Conventions of VIBE Magazine

Language - The main colours on this edition of 'VIBE' magazine are red, black, white and grey. The red stands out easily on the white and grey background therefore attracting the audience to look at it. The masthead is covered partly by the main image. For this magazine, it is not a necessity to show the complete masthead as the audience will know the magazine anyway.

The font size of the sub-content titles varies around the front cover. The largest being the masthead so that it stands out.

Ideology - 'American Beauty Keyshia Cole' is written next to the image. The image of Keyshia Cole looks airbrushed so that it represents beauty which relates to the text written next to it.

Institution - VIBE is a magazine that gives the audience information about the latest music and artists. It also has a website and is commercial. Their aim is to make money through advertisement and magazine sales.

Audience - VIBE magazine looks as if it is aimed at an age range of about 16 - 30. It may be aimed at both males and females because the image looks as if it is aimed at males however, the sub content titles are quite feminine such as, 'celeb secret santa'.

Representation - The main part of this magazine that represents something is the image. It represents how we see beauty in the real world. Furthermore, the colours used on the text relates to christmas which is a theme of the magazine. This is what the colour represents.

Mood Board

Conventions of a music magazine (NME)

Masthead - The masthead is overlapped by the main image of Lily Allen. NME magazine does not need to make the masthead completely clear as it is a well known and popular magazine. However, the parts of the masthead we can see, is very clear with a bold font and colour. It doesn't spread from one side to the other unlike other magazines.
Main Image - The main image is captured in relation to the sub-content titled next to the image. It portrays 'Lily Allen' as very pale and zombie-looking which relates to the title, "I can't keep on living like this, it's doing my head in" and "TAKES ON THE WORLD".
The date and price is written just under the left hand side of the title. It is written in a small font but it is usually relevant to the buyer so it is easy to find on the front cover. The barcode is only needed when purchasing the magazine and it is situated on the bottom right hand side of the cover. It is easy to find for the person selling the magazine.
Institution - NME magazine is a very popular and well-known music magazine. It also has a website and TV channel. Its purpose is to inform and entertain the readers and viewers of NME and to make money. The magazine and website contains reviews to provide info about celebrities and music. The TV channel contains adverts and the content is mainly entertainment.

Ideology - I think that by using the text used next to Lily Allen on the cover, NME might want to convey the image that she is famous and she is known worldwide, therefore 'taking on the world'. The image reflects off this by her looking as if she is exhausted and kind of fed up.

Audience - The audience of a magazine like this can vary depending on who is on the front cover. For example, if i saw this magazine with a band such as Paramore on the front, I probably wouldn't buy it. However, if someone such as Cheryl Cole or Kanye West was on the cover, I would buy it. I think this magazine can be aimed at a wide range of audience, possibly both males and females aged, 13-30.

Conventions of a Music Magazine

Main Image - The camera shot of the main image can range from a close-up to a long shot. From looking at several music magazines, the camera shot of the main image can depend on whether a band is being shown or just a single artist. For example, in 'Hip-Hop Connection'magazine, A close-up image of Lil Wayne is shown. However, in 'Q'magazine, a medium shot of Coldplay is shown. The main image on the music magazine front cover is usually a well-known artist or band that will attract the audience to buy it because of the content relating to the image.

Sub Content - There is quite a lot of writing on the front cover of a music magazine. The text includes many names of bands and artists attracting the audience targeted. Furthermore, there's also text relating to the sub-content titled such as a quote from an interview, or attracting information which tempts the buyer further to purchase the magazine. The sub-content that is undoubtedly on every front cover of a music magazine is the names of popular and famous artists. If a reader likes the artist listed, they may buy the magazine.

LIIAR

Language (Magazine Terminology)

1. Masthead - This is usually quite large on the front cover. If it is a well - known magazine, it may be overlapped by the main image such as Four Four Two. It identifys the magazine and sometimes tells us what the magazine is about. However, if we did not know 'Q' magazine is a music magazine, we would not be able to tell by the masthead.
2. Dateline - This is not usually relevant to the buyer of the magazine on the front cover. It is added in small text sometimes; under the masthead, next to the barcode, in the top hand corner of the cover.
3. Content - Usually spread around the front cover around the image in different sizes or fonts depending on genre and style of magazine.
4. Main Image - This represents the main story in the magazine and is sometimes manipulated or props included depending on what the magazine editors want to connotate.
5. Colour Scheme - Either kept similar through each edition of the magazine to represent the magazine or changed in relation to what the magazine is connotating, for example - a lot of black on the cover would represent a gothic style.

Institution

1. Create media texts - Such as the BBC
2. Control language

Ideology (Ideas, Values, Beliefs)

1. The values that the media text conveys - the ideas and beliefs of an image of someone who looks unhappy with a weapon would convey the image that they are dangerous.

Audience - can be classified as:

1. age - range of ...
2. wealth - how much money they have.
3. occupation - type of job
4. interests - possibly what kind of music they enjoy listening to etc
5. groups - type of group they belong to such as 'chav'

Representations (how are groups/issues/individuals portrayed?)

1. Representations convey on ideology - above^

Presentation of my Work

The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:
-A presentation using slideshow software such as powerpoint
-A blog
-A podcast

Brief Main Task

Main Task: The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by me, minimum of four images.