Magazine Terminology glossary

Masthead - name of magazine or publishers etc. these are usually the same for every issue in order for the audience to remember the brand. Thus the in house is strong.

byline - The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, the date, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byline

pugs - logo, price merchandise (freebees) all to grab the audiences attention usually on the front cover.

plugs - before the teaser usually an event or name of band to give info then tease audiences into buying the magazine.

puff/tags - a magazine term e.g. revealed and exclusive when its not that secret because other magazines have the same story it is just advertising the magazine and band more because technically the album or news story has just been publicised for the first time.

teasers - usually bands names to grab the audiences attention but then toying with the readers to read on as it says read about their new album afterwards to get more people to buy the product.

pull quotes - this is the most interesting quote from an interview repeated in the middle of columns just larger and bolder so that it stands out to the audience so that they read on

fonts - there are many different kinds of typography to create different effects in order to portray different tones and atmosphere ( e.g.San-Serifs and Serifs)

this is San-serif which is used mainly for headings and has a more Gothic feel.

the added red bits change the font to serif as san in French means without. It would probably would be used in the body of the text for a magazine feature page.

images - photos animations ect it is said that a picture can say a million words. this can be done with mise en scene such as props, facial expressions, body language, costume, make up and lighting

layout - usually conventional e.g. feature page main huge image with little ones breaking up the text or the masthead always at the top of the front page

colour - signifies representations that the producers try to imply e.g. blue and green can be inferred by the reader as masculine thus it portrays a stereotypical male representation.

semiotics - signs icons and indexical features - the study of language in media

symbols - metaphorical meanings red is the sign for love but can be interpreted differently through blood.

iconic - mise en scene that has related meanings e.g. an iconic feature of the genre rock and metal is the colour black because because the lyrics speak much about death and black symbolises death due to the notion that it is tradition to wear black clothing to funerals. Something that makes u think of something else a uniform is iconic to schools, hair dressing, a fireman police officer or nursing depending on Which type it is.

direct quotes - in an interview word for word what the person being interviewed said in "quotation marks" but normal font.

direct address (synthetic personalisation) - talking straight to the audience also known as breaking the fourth wall which is post-modern as it blurs the boundaries of reality and media which engages the audience more.

Jargon also known as slang this further interacts with the audience because it uses language of the era

News and Feature Pages

I wanted to know the difference between a news and feature page in magazine because I hope I haven't Analysed a news article instead of feature in NME. This is because believe it or not it takes a large amount of time to evaluate the mediums.

http://journalism.winchester.ac.uk/?page=299

NEWS                                            FEATURES/ DOCUMENTARIES
Telling                                            Seeing (inc "word pictures" on radio)
Brief/Summary                               Lengthy/ detailed
Aimed at whole audience             Aimed a "niche" sections of the readership
Length varies (importance)            Length fixed by editorial structure/TV radio /news agenda
Defined styles                                Many styles/ generic types
Pictures useful                               Pictures essential/ graphics
Published instantly                        Published according to schedule
Done by staff reporters                  Done by production staff/ freelancers
Event-led ("the news agenda")       Production-led (fitting schedule/structure of mag/newspaper

I will have to analyse the  feature page in Kerrang! and see the real differences.

Kerrang!

Images and colour - I have a feeling a convention of Magazines is to have photos of bands and artists because there are a range of these throughout my research so far. However, in some of the photos in the front cover above the mise-en-scene is slightly different. This is because some of the body language and the facial expressions are more excited and less serious like NME. This is portrayed through the male antagonist closest to the left in the white shirt (Connoting purity) with is playful facial expression as he has his tongue sticking out the male antagonist below him is also wearing a white shirt thus reinforces the idea of being pure as he also has a fun expression with his finger on his lips which signifies he has a secret (about the Fall out Boys band). Nevertheless, he is probably going to share this secret in the magazine which the language implies. The lack of purity is portrayed which contradicts these costumes as the male protagonist (lead singer I think) who is positioned further forward than the antagonist so overalls them and he is wearing black clothes which connotes death. His facial expression and body language is aggressive. This is revealed as he is leaning forward and his nose is crinkled and mouth is open. This is emphasized through the prop of a megaphone as well because the audience infers that he is shouting. I think this is done in order to symbolise the bands name "sleeping with Sirens". The yellow circles connote vibrations made from the male protagonist in the main image by the mega phone. Also yellow signifies brightness so it stands out. Moreover, the megaphone itself is iconic to the entertainment industry.

There is also an image of the band Green day with the same facial expressions and body language as the My Chemical Romance and Franz Ferdinand on the front covers and Angel Haze, The Stypes, Eleanor Friedberger etc. in the contents page of NME.

The mise en scene of these images are quite different even though they are from the same genre of music. Firstly green day the male antagonist closest to the left has green hair to signify the bands name and the lighting is high key which gives an eerie tension to the magazine because it is like they are in the shadows. Whereas my chemical romance are all wearing the same outfits black shirt and blazers with red ties which connotes death and love or blood. I do not know the band well enough to know for sure but I watched one of their music videos Helena to research it. This was about a women's funeral the male protagonist loved the girl Helena that died so red could connote love and death. the one further forward is the lead singer hence portrays he is of higher importance than the other band members because the songs are from his point of view. This is a convention of most images the position of the musicians conveys their importance. Thus the blond haired male antagonist in the green day image is the lead singer. To prove this theory I looked up a music video; wake me up September ends.
The red background is strong thus emphasis on a positive stereotype of male representation as the red is a strong textured, strong and dark red. This is reinforced because of the prevalence of males. This is continued as the colour blue is used for the green haired green day male antagonist and the background of the fall out boys photo as well.

Colour - I think that there is a basic colour scheme of black yellow and red with a few added extras of green and blue to connote masculinity and create a brand for the edition of Kerang!

Font and colour - Kerrang! Is the Masthead so is the same font as every edition. It is also white and textured as the edges of the letters and it is like it is shards of glass that have cracked as you can see the red back ground through them. Although it overlaps the yellow graphics of vibrations from the megaphone the male protagonist which emphasises his importance again but this time with the other band members. Hence the band members are more important than the title of the magazine I think that this is because this is the magazines logo like NMEs. Therefore, if the audience know the brand well enough they will not need to know the name or logo of the product. "Green day" is green which signifies the bands brand again the font is also textured but also has a black shadow on it to give an edgy effect. "Poster pull-out!" is solid and black to make it stand out against its yellow strip of a background. Although All the other words are in this same bold thick font so that it stand out and keeps in line with the brand some of the word are different sizes. All except the bands name sleeping with sirens which is white and outlined with black and an opaorc yellow the with is a large amount smaller than the other two words in the bands name probably to convey a juxtaposition. The only other font that is different from the rest is "here to wake up your town" which is in a quite creepy font as it has bobboly edges. This is because the it once again has an opaque colour around the white font this time it is black instead of yellow.All font is in capital letters as though the author is shouting to connote the main band the magazine is promoting "Sleeping with Sirens" and emphasising every letter.

Layout - I think the strip is used to create a structure at the top other wise it would be too busy with the textured red background, and the textured font for the magazines title and bands title. In fact I already think its busy because the producers are trying to make it look like there is loads of information in side the magazine. However it would be more chaotic if the yellow strip wasn't there as explained above. The title of the magazine is once again at the top of the page. This is probably because it is one of the first things they want the readers to see this and the synergy; poster pull-out is on top of the titles name to promote the magazine further to the audience. Then as explained earlier the band members are positioned behind the lead singer to portray importance.It could also be inferred that the producers put the music and the bands before their brand. Nevertheless all other text is on top of the photos so that it can be seen clearly.most text has the yellow background like the lop to give a structure to it but they are placed scattered in two places and at the bottom as well as the top which has already been mentioned. There is another border which is implies someone has ripped the page to create the effect. I think this is to give another edgy and aggressive tone to the front page this is probably because the genre of music quite loud and fast paced . This is reinforced by the random scatter of text as "Metallica...Review" is in right alignment and "Fall... Album" is on the left alignment but slightly edging to the right as though it has randomly been put the this is like "Here to wake up your town" and the rip of the page to section the My chemical Romance story off from the Sleeping With Sirens story promotions. Encyclopedia also has the edge to the right whereas the circle at the top is edged to the left (The one with "Deftones win Chino's Sweaty Shirt!" in it). All of this expresses a chaotic rock and roll lifestyle of all the musicians life. The fact that this image of a life is revealed makes you want to read about it and have an ambition of becoming like the cool bands.

Language - Like NME they have used "Plus" to give the illusion that there is loads to offer in the product such as "alter Bridge, Korn, Tonight Alive, Blink 182" These are all bands and instead of the commas there are red dots to separate the stories at the very bottom of the front page.  Poster pull-out persuades the audience to buy the magazine as it has alliteration. More alliteration is "Metallica the movie" which I will have to read the news page to fully understand. The audience infers from "The First Review!" that it is number 1 the best because it is new fresh and hip due to all of those reasons. "Revealed" implies that no one else knows and it is a secret being unraveled which is reinforced by "Fall Out Boys Secret Album!" This is done because it persuades people to buy the magazine because it has secrets in it. Therefore, people can feel a part of something and find out new things about their favourite bands. Moreover, Encyclopedia does this too for My Chemical Romance fans and The Band Deftones as well because it says readers can "win Chino's Sweaty Shirt!" the repetition of the exclamation mark once again implies that the writer is shouting out to the audience the good points of why to buy the magazine after all  it is "Here to wake up your town!" like "Sleeping with Sirens". This is is sibilance (Alliteration is for words beginning with consonants except S's which this does; Sibilance). Finally Kerang! itself is onomatopoeia as it is like an instrument clanging smashing or crashing which goes well with its supposedly Rock genre (Green day, Blink 182 and My Chemical Romance are Pop Punk but pop punk originated from rock). Sleeping with Sirens is a Post-Hardcore band which means it is like screamo and has a really loud and harsh bass with a fast pace. I did some further research for Kerrang! and found that the title derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar. Moreover the notion of Kerrang!'s title on all editions of the magazine has the punctuation of an exclamation mark in front of it reinforces the loud sound of onomatopoeia. Also the title must be the logo for the brand of the magazine to use synergy and promote further editions of the magazine through horizontal expansion.

Images - at the top of the page is Kellin a singer this is informed by the captions language and the mise en scene as he is using a prop of a microphone which is an iconic feature of singers. Also the bands drummer is in the back ground who is out of focus which conveys that the singer is in a band so I looked up his name and found he is part of Sleeping With Sirens which I realized later was reinforced by the number code as the text relates to the page number and description. I was surprised by this as the lead singer on the front page looks very different while performing. Moreover, the genre of the band is emphasized through the costume again as they are quite similar to the front page. The sign Sleeping with Sirens is behind the drummer as well which signifies the bands brand and name. There is a smaller photo of a Christmas cartoon of My Chemical Romance some merchandise images which is promoting a few weeks’ editions later by using synergy. I could possibly use a setting or programme to make my original photos more engaging as they will have a comical effect. There is a photo of both green day the band and the editor with a megaphone connoting the entertainment industry and the band sleeping with sirens or possibly the magazine itself. The mise en scene of the editor’s photo includes an aggressive tone which is reinforced with the language but it could be interpreted differently as he could just be winking or it could just be his face. Also he is the only person wearing glasses which portrays his intelligence because stereotypically people with the disability of poor eye sight have a good representation of age as well. This is due to the notion that when people grow older and wiser they usually have glasses as their eyes deteriorate. I have realised all images so far have broken the fourth wall which is post-modern this is also reinforced by the language (see language section.) This includes the Green day photo which is has mise en scene of costumes which are quite main stream all except the male protagonists or lead singers hair which is read because the other members of the band bend in with the rest of the pedestrians on the street where as he stands out due to the connotations of the colour.

Colour – Rad connotes blood and or love for example I have watched one of Green Days music videos for further research into which theme it is trying to represent. I found that it symbolises both because I have found many songs like Wake Me Up When September Ends which is about a male protagonist who promised the female protagonist that he would never leave her but then went to join the army and died. There is a black back grounds of subheadings yellow subheadings red and white page numbers and black titles of pages, editors letter and white on black other captions. Therefore, there is a colour scheme of yellow, black red and white just like the front cover. Thus it is keeping with in the brand but I would need to see other editions in order to know for certain that the colour scheme continues throughout the issues. The green and red in the My Chemical Romance image is iconic Christmas colours. Hence it would be good to decide when to fictionally publish my magazine as a convention of contents pages is to have the date and issue number on it. Thus if I publish it in the summer I will need bright summery colours and language about what hot and not during that season.

Font - all titles are once again in capital letters either to connote the band sleeping with sirens again as capital letters signify shouting or emphasis on importance of which is high. Or they could just be shouting as it is part of the brand of the magazine. Thus all descriptions of titles the editors letter and and in the grey box under the sub heading "This Issue Was Created with Help From..." the font is all small and in lower case. The subtitles of the titles e.g. Feedback News and Features are the same kind of font just thinner. The titles font is textured which emphasizes the genre of chaotic and erratic because it is textured and almost stencilled or cut out of the black circle.

Layout - three columns to convey structure. All photos are in line with these columns except the main big one which covers two columns. Thus, the size of the photo connotes the importance of the band in the magazine. This may be due to the price the band paid to have their story and band promoted in the magazine compared to the smaller bands photos. This is reinforced as the last feature page doesn't have a photo and it is positioned further to the back of the magazine; page 42, and further down the page - closer to the bottom and end so people are less likely to read it. The title is positioned at the top of the page aligned to the right. The caption changes on the bigger photo as the text is bigger more colourful and is therefore portrayed as more beautiful.

Language "Here it is the letter 'C' in tribute to... well..." this is referring the word contents in pastiche to the following bands but audiences could assume a ruder word I have a feeling the magazine has a low class and young audience. This is emphasised by the editors letter "its bloody exciting to welcome Sleeping with Sirens to the cover of the magazine this week" the word "bloody" has a casual slang edge which to the wrong audience could be classed as rude and offensive. The fact that Kerrang is the cheapest magazine analysed confirms the low class readers. The comical language continues to direct this niche target audience for example there are little black boxes with small white text in the corners of the photos which says "I can’t believe I got socks for Christmas... again" on a photo of My Chemical Romance this may have some relation to their story. no I thought they may be touring around Christmas time, but their article just has the same kind of cartoons of their band members so follows the same fun theme throughout the magazine. There is repetition of the layout on green days photo there is a caption of the bands male protagonist as his hair is red and it says "Nice hair, bro" this emphasizes the brand. The humour is continued "Please don't stand on our captions, Kellin. Its mean" the punctuation of commas and short sentences emphasizes comical timing. This is reinforced by "Its a Green day special! Because we didn't have the balls to a Nekrogoblikon one" The exclamation mark portrays the excitement and the fact that the band Nekroglikon has a male protagonist dressed as a goblin and make up connotes that they are scary and continues the comical theme because of the dramatic irony used. This effect is used to enable audiences to escape their own lives and be engaged in media related to their interests such as music.

Now I've read the contents page I have realised this is not a feature page but a news page. Thus I will need to research the difference. 

This feature page is 3 double pages I need to evaluate 1 double feature page therefore I will do korn instead this is below.

Images - main one is two males from the band Korn according to the text the male protagonists names are Brian and Jonathan but because I do not know the band I'm not sure which one is which. Therefore, I think that people only turn to niche genres of music because their families opinions of the music. For example my friends Beth and Amy are interested in the music they listen to because they have grown up around it. The band members are standing in front of a a stained glass Gothic window with an orange warm light shining on the protagonists of the article (not necessarily of the band because Sexart according to the language is the "front-man"). The combination of these iconic features connote a church setting and possibly religious narrative. This is reinforced by the photograph of someone being baptised and the blue graphic box that is like mosaic but symbolises another stain glassed window. Dreadlocks are also an iconic feature of metal the genre of the band. The male protagonists facial expression and body language is pretty positive in the main image. This conveys a contrast to the smaller images where the bands facial expressions and body language is quite serious. However, I feel that the images do not tell 1000 words like its supposed to as I have to read the text in order to find understand the photos.

Colour - orange and black reminds me of tigers fears and loud but also the orange glow creates a warm tone compared to the black which connotes death. The blue connotes masculinity thus the representation of stereotypical males is reinforced. The red border of the photo of the female antagonist with the red hair connotes danger or love as a result of the colour. this is reinforced by the sub-heading and border which is also red so possibly has stronger connotations of love due to the idea the article is about religion and the subheading even refers to love "God Loves us all". White font signifies purity which is quite relevant as it is about how Brian left the band to become a Christian but is now rejoining because he is more confident with his religion. This is reinforced as the mise en scene (costumes) in the small photo is also white which reinforces its importance.

Font - San serif challenging conventions in the texts body. Huge Gothic font for the headline. this same joined up writing is used to label the pull quote - stated by "head" just thinner. the same font is used for the first letter of the first two columns (drop caps) and then again for an emphasis on the bands brand the name of the band on the top right hand side of the page. For some reason the negative words at the end of quotes are in italics e.g. "Pissed" and "horrible" this is probably to make them stand out and stress their importance.

Layout - the main image takes up 2/3 of the double page and only about 1/3 is text which is once again divided up by 3 smaller images. Two or three columns per page is part of this magazines house style or maybe a convention of all magazines. There always seems to be a section of writing boxed off abut the context of the feature page. The photos once again split up the text to make it easier to read.

Language - the pull quote is "I wanted to look Jonathan in the eyes and tell him I'm sorry" teases the audience because they do not know what head needed to apologise for unless they know the band really well in which case just the mention of the band on the front page or in in the contents page.
"Watch Kerrang! meets Korn on Kerrang! TV" synergy promoting diagonal expansion. "Korn Again" gives the inclination that the band is back together. 

The band members also have nicknames e.g. Brian's nickname is head which creates more of a brand identity.
The brand of the magazine continues from the contents page as the same captions are on the small photos; "Korn today: back in (mainly) black" this time not as comical as it is more of a serious narrative - "Head being baptised in the River Jordan" but still quite informal as they use the band members nickname instead of real name.

Excitement is provoked as punctuation such as exclamation marks are repeatedly used e.g. "Yes that actually happens!" talking about how rock stars take time out to understand their religion more and then come back to touring with the band as they realise they aren't actually doing anything wrong while performing. Therefore the exclamation mark reinforces the surprise and excitement as it implies that the author is shouting.

A direct quote is used "I was intimidated" - it tells the story of how they first met their  "front-man" in other words lead singer. The short sentences engage and intrigue the audience. The narrative like idea of it also makes the language flow. to encourage this the article includes questions such as "If we were to come and hang out with you guys, where would we find you? to which they reply "laughing and having fun!"" which adds weight to the notion that they repeat exclamation marks considerable to increase excitement.

Furthermore, there is a summary at the top of every article in order for the audience to get an idea what the story is about "At the height of Korn's success, guitarist Brian 'Head Welch quit the band to build a new life as a Christian..." 

It turns out that news pages and feature pages are quite similar because they involve the same kind of conventions. its just news pages report briefly about events and feature pages describe detailed accounts about bands. Nonetheless, the reason I have been analysing all three pages on one post is because I wanted to convey the synergy throughout. This is as a result of the fact that companies merge to create media such as magazines as photographers editors and distributors have all worked together to create magazines. 

Total guitar

Images - Mise en scene - the same serious facial expression and body language conveying feelings for music and tone of music (this will definitely be used in my front page to follow the conventions. Therefore I will get a band or actors to make up a band for my music magazine) props - guitars iconic due to the idea that the Masthead is "Total Guitar" (I will need to decide the title of my product) these props also emphasise the genre. This is reinforced by the fact that there are 6 images of guitars on the front cover alone. 2 of which are on the main image and 4 in the small images. The first of the small images is positioned in the top right hand corner and is a mid shot of a musician playing a guitar in a concert this is inferred as there is a red light is shining on the male antagonist and there is something out of focus in the background. The second image is of another male musician wearing all white which matches his guitar. This is probably trying to challenge conventions of the Rock genre. This notion that all images are male give a positive stereotypical representation of gender because men are dominant in all magazines researched. This theory is proved further as there is yet another image of a male playing a guitar this time it also coveys a positive representation of British ethnicity. This is due to the fact that there is an iconic union Jack on the guitar. The musician is also wearing red and white to emphasise England's country. Lastly, there is an image of a guitar on its own not being played, Nonetheless, white males are repeated throughout all magazines this is probably who the magazines are targeting. I may choose to challenge these conventions of representation but this may affect my audience. Costumes the male protagonists are wearing all black which which connotes death this could imply what the music is about. Even though leather jackets are quite mainstream when it is combined with black trousers and accessories as well the small images on the guitars such as the "666" printed on one guitar and the skull on the other it can portray death again as both signs refer biblically to the devil. This is due to the idexical denotation of poison through the skull. Make up - Once again the protagonists have tattoos and this time I think they have eye liner, lip balm hair gel and foundation on to convey a positive representation of the band, so in this case it doesn't make them look feminine or change their representation to atypical males it just refines there features and possibly make them appeal more to the female audience. 

Colour - there is a black, white, gold bronze and turquoise blue colour scheme

Four guitars are different shades of red which symbolises danger. The gold denotes wealth which is reinforced by the price as the magazine has a plug in the bottom left hand corner of the front page. This is the bar code which has a pug; the publishers Future PLC's logo next to the another pug the price which is £5.50. This is a reasonable amount of money considering there is yet another pug the merchandise of a CD included in the perchase. 

Font - the masthead "total guitar" is in a bold Serif font. All Plugs and teasers (see language for examples) are in a San serif font as well as information about content within the product e.g. "Funk up your rhythm workout" which uses direct address. The main feature "avenged sevenfold" is in a gothic Serif font to match the genre of the bands niche brand. It is evident that this bands story is the main feature because their font is the biggest which reveals their importance within the medium. Most font like the masthead is white to stand out against the dark background. Some text is in coloured textboxes, this has different colour text inside but keeps the brand by following the colour scheme mentioned earlier. 

Layout - the bar code always seems to be in the bottom left hand corner of the front page (I will need to design my own producer company on Photoshop as all images or logos have to be original) the masthead is always near the top in the same place for every issue. Most text and images are aligned to the right and left of the magazine except at the top the bands and songs which are taught in the content of the magazine are in 3 columns divided by 2 squiggly white lines which stand out against the back background like most of the text. This creates an arch around the main image and portrays an erratic tone which mirrors the rock genre. This is especially the case for the text "avenged sevenfold" which almost completely over laps the main image. I love how there is a guitar pick in the top right hand corner of the product because it signifies the magazine in one animation and it's attached to the 'G' of the masthead. 

Language - a direct quote is used e.g. "Our be album will kick you in the nuts!" This used direct address and is assumed to be spoken from the protagonist from the band "avenged sevenfold". This is as a result of the notion that it is jargon. There are three bands names at the very top of the page which indicates the products content e.g. "Oasis" and then the bands song for example "some might say" this could mean these are songs taught in the music magazine which is inferred from the signs of letters that make words and signify to English reading people "learn to play" which more bands and song names underneath it. This is emphasised because it also states "100% accurate guitar tab!" which is technical language for music as 'tabs' are a type sheet music for guitars. There is more advanced music language that had to be looked up for example "PRS S2 STARLA USA PRS FOR LESS" this is a type of guitar from the USA which will be reviewed in the magazine. Due to the language the audience assumes the protagonists names are "synyster and zacky" as it states that they "prepare to take the metal crown". Moreover, this adds weight to the denotation of the gold colour. A plug is used for example "get more gigs!" The punctuation is used to reinforce the statement like kerrang! There is also a teaser after this "TG shows you how" assuming "TG" implies total guitar it connotes readers have to look inside the magazine to find out more. This could infer that the band names are all plugs and the song names are all teasers also to obtain more customers. Last but not least it states "Europe's best-selling guitar magazine" which is aligned to the left and promotes the magazine. This is probably a biased quotation taken from a newspaper that wrote a posative review of the product. 

Images all have page numbers which relate to the feature pages in the rest of the magazine 

38) - this is very much like the front covers main image because the same protagonists are used from the band Evenged Sevenfold. the body language and facial expressions are repeated to reinforce the tone of the bands music as it emphasises the iconic conventions of the rock genre. Props of guitars are also used again so the photos were probably taken on the same day to emphasise the brand of the magazine and band. The make up and costumes are also the same which adds weight to this argument. It also implies that this band is the most important due to the repetition of images as on their feature page they have the same clothes and make up on again.

48) the body language is quite quirky but this probably her style of music and the facial expression is passionate conveying feelings about music this is due to the fact that the female antagonist has her eyes closed. It is arguable that she is a protagonist because she is the only female on the contents but because her photo is quite small in portrays her low importance in the project. Props include a bench and yet another electric guitar. Make up and costume is quite mainstream because the maroon colour is quite fashionable at the moment. Hence the magazine either set the fashion itself or the magazine was reflecting society as the pattern has been in for a while.

20) props - these are leaflets which contain information about future gigs this is known from the language of the caption. There are silhouettes of flying birds on the on the front cover of the booklet to symbolise what it is called "The flying TG's" 

90) props - The same guitar as the from cover to remind the audience there is a review of it in the latter part of the magazine.

74) body language is quite confident and relaxed due to the notion that he is playing the repetition of the same prop; a guitar and his facial expression of singing or speaking reinforces this. Isn't wearing any make up if he is then its natural colours unlike Avenged Sevenfold therefore oasis's costume is quite smart and mainstream as the mid shot reveals a white shirt connoting purity. This is the largest image on the page because it is promoting that readers can learn songs to play on guitar but Oasis's song is the most important as it is also highlighted on the "learn to play list" as it is "tabbed in full".

12)body language and facial expressions are intense and serious but not a cool serious more scary as the male protagonist is leaning forward. This is reinforced but the props and lighting as there are Gothic railings which are antiquated like the wall in the background. and the guy closest to the left is almost in the shadows. Hence it has hight key lighting. However, even though the male protagonist who is positioned the most forward in the photo is wearing quite mainstream shirt and jeans the other members of the band Pearl Jam are wearing very dark costumes but no make up which conveys a stereotypical male.

58) body language and facial expression is very cool and happy which is portrayed through the male antagonists smile. This is the same Jamaican guy wearing white on the front page. Thus his props, make up and costume is repeated here as well the representation. This is because in the background of  this antagonists photo is a white male which means this photo has carefully been selected and framed in order to keep conventions of the rock genre and not challenge them too much that it is not familiar to the reader.

Colour - same colour scheme as the front cover of red black and white with a darker blue instead of the turquoise blue. most costumes are the same as the front cover as well. All except pearl 

Font - The mast head is on the contents page in a smaller but same font "Contents" is typed in a serif font also whereas the byliner (issue number and date) is printed in san serif this is the same as the titles of the feature, gear, lesson and regular pages and most of the captions of the photos except Avenge sevenfold which emphasises the features high importance again. These are all in bold unlike the description of the feature, gear, lesson and regular pages which are san serif like the which the gear section does not have. there is an animated check list which has hand written like text on it written in different pens and hand writings which gives an edgy look to the product.

Layout - Mostly images I'd say a third of the contents page is photos which is a lot because most people by magazines to obtain information not look at images which can be easily obtained on-line. This is like a collage or mosaic with edges overlapping sometimes other times there is a white border between photos to once again give an chaotic but structured style. Then there are three columns on the left of the double page which numbers the pages. Opposite on the right there is a list of songs which can are taught in the magazine and these are also page numbered. The page numbers are all in order of size going correspondingly from smallest at the top of the list to biggest at the bottom as this is what audiences are used to. 

Language - in descriptions of feature page 1 there is a plug "Want to play live?" through a rhetorical question  and then answers it with a teaser "Read our simple guide to getting your band booked" its as though the magazine is the answer to all the readers problems. the title of that feature is "Basics: getting a gig" - "basic" in other words its "simple" all you have to do is buy the product. This feature page make the image of the flyers make sense. synergy is used "Subscribe to Total Guitar see page 32" by promoting other issues and horizontal expansion. further music terminology is used e.g. "major 7 chords". There are a graphics of arrows like NME inside both it says "Cover Story" to emphasize their high significance in the product. more synergy like merchandies "Competition - win a guitar lesson with Rob Caggiano and more!" punctuation of an exclamation mark is an iconic convention of magazines as it shouts out the excitement of free stuff. All photo captions are the same on the front cover e.g. "PRS S2 STARLA" and "SOME MIGHT SAY OASIS" putting emphasis on the language.

This is 3 double page feature page and I need to analyse 1 double page feature pages in order to understand the conventions of the shorter feature pages. I am struggling to find a 1 double feature page so I may have to revert to a 2 double feature page. This will also allow me to evaluate the difference between the 2 sizes of feature pages.

Images Body language and facial expressions are the same relaxed but bored whereas others are passionate and calm. Thinking about it I have changed my mind the costume and make up is not mainstream as I thought while evaluating the front cover  it is not high street clothing. Maybe evening clothing as the shorts and tights are quite a fashionable trend but the crop top with the gold chains is slightly gothic which is a niche genre but the colours are in and the padded shoulders were fashionable last year so maybe its still in but people wouldn't wear this on a day to day basis but for a concert performance instead. This is why there are images of the female protagonist of this article playing the guitar with a female antagonist who is playing the drums. There are both from the same band "Deep Vally". Actually I looked up the band and they are both protagonists as they are the only two people in the band.

lighting is the same as most images low key lighting because there is not contrast between dark and light.

Colour - the colour scheme of this feature matches the Female protagonists costume with a deep red and beige grey and black. Therefore it keeps to the brand of the magazine black red and gold but also strengthens the brand of the band. The white background connotes femininity and contrasts the black font which emphasizes the rock genre.

Font - The heading is big bold and san serif in lower case whereas the summary of the article is all the above but in capitals. This is the same for the first word of the article "WHEN" which seems to be a convention of magazine either the first word or letter of a feature page is in a different font to the rest of the article. The questions are all bold and the answers are normally thin but both are serif. The Pull quotes like the introduction and summary is whit text in a coloured text box but the pull quotes are bolder. The person who speaks the pull quote has their name printed next to it in italics bold but small font. captions of photos also have white text in a black text box. There is also always an overlapping text-box giving random facts about the article giving context.

Layout - huge images three columns per page going around the photos. pull quotes are always repeated 2 times once in the body of text and then in bold outside the text.

Language - There is a pull quote "I'm not afraid to play really simplistic riffs if they sound great" There is a real respect for the music in this magazine as it is less about the artists life. "Empowerment is important to me. Music often plays that role" I think this draws in the readers and makes them want to read the whole article.  Byliners are used as the the photographer and author are mentioned at the beginning of the article. The introduction is very enthusiastic to make people want to read on e.g. ""Smashing head first through the summers major festivals" this taboo relates to head banging action which iconic to the rock genre. The summary of the article gives an over view of the band "From tiny pub gigs to festivals all over the world...". The interview has the same amount of energy while keeping the music the main focus with questions like "Do you have to be mindful about filling the space left by not having a bassist?". Answers are probably selected, framed and organised to be to the point while entertaining. This was done with syntax and sentence structure "We're not into filler. It was hard because we had so many songs and there were a lot that didn't make the album. We didn't want a long album - we wanted to keep it short." This quotation has a range of sizes for sentences from short to long. The overlapping text box as explained in the font section puts the article into context "Lindsey may be rocks latest female icon..." This conveys the representation of gender perfectly as the rock genre predominantly has males like everything from politics to religion stereotypical mass media is male dominated which is definitely portrayed through this magazine as these 2 women are the only females in the entire magazine,

This is the double age feature I have found that it is more spread out and the information is much more detailed.

NME

Images -
The band Franz Ferdinand is the main image. This is an iconic image of the Indie-pop genre because of the Mise en scene as they are all wearing sun glasses because they are all indi-pop (short for independent pop that have low budgets). Also the tattoos on one of the male protagonists neck and arm infers the reckless behavior of pop stars. Also it portrays the strength of the artist through the intake of pain thus th stereotypical representation of men. The graphics of the arrows create a style for the front page to follow the bands brand. The facial expressions and body language is all quite serious or relaxed I feel this follows the representation of stereotype males. This is reinforced with the hand gesture of the male protagonists closest to the right as it is like a gun. This is because weapons connote power and men are supposed to be the most powerful sex. Or he is just pointing at us again to say "oi you buy this". but then again the fact that the front cover is dominated by males emphases the representation of stereotypical males.

Colours The title is red which could connote death but I think that Bauer wanted to imply that the magazine was bright and vibrant. This is reinforced by the bright yellow and the white dots around the top arrow as the white dots signify lights and yellow; the sun so the band are like stars. The blue top arrow also connotes masculinity and the purple arrow signifies royalty- it's as though the band is royalty or another interpretation is that people that buy the magazine are as rich or as important as royalty.

Font -bold and in capitals for the title of the magazine. This is in fact the same with the rest of the fonts they are all just different sizes and colors. Thus keeping the brand known throughout the first page. This is all the same type of font clear thick and easy to read. The only word that changes font size in word is look which is cleverly done as if you look at something and it appears smaller its is though it is further or far away so draws the customers attention.

Layout - the repetition of arrows emphasis the importance of the band as the bands CD paper cover has arrows on it. Or it could be interpreted that the magazine has high importance thus its trying point and to say to the viewers "LOOK!". The place where the CD is glued onto the front cover has nothing important under it just one of the male protagonists shirts. Therefore, the CD doesn't cover anything the reader needs to know and is left plain and simple so is not busy.

language "look! Free Franz Ferdinand CD" exclamation mark means it is shouting and emphasizing something to the audience thus it is direct address persuading people to buy the magazine because there is a free CD providing the fans of  with something for nothing can increase circulation of the magazine therefore increasing sales. Also if the customer enjoys the content of the magazine they subscribe or buy further issues increasing profit.
The "back with a bang" is catchy because of its alliteration -of b and so interests the audience. 

The quote most music means nothing infers that this bands music means something and their lyrics and symbol has meaning and more meaning and importance than other bands. Therefore promoting the bands cd and the magazine.  "Plus" it conveys that there is even more awesome, amazing and inspiring  information inside the magazines convincing the audience 2 buy the magazine.

Images there is a bigger picture of one of the page six's smaller photos which is a screen shot of the band arcade fire's songs Reflektor. This is conveyed through the fact that they are holding props of instruments through the mise en scene. However, if you look closely at the photo you can see that the are prosthetic heads so they co not have to lip sync during their music video. No true facial expressions are seen and the body language is difficult to read because of this.
The photo with 10 typed next to it is of all fans for NMEs music festival. Which is described under it through language. The facial expressions and body language is happy and is excited.  Due to so many people being in the crowd it conveys how popular the festival was.
In the red subscribe box which catches readers eyes there a photos of front pages of NME persuading people to subscribe as it guarantees they buy it every week but they can also save money on it which is revealed through language.
The Franz Ferdinand photo of the CD case emphasises the importance and excitement of the new album this is reinforced by the feature pages on page 29.
according to the descriptions of the articles there is a photo of Angel Haze who is wearing quite mainstream clothes and sunglasses like the band Franz Ferdinand with the same relaxed but serious posed facial expression and body language. This seems to be a convention throughout the whole magazine because all the other photos of starts are exactly the same for all the other stars as none of them smile in the images except the fans. This includes a band called The Strypes another music artist Eleanore Friedberger and Kanye West all have serious looking faces. I think they are trying to imply that they are professionals and thus serious about their careers. therefore this may not be a positive representation of males that I thought in the front page but a possible connotation for all magazines or at least this genre of magazine.

Font: "inside this week" is the biggest font to make sure the audience knows its out every week which entices them to buy every week for the important music news they can read about their favourite bands or up and coming band of the future, thus making them bang on trend. Quotes under the images are in different font to the explanation of the article it relates to as the quotes are bigger sometimes bolder and the middle one is in italics to emphasize its importance again because not only is in in the middle its the first main or feature page and has a big bold font for the red number next to it but it also has the biggest font for the quote and longest quote possibly because its the biggest story and bit of gossip of the genre for the week. Each explanation is in a small bold font which is in capitals so still has some importance as the capitals symbolise shouting.

Colour: the red black and white all compliment each other and are appealing to the eye as they stand out to engage the audience. As I do not think they are trying to connote love or death but attract the eyes of the readers. Also The black text and whitish beige background resembles a newspaper which NME used to be but it has now modernised into a magazine which has a really colourful glossy front cover and a bit of colour on the in inside. However the brand is once again continued for Franz Ferdinand CD cover uses the same colours for their new free album Evil Action that came with the magazine. Also are all wearing dark coloured clothes in the screen shot of the music video "Reflektor". The Stypes are also wearing mainstream clothes such as Jeans.

Layout- all the numbers of pages are all over the place for example if it was to be read like a comic left to right it goes 30, 6, 29, 40 17, 19 a list 4, 6, 19, (again?) 21, 24, etc see contents page basically it's all muddled and some numbers are missed out then there is a subscription advert in the bottom right corner. the reflector screen shot is aligned in the centre along with the title of the contents "inside this week" the fact there is a list of page numbers with no images portrays their lack of importance I think its because there are only single paged articles. Also the advert pages aren't even mentioned hence enhancing the importance of the other articles but almost devalues the adverts. The fact the contents is on the first right page of the magazine means that it is persuading readers to buy the product as this is the first page they psychologically look at when the flick through and read it instead what comes correspondingly to the front page - the first page to the left where an album advert is displayed.

language "inside this week 21/9/2013" is promoting the fact that it comes out every week so people should buy next weeks and the week after and so on. Moreover, the numbers signify the date on which the person bought the copy at risk of buying the same one again. There is a "Plus" in this again like the front page this repetition of the connective expresses that there is a large amount of information persuading to buy the magazine. Quotes such as "I tried to commit suicide eight times in my life..." encourages the readers to read the articles because of the sympathetic effect it gives. Also rhetorical questions like "best festival? Best Headliners? Worst Toilet Traumas?" creates a comical effect and engages the audience who have had experiences at music festivals. Under the quotes are descriptions of the photos which encourage people to go to that page for example "Exposing the traumatic upbringing of Angel Haze" the combination of the sentence structure being short and the use of dramatic adverbs such as "traumatic" engages the reader and makes them want to read on.


Images - There is a huge photo of of people upside down in what seems to be water because they are holding their noses and their hair is waving. using the mise en scene again their body language is relaxed but because of their hand gestures it is as though they are being blinded by the reflection of the sun which links to the title of their new single.  The masculine prevalence is seen throughout the magazine including this feature page as the the band has 3:1 ratio of women to men and three other photos of men who took part in the making of the single; James Murphy, Richard Parry and David Bowie. Richard Parry's photo is in low key light as it has no difference in light as it is day light thus inferring he is on the positive side. he is also wearing a t-shirt and a hoodie which conveys he is quite relaxed. Whereas James Murphy is wearing a suit probably because he is a producer but his shirt is tucked out, top button is undone and he is wearing shades like the band on the front cover. This also portrays that he has a laid back persona but his facial expressions and body language suggest otherwise as he is smiling and leaning forward implying that he is excited. There are three more screen shots of the "Reflektor" music video just like the contents page. The image of the iconically British telephone box with letters in a scrambled code to spell "Reflektor". They did this to create further suspense about their new album.

Layout - I like how some of the images e.g. James Murphy (album producer) are scattered between the columns so the text has to go around the photo which gives a chaotic effect. However a border is used as there is a thin black line where there are no pictures this creates structure and a contrast between the chaotic images.there are no conventions that stand out throughout the magazine in structure terms except maybe the fact that all the feature pages have columns.

Font - a convention of feature pages is that when an interview is written the questions are in bold whereas the answers and introduction is in normal. one of the screen shots used for a big image in the contents is a lot smaller in the feature page with two other screen shots which are the same size - the width of the column and the length of the image of David Bowie possibly conveying his importance in the issues discussed in the article. Hence the music video is not important but Bowie is. Or this could have just bee don to be visually appealing. I think this is why they put the reflektor album and the singles art work over the top of each other to provide an edgy effect.

Colour - the mellow blue information boxes labeling the pictures accounting on events. This reinforces a positive stereotype of males. The text is black so that it is clear and stands out from the creamie white paper. The paper is creamie white because NME used to be a newspaper hence it has developed to form a magazine with a glossy front cover and matt pages, which is probably cheaper. The notion that David Bowie is wearing a dark green coat in a high key light (significant difference in light from one side to the other) connotes jealousy and that he is on the bad side. Additionally, the white blazers connote purity and read connotes love or death am not sure which interpretation is correct because I do not know many of their songs. I have watched Reflektor in order to have a better understanding of the article but unfortunately it confused me more.

Language: "upfront" this portrays that the readers are going to read a detailed exclusive about "what's happened and what's happening in the music this week". This is the same synergy seen in the contents that there are following editions for the next weeks. However "Upfront" could because it is the first story of the magazine but the event column in the blue box says "front row" and the other stories also have the same language in the top left and right hand corner in the same font just different sizes.
Arcade Fire: "Bowie threatened to steal 'reflektor' from us!" this is the headline for the article which says the band arcade fire said that the artist David Bowie may steal their song reflektor from them. The exclamation mark conveys that the band is angry about this as the audience infers they are shouting it together to emphasise the tone. The use of the phrase "threatened to steal" implies a very negative representation to David Bowie leaving him very isolated with the word "us" as he is left out and separated from the group. However, this does not make the audience sympathise it makes them turn against Bowie because the headline is followed by the summary of the double page "the band Richard Parry lifts the lid on autumn's most hotly appreciated album". This means that David Bowie wasn't interviewed but Richard Parry was thus the audience only receive his point of view.
The song Reflektor is about questioning the meaning of real which is quite interesting as this is what we are studying for our media exam currently. It is asking whether society "reflekts" media or vise versa. Creating suspense and tension for the new album "Arcade Fire finally lifted the veil secrecy surrounding their new album.". using a drama term anti-climax it releases the tension relaxing the audience. It informs like a news paper "October 28" with dates. 

History of Music Magazines/Press

Timeline

This is a summary of my secondary research which I found in a book called Music Press for teachers by Cath Davies.

1894: first magazine printed by IPC- The Melody Maker

1926: Melody maker and the rise of the inkies - had information on all upcoming record release and articles on artists and their music. - magazines were more like newspapers accounting on facts and events. This is why they were called inkies as they did not have glossey colourful photos like magazines today.

1936: Billboard magazine and the arrival of charts - American top 40 on the radio stations that was called the music hit parade Billboard charts - diagonal expansion. The Melody maker was finally published.

1966: the rock fanzine paving the way for fan-based independent publications franzies are the first validation of  music sub genre - valuable accounts on the history of music. thus are alive on the internet which is easily accessed digital publication.

1967:Rolling Stones - magazine published first in san francisco famous journalists and photographers made there name though this product - Music as culturally significant - depending on your culture and experiences depends what genre you prefere

1976: mark perry first published the punk franzine sniffin' glue.

1978: smash hits genre-specific music magazine - with Americans introducing hip-hop (The Source) and for older publics was catered for (Classic Rock)

1980: "The Face" and the glossy lifestyle magazine - opposed inkies such as NME. including other details like fashion and advertising - style was starting be better than content.

The record collector catering to the music enthusiasts - other lifestyle  magazines included facts about music trying to broaden their audiences. However, CDs were invented and persuaded people to buy magazines more thanks to synergy.

1981: Kerang! first published by Bauer targeted to teens with celebrity obsessions by profiling music artists.

1994: First edition of Total Guitarist published by future

2000: NME arrival also produced by IPC

2003: full colour and A4 magazines commonly produced

Now, social network sites enable exchange and interaction between the customers and producers. Some customers are creating content by sending letters to producers. In addition some advertise the magazine on these sites enabling people to comment on and like them. when someone does these forms of engaging it is automatically posted on peoples personal settings which are displayed later on their friends adverts saying this many of your friends like metal hammer for instance. Lastly, more magazines are available only digitally like monkey magazine or The Word which has completely closed all together. The fact that new technology is being adapted means that magazines have another kind of competitor other than newspapers like they used to. Therefore, they have to try extra hard to attract audiences with big bold fonts and bright colours and using lots of synergy to expand and develop the magazines company and brand.

The Music press and House Style

http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/House-Style.htm -secondary research from the Internet:

House Style is the specific usage and editing conventions followed by writers and editors to ensure stylistic consistency in a particular publication or series of publications (newspapers, magazines, journals, websites, books).

Therefore, I think that House styles are patterns that follow the brand of the product in print media. For example, every magazine of Metal Hammer uses the same font for its title including the same size of font ad roughly the same layout throughout the magazine. This is the same with news papers and all print media. Therefore, people will be able to recognise its brand and be able to achieve synergy more easily.

Synergy is when you advertise part of your company through arms of other aspects of your company. for example promoting a new CD by having a freebie with the magazine.This freebie will only have 1-3 songs from the album on it in order to persuade people to buy both the magazine and CD. This only occurs when the company has expanded Diagonally. This means that it has spread to a different medium e.g. TV to radio the BBC but in this case the CD producers have employed some magazine producers to follow the same genre.

The music press is the whole industry of the journalism for music magazines for example Hollywood would be a company in the film industry. I need to do detailed research of these associations starting with a book I have found called teaching the music press. This is a broad search so I am glad that I have found a different type of secondary research as when looking it up digitally I found that because it wasn't specific enough there wasn't an exact definition for it.

Research of the Brief

My brief basically states I need to design a music magazine using DTP and an image manipulation programme. I already know that an example of an image manipulation programme would probably be Photoshop. However I do not know what a DTP is thus I researched it in Wikipedia and found in my secondary research of the internet that DTP stands for Desktop publishing. This programme is used for designing a layout for media such as magazines and Newspapers. Thus, is will be a rather useful when I start creating my Music magazine.

Nevertheless, before I start designing I need to find the codes and conventions of current music magazines. Therefore, I will buy 3 magazines and analyse their front page contents ages and double page spread. These magazines will all have to be from different production companies and genres to get a range of different ideas for my primary research and as it will hopefully spark some inspiration. I will also need to analyse the representation of which is portrayed the media and choose one to to suit the genre that I decide to use.

The magazines of which I have chosen to analyse include 

Kerrang! which hast the sub genre of indie rock and is produced by Bauer. However, while reading it I found that there are more Pop punk bands' stories in the magazine e.g. Blink 182, Green Day and My Chemical Romance. (Therefore, it could depend on the weeks edition)

Total guitar which is produced by future plc its genre is a hybrid of rock, acoustic, punk, Blues, Classic rock and Metal,
NME which is produced by IPC and has the genre of rock
Genre is the type or kind of magazine for example rock.Sub-genre is a subject within that genre e.g. pop rock

Hybrid is a medium with more than 2 subjects; if it was a film an example would be the day after tomorrow because its a romance, thriller, adventure sci-fi and action. 

Therefore not only will I be able to compare and start understanding the difference between genre sub genre and hybrids but production companies and different genres too. 

My teacher has gone through the specification with me and I made notes in the brief style is mentioned twice which means it is important to the project. Thus, I will do some secondary research on this as well as music press. 

Last but not least I will need to do a survey to find out who my target audience is and what they would like to be in a music magazine for more primary research. 

The Brief

Using photoshop I will create a music magazines front page and contents page.