Music Magazines: Initial Research – Forms and Conventions

for my as media studies coursework i have chosen to do 'print' for this i will be researching and then finally designing my own music magazine.

Below I have analysed two different music magazines one called "Metal Hammer" and the other called "total Guitar" i have done this so that i have an idea of what different magazines use to appeal to there target audience and to see what i should include in my final peice to create a realistic interpretation of a magazine

During the lesson I have looked at the:

• Genre of music Audience (demographic and lifestyle)
• Form and Conventions: Cover
• Form and Conventions: Contents Page
• Types of double page spread in magazine
• Form and Conventions: Double page spread
• Publisher

Of "metal hammer" and "total guitar"

The first magazine I looked at was metal hammer. This magazine is aimed at people with a special interest in the subject matter in this case “heavy metal”. Special interest groups are a demographic no matter what there ages. You would probably describe there psychographic as “Radical” – somebody who’s rebellious/ different from mainstream. People in this special interest group could rate anywhere on the jicnars scale.

There are a number of different connotations within the front cover which help it appeal to its target audience when you first look at the cover the thing that catches your eye are the models, in this case it is two men from a band that the readers would recognise. The shot itself is a medium close up of a man stood directly behind the other leaning over the top of him, they are both gritting there teeth and holding there hands out, there is also a bright light and smoke coming from behind them. There costume and make – up is very extreme, including things like blood, white face paint and huge leather studied shoulder pads. Altogether making the look mean, scary and violent like any traditional heavy metal band.

The colour scheme of the cover is a very dull one, all the tones are faded and grey, there is no real colour to the cover other than tones of black white and red, with the red standing out a substantially more than the rest.

The mast head itself is a simple sans serif font but with a twist this being that the “H” and the “R” have been manipulated so that the masthead begins and ends with a point. They have also used a decorative font for the type “metal” and have made it look like it has been stamped into the head mast itself.

The cover itself is very bare apart from a line of band names above the head mast, these are used like a cover line to entice the reader in, they are in red making them stand out from the rest of the magazine.

The main sell is placed at the bottom of the magazine and has been centred and is also the same font size as the mast head, making it a main focal point. The font used is a decorative font, which is very fancy and uses a lot of sharp points and edges. The type itself has a metallic look to it. This is predictable given the theme of the magazine.

The contents page follows the same colour scheme as the cover in that it uses a number of different black and white tones along with red, however the contents page is a lot more over crowded than the bare cover. There are a number of tags, images and text blocks placed around the page. Which look to be random but are actually placed within a vertical grid. The page itself is split into 3 of these grids, the 1st being all the features within the magazine, and is all type. With the headings being in the same decorative font as the main sell from the cover, The 2nd is a selection of images and tags all of band members in aggressive violent poses which feature within the magazine itself, and the 3rd is a section from the editor which is reversed out to make it look separate from the rest of the page.

There are a number of different cover spreads within the magazine itself, these being product reviews and band interviews. Looking At double spreads within metal hammer they all seem to follow a very similar theme to that of the front cover. The colour scheme of the spreads are the same as the cover in that all the tones are faded and grey, there is no real colour to the cover other than tones of black white and red, with the red standing out substantially more than the rest.
All of the spreads follow a very similar layout as well. This is that they have an image covering one of the pages, with a large title in the same decorative font used throughout, and then the interview itself is written in a very basic sans serif font, and is placed in columns underneath the title. they have also included another image somewhere on the interview page.

The second magazine i looked at was "total Guitar". This magazine is also aimed at people with a special interest in the subject matter in this case “learning the guitar”. Special interest groups are a demographic no matter what the audience’s age. There psychographic would be described as “post materialists” (to be something later), because of the nature of special interest groups they can rate anywhere within the jicnars scale.

The magazine is very well designed to create the connotations needed to attract to its target audience. when first looking at the cover the first thing that catches your eye is the masthead, this is due to the sheer size of it, it is also in white helping it to stand out from the rest of the background, this is very good at helping readers to pick out the magazine on a shelf full of others with the main focus being on the main image.

The next thing we notice is then the main image in this case it is of noel Gallagher and Paul Weller two of the most recognised people within the music industry, with these to prestigious people on the cover it helps to raise the reputation of the magazine. The image itself is a medium close up of the two with Paul stood in front of noel holding a guitar. Both models are wearing black because of this it sends our focus to where the colour is, and this is within the guitar and there faces. By bringing emphasis to there face's it means the readers will notice who is on the cover faster which could potentially be the reason why they decide to buy it. The background to the photo is a union jack, this brings to light the British nature of both artists, and helps to connote the idea that the magazine is of a British nature and that that particular issues theme is of British music.

The overall colour scheme of the magazine is very well put together, they have used just a small selection of colours that all work well together, the main colours all being taken from the union jack, and by keeping within this colour scheme they create a very professional attractive cover.

The main sell is placed to the left hand side of the cover and is in the same font and colour as the mast head, making it as much of a focal point as this. The font itself is a serif font, and by usin this style of font combined with the image used creates a very mature look to the cover without over doing it helping it to appeal to both the older more mature adult as well as the adolescent youth of today.