of the Killers. He is a Pop artist therefore this article would appeal to people that like pop, however the band Killers is well known, so the article would appeal to a wider range of audience, since he still belongs to the group of people ‘the most exciting people in music’. This would grab the attention of any person who is passionate about the industry of music.

The language used is sophisticated and the text contains a lot of factual information about Brandon Flowers’ life. Although the article circles around Brandon’s music career it reads a lot like a biography of his life.

The article has an interesting narrative, a blend between an article and an interview. It writes about Brandon in a third person and then it would shift to an interview mode. Unlike the interviewer’s questions, Brandon’s answers would be quoted. This gives an illusion to the readers that they are talking to Brandon Flowers in person and this helps the audience to form a relationship with the artist and see him as an honest approachable person. The questions would be rather intimate and related not only to music, but also family and life. For example in the context of Brandon’s family history, his dad being an alcoholic and his current family life, Q asks ‘You fear the family demon within?’; or when speaking about his previous best friend Trevor Gagner, the question ‘What happened to Trevor?’ pops up. So really these are genuine questions that help the reader to see Trevor as a human being rather than a distant figure in the industry of music.

According to the article, Brandon Flowers completely gave up alcohol and smoking and he is devoted to religion. However he still feels tied to Las Vegas which seems unusual since this is a Sin City. The pictures used for the article are interesting contain inter-textual reference about the contrast between Brandon and Las Vegas.

In one picture he is surrounded by the well lit ‘ruins’ of Las Vegas. This suggests that the whole idea of Las Vegas- exciting shows, casinos, and the rush is all in the past. However he still sees Las Vegas as his home, he still sees brightness within it. His pose presents him as powerful and this links to the caption ‘man on a mission’ and ‘he’s still got God on his side’. Another picture is a mid-shot with the camera at an eye level.  This represents Brendan as an equal to the reader emphasising the friendly and human like nature of the artist. The direct mode of address captures the reader’s attention and suggests honesty. Other photographs visually inform the reader about Brendan Flowers’ life, for example an image of him graduation, photograph of him and his wife and a concert image.

The colour scheme consists of three main colours; white, red and black. White is mainly used as a background for the white black text, which makes the text easy to read. Red is an eye-catching colour which is used for important quotes and it is also used as a text highlight for Brandon’s name in the opening paragraph.


The magazine keeps a consistent house style by the use of colour. Both the front cover and the article have the same colour schemes and the article has the logo of the magazine on every page. 
The magazine keeps a consistent house style by the use of colour. Both the front cover and the article have the same colour schemes and the article has the logo of the magazine on every page. 

The whole article is written in a simple black text similar to Times New Roman, this makes it easy to read. The first letter of every paragraph begins with an enlarged letter making it clear when the new paragraph is starting and it also make the article pages look more interesting. The quotes are written in capital bold red letters and this makes the text stand out from the rest and easily catches reader’s eye.

We can see that the magazine represents this artist as someone really important because the first double page is taken up by Brendan’s image and a short introduction to the article. The rest of space is equally divided between text and images. This helps the magazine to appeal to both types of audiences- the ones who prefer text and the ones who prefer images. I would say the article maintains a good balance between the two.

Front cover and the contents page analysis

Front Cover of the Q magazine

This is the front cover of the ‘Q magazine’. This is a music magazine that is based on the music industry and the people who are a part of it. According to the cover lines the magazine contains 42 pages of reviews and 10 exclusive interviews of the 10 “most exciting people in music now”. These include Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Dave Grohl.

Their names are written on the front cover in capital letters in a bold and exceptionally large font and the red bright colour stresses their importance. Due to this, the text appears extremely eye catching. Under each name of the artist there is a short quote from their interview which gives us a taste of what the interview is going to be about, hence it intrigues the audience.

This is a music magazine and the cover lines suggest that the content revolves around the world of music therefore the target audience are the people who have interest in music. It does not target a specific age group because people can listen to music at any age. However the magazine appears to contain a lot of text especially the 42 pages of reviews. Teenagers up to 16 years old are not interested in reading this high quantity of text. Hence this magazine would appeal to readers who are 16 or older, although the majority of the senior population would not be intrigued by modern artists such as Lady Gaga or especially Jay-z.

The central image uses a direct mode of address so we have all these three artists looking directly at the audience and this suggests that they want an honest relationship with the reader.

The image of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and Dave Grohl is used as a central image because this visually informs the reader that these artists are included in the contents of the magazine. All of them are well known successful artists; however each one represents a different genre of music. This shows that this magazine focuses on a variety of music genres.  Also having completely different genre artist on the front cover will appeal to a wider audience since it will attract Jay-Z fans as well as Lady Gaga or Dave Grohln admirers.

Each artist has his/her own style; therefore each one of them is coming across as an individual and being themselves. This foreshadows the content of their interviews. It suggests that they want to be seen for whom they really are and that the interviews are going to be honest.

The fact that Jay-Z is at the front of the group suggests that he is the most important figure. Also his posture suggests that a powerful personality, this is a slight low angle shot and it look like Jay-Z is looking down on the audience. This implies his superior position in the industry. However his hands are positioned at his sides hence Jay-Z appears open and approachable to the viewers.

‘Exciting People’ is a buzz word which is placed at the top, of the front cover. The bright red background highlights the black text and this makes it stand out. The ‘Exciting People’ refers to the artists who are interviewed for the magazine. This provokes the reader to read the magazine because the audience always wants to know more about what is ‘Exciting’ and ‘Exclusive’, which was the word that was used to describe the interviews.

The title block consists of one letter ‘Q’ which is a very simple and short name can easily be remembered. Also the design of the title block helps to catch the attention of the audience. The white letter ‘Q’ is highlighted with a red box and makes the exceptionally large ‘Q’ stand out even more. The title block is partly overlaid with other components of the front cover, therefore this magazine must be well known as the audience is expected to remember its name. This also suggests that the artists featured in this magazine are more important than the title block, because the central image is put forth. 

Contents Page

 

This magazine uses a lot of visual communication to guide the reader through the contents. The images have been spread throughout the double page and their size indicates the importance of the article. For example the most eye catching component throughout the contents page is the close up of Jay-Z. The image has been enlarged so that it takes up more space in the layout than any other component. Therefore it suggests that the interview with Jay-Z is the most important and exclusive content that they have in the magazine. Under the Jay-Z there is an image of the article of Lady Gaga and David Gnohl. This suggests that these are the next most important articles in the magazine.

On the next contents page there are images of other artists. Each image has a page number on it so the audience knows what article the picture is linked to. This makes it easier to navigate through the contents.

The contents are written on the outer sides of the page. The titles of the articles are written in black text using bold capital letters and each one has a page number written in front of it. Also the titles are underlined in red and under them there are short descriptions about the articles. This type of design makes the contents look organised and it also makes it easier for the reader to find a particular article. For example the fact that the tities are bold makes them stand out from the text hence the reader can skim through contents only reading the titles. Having an image rather than just text makes the page less dull and more visually stimulating. Also easier for the viewer to see what the magazine offers as they only have to skim through the article page instead of having to read everything. The first contents page seems to be focusing only on the ‘music’s most exciting people’ so it has the contents information on the interviews with Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and other artists whereas the other page concentrates on the reviews and other music industry matters. All of this shows that the magazine is organized and well structured.

My Survey Results

Most of the people prefer for my magazine to be released every month rather than every one or two weeks. This might suggest that they would rather have a magazine that is released once in a while, but would still have the content equivalent to, let’s say two separate issues that have been released every two weeks.

Furthermore, some people would prefer to keep up with the releases and would want to purchase every issue, however releasing it every week or so would mean that they would have to spend more money and some cannot afford that.

The audience that completed my questionnaire seemed to prefer to pay £3.99 for a good magazine, since the choice got the most votes. However I am targeting “urban” teenagers who are not very likely to afford a music magazine that costs £3.99. Also this is the first issue of my magazine hence to get people to buy it I need to make it cheaper.  I think the price of £2.99 would be quite appropriate and it’s also the second most chosen option.

According to my questionnaire the majority tends to purchase music magazines. Since the group that participated in my questionnaire were a representation of my target audience, the results suggests that they are already interested in music magazines.

This question provides me with the information on what is the main genre of music and the type of magazine that my target audience is most attracted to. The results show that the majority of teenagers would prefer Vibe magazine which is based on R&B and Hip Hop. The second most common choice was Q magazine, which also has a similar music genre as Vibe. Therefore if my target audience is a group of teenagers, it would be clever to choose a genre that would appeal to as many of them as possible; according to the results such  genres of music  would be Hip Hop and R&B.

Results acquired in this question further support that the music genres that are most favoured amongst young people, who are about 16-17 years old, are R&B as well as Hip Hop.  Classical and Jazz are the least favourite. This suggests that it would be harder to sell a magazine that is based on these styles of music and is targeted at teenagers, because as the results show- teenagers are not interested in that music.

Question 6 allows me to understand what factors are most effective in attracting the audience when it comes to music magazines. The results show that the majority of teenagers would purchase a certain music magazine because they want to upgrade their knowledge on new music releases. This suggests that if I include the ‘New Releases’ in my contents of the magazine, as well as adding it to the front cover within the cover lines, chances of my music magazine attracting my target audience would certainly increase.

Furthermore the other aspect that seems to be very essential in order to draw audience is the choice of the artist on the front cover. If I take a glance at the results of Question 7, the most common answers were J Cole, Rihanna and Drake and other popular R&B/Hip Hop artists.  So it seems to me that if a well known artist who appeals to a lot of people was on the front cover of a certain magazine, it would increase the audience appeal.

This is a general question to see whether the gender of an artist would have an impact on the audience. The majority said that they prefer male artists over females; I don’t have any information which would explain this choice, however as far as I know male artists are more likely to perform R&B and Hip Hop than females. Since a lot of teenagers prefer these genres of music they also prefer artists who are male.

According to question 10, people would expect to see at least 4 articles in a magazine. The choices given were from 1 to 5 and the majority chose 4 and 5. This suggests that teenagers do prefer to find a lot of textual content in the magazine.

Evolution of Britney Spears

    The central image of Britney Spears has been cropped to a medium long shot. This provides a balanced focus towards her body and her face since the distance is far enough to give a good view of Britney’s body, however its close enough for the viewer to be able to analyse Britney’s facial expression. Analysing her pose this shot appears to be typical of the lad’s magazine covers and the fact that this shot of Britney has been taken from a high angle gives the audience an impression that they are on top of her.

    Britney is wearing what appears to be a school shirt which is wide open and under it she is wearing a black bra. The shirt is white and this represents her purity and childhood since the shirt is a part of her school uniform. However the black bra under it suggests her hidden scandalous characteristics that are breaking through her innocence and purity. Furthermore, her outfit partially reveals her body and this could be a metaphor to Britney’s openness towards the public in a psychological context hence foregrounding her character.However this type of ‘costume’ generally appeals to the male population since the pose and the outfit mimics the cover of the lad magazines.

    There have been few props that were used in this photo- the teletubbie toy, and the telephone. These are intertextual references since the teletubbie is the character from the children’s TV show and the phone is generally used by teenage girls to have a chat with their boyfriend. Therefore the teletubbie implies that she is still young, on the contrary the phone suggests her maturity and the fact that she is growing up. Furthermore Britney’s shirt wide open school shirt cannotates the fact that she is loosening up physically and mentally.

    The setting of this image is a bedroom, Britney is lying on the bed and this contains sexual connotations. On the other hand given that it is meant to be Britney’s bedroom, it represents her private life hence the fact that the image has been set in her bedroom might imply that she allows the public to invade her personal life. This magazine cover was produced just at the major increase in Britney’s fame. She was a rapidly growing pop star back then, therefore everything she did and said was made public in the press such as magazines such as the “Rolling Stone”, and hence she had no private life to herself. So the fact that we see Britney in her bedroom revealing herself on top of her bed suggests the public invasion of her private life. 

...................................................................................................................

   This is a medium long shot, which has been shot at eye level. This creates a sense of distance and allows the viewer to concentrate on her body as well as her face. Direct mode of address has been used to capture the audience’s attention and to make them feel like Britney is making an intense eye contact with them.  This creates an illusion of intimate relationship between the reader and the pop star, however since its a medium long shot the sense of distance has been created advocating the fact that the reader cannot get close to her.

    In the previous image Britney had the shirt on, regardless the fact that it was wide open it still suggested restrictions. However in this image, Britney’s shirt is completely off, she is just holding it against her chest. This suggests the fact that she has completely broken all the boundaries and is free to do whatever she wants. On the contrary the setting suggests restrictions in her life.  

    The setting appears to be indoors where Britney is trapped between two walls. In the previous magazine the setting gives her space and freedom. However this setting makes her appear contained and restricted. Furthermore she is curving her body outwards trying to fill up all the space between the walls leaving no room for anyone else. This refers to the cover line ‘that kiss and being alone’ where Britney talks about Justin. So the narrow setting suggests that she is on her own now and there is no space for anyone else in her life.

    The lighting in the image is rather intense; this creates a bright background which contrasts with Britney’s tan skin tone. Therefore her body is the focal point of the photograph which means the full attention is fixed on her and her body parts. The white background also helps to outline Britney’s body and this emphasizes her curvy shape.

.......................................................................................................................

    This image is different from the previous ones. The other images are medium long shots; they are more distant and portray Britney’s body as one of the main focus points of the image. However this is a big close up and this enforces the audience to concentrate on her face as well as her feelings. This also creates a more intense, or rather intimate eye contact with the reader. The big close up with the direct mode of address suggests Britney’s attempt to form an honest relationship with the reader instead of creating a sexual intrigue as we have seen in the previous images.

    The black and white effect makes the image more subtle, the viewer is not distracted by different colour tones, and this helps them to concentrate on Britney’s facial expression. Although the lack of colour creates a depressing and gloomy atmosphere and suggests something dreadful might have happened in her life. 

.......................................................................................................................

Music Mgazine Cover Elements

Preliminary Task

My Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZTK5GXB
This the link of my survey about the Music Magazines. Please complete it.