Ideology in Magazines

Ideology in Magazines

Between these magazines there are differences that show the ideology in Music. The 'Kerrang!' magazine, usually associated with alternative music like rock and metal has darker colours and a more rebellious style. The masthead looks as though it's been smashed, giving it that edgy appearance. The cover model, Jared Leto, is punching his hand and looking all rough and hard which is typical of the genre. The colours are dark, usually associated with the genre and also the text is very striking with a spiked bubble at the top with the words 'MEET ALICE IN CHAINS!'. This all fits with what I have previously said about the ideology for rock music, using a rebellious and edgy style. On the pop magazine however, the colours are a lot lighter with hot pinks and teals rather than the black and red seen on 'Kerrang!'. 'Top of the Pops' features Lady GaGa on the front cover with her posed more professionally, whereas Jared Leto on the other magazine looks as if he's trying to act tough and as though he's not really 'posing' for the photo. GaGa looks more like a model posing for the camera. Her hair is all curled and a small bit of her cleavage is shown, typical of the pop genre as they often sexualise their artists a lot whereas 'Kerrang!' has Jared in heavy clothing, with his hands and head being the only visible skin. 

The pop magazine is far more innocent with cover lines such as '1D's cutest interview ever!' which when compared to the other magazines 'Jared Leto's dark side exposed!' really seems light-hearted and sweet. A cute interview with a boy band for the pops magazine, as expected, and a dark, enlightening interview with a lead singer for the alternative magazine, as expected. However, right in the middle of the pop magazine we have 'I'm not body confident'. Again, as I mentioned previously, the pop genre focuses a lot more on physical appearance and sex appeal. In the rock genre, you can get by in your career if you look like an average human being, whereas in the pop industry you must have good looks and a good body as well as a good voice, which is a lot of expectation. Pop magazines also generally have content that expose artists and present them very sexually, as demonstrated in the cover line 'Wow! Aston's private pics! More inside'. Pop music is generally a lot more about the artist these days than the actual music, and many obsessive fans will stalk their celebrity crush and don their bedroom walls with shirt-less posters. However the rock industry focuses more on the music itself and the artists lives rather than their six-packs. 

The content in the magazines is mostly similar however pop magazines generally have a lot more light-hearted pages about celebrity gossip and quizzes as well as fashion. The 'Top of the Pops' magazine has a quiz on 'are you a flirt failure?' again talking about romance and making people feel insecure. It also has content on '103 new trends', again, something unrelated to music. When we look at the 'Kerrang!' magazine, all of the cover lines are linked to music and the artists. 

Ideology

Ideology

Music ideology has changed over time, with different music genres adopting 'traits' that were originally associated with only one genre. For example nowadays a lot of pop artists are being rebellious and loud, things that were previously thought to be part of the rock genre. Pop stars are usually expected by society to behave well and be good, clean and respectable role models for their target audience of young people. However rock stars were thought to be more rebellious, doing risky things, behaving in a way that goes against the way society would want them to and trying to be 'edgy'. However some of these things have leaked into the pop genre, with artists like Miley Cyrus and One Direction getting caught doing unrespectable things and behaving inappropriately. Currently, pop stars are more likely to be a bad influence on their audience than rock stars, as a lot of media focuses on the artists physical appearance and convinces young people that they need to look and act the way they do. Pop music also has a lot of underlying negative messages, and glorifies things such as stalking, taking alcohol/drugs and harassment by covering it up to make it seem romantic or fun. In the past people frowned upon rock music for the 'negative impact' on its audience, believing that the newfound interests in rebellious nature, sex and drugs was appalling and needed to be stopped. However now a lot of modern pop songs contain inappropriate words and themes, with songs like 'Last Friday Night' by Katy Perry and 'S&M' by Rhianna.

The line between different music genres is getting more and more blurred, with new genres constantly being invented that combine two previously existing genres such as Dubstep which is a genre of electronic dance music which has expanded into other genres such as Regstep (Reggae dubstep)  and Chillstep (A calm, less gritty version of dubstep). With so many genres it can be hard to conform to just one, meaning artists often experiment. 

Comparison

 

Comparison

 

 

The magazine on the left is a lot more tidy and formal, with a colour scheme of purple, white and black. The colour scheme of my magazine is four colours rather than three, using purple, pink white and black. There is more text on the cover of my magazine, making it look less formal and more funky and artistic with flowery patterns. The cover of the other magazine is  organised and 'sophisticated' with the main, central image being a row of smartly dressed students standing neatly. The school is in the background and the border gives it a neat, clean appearance. My magazine however is more stylised and artsy, with a close up of a student, although in both magazines the student(s) is smartly dressed and positioned in a formal manner.

 

The text on the KSA magazine is brief and small, with only two cover lines, 'prom photographs' and 'football academy update'. They are both written in the same font in the same size and in the same colour. The other magazine is more varied in its text, using different fonts, various sizes and changes in colour and also has more cover lines.

School magazines seem to be more formal and neat, with an organised cover and less decoration than what I have created.



Creativity mind map

Deconstruction of Q

Music Magazines

 

 

 

The magazine 'Q' has used a big close-up portrait of celebrity 'Florence' for their front cover and has gone with an orange, blue and white colour-scheme. The blue and orange are complimentary, meaning they stand out together and contrast which could be linked to the contrast between Florence's personal life and her life as a singer. The text is white to help it stand out and make it easily readable and the sell-lines have been positioned nicely around the models face so as not to draw attention from her. The size of the font varies throughout, with some text bigger or smaller. This is to draw more attention to certain cover-lines, and add smaller, less-noticeable comments underneath that can only be read when up close, causing a passing potential customer to have to move closer in order to read it. After 'Meet the new Simon Cowell' there is another part in brackets meant to maybe portray the creators own opinion as it says 'and this one's not a bastard'. This gives the reader a sense of amusement and as most people would agree with it they'll want to read it. The title is displayed in the top left corner, making it easily visible and recognisable from a distance. The word 'GIG' is displayed in very large font, trying to attract readers as it contains information that interests a lot of people, and they'll want to know.

 

Key Terminology

Key Terminology


Bleed: printing to the edge of a page so there's no margin.
Off-Register: Blurred printing caused by out-of-position printing plates.
Pug: Can be at the top left and/or top right-hand corner of the front cover.
USP: Unique Selling Point e.g. Model on  front cover.
Pull Quote: Enlarge quote on front cover or within the interview.
Advertorial: Advertisement made to look like the housestyle of the magazine.

Aspects of mise en scene

-Colour
-Costume
-Make-up
-Lighting
         *High key lighting and low key lighting
- Setting
-Expression
-Props

Deconstruction

Deconstruction of my first attempt at a magazine cover

Deconstruction

Masthead
The title is centred and large, standing out instantly. It's purposely spelt incorrectly, making it seem 'hip' and creative.
Image
The main image is also centred directly below the title, using a mid-shot. The picture has been edited, with the colours enhanced and the face slightly airbrushed. I have put the focal point on the face, blurring the rest of the image a little.
Colour
 Using a colour scheme of warm, pinkish tones and blacks and whites I have created an appealing and gentle overall effect that is easy on the eyes. The patterns and flowers are slightly faded and transparent, making them visible but not distracting or obstructing the text.
Text
 The text used for the coverlines has been varied in font, colour and size, making it more fun to read however some of the colours have made the text a little difficult to read from a distance. I have also regrettably made a typo and misspelled the word 'choose', meaning that in the future I should take better care to check my work before finishing.

 

For the contents page I have tried to keep with the same housestyle, using the same colour scheme and faded flower designs. The text is in sans serif, easy to read and the image in the background is faded so as not to cause distraction or make the text unreadable.

Research Methods

Research Methods

 

Primary Research

Done first-hand.

 

• Phone call- Reliable, easy, personal/ contact not always available, busy phone lines
• Email- Quick, effective, good for busy people/ can be ignored
• Letter- Personal, sophisticated/ Could get lost, takes time, might not reply
• Survey/Questionnaire- Design questions, personal responses/ false answers, survey wrong people, closed questions
• Focus Groups- Opinions, personal/ friends produce biased results, time-consuming

Secondary Research

Uses someone else's findings.

• Television- Advertise, lots of people involved, News programmes/ Bad effects on health
• Internet- Easy to access, quick, find anything/ procrastination, inaccurate or false information
• Magazines/Newspapers- Easy to access, reuse, lots of information/ expensive, useless information
• Search Engines- Quick, lots of results/ Some webpages are useless, false information, not sure what to look for.
• Books- Lots of relevant information, can be accessed at all times/ Out of date information, biased authors

Quantitative Research

Numerical data, patterns and trends in what you have researched.

 

Qualitative Research

This is to do with quality of the reply, used to gain understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations.

The History of Music Magazines

The History of Music Magazines

Billboard issued its first magazine in 1894 but only received popularity after 1936. It contained different genres of music and was originally aimed at professionals in the music business however was also available to the general public. They were very popular in the UK, with the NME at the top of the sales since 1952.

Notable Music Magazines

• New Music Express-Briths, first published in 1952, associated with rock, alternative and Indie music.
• Melody Maker- Focuses on pop and rock, founded in 1926.
• Billboard
•  Kerrang!- Devoted to rock music and first published in 1981
• Mojo- Classic rock, first published in 1993
• Rolling Stone- US, pop culture, published in 1967.

Back then
Music magazines started off simple, containing information about the charts and the latest music with pages on bands and singers. Their presentation was also simplistic with the colours changing from plain and quiet to loud, bright and often contrasting colours. They have always featured a famous singer or band on the front cover however, with the majority being a portrait from the shoulders up.

TodayNowadays, music magazines are less popular as the Internet provides people with easier, quicker and free access to information that would otherwise be found in magazines. Information on everyone's favourite artists can be found on websites and news feeds, with the celebrities also sharing things on social media. Music can be easily accessed through Youtube and Spotify, and whole albums of music can be downloaded from websites like iTunes or Amazon.