Focus group interview

Double Page Spread analysis (2)

This is a double page spread from the magazine named “Mixmag” it specialises in British dance music. The colours used on this contents page are black, yellow, and pink these colours are dynamic and vivid which create a theme of parties, and in parties there is bound to be some dance therefore it also relates to the speciality of the magazine. This theme is mainly used to entice the readers who are interested in parties, party stories, and dance.

This page has been well organised into different sections, moreover the use of subheadings will guide the reader to their wanted section. The images used can be related to the readers who enjoy partying and from these images they can get a rough idea of what they look like when they are in a party dancing.

The headline which says “The Big 3” tells the reader what the rest of the article is about and the same colour scheme is used in the article which means that the colour scheme has been consistent. The number 3 is in pink font colour as there are 3 sections on the article and each of them numbered in order, also the numbers of the section are in pink font colour. This double page spread is closely related to the target audience who are interested in partying and dancing (also known as Party animals) because that is what the images on the page convey the theme of partying.

Double Page Spread analysis (1)

The main headline is a quote from the article which suggests that it is related to the article.  Lilly Allen’s name is in red font colour, this is done so that it can deviate from the neighbouring text. The background colour used is white; the reason behind it is so that the reader’s attention is focused on the image and the article. The colour scheme has remained consistent which helps the magazine being distinguished from other magazines that will be near it on its shelf life.

The image of the artist (Lilly Allen) takes up all the space on the right hand side page and the left hand side page is all used for the article. At the very beginning of the article they have made the first letter in bigger size font than the rest of the text. The text is organised by columns which makes it easy for the reader to follow the text and digest the information.

In the image Lilly Allen has an eye contact with the audience, which means that the audience are directly being addressed, this will grab their attention. She has a firm eye contact with the reader which portrays that she is fierce and requires importance. The mise-en-scene use relates to the colour scheme because the costume that the artist is wearing has similar colours to the colours used in the article. The costume used also suggests that she more manly than womanly because what she is wearing is usually worn by men, this also means that she is subverting the stereotypical representation of the female gender.

Contents page analysis (2)

This contents page is from Drummer magazine we can see that because the name of the magazine gathers attention through the use of a big font size. The contents on this page are smooth and easy to read, which means that the readers won’t have to hassle to read it, and the audience can just skim through the page and decide if they should buy the magazine or not. They have used 3 colours black, white, and orange moreover the colour scheme is remained consistent throughout the page which avoids the reader getting confused. The way the images have been placed on the page shows that this page is highly organised, and is very communicative. They have split the contents into sections this done so that the readers can find exactly what they are looking for, for instance if the reader wants to read something new and interesting they can browse the contents in the “Features” section, or if they want to read something that usually comes up then they browse through the “Regulars” section. This makes it convenient for their audience. The big image of Dave Lombardo is in the central of the page shows its importance through its size and position, the size will gather attention because it is bigger than any other image on the page, and the position will gather attention because it is in the centre so it requires the central attention. In addition says “Exclusive” next to content heading which indicates that the article about Dave Lombardo is the leading article in the magazine.

Contents page analysis (1)

The main intention behind the use of a contents page is to show the reader what will come up inside the magazine, and on what page to look for it. The contents page needs to be easy and simple to understand. The use of the colours black, white, yellow, and red remains consistent throughout the whole page. The contents follow one after another so that it is easy for the reader to find what they are looking for; there are some contents on the right hand side of the page these contents have images and use different colours than the contents on the left hand side of the page, this is because these contents require special are more appealing to the readers and therefore the use of extraordinary features make them stand out from the rest of the contents. The use of a white background is very efficient so that the reader can concentrate on the text and not get distracted by anything else. The contents on the left hand side are emphasised in bold text which lets the reader know about what the article is about, and minor detail is used in a fancy font style which subverts to the conventional content pages as they commonly use a font style that is easy and simple to read. The layout also subverts the conventional layout of contents pages which usually have a straight page whereas this page has a layout that is a slightly rotated at an angle. The target audience for this magazine is people who like to listen to Rock music as this magazine specializes in Rock genre.

Textual Analysis (3)

The magazine ‘Blender’ doesn’t really specialize in a specific genre it gives information about music in general, and the current issues in the music industry. From the front cover we can see that their target audience is female this is because they have used pink colour for some of the fonts, the colour pink is stereotypically appealing to the female gender. They have also used black has their font colour along with pink, this is because they want to add the stylish effect so that the magazine would bear no resemblance to other magazines around it on the shelf. Another reason why they have used these colours is so that the sell lines can stand apart from the background.

The sell lines show that the magazine doesn’t specialise in any particular genre because they have mentioned Katy Perry’s name on the top left, and on the bottom left it says “Keeping it wheel RAP’s Greatest rides” this indicates that the magazine is aiming at a mainstream audience because Katy Perry does her music work in the Pop genre whereas rap itself is a complete different genre than Pop. The font style they have used is something different than the common font styles such as Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana, this is because most magazine (editors) use these font styles and in this magazine they have decided to utilize something different so that this magazine can standout from the other magazine on the shelf, and if it stands out then there is a chance that it will be sold.

They have used an image of the artist Katy Perry, and from the image we can see that she is making an eye contact with the audience, therefore the audience is being directly addressed, the reason that they have used this mode of address is because the audience will engage with the magazine if the artist is making an eye contact with them. The main image is used to attract people who like Pop music and/or are fans of Katy Perry, moreover it suggests that the magazine is also attracting the male gender as their audience this is because Katy Perry (a female artist) is revealing most of her body due to the costume, she is wearing, in addition they have used some make up on her to enhance her looks they have used this type of mise-en-scene to captivate the male audience. However the female gender in the audience would see her as a role model, so they would imitate her way of dressing up, her way of posing and if they know a lot about the artist they would also replicate their lifestyle with artist’s lifestyle.

Katy Perry is being addressed as a “Pop’s Bi-curious babe” as it says on one of the sell lines the phrase curious means eagerness to learn, so this sell line highlights that Katy Perry is eager about the Pop genre. On the top right it says “186 more must have songs” they have emphasised the words “must have” with making the text in bold, they have done this so that the audience knows that those 186 songs are commonly popular amongst the people in England and/or America. On the front cover it also says “David Cook gets his fans wasted”, this sell line would catch the eyes of those who are interested in finding out why David Cook has let his fans down. There is another sell line which says “Guitars gone wild Metallica! Hinder! Weezer!” people who are fans of these artists would be keen to buy this magazine issue just to read about them, and people who are fans of rock music. With the variety of sell lines used could imply that the range of the target audience is very wide as the magazine is talking about more than one genre. Followed by a sell line which says at the beginning “Marriage advice from T-pain:” this sell line on particular talks about an artist’s personal life, and how he lives his life after being married. This sell line would only appeal who really need a “marriage advice” and/or would appeal to people who are fans of T-pain and are interested in his personal life.

On this magazine front cover it has a special offer for its readers; at the very top it says “Free downloads! 10 Hot New tracks” this again is used to attract the audience as majority of the people in the audience would find it pleasing to get music for free.