AS MEDIA STUDIESCASE STUDY

ANALYSIS OF CONTENT & DESIGN OF A MUSIC MAGAZINE.

By Dina Hallak and David Miles.

Analysis of the front cover• The main indexical sign is Paul

McCartney. These signs will appeal to the identified audience because ‘Mojo’ is a magazine targeted to a wide range audience so when they see Bob Marley they know reggae is associated with this magazine. The colour of the masthead is white because the background is black, white stands out. The magazine cost £4.50 and we know this because its written on the barcode. The representational issues we can identify are that this magazine it targeting a wide range of audiences with the stereotypes of long hair and beard for the rock stars and the dreadlock for the reggae music, we automatically identify these's with the genres their in.

• Paul McCartney with a slight grin is positive mediation showing how he is the soul surviving ‘talented’ member of the Beatles. The language of the magazine is targeting the audience by using simplistic vocabulary . Mojo magazine is published by Emap (BAUER). Institutional factors affect the look of the magazine because its set up by an organization that lack individualized attention meaning they would have the same stories or research in every magazine they own.

• The front cover is a fully bleed medium straight shot image of a

young Paul McCartney , which is an all black background with his face

illuminated, in the previous band member he was in and the

background showing their less important to this specific article “how

I survived” his eyes are the main vocal point of the cover, we are drawn to his eyes and looking down we will notice the FREE CD straight away

and that would make the reader want to pick this magazine out of the rest

of the magazine.

• We knows what's in the magazine because of the cover line, main cover line/eyebrow and supplement promo. The information is arranged in columns to the far left and far right of the cover. The information has

been arranged this way to attract different type of audiences and to allow ease of the indigestion of information. The colours that have been used are

Red, white, black, and grey. These colours have been used to allow a stronger focus. ‘The Beatles' and ‘Paul McCartney’ worded front are iconic signs

because as soon as we see ‘the beetles' we automatically recognize the legendry band. The

symbolic signs are the pictorial of the Beatles, bob Marley and Brian Wilson because they represent their

own genres.

• Main cover picture has been edited to cover most of the mast head, signifying that regular buyers of “MOJO” know the conventions of the magazine, and instantly know what the main article is about.

• Promotional CD “Let It Be Revisited”. And Bar-code containing price and information to aid stock control.

Analysis of Contents Page.• Denotation of the contents page shows its dominated by men, particularly of the rock’n’roll/indie genre. In a connotative analysis this contents page shows how the

magazine is dominated by men, so it appeal to a widely male based audience; Cleary these images have been borrowed form a photo library. Colours that mainly

stand out on the page are: Red, Black these colours have been used to show the most important information to instantly digest as we skim over the page.

• Fonts that have been used to also support the

attention grabber are: Bold, Regular and the biggest

font is regular. Images have been used to cause an impact on the reader,

images such as Bob Marley (second seen contents), Shit

Browne (on the first seen contents) – these have been used to show the audience what the are expecting to

find in the magazine, and to show what is to come in the forth coming articles. The representational issues in

the image wee see are that the first side of the contents

page are dominated by white males artist, its further showing its a

rock’n’roll and indie genre magazine; men in beards,

long hair all dressed in urban outfits. • We only spot one image of a woman that shows that in this magazine or

even in the music industry they are less significant . The language in this magazine particularly in the contents page displays a lot of free use of vocabulary e.g. a lot of swearing e.g. “shithead” the language is probably utilized by the audience it is aimed at...young university male white students. With the colour aspect...we see a bright array of coloured pictures, drawing the attention of the reader at first glance in a sense...filling the reader with subtle excitement of what is to come in the magazine articles about bands and their business. The second part to the contents shows Bob Marley in black and white, the use of these “classic colours” show his importance in music history as well as the coming article about him in the magazine to be read.

• Contents pages using different representational colors, possible signifying their importance of one another.

DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD.• Denotative a man staring straight at the readerLeft handed guitarist Casually messed man, fully bearded, long hair with a bit of other music technological devices in the back ground.All black background, main camera focus is with some green header of page is McCartney with a green apple. Footer of the page, page number.Unlike bold big lettered font last word green. And adrop cap used • Connotative analysis A young Paul McCartney, very bearded, looking straight at the reader as if to draw the glaze of the reader, face is main vocal point due to poorly lit room, so skin tone and eyes stand out Words, over, Paul McCartney, tom Doyle, and green apple seem to be only in green highlighted these things signifying their importance. 3 different fronts used to suit each case. Title front and drop caps are of similar fronts, caption underneath in italics main article in title a irregular sized Arial front. The image of a rugged young Paul McCartney shows the reader another side of Paul McCartney, the image is from a photo library.  

As you can see, this page spread targets the audience by making Paul’s face the main focal point.

Attracting the audience via a visual eye connection being established, darkened background and surroundings allows everything else to noticed.