Analysis of a double page spread article

To help me when writing my article on my chosen band for my music magazine iI have evaluated the double spread article "Two Nights In Bird Land" which featured in Mojo magazine. The edition of Mojo magazine featured Kings of Leon on the magazine. This tells me that I could do my article of a band/artist and feature a different article on the front cover, this way a will be appealing to a wider audience.

The choice of the band featured in this double page spread, "Doves", is an indie/rock band. This relates to the magazine, Mojo, whose target market is indie rock. And therefore tells us that this should relate to the people reading this magazine and the reader should have vested interest in this article.

The masthead "Two Nights In Bird Land" is in a larger font and in bold and the banner is bright yellow. This is to attract people to this particular article, to grab people's attention. The actual words "Two Nights In Bird Land" is a pun on words, as the band themselves are called "The Doves", which related to the words "Bird Land".

The imagery used in this article is very realistic, the main picture is not actually a set up photo-shoot but The Doves in their "natural" environment; on stage singing and playing for their fans. However the colour used in this main picture is not realistic. There are a lot of shocking colours used, such as, electric blue yellow and orange. This tells the reader of the kind of atmosphere The Doves play gigs in. The picture is taken from a low angle shot, as though the photo is taken from within the ground of one of The Doves gigs, so you get a fans point of view. It is also taken from a low angle shot to how the fans look up to their favourite band and admire their fame and good taste in music and songs.

More imagery is used to show close up of each of the band member faces. These picture are in black and white and in a mug shot type of style, this may be to give off a bad-boy image. Each picture may be in black and white to again attract the reader, as the colours clash with the other pictures on this page which have a very high composition.

The article starts with the lead, "Hometown heroes doves pound Manchester, and then move to Newcastle." Alliteration is used is this first paragraph, "Hometown Heroes". The lead is a very short sentence for effect and to make a pint, the point being how Doves have rose to fame. The graphic verb, "pound" also suggests that the Doves have become a successful strong band. The by-line is also included in the lead, "Elisa Bray reports". The drop capital used is "D" to of course stand for Doves, which is at the beginning of the cross head.

The language that is used in this article is informal, for example "He would join his 'music head' dad at gigs, leaving Jez wondering who that 'cool' guy in shades and dressed in white was." This is to give a relaxed feeling to the article and make the mode of address conversational. It also reflects the band's attitude, they are also very relaxed. Many quotes from the band are used to make the article seem much more personal. For my magazine I too want to give of this relaxed, laid-back feeling. However the article also has descriptive writing, but is very upbeat and energetic, "the energy surges through the heaving throng, from the step lip to the rear wall, for four glorious minutes...".

The layout of the article is house style. This distinctive design distinguishes it from its competitors. The main picture takes up a quarter of the whole article. This may be because pictures tend to attract readers rather than too much text. The gutters used are also quite wide to again break up the text. The colours are bright and the text informal this relates to the demographic that Mojo magazine is trying to appeal to.

The bottom right hand corner of the article has an insert of a conversation between Jez and Jimi, members of the band. This again gives us a feeling of the attitude of the band and how relaxed and down-to-earth they are. It gets us to know more about Jez and Jimi as people. It includes quotes such as "we racked up a £3000 bar bill ". This tells us the type of impression that the band want to give off about themselves which would appeal to indie/rock fans, it also shows a witty and funny side to there personality. The picture next to grey box is a picture of William Orbit. The colours of this picture are unusual and are in correspondence to the main picture. The caption at the bottom of the page (rust devils...) is distant from the picture but still relates to the main picture and it linked to the name of Doves new album.

Indie and Rock research.

MGMT is an example of and Indie Rock band.

Since I am going to focus on a rock/indie music magazine I have to research these to genres to get a better idea of what type of music magazine I will be designing.

Indie rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s.Indie rock artists are known for placing a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels (sometimes self-owned and operated) and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, the Internet for promotion. Musicians classified as indie rock are typically signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels, although there are many examples of indie musicians switching to major labels mid-career.

In recent years, the line between indie and mainstream has become increasingly blurred, with traditionally indie bands like Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie signing major label contracts and enjoying commercial success. Radiohead ended their contract with EMI and self-released their seventh album, In Rainbows, in 2007. Indie rock bands without major label backing increasingly turned to the internet for promotion, as music review web sites that specialize in indie music such as Pitchfork Media saw their influence grow.

Questionnaire Results

I posted a questionnaire on my blog and also printed a copy of the questionnaire off the computer and handed it out many different groups of people and aksed them to return it to me when it is completed.



The first questions I asked was to do with gender and age. The reason I asked these questions was to help me decide who my target audience is going be. As the results of the questionnaire showed that the biggest catergories to buy magazines are 10-20 and 21-30 year olds these are the ages I have decided to target my own music magazine at. Both females and males but music magazines so my own music magazine will be targeted at both genders.



My third question, "How often do you but a music magazine" links to the first and second question to, again, tell me what genders and what ages are must interested in buying music magzines.



The next question helped to decide what to mostly concentrate to help more protental readers but my magazine. Most people are mostly attracted to the band/singer which is presented on the front of the magazine. There in my magazine i will use a band that i believe will attract my target audience.



"What is your preffered genre", helps me decide what type of band/singer will attract my target audience and therefore will help sell my magazine. The results were that most 10-20 and 21-30 year olds enjoyed indie/alternative and rock/base and drum, therefore i am planning to focus my magazine on a indie/rock band.



The next question tells me what layout and what type of music magazine attracts my target audeince. People mostly chose the "Rolling Stone" magazine. Rolling Stone is a very professional looking popular culture magazine. As a result i will try to make my magazine look as professional as possible.



I also found from my magazine that suprisingly most of my target market would like to see small articles on new unsigned bands as much as mainstream bands. I will include some advertisement for unsinged bands.



The eighth question, "Who would you prefer to see on the front cover of a music magazine", links in with the question "what is your preffered genre". The two results of the questions supported each other as the results of this question was The Kings of Leon and The Artic Monkeys.



The ninth question helps me decide how much my magazine should cost depending on how much my target market would be willing to pay. Most would be prepared to pay between £3.01 and £4.00. As a result I am planning to price my magazine at £3.50.



My last question, "What would you expect to see in a music magazine" was unanimous. All my taget market expected to see professional pictures, tour dates, latest releases, new bands an the UK top 40 in a music magazine therefore i will include all these things in my magazine.

Contents Mockup

This is my contents page mockup for my school magazine. I have decided to keep most of the colours the same as that on the front cover.

On the left hand corner there will be a picture of the school badge/logo, therefore people can relate to this and notice that this contents page is for the Deyes High School magazine.

The main attraction of the front cover is the picture of the same student that will feature on the main cover. This shows how this is the main story of this weeks article of "School Pas" and again appeals to the front cover.

Pages that are listed with a blue background will be targeted at students, such as the word "PAS" was in blue. The writting of this section will be in the font Lucida Bright, which i a much more informal up-to-date, so again it relates to the front cover.

Pages listed with a red backgroud will be targeted at parents, such as the "School" was in red on teh front cover. The writting will be in the font "Edwardian Script ITC". This writting is much more formal than the font Lucida Bright.

"Special Editions" and "On the Cover" will also be presented on the contents page in big yellow star-like borders to draw attention and be eye catching.

This is my second evaluation of a Music Magazine.

I have decided to evaluate an edition of "Smash Hits!" The reason I have decided to evalute this magazine cover is because it is so different to an edition of Rolling Stone.

The magazine is clearly targeted at teenage girls. This is apprant in the house style of the magazine, every edition of this magazine uses very bright colour feminine colours, such as yellow and pink. This is a distinctive design that distinguishes it from its competitors. Such as the Masthead of the magazine "Smash Hits!" is in the same colour and same text on every edition to attract regular audiences, so it is familiar.

The mode of address is very informal and slang is used to appeal to their target audience.

The main attraction of the magazine is the picture of "teenage heartthrob" boyband "Mcfly". This image can appeal to Richard Dyer's Star Theory. This is the idea that "stars" have some key features in common, a star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed out of a range of materials. They are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meaning. Stars depend upon a range of subsidary media, such as magazines, in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to target audiences. The image is made up of a range of meaings which are attractive to the target audeince, audiences are always trying to find out more about the star. The Masthead "Wild Boys!" which is followed by "The lads reveal their naughtiest ever secrets!" suggests how the audience wants to find out more about this boy band.

The mes-en-scene of the picture is a plain background which is pink to, again, appeal to the teenage female market.

The bright yellow banner at the bottom of the page tells us of more of the contents of the magazine. This is to help attract a wider audience, for example some members of the target audience may not be interested in Mcfly but may be more interested in other singers, such as, Christina Milian.

I have decided to analyse a contents page to help me when designing my own contents page for both my preliminary and main tasks.

This contents page is from a Reggea, African and Caribbean music magazine called "The Beat". I have decided to evaluate this particular contents page as it is very different to any other music magazine i have evaluated or read.

The contents page is very "upbeat" and modern in its design. The colours which are used are electrifying pink and yellow, which is eye catching when placing it on a black background, which is used as a banner to help the text stand out. This tells me that the target market for this magazine is a teenagers or young adults.

There is not one specific importance on this page. What is in the magazine is ordered under main titles, such as, Tour Info, Interviews, Regulars, Latest Gossip and Posters. The mode of address is informal and slang is used to, again, appeal to the target audience.

Anchorage text is used to help pin down the meaning of the pictures on this page, for example "Back Stage Goss" is situated next top a picture of a man and a woman sitting back stage of a concert and "P.37" to tell us were this article can be found.