Jacob Brown

Task 2- Media Coursework

Genre of Magazine: Pop

Magazine analysed: Top of the Pops

Front Page:

Typography & Colour- The masthead of the magazine is in a sans-serif, they used this font to show the magazine is informal but also fun at the same time. The colours they used for the magazine are mainly a mixture of light blue, pink and yellow. These colours they used connote femininity to attract a target audience of mainly girls. All the text used on the front cover is in bold so it draws the attention of the reader, the reader will be drawn into the most important aspects of the magazine first with the bold especially being drawn into coverlines on the magazine such as ‘The Wanted’ and ‘Rita Ora’. Highlighting the text in bold and larger font attracts more readers to the magazine such as The Wanted and Rita Ora fans, expanding the target audience. The overall text is bright, fun and stylish to match the genre of pop.

Imagery: The images on the front cover of the magazine are used to draw attention to the eye of the target audience. They enlarged the big pop stars to ‘sell’ the magazine more to the reader. The Editor used a large image of One Direction on the front to invite One Direction fans into buying the magazine. There are other big name stars on the magazine such as:

- The Wanted- Rita Ora- Little Mix- Rihanna- Taylor Swift

These celebrities are used to expand the target audience to a range of fans following fans across the pop business, from a range of age’s aswell. Many of the shot types are close up images to draw attention of the audience straight away to the celebrity on show. There is one picture which is a long shot and that is of One Direction, who is the main image on the cover. The long shot image highlights the clothing of the members of One Direction who look very fashionable which also reaches out to the target audience because they look good and appealing. The celebrities on the cover all perform or promote pop music which attracts a young audience; because of this the images on the cover are conventional for the genre of pop.

Layout:

The magazine uses the route of the eye to encourage and attract the reader to buy the magazine. They firstly use the route of the eye to highlight the masthead of the magazine to make the reader aware of magazines name and initial content. It then progresses though to the cover artist, One Direction, to attract the audience to purchase the magazine. Finally, it promotes through smaller items displayed on the cover to increase the range of audience, due to there being a number of globally famed artist on the cover. The layout of the cover is very cluttered and disorganised to attract a younger audience because it’s eccentric, fun and energetic which appeals to the younger audience. This makes it conventional to its genre as pop is also fun and energetic. The principle of

three is also used to highlight the number and range of items in the magazine, in the centre third is the cover artist which is used to attract the reader because the route of the eye means the reader’s eye goes straight through the centre of the page. The left third promotes three coverlines which is conventional as the reader always needs to be drawn into the magazine from first glance and this occurs in the third left following the route of the eye.

Language/Mode of address: The mode of address used on the cover is very informal and this appeals to the younger audience as the magazine use words and phase such as ‘Wahey’ and Blipp It’. The magazine connects with its target audience by using language that they can relate to. The language is also exciting, young, fresh and ‘in your face’. This is conventional because it’s what the audience wants to see and it also follows the genre of magazine, as pop is exciting, young, fresh and ‘in your face’. They also use many coverlines scattered across the page with exciting language such as ‘guess who’, ‘cute’ and ‘blimey’. All three of these stand out and shout to the target audience as it allows the teenagers to connect with the magazine because it relates to their language. The magazine is also very relaxed about its message to its readers because they know a teenager’s free time will be spent relaxing reading the magazine. So they want to the audience to feel relaxed when reading the magazine. The mode of address is a key convention for this magazine because it will have a massive influence on the target audience and this will be key to make sure the target audience is interested in the magazine.

Contents:

Typography & Colour: The fonts on the contents are all sans-serif; this shows the reader the magazine is funky and energetic. It is also relaxing and easy to read so it meets the targets audiences’ ability level. The contents page and the front cover both bring across the feeling of fun and enjoyment, reflecting the genre of the magazine. The font is bright, bold and exciting to grab the attention of the target audience and encourages them to buy the magazine. They have also numbered images so it’s quick and easy to reach the targets audiences needs and also it makes it stylish. Images are also used because there is not enough space to write everything what’s in the magazine, so they use images to still promote what else is in the magazine in a new energetic way. The font they use for the headline represents a young girl’s handwriting, this connotes youth and it reminds them that the magazine is a good way to relax. The colours used in the contents page are mainly white, pink and yellow. These colours follow the overall colour scheme of the magazine and this is conventional in attracting the target audience. The three colours could be associated with girls and femininity. They use the pink to attract the reader at first glance and they use it as page numbers to draw attention to the important information. They would use white because it’s simple but elegant and it helps the two other colours stand out more. The yellow is used to highlight the key important areas to draw the audience’s attention to.

Imagery: The images used on the contents are used to draw attention to the reader and promote the magazine and also other products on sale. They place an image of the front cover of the magazine on the top left of the contents page to promote the product and keep the reader ‘hooked’. The route of the eye means the reader’s first glance at the page will be at this front cover on the contents page. The reader also can match up what interested them on the front cover to where it would be situated in the magazine, e.g. - if they were interested in Little Mix they can see it’s situated on page 24. They place a large image of Louis Tomlinson at the bottom right hand side of the contents so the last piece of information the reader will see is the image of him because of the route of the eye. This image will stick in the memory of the reader so they can remember to read the article about him. He also is a big pop star so he is enlarged to promote the product, draw attention to the reader and also keep to the conventional theme. They also place many smaller images of beauty products which are able to be won in their competition or brought from business partners. These images keep the reader drawn in and also it encourages the reader to enter the competition or purchase the items. Using beauty products helps to relate to the target audience as these are items which interest them and they find it relaxing and fun. This is conventional because it keeps to the overall theme of the magazine.

Layout: The layout of the contents is both cluttered but organised at the same time. They have crammed a lot of information on one page and with the various image and number sizes the contents looks overcrowded. They have also placed the information in the magazine into sections so the audience can find what they want quickly and easily. However, this mixed layout could appeal to the target audience as it is stylish but elegant and young people can relate to this. The content page also uses the route of the eye to draw attention to the reader and make sure they still motivated and interested to read the magazine. It firstly starts with an image of the front cover of the magazine in the top left. This is there to remind the reader why they possibly brought the magazine. It then starts to highlight the relevant information in the magazine and where to find it, so the reader can easily see where they need to find the relevant information they brought the magazine for. It finally ends with showing a picture of Louis Tomlinson, a big name pop star who readers are automatically drawn to.

Language/Mode of Address: The language used is informal, this is used to relate with the target audience, as they want quick, easy information rather than big chunks of text. They have changed the word ‘love’ into a love heart itself to relate to the target audience again, as the heart is fun and exciting rather than all bland and plain. This addresses the younger audience as its arty and eye catching. This is conventional because it attracts the audience and also keeps within the genre of the magazine. The contents is also very relaxing for the reader to understand, it’s easy, simple but fun and exciting at the same time. This is just what the target audience would want from the page. The mode of address for the contents is conventional because it’s key to keeping the reader fixed and it does that well while keeping to its genre

Double Page Spread:

Typography & Colour: The font they used is sans-serif and it’s bold, they don’t use much text in the double page spread because he reader would be attracted to the magazine due to the vast images of the group, One Direction. The fonts also make the reader feel excited about reading the magazine, it also is fun and energetic, and this is conventional because it matches the front cover and contents which reflects the genre of the magazine. The purpose of the whole of the typography is to attract the target audience into buying the product. They use pink and white a lot throughout the magazine and also on this double page spread; this again is feminine so the target audience automatically relates to the article. They use this colour green to show ambition and his ambition is conventional because the group, One Direction, themselves are ambitious in their career. The colour yellow is used a little bit on the magazine, highlighting the App they are promoting so the audience automatically relates the colour to the App.

Imagery: The magazine uses many images across the double page spread to draw the attention of the target audience to the article as the audience would be attracted to the vast range of pictures on the page. The double page spread uses route of the eye, and they use a big image of 3 members of the group in the bottom left of the corner to keep the reader attracted. They also use 4 close up shots of the group to keep the reader drawn on the magazine. There are a variety of images of other magazines highlighting One Direction; this is done to promote the magazine itself and also the group. The magazine shows many different long, mid and close up shots of the group so the reader can see the group as a whole and individually close up. This is done so the target audience, One Direction fans and teenage girls, are fully attracted and drawn into the magazine.

Layout:

The magazine uses route of the eye to attract readers to the article about One Direction. They firstly highlight what the article is about by using a headline and a standfirst; his is where the audience’s eye is first drawn to. Then the audience’s eye makes its way right across the page to a series of images of previous magazines with One Direction on it. Then they have placed a big image of One Direction in the bottom left of the page, this is where the audiences eye goes next and this is key to keep the audience drawn. Finally they carefully place 4 individual pictures of the members across the bottom of the page, so the reader will individual look at one after the other. Again the layout of the double page spread is structured but cluttered at the same time, they have selected specific areas to place images and text in, however, the overall presentation of the page is overcrowded. This is conventional because it matches and follows the style of the magazine and it keeps to the overall house style. This layout also attracts the reader to the article as it’s relates to the target audience and this will allow the magazine to sell.

Language & Mode of Address: The language and mode of address are both informal on this page and this is relevant in attracting the target audience. The magazine uses a phrases such as ‘1D’ and ‘Blipp It’ these are phrases the magazines target audience could relate to and this would encourage them to buy the magazine. Also the double page spread reflects emotions such as fun, energetic but relaxing at the same time. This is conventional as the magazine as a whole also reflects these emotions towards the reader. The target audience also don’t want big chunks of text to read so the magazine uses more images than text so it’s quick and easy for the target audience to read. This is also a good way of attracting and drawing the reader to the page because you are giving them what they want and relate to. The page as a whole is conventional because it follows the house style of the magazine and keeps the reader fixed to the magazine. These are key to the magazine staying to the genre of the music and also making sure the target audience is happy.