Magazine front cover analysis

This is my analysis of a mixmag cover, i have done this to research what i will be relating to my magazine, i have learned that my magazine should be simple but effective. 

Analysis of a college magazine.

My analysis of a college magazine.

                                                        

My lesson objective today is to analyse a Ridgewater college this is in preparation for making my own college magazine. I have done this for research and to improve my knowledge and ideology of magazines and to see what makes a good magazine.

Who is the target audience? 

The target audience for this magazine is people in Ridgewater college, it is also targeting people who are looking to go their and parents to check up on the sucess of the college. It is suitable for men or woman as it does not direct it at either gender, this is since the colllege is a mixed one.

How does it engage its target audience?

The audience engages them with bright colours such as red,white and yellow. The cover is simple yet effective as it uses its colours well and engages the main image with the audience. The cover also uses buzz words to interest the reader to look inside.

What is the Ideology of the magazine?

The ideology of this magazine is it is designed to attract students and parents of students to their college by showing how good it is, It also updates its audience on how the college is doing and any changes/news that are happening at that moment. It is also good since it gets the college's community involved more.

What images are used, with what camera angle?

The main image used is a high angle shot of a woman relaxing in a chair facing the camera, with her surroundings seemed to be the college, it is captioned that she is a student. This image seems to be a welcoming image to make any audience members feel like that they are welcomed into the college. In this shot the colours have been chosen well since they stand out and are nice colours to use. 

What text is used and why?

The masthead is simple, is it white and plain. It does not instantly jump out at us but is noticeable. The buzz words are the biggest thing that stands out, this is due to its bright blue colour and works well with the background, it is also in bold to give it more of a impact. The masthead does not need to stand out since the aim of the magazine is not to make itself seem loud but its idea is the create simplicity.

Price 

This magazine is obviously free since its ideology is to attract and bring in new students and give themselves a good reputation. I know this for certain since there is no barcode or price tag on the cover. Since its free this will mean it may only be published every few months since they are getting no intake of money. 

My action plan.

Based on my questionare results i have found out the most liked genre for my age group is rock and 'Other' with people choosing Dance music as the other. I have now decided to choose between dance and rock as my overall music genre. I have stayed with Dance music since i am more aware of the background and people my age also feel the same way towards this genre. My results also show that freebies are a good idea so i will be adding this in my magazine. It will also be bright and attractive as i have found out my age group is more keen on this. 

Questionnaire results.

The following screen shots are the results of my questionare...

These results show 65% of males read music magazines while 35% are female. It also shows that 70% of people in my survey who read magazines are 14-17 year olds. Rock and Others are the most Favorited genre's. £3.01-£4.00 is what people are willing to buy the magazine for, and they are most oftentimes bought monthly. NME is the most favored magazine while people prefer going to shops to buy their magazines rather than any other way. 

These results have shown me my target audience is the ages of 14-17 so i will be using a genre that fits this age range. I have stuck with dance music since i think it appeals to teenagers the most, even though Rock is the most Favorited genre i believe some of the target audience would be to young for this. These results have helped me understand what kind of people i will be pitching towards.

Cohens Moral Panic

The definition of Moral panic is:

A intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order



Cohen's Moral panic is when somebody in media is in the spotlight for something they have done, eg Chris brown and Riannah. This is celebrated on not matter how bad it may be which is a bad influence on a younger audience and in my opinion should not be allowed. Folk devil is what the press and public are against and take a frown to for example Gary Glitter. A certain genre is then attacked for influencing a younger audience as Marilyn Manson was accused for a school shooting. Rap was alot targeted alot in the late 90s for influencing a younger black audience.

Questioner results.

Today we have reflected back on our questioners and responded to the errors we have made, we have been opened to more views by others and how we could of improved them. I have added more questions that will give me more information to my own magazine, today i have successfully improved my questions and gained a lot more knowledge of music magazines.

Feminism in music magazines.

Feminism.

There are two types of feminism: liberal and radical. Liberal feminism is seeking equal rights. Radical feminism is seeking to change our society at a much deeper level and eradicate the patriarchy. "Patriarchy" is a vague term that refers to the historical privilege that men have had in most societies, which is so deeply ingrained that most people are completely unaware of its existence. Radical feminists do not want to kill men, don't hate them (many of them are married to men), and don't want to flip things around so dramatically that men are subordinate to women. They want true parity on a deeper level that cannot be legislated. For example, ending the disproportionate objectification of women in advertising. 

In this feminism is stereotypical of a woman as she is being shown as a sex icon and a tease to men. Lady GaGa is one of the most influential and powerful artists in media, doing this will give women confidence and a feel of power. Seeing such a powerful woman on a cover of a magazine showing flesh instantly brings your eyes to it, this is what the magazine intends to do. Alot of her videos show Lady Gaga as a dominant 

NME Institution research.

IN lesson today we watched the history of NME of why and how it became successful. This is a summary of what i have learned today -   

The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the “Accordion Times and Musical Express”  was bought by Maurice Kinn, for £1,000. It was relaunched as the New Musical Express (NME). NME created the first UK singles chart.

During the 1960s the paper was the best for new British groups emerging at the time. The NME circulation was peaking under Andy Grey (Editor 1957-1972). The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were featured on the front cover frequently. During the 1960's some sections of pop music began to be designated as Rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with its fellow weekly music paper Melody Maker; the paper was selling as many as 200,000 issues per week, making it one of the UK's biggest sellers at the time.

In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. It then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill.By the early 1970s, NME had began to lose sales to Melody Maker, as its coverage of music had failed to keep up to date with the development of rock music, particularly during the early years of psychedelia and progressive rock.

the mid-1980s NME had hit a bad patch in their history and was in danger of closing. During this, they were split between those who wanted to write about hip hop, a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were apparently lower when photos of hip hop artists appeared on the front and this led to the paper suffering as the lack of direction became even more apparent to readers.

By the end of the 1990's,

 NME had started to report on new bands coming from the US. These bands would form a new movement called Grunge and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor and a high turnover of young writers were brought in. It focused on new British bands such as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Later, Arctic Monkeys became the standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands. in the

2000s the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott.