Kerrang Contents page

Language: Like NME, the contents page of Kerrang follows an unconventional layout as the list of the contents is on the right rather than the left, as it is conventional for it to be on the left. However the language is conventional in that there is a colour code of White, Yellow and black which is conventional of music magazines. It also features several photographs of different artists which is conventional of music magazines as the audience want to see which artists are featured. The use of yellow and black together on the font makes it stand out. This is done because the idea of standing out represents the target audience, as they are people who are likely to stand out from the crowd.

Institution: The institution producing Kerrang is Bauer media.  It has possibly been produced to be in competition with NME as they both feature some of the same bands, however Kerrang has a slightly different target audience to NME.

Ideology: The first thing i noticed relating ot the ideology is the quote near the top of the page saying "Angels & Airwaves? Never heard of them. But Blink 182's not a bad band". This shows that the magazine is focused around well established bands and does not tend to feature new bands that are not yet well known. The page is mainly filled with pictures of different bands rather than writing, which shows that the magazine makes the artist look like the most important thing in the magazine, and it shows that they are the main focus. Kerrang also tends to feature rock bands over indie, and the bands appear to have a negative aspect to them. For example one of the bands featured is called "Taste of chaos", which represents rebellion. Another band featured is "The Blackout", which represents darkness and negativity.

Audience: Bauer media describe the target audience for Kerrang as Individually minded and muscially experienced. This indicates that the target audience are people who know alot about the rock genre, and maybe are people that are musicians themselves. It also indicates that the magazine is aimed at those in their mid to late 20s rather than early 20s or teens because the word "experienced" is used when the target audience is described. It also comes under Men's Entertainment on Bauer Media's website, which shows that the target audience is men. It appears to only feature well established bands as it says " Angels and Airwaves? Never heard of them. But Blink 182 is not a bad band". Also, the artists featured appear to be aged late 20s to early 30s, which is more likely to attract and audience within the same age group.

Representation: From this contents page Kerrang is represented as being quite rebellious, but also appears to be more down to earth at the same time as it is aimed at a more mature age group. It appears rebellious because it features a band called "Taste of chaos" and has a live reviews section, which indicates although it is aimed at a more mature audience it still features live music, and also features upcoming gigs. It appears down to earth as it appears to only feature well established bands, thats have most likely been around for a number of years, and the audience are likely to have followed them with their success.

Kerrang front cover

Language:  Kerrang uses similar language to NME as it follows a particular colour scheme  of red,white and black and the front cover uses bold and large fonts to attract the target audience's attention. The front cover shows conventions of a rock music magazine with the main photograph enlarged to cover the majority of the page, and additional photographs coming accross the magazine at the bottom. The text conventionally is placed over the picture of the artist, which indicates to the audience that the text is relating to the artist. Kerrang also follows conventions by having additonal photographs and articles on different artists advertised on the front cover, aside from the main article. They advertise the smaller articles with the use of banners which is conventional as the audience wants to see as many artists that is possible featured in the magazine.

Institution: Kerrang is produced by Bauer media, which is a big mainstream company producing various types of magazines. This means that Kerrang is possibly in competition with NME, although the target audience is slightly different as Kerrang focuses on rock music rather than indie. This means that Kerrang may be a potention competitor for my magazine. Kerrang is not only a magazine but is also a radio station, TV Channel, has a website and has its own award ceremony. This means that people who listen to or watch Kerrange will then go and buy the magazine, and vise versa, therefore creating profit for Bauer media.

Ideology: The ideology on this front cover appears to be the promotion of excitement, as it says things like "Metallica storm the UK!" which with the word "storm" and the use of an exclamation mark indicates that Kerrang is fast paced and up to date.  Another example is the phrase "Northern Uproar!" used to describe the main band featured. This shows that that the band featured are the latest thing happening, which is what the target audience what to see. The masthead also looks rough because it is in black and has jaggered edges, which indicates that the magazine is a rock magazine because the rock genre is often associated with being rough. Also, the black which is part of the colour scheme indicates that the magazine is quite dark, and it is also a colour which is associated with rock as a lot of the artists wear dark clothing. The red in the colour scheme indicates danger, as rock is often associated with risk and danger as the majority of the artists are streotyped to be drug and alcohol addicts.

Audience: Kerrang describes their target audience as Individually minded, independant of thought and muscially experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty. This front cover gives the impression that the target audience is mainly male as it is dominated with male artists, and all the articles featured appear to be about male artists. It is also listed under Men's Interest on Bauer Media's website. The front cover indicates that the target audience would be young people as it has been designed to look exciting and fast paced, which suits the personalities of the audience. However, Kerrang's age group of the target audience appears to be a bit bigger than NME's because Kerrange features artists that are already well established and that have been around for years, whereas NME features new and upcoming artists who are generally quite young.

Representation:  The first thing I noticed about the representation of Kerrang's front cover is the colour scheme of red,white and black which is used. The red and black represent the magazine to be quite dangerous.  Also the use of exclamation marks represents the magazine as exciting. Another aspect which represents danger is that the majority of the artists featured on the front cover appear to have tatoos, which makes them fit into the stereotype that is associated with rock musicians. The magazine is represented as rough because the masthead and large font on the page have jaggered edges, and also the common stereotype of people with alot of tatoos is that they have a rough personality. As it features a lot of articles and different pictures on the front cover the magazine is represented as having a lot going on, which reflects the target audience because they are expected to be the type of people that have a lot going on in their lives.

LIIAR Analysis of NME Double page spread

Language: The first thing I noticed about this double page spread is the white/grey background. This has been done so the black font stands out.The first thing the audience will notice is the text 'USA' which takes up the majority of the page, however fades into the background as the font colour is grey so it blends in with the background. Also there is a red and white striped covering over the box which stands out against the white background. This layout is unconventional for an indie music magazine as it is down to earth and sophisticated whereas it is conventional for the layout to be quite rebellious and in your face to relate to the artist on the double page as the stereotype is that indie artists are quite eccentic. This sophisticated layout has been used because the artist is viewed as more sophisticated than the average indie artist by the audience. There is also a play on words on the title as this article is promoting her song "You got the love" and the article is titled "USA got the love" which is due to the fact the article is also covering her sucess in the USA. She is dressed in all black which is a dominant colour along with the red on the striped flag. This could mean that she is dominating the music industry in both the UK and USA.

Insititution:  The institution that produced this is NME, we can tell this because the story is focusing on a new artist and new song and NME stands for New musical express.

Ideology:The first thing i noticed relating to ideology is the play on words with "USA got the love" which is promoting the idea that sucess and good music is in the USA. The first line of the article is "She's 2009's biggest success story" which is promoting the idea of success to the audience, this is partly because successful artists appeal to them. Also, as she appears a dominant character by what she is wearing and sitting high up on boxes which are underneath the flag, it promotes the idea to the audience that in order to acheieve success you need to be confident. Her black clothes, red hair and red colour on the flag also indicate her dominance as an artist.

Audience: The audience for this media text are likely to be eccentric people as the artist featured in this double page spread has an eccentric image. As the ideology of this particular double page spread represents dominance and success, this is likely to be what the audience aspire to achieve as they look up to her, particularly as the age range of the target audience is 15-24.  NME is more likely to be read by males than females, however this particular article appeals to the female audience as it features a female artist who is becoming successful in the music industry, and young girls aspire to success.

Representation: Generally, this double page spread is represented in a positive way due to it being foucuses around success. However, there are some things which represent negativity. The second line of the article is "So why is Florence Welch lying on the floor attacking herself?" which represents negativity because it indicates that the artist is stressed out with the concept of suceeding in the US.

LIIAR Analysis of NME - Contents page

Language: The first thing I noticed was the red  font on the title NME at the top of the page , this is conventional because the masthead on the front cover is also in this font, meaning the audience can recognise the title of the magazine. The second thing I noticed was the contents are listed down the right hand side rather then the left which is unconventional, as in most music magazines the contents are listed down the left hand side. This could have been done to make NME stand out, as because the audience is interested in the indie genre they are also likely to be people that want to stand out. The photographs of the band are also directly in the middle of the page  which is unconventional because it is most common in music magazines for the photos to be on the right hand side opposite the contents. I noticed that the contents are listed in black and white font which stands out. The date of the magazine is listed at the top right just under the title, which is conventional for music magazines. There is also a band index, which is with a red background with black and white font which helps it stand out and makes it one of the things that the audience notices first. I noticed that in the middle under the picutures of Oasis  it says "The moment that.... Oasis kicked off their world tour"  which is conventional because as soon as we see the image we expect to see and explanation as to what it is about. It is also in large black font which makes it stand out, and I also noticed as it starts with "the moment that.." in smaller font above the rest of the sentence  which indicates that the second part of the sentence " Oasis kicked off their world tour" is actuallly more important as it provides the information the audience want to hear.

Institution: The instituion that produce NME is IPC media. NME is the only Indie magazine produced by IPC media , which makes it unique and an ideal magazine to be in competition with, as it is one of the only Indie magazines around. IPC also make NME stand out from other music magazines as they use an unconventional layout for the contents page by putting the contents on the right hand side with the images directly in the middle.

Ideology: The ideology refers to the ideas that the text is trying to put accross. The first thing I noticed was the middle of the page underneath the photograph of Oasis was that it said "The moment that....Oasis kicked off their world tour". The use of .... creates suspension, which means its leading up to something quite important. Also "Oasis kicked off their world tour" is in a much larger font than the former part of the sentence which emphasises that it is important information for the audience, as it is also the first thing the audience notice. Another thing I noticed is the use of exclamation marks, which indicates that NME is trying to promote the idea that the magazine is exciting to its target audience. NME focuses around new up and coming bands, hence why it is called New Musical Express. This means that part of the reason why they try and promote the idea of excitement is that they want to make new bands sound exciting. The first thing listed on the contents is news, which means the first thing the audience are going to want to read about is the news relating to their faveriote bands and to find out which bands are new and up and coming.

Representation: Generally the magazine is represented in a positive way, as the ideology is excitement, and showing the importance of events relating to the indie bands it features. Under the "Live!" heading on the contents it says "This weeks best gigs" which reflects positively on the gigs it has featured, because it is promoting the idea that NME features the best bands and gigs. It also says on the bottom right hand corner "The UK's no 1 gig guide starts p58", this is another thing which represents the magazine positively as it is trying to tell the audience that it provides the best guide to gigs and the most relevent information that the audience wants to read. At the bottom of the page i noticed it advertised for subscription saying " Subscribe today.. save 33%" Which promotes the magazine positively as it is trying to tell the audience they should subscribe.

LIIAR Analysis of NME

Language: The first thing I noticed on the front cover of this copy is the band members directly in the middle of the page, with the name of the band in the middle of the shot in large yellow  font. This has been done to capture the audience's attention, and also to establish that it is an indie magazine as it is conventional for indie magazines for the band to be the main focus on the front cover. Everything else on the front cover is placed around the shot of the bands, which shows that the article about the band is the main focus of the magazine. The font colour also stands out as it is bright yellow, which is done to capture the audience's attention however could also be representing that people who like the indie genre are people who like to stand out. I have noticed that along the top and bottom where the titles for the articles are placed there is a red background around the articles, which matches the font colour of the masthead.

Institutions: NME is published by IPC Media, which also produces magazines such as Look and Marie Claire. The audience can tell it is produced by IPC because the website for NME is advertised below the bar code, and the link to the website for IPC can be found at the bottom of the homepage. NME is also the only Indie music magazine produced by IPC, and it has little competition as other Indie magazines such as Q have slightly different target audiences.

Ideology: The ideology means the ideas behind what is advertised on the front cover. I noticed that the articles featured on the front cover revolve mainly around new music such as it advertising My Chemical Romance's new album and the come back of Babyshambles. This means the magazine is trying to promote the idea that it is important to keep up to date with new music, and this is also what the target audience are likely to do as they are likely to regularly go to gigs and download new music.

Audience:  The target audience for NME is young affluent people between the ages of 16-24. NME is specifically aimed at those who keep up with the latest music, as NME stands for New musical express. The target audience are people that regularly go to indie gigs, and are likely to want to hear about new up and coming bands as well as the bands that are already well established. They are people that regularly download music and research the latest indie music news.

Representation: The front cover represents NME in a positive way because the main band featured on the page appear smiling, and are also posing in a way which reflects a rebellious nature, which is often associated with the indie genre. The magazine is also represented positively with the article New Album: The Ultimate Review which indicates to the audience that NME provides reliable and in depth reviews. As the main photograph of the band is a medium shot which takes up the majority of the front cover it represents the magazine as being exciting and up to date.

LIIAR Interpretation of the brief - Music magazine

Language:  I will be using a Masthead, barcode, price, date, issue number, and titles of four or five featured articles on the front cover. On the contents page I will write a full contents of the articles featured in the magazine along with text at the top to make it stand out. On the double page spread I will feature an interview with an artist and a title of the article. The language refers to the messages the media puts accross to the target audience. The layout should be designed for an audience which is interested in the indie genre and style. For example Indie magazines usually feature an artist / band on the front cover which will take up the majority of the page. It is also conventional on the front cover to have advertisements for gigs/ tours of bands as this attracts the target audience and helps us establish it is a music magazine.

Institution: This refers to which company produces the magazine. I will be working to compete with IPC as they producse NME which is the same type of magazine and target audience as mine. I will imagine I am producing my magazine for Bauer media because i think there is a gap in the market for an Indie magazine like mine, as the magazines it produces such as Q and Kerrang are more tailored towards the rock genre, whereas IPC already caters for my target audience.

Ideology: The ideology is a set of beliefs and attitudes that a group of people share in common. For example magazines such as NME aim to publish articles based on beliefs that young people who are interested in the indie genre have. Magazines often publish articles that link to current issues in society, so my music magazine could cover issues within the indie genre and issues to do with the indie bands that young people are interested in.

Audience: The audience for my music magazine will be the target age group of 15-24, because this is the age group that is most likely to keep up to date with the latest music, be interested in the indie genre and also they will be most interested in going to gigs, which a lot of gigs are indie bands. They will also be the type of people that are particularly interested in the indie genre. They will also be the type of people that keep up with the latest technology associated with music, such as ipods as they are likely to download new music regularly. I have decided on the age range of 15-24 because NME's target age range is 16-24 and NME is one of my competitors.

Representation:Representation relates to ideology as it represents how we see the world. It is also how we as the audience view things in the media, and with music magazines each genre is represented differently, for example indie magazines are represented differently from pop magazines. For my indie magazine, I would like to represent it as being exciting and up to date with the latest music and indie news in order to appeal to my target audience. It is also important that I research the genre in detail in order to show the audience that I know everything there is to know about the indie genre, and I can show this in my magazine in order to draw the audience in.

Music magazine brief

Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page, contents page and a double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original , produced by you- minimum of four images.