Music Magazine Analysis

Codes and Conventions

• A convention is something that is typical of a specific type of media.

• The codes are words or letters giving meaning- what we get when we read/look at the magazine.

Conventions of a Magazine

• Masthead- think about colour, font, style and the name of the magazine.

• Tagline- near the masthead, what the magazine is about, who it is aimed at.

• Centeral Image- most important part, links to the feature article, think about the denotation connotation.

• The Cover Model- Celebrity, linked to the theme, think about the mise-en-scene, location and clothing.

• Anchorage- Caption that comes with the image, links the picture to the article.

• Secondary Images- smaller images on the front cover, relates to other stories with magazine.

• Cover lines- around magazine image, front cover, about 6-7, think about language/presentation features.

• Mode of Address- the way the magazine communicates with readers, uses personal pronouns in text and pointing in images.

• Puff- ‘puff of air’, bubbles, stars, often offers free things, special features.

• Pug- ‘ear of magazine’, either at the top left or top right corner.

• Barcode, Price, Edition- small, doesn’t cover image.

• Colour- follows a scheme , can depend on edition, links to the image.

Music Magazine

This is an example of a music magazine cover that I really like. It has one main image that covers part of the title, and follows a colour scheme of pink and white.

This is a music magazine cover that I don’t like as much. I don’t like how the person used as the centeral image is dressed, and I don’t like the bright, block colour background.

I like this example of a front cover because of how simple yet effective the image is, and the fact that the blue on her eyes matches with the blue used around the edge.

The masthead and logo of the magazine- stands out, white against black.

Name of the featured artist, stands out-white, bold, captitals.

Centeral image- featured artist, slightly covers title/logo.

‘Puff’-Special feature/message about magazine

Tag Line- Disocver Great Music

Anchorage- caption that goes with the centeral image

Barcode- small and hidden in the corner of the magazine so that the readers don’t really see it.

Cover lines- other articles/stories featured in the magazines

Magazine Analysis In ClassThis is the magazine that I looked at and analysed in class. I didn’t think that this was a very good example of a music magazine front cover for multiple different reasons:• The barcode covers part of the

image, and stands out a lot because its and the image behind it is black.

• The writing/anchorage that accompanies the image is really hard to read because it is in a thin, white font and on a black background.

• The main/of the main people within the centeral image is wearing sunglasses which could make the readers/audience feel disconnected.

There were also things that were good about this magazine front cover: • The people in the

centeral image are wearing black, which could represent how their music is/what it’s like.

• The masthead is black and has a smashed/cracked effect which conveys what kind of magazine it is and what kind of music it is about.