Media studies exam
As media studies comparing music magazines
Section A
My first task was to deconstruct and co-notate the front covers of the following two magazines, Mojo and NME. Throughout my essay I will hope to analyse the semiotic codes of the two front covers given. The genre of magazine I have been given is music.
The front cover of Mojo has an enlarged picture which is of a band called Iggy & the stooges. I know this because there is a bold, large founted headline, in the middle of the magazine front cover which your eyes draw towards. The type of font they have used for the “Iggy & The Stooges” is white and looks as if it is faded at the bottom which gives it an old effect. This could represent there type of music they create. It could suggest that there music is old rock, and as the font it bold, there music could be bold and loud.
For the picture on the front cover of the magazine the company has used, eye catching colours this includes, orange, yellow, red and dark shades of black and grey. It’s as though the image has been edited so its more eye catching and draws more attention to it’s self. The picture has a solid black background, which makes the initial direct focus of the image to be brighter and more noticeable. The picture across the front cover is a medium shot, the reason for this type of shot to work so effectively on the front cover is, because you see the whole top half of the artist, it shows you that he is the singer of the band, as he is holding a microphone. They have placed the figure in the middle of the image this is useful for a front cover, as the information is able to place it’s self round the outside, and not over lap the image.
The name of the magazine (Masthead) has been covered by the picture, this could mean that the picture is a dominate area within the magazine.
The magazine masthead is named MOJO, although you cannot see the full word. The head of the person in the image has been placed over where the letter “o” it has been placed there as a recreation of the letter. This all could show that the picture has a massive part within the magazine. MOJO is a slag word in which can be used in many ways, An example of a way which MOJO was once used was within the film comedy “Austin Powers” he described MOJO as something which made him who he was and something which was important to the person who is he is today.
The magazine could have been named in the same way of meaning; music has had such a big impression the past centuries and has a massive impression on people lives. So by calling the magazine MOJO there saying this magazine will have a big impression upon you, will have intense stories and news. It’s a magazine which you have to have.
To highlight the cover lines upon the magazine, they have placed every important part of information included inside about the musical industry, in a red box but with white writing, this then makes the things included within the magazine stand out more and able to read from a distance.
To intrigue the audience they do not write that much but they do small quotes from an article or note down, the individual artist included within each article.
By having small sections of information of what’s included within the magazine on the front cover, this makes readers more interested in what could be included inside and want to read on about it.
The information written on the front is red, white and grey. These’s are all bland colours, I think they have chosen to use these colours because, the image on the front cover is bright and they do not want to take the focus off that image because it is the dominant item on the page and maybe the dominate item inside the magazine. The writing has been positioned around the outside if the picture. The language that the magazine has adopted is English, but has been written in the style of fact and opinion.
Along the top of the front page there is a puff. The puff tells you that the magazine comes with a free CD. This free CD could give the magazine more of a wider audience. By having a free gift this also allows the targeted audience of the magazine to be given a chance to explore the type of genre of music the magazine is based upon, and in this case I think the genre of music is “Rock”. The backed up reason for me thinking that it is a rock magazine is because, of the colours. The stereotypical gender for rock is gothic or emo. The colours which are used to express these stereotypical individuals are black, red, grey and occasionally white, but they are genuinely dark colours.
The magazine has the criteria that has to be on it. This can be found in the right hand corner at the bottom. This includes the barcode, this labels what issue has been sold. Also the date, which is the day /month /week.. And the price of how much the whole product is.
This magazine will allow it’s self to have an interest upon people within the music world. And allows people who don’t have an insight upon the musical industry to gain information and learn about artists, read about bands and delve into true stories.
The second front cover I have been given to deconstruct is NME. The front cover of NME has a picture that has been moved to the back of the page so the written headlines and cover line can be seen in front of the picture. It is a photograph of a band called “Panic At The Disco”. The reason for me knowing this is because there is a headline in a bold, big font in the colour white which can be found on the left hand side in the middle sector, of the magazine cover which your eyes are draw towards. This is the secondary lead on the page.
The style of font they have used for the headline is shaded behind and block and bold. They have written the headline in capital letters to make it bigger and used the colour white to give it more focus and attention. By using a big bold font to write the band in suggests that something big, major or important gossip has happened. Which intrigues readers and makes them want to read on, also by adding a quote above the headline as the NME magazine has done gives you a clue to the article inside.
By using the colour white for the headline, the magazine is able to attract an audience.
The camera shot of the band is a long shot, as you have full view of all members of the band. It is also a medium shot because you can only see the head to the torso of each member incorporated. The picture angel has been taken at eye level. The photo has a slight tilt as you look at the central character in the photograph. This works well because you feel as though you are part of the bad.
You can tell immediately who the main character/aspect, is in the photograph as he is the biggest. The colour used in the image is plain and dark each person is wearing dark colours such as black and grey. This makes an unusual contrast, as the writing is brighter than the picture, but your focus still goes towards the picture. The background is not a whole solid colour as it has a cloud like effect.
The background of this magazine is a interesting colour in comparison to MOJO. By having the colour blue as the background it gives a feel that’s this magazine is maybe based upon a younger generation, would have a slight jolt (Comedy) aspect to it and more able to read. The background of the photo taken for the front cover has been edited, and changed with the added colour of blue. The cover line include on the front cover suggests that the type of audience that the magazine is attracting is people that are into the bands included on the cover for example “THE KOOKS” is mentioned. The front cover has included quotes to intrigue readers to read on about the interviews built into the magazine.
The masthead of the magazine has been confined to the top left corner. This makes this magazine unique because most magazines have the masthead spread across the top of the magazine horizontal.
NME has a feature article photo which is a different way of giving readers an insight to what could be included within the magazine.
The barcode date and price can be found at the bottom right corner of this magazine this information is needed for a magazine because it says what issue it is. Lets you know the month, day, year of when it came out and give you how much the product is.
As media studies comparing music magazines
Section A
My first task was to deconstruct and co-notate the front covers of the following two magazines, Mojo and NME. Throughout my essay I will hope to analyse the semiotic codes of the two front covers given. The genre of magazine I have been given is music.
The front cover of Mojo has an enlarged picture which is of a band called Iggy & the stooges. I know this because there is a bold, large founted headline, in the middle of the magazine front cover which your eyes draw towards. The type of font they have used for the “Iggy & The Stooges” is white and looks as if it is faded at the bottom which gives it an old effect. This could represent there type of music they create. It could suggest that there music is old rock, and as the font it bold, there music could be bold and loud.
For the picture on the front cover of the magazine the company has used, eye catching colours this includes, orange, yellow, red and dark shades of black and grey. It’s as though the image has been edited so its more eye catching and draws more attention to it’s self. The picture has a solid black background, which makes the initial direct focus of the image to be brighter and more noticeable. The picture across the front cover is a medium shot, the reason for this type of shot to work so effectively on the front cover is, because you see the whole top half of the artist, it shows you that he is the singer of the band, as he is holding a microphone. They have placed the figure in the middle of the image this is useful for a front cover, as the information is able to place it’s self round the outside, and not over lap the image.
The name of the magazine (Masthead) has been covered by the picture, this could mean that the picture is a dominate area within the magazine.
The magazine masthead is named MOJO, although you cannot see the full word. The head of the person in the image has been placed over where the letter “o” it has been placed there as a recreation of the letter. This all could show that the picture has a massive part within the magazine. MOJO is a slag word in which can be used in many ways, An example of a way which MOJO was once used was within the film comedy “Austin Powers” he described MOJO as something which made him who he was and something which was important to the person who is he is today.
The magazine could have been named in the same way of meaning; music has had such a big impression the past centuries and has a massive impression on people lives. So by calling the magazine MOJO there saying this magazine will have a big impression upon you, will have intense stories and news. It’s a magazine which you have to have.
To highlight the cover lines upon the magazine, they have placed every important part of information included inside about the musical industry, in a red box but with white writing, this then makes the things included within the magazine stand out more and able to read from a distance.
To intrigue the audience they do not write that much but they do small quotes from an article or note down, the individual artist included within each article.
By having small sections of information of what’s included within the magazine on the front cover, this makes readers more interested in what could be included inside and want to read on about it.
The information written on the front is red, white and grey. These’s are all bland colours, I think they have chosen to use these colours because, the image on the front cover is bright and they do not want to take the focus off that image because it is the dominant item on the page and maybe the dominate item inside the magazine. The writing has been positioned around the outside if the picture. The language that the magazine has adopted is English, but has been written in the style of fact and opinion.
Along the top of the front page there is a puff. The puff tells you that the magazine comes with a free CD. This free CD could give the magazine more of a wider audience. By having a free gift this also allows the targeted audience of the magazine to be given a chance to explore the type of genre of music the magazine is based upon, and in this case I think the genre of music is “Rock”. The backed up reason for me thinking that it is a rock magazine is because, of the colours. The stereotypical gender for rock is gothic or emo. The colours which are used to express these stereotypical individuals are black, red, grey and occasionally white, but they are genuinely dark colours.
The magazine has the criteria that has to be on it. This can be found in the right hand corner at the bottom. This includes the barcode, this labels what issue has been sold. Also the date, which is the day /month /week.. And the price of how much the whole product is.
This magazine will allow it’s self to have an interest upon people within the music world. And allows people who don’t have an insight upon the musical industry to gain information and learn about artists, read about bands and delve into true stories.
The second front cover I have been given to deconstruct is NME. The front cover of NME has a picture that has been moved to the back of the page so the written headlines and cover line can be seen in front of the picture. It is a photograph of a band called “Panic At The Disco”. The reason for me knowing this is because there is a headline in a bold, big font in the colour white which can be found on the left hand side in the middle sector, of the magazine cover which your eyes are draw towards. This is the secondary lead on the page.
The style of font they have used for the headline is shaded behind and block and bold. They have written the headline in capital letters to make it bigger and used the colour white to give it more focus and attention. By using a big bold font to write the band in suggests that something big, major or important gossip has happened. Which intrigues readers and makes them want to read on, also by adding a quote above the headline as the NME magazine has done gives you a clue to the article inside.
By using the colour white for the headline, the magazine is able to attract an audience.
The camera shot of the band is a long shot, as you have full view of all members of the band. It is also a medium shot because you can only see the head to the torso of each member incorporated. The picture angel has been taken at eye level. The photo has a slight tilt as you look at the central character in the photograph. This works well because you feel as though you are part of the bad.
You can tell immediately who the main character/aspect, is in the photograph as he is the biggest. The colour used in the image is plain and dark each person is wearing dark colours such as black and grey. This makes an unusual contrast, as the writing is brighter than the picture, but your focus still goes towards the picture. The background is not a whole solid colour as it has a cloud like effect.
The background of this magazine is a interesting colour in comparison to MOJO. By having the colour blue as the background it gives a feel that’s this magazine is maybe based upon a younger generation, would have a slight jolt (Comedy) aspect to it and more able to read. The background of the photo taken for the front cover has been edited, and changed with the added colour of blue. The cover line include on the front cover suggests that the type of audience that the magazine is attracting is people that are into the bands included on the cover for example “THE KOOKS” is mentioned. The front cover has included quotes to intrigue readers to read on about the interviews built into the magazine.
The masthead of the magazine has been confined to the top left corner. This makes this magazine unique because most magazines have the masthead spread across the top of the magazine horizontal.
NME has a feature article photo which is a different way of giving readers an insight to what could be included within the magazine.
The barcode date and price can be found at the bottom right corner of this magazine this information is needed for a magazine because it says what issue it is. Lets you know the month, day, year of when it came out and give you how much the product is.
In conculsion of evaluating both these two magazine's it has made me reaslise how much thought and effort goes into creating just one part of a magazine (the frount cover). And it showed me that every magazine is diffrenet, and has different things they foucs on, and example would be MOJO foucsing on what's inside (i know this because of the picture, on the frount is a dominate aspect).
By Naomi Gayle
Year 12
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