Collage magazine research

Today in class we started looking at the front cover and contents page of collage magazines and then annotated them.
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Media kit/ press pack

                                                                   Vibes press pack    

                     

The producer of Vibe is Quincey Jones. This was launched in 1993.                                                                       Vibe has subscription (Cross media) on this website:

 http://www.newsstand.co.uk/555-Urban-Music-Magazines/5313-Subscribe-to-VIBE-Magazine-Subscription.asp                                                           

This website allows you to order how ever many vibe magazine you want. From the research I have done on this, I can tell that Vibe is a magazine which targets outgoing people. They are also up to date with 'Vibe is for the strong beautiful women of colour in this new century'. Also, vibe is inspired a lot by fashion as they keep up to date with what goes on in the world and on the runaway'. Additionally, Vibe is a music magazine that has a strong base on motivating their audience 'VIBE VIXEN gives readers a insight through which they can view our time, and gain knowledge and information about beauty, health, celebrities, music, style, and life with they can rely upon. The target audience for this magazine is teenagers and young adults, which becomes very clear when you reach the end of this press pack.

XXL's press pack 

From these images we get a few basic information about the magazine and a bit about the reader. It is shown to us that the magazine is mostly aimed for men as 78% of their readers are male and so they would use many half naked female artist to draw the men in and make sale. The chart shows competing magazines and how well XXL are doing against them. By showing something like this in a press pack can promote sale too because when an artist or anyone wanting to advertise see’s this, they would be easily persuaded as the chart shows XXL is doing far better than any other magazine on that chart so they are more likely to promote in XXL. XXL have given us a clear understanding of their audience.  They have divided up the audience into 3 groups: Gender, Ethnicity & Age. This gives me an idea of what group of people buy these type of magazine. This is really good help In the sense that if I weren't to ever have come across and actual hard copy of XXL and the I were to see this I would instantly get an idea of what type of contents is included in the magazine. Lastly, XXL give an explanation of both hard copy and online sections of the magazine. This is genially a great insight of how XXL functions. 

Research/ case study of real music magazines

Image:
The shot of the image is a medium close up shot which shows their facial expression more clearly in the context of the persons body language. Its in a square frame shape which makes it look more formal and bold. This picture shows the persons full face, their hands and props such as, a hat, chain and a watch. The lighting is bright which makes it clear to see everything. He looks natural and original.


Conventions of the page layout:
The masthead is big bold and bright. Its behind the person on the magazine which implys that the person on the magazine is more important and or that, that particular magazine is well known. The font is kept the same through out the front cover other than they're different sizes and the copy go down in columns. The teaser is about another celebrity which may make someone buy the magazine because of that other celebrity if they weren't so interested with the person on the front cover. The 3 colour scheme house style is white, red and blue. The skyline is very persuasive as it gives a little hit of what the magazine holds inside. The relationship between the central image and the text is that the celebrity at the front has a very serious face on as well as the text because of its font and colour. The fact that its bold makes it look more formal.The date, barcode and price are following conventions of well known magazines.

Language:
The tone of this magazine is very formal. The fact that it gets straight to the point shows how serious it is. I think this is the best address for its audience as it will easily appeal to them with the way its been structured.The colours are dark and serious which may show them trying to put a serious message across. The colours also draw the right audience in.

Genre:
The star on the front cover is a solo music artist and well known by many people that listen to rap or RNB. He is role model to many and so the clothes that he is wearing represents him in a way which may also give off a trend set. The audience of this magazine is teenagers and young adults.

Image:
The image is medium close up, which is obviously there to show the expression and the body language of the artist. Everything is clear and visible. By him putting his hands in his pocket my suggest that he's comfortable, with maybe something he's going to share, with the audience later on in the magazine.

Conventions of page layout:
The font choices are clear and laid out in a way which makes it easier for the viewer, as as the copy is clear and concise without any waffle. The information there gives a peak of whats to be expected from this magazine. The word 'Contents' is laid out stylistically with a bold and striking effect. This abstract way of presenting the word is continued throughout the contents spread, which allows the viewer to establish the magazines's iconic style. The background is plain, which draws the main focus of the reader towards the foreground, being a very well known artist. The background does however have an important role in the spread as it has half the letter V hidden, but as its a very known magazine you instantly know that the V stands for vibe. What is really interesting is the the whole spread is in a dull colour but the red heart in the middle is the only prop in a bright colour, which automatically would attract the audiences attention and since its put on the artist's heart, this may connotate that there's something in the magazine to do with his love life. The fact that there's an arm coming from behind him may say that this is someone or something that he's been hiding.

Language:
The copy has been structured in columns, so that it looks more clear and organised. The tone of voice is formal but catchy. Its black which stands out on the light grey.

Genre:
The clothes that the artist is wearing is classed as a professional/ treading look. This gives vibe more of a look in the sense that not only does it portray music but also, different artist and fashion.





Image:
The image on the left is a medium long shot. This shows the body language of the artist as well as his facial expressions. The fact that the image is in colour may show that this is relegated to snapshots and other recording applications. Then fact the he seems happy may show the outcome of his hard work. However, the picture on the right is a close up medium shot giving us a clearer view of the artistes expression. The reason for the image being black and white maybe because its trying to show more of an arty mode. He also seems more focused and busy showing that his working and that is also shown from the setting he is in. His props are his headphones and all the stuff around him in the picture.

Conventions of page layout:
The title at the top draws the reader in as it stands out because of the bright red colour and bold font. Its all written in columns and paragraphs. Theres is a lot of copy and its all written in black, this may show the type of audience this is for. for example, adults from 18+. The relationship with the copy and the image is that the copy is about the artist on the image and how far his gone with his music.

Language:
The layout of the copy is formal. This may imply that there's a serious message being put through. Its been structured in columns and paragraphs. The copy does have informal bits to it.

Genre:
The spread is about a solo artist who is well known for his music. Once again for people who listen to RNB/rap. The connotations that this gives off is that this artist is happy and succeeding in his career. He also influences the way people whom this article has been written for to look at music with the way he does, by giving his opinions etc.


                                   

Image:
They used a medium close up shot. The image is of an artist and his wife whom is pregnant. They seem like a loving couple and a happy family to be. The picture is black and white with a very bright lighting. The main prop there i would say is the wedding ring on the girls finger. They have very natural looking make up on.

Conventions of page layout:
The magazine has a house style of black, white and red. The relationship between the image and the text is that this is about the artist on the front cover and how his achieved so much in his career and personal life is such little time. On the top right it also says who else is to be featured in the magazine.

Language:
There isn't so much copy on the front, just the important features. The tone of voice that is given off i would say is quite formal. Its been structured in a way where the central image is visible as well as the mastheads.

Genre:
A very known rapper has been featured. The connotations that are received from looking at the central image about the magazine is that there's going to be some unknown information about this artist who is now ready to expose, his wife being pregnant for example.





                                   


Image:
This is a long shot, which shows the setting of the image as well as the body language of the artist. The artist looks like he's in casual wear for example, converses. He looks confident and the pose that he's doing with his hands, may be a hidden message which may only be known by the audience to this magazine. The fact that he has glasses on and a chain around him makes him stand out in the sense that he's wearing clothing which goes with the genre that he makes music for. Furthermore, there's a shadow on the floor of him which may suggest some hidden facts about this particular artist which may be revealed somewhere in the magazine.

Conventions of page layout:
The main font is written on the left and its been placed sideways. This automatically attracts the audience as everything else is the right way up other than that. The other information is structured in columns which makes it clear for the audience to find what they're looking for. The relationship between the image and the copy is that the artist has a rather serious face on and the copy is quite formal.

Language:
The tone of voice is formal yet casual. The structure is well organised and hasn't got a load of waffle and so everything is clear.

Genre:
This specific artist raps and his clothing represents his character in a way. This artist shows a more masculine side to the magazine as some boys may take him as a role model and or someone they want to look like.






Image:
The image is of two successful artists that are really good friends. The shot is a long shot to show the setting as well as the body language. The image itself is bright and clear. They're in casual wear and they're wearing a lot of bling. By them wearing dark colours may show that they have a dark hidden message to give out too. The hand pose may just me a signature look for this type of genre.

Convention of the page layout:
The main headline in black which stands out on the white background. It has a few taboo language. The article has quoted words from the artist on the left himself. The fact that one artist is behind the other may show the importance of each of the artist in the article. Their shadows may connotate that there's something being hidden from the audience and this may grab their attention and make them end up reading the article.

Language:
The tone of this article is very formal, showing that there's a serious message being put through. The copy has been structured in columns and paragraphs.

Genre:
The language in which they speak in is a language that would be fully understood by this audience. The clothing are a trend for fans that look up to them. They look very confident and comfortable and in some ways they even look successful cause they seem so happy.

Photoshop notes

                                                                Photoshop Notes

• Blog (Photoshop workshop)
• Present (International paper)
• View (rulers) to make line in the middle.
• When opening a picture there will be two tabs and then you just pull the picture.
• To unlock layers double click the eye.
• Drag the picture to the main document.
• Whatever the layer is blue, it is the one you are working on.
• 'CTRL' 'T' (little grid comes out to make the picture bigger and you drag it from the corners.
• Text tool (highlight to make the text bigger)
• To change the colour of anything click on the layer and change it. 

During the past two lessons we have been in groups analysing music magazines as research. Are group was analysing a Q magazine highlighting the ‘Foo fighters’ whilst the other groups were analysing other music magazines. We had a look at the front cover the contents page and the double page spread (DPS). Here’s an analysis of the magazine; there was a 3 colour scheme throughout the magazine. The front cover was simple in ways and so the main image and masthead really stood out. Whereas, the contents page had more going on and it consisted of 2 pages however, it was quite a thick magazine so that explains that. There were 18 sections overall and the magazine was structured in columns and paragraphs. For our double page spread we analysed an interview. The picture of the person being interview took up one whole page and the other page first started off with a biography followed on by an interview of the person on the picture. What I found really interesting about this magazine was that even though it was a rock magazine the front cover was unruffled. Last of all we came together as a class and group by group we spoke about our individual magazines. What we found out by doing this is that many magazines use the 3 colour scheme and this is only to make it minimal and to attract the audience in a more sophisticated way. This is also a type of branding. The weekly magazines happen to be more formal than the monthly magazines. From the weekly magazines we looked at we gathered that it contained less inside as they don’t have as long as monthly ones and they have more of a minimum amount of money to spend, which is why the weekly magazines consist of one contents page whereas, the monthly magazines consist of two contents pages.
 
  

Production Schedule