Audience Profile

Because my music Magazine Is a UK Grime magazine I had to think of a certain target audience that would already listen to Grime artists such as Ghetts, Kano, Giggs and Krept & Konan. These artisits that have been in the underground scene for quite some time artists that have come from the same background as the youths of today. So youths of today can relate to their songs as they have went through the same struggle.

So I have picked two images that suit the type of audience that my magazine is aiming at who have a interest in the Grime scene as this genre is not a mainstream so not a lot of people in the UK have a interest in this type of music that was the main reason why I chose to do a magazine influenced by this music as it will the top magazine as no other magazine does the type of things my magzine does.

The two images above are just pictures to illustrate the type of audience my magazine is aiming to target as they probably listen to Grime as they are youths of today.

Moodboard

This is just a moodboard of pictures that have a influence on nmy tardget audience and also what type of products my target audience is interested in from the other documents and graphsin in my other assignments you will be able to the specific age of the audience my UK Grime magazine is aiming at.

My Audience

Profiling your Audience

The magazine I chose to analyse for my profiling audience is ‘The Source.’ In this assignment I will analyse the online magazine and take note of the layout of the online magazine and mainly focus on the ‘demographic profile’ of the target audience for the magazine I intend to produce.

By looking at the website I have concluded that the target audience for this magazine is the age ranging from 13 – 30 years of age as the main focus is the music genre of Hip-Hop, Rap and R ‘N’ B. By looking at the fashion section that they display on the right and left hand side of the magazine they targeting teens and young adults who are into pop and hip hop culture.

In my opinion the source is for people who very into music as they do mainstream artists who have made a name for themselves in the music industry and also underground artists who are still trying to make names for themselves and produce mix tapes that are on the streets who are soon to blow.

So by looking at this website I will take into consideration the layout of the magazine and also how it targets its audience. The colour scheme they use is Red, White, Black and Grey two very bold colours which are eye catching and two dull colours so the contrast is very attractive. But coincidently on all the front page covers of nearly all there monthly editions they use a mainstream artists and if they use an underground artists they put him with a mainstream artists (Wiz Khalifa and Rick Ross).

Also “The Source,” has different sections which target different ages e.g. Culture, Politics, Sport and Technology. In my opinion the reason why they added these different sections is because they wanted to have a broader range of different people who would be attracted to there magazine even though the U.S.P (Unique selling point) is the depth music.

My sketches for my music magazine

This is just a rough draft of how the layout of the magazine could plan out to be as you can see there are four different layouts of my magazine could look like the reason why I chose to draw it up using a pencil because it would be more easy than drawing it up using photoshop. 

VIBE Double Page Spread

Textual Analysis Of a Music Magazine

Textual Analysis of a Music Magazine Double Page Spread

In this assignment will analyse a double page spread from VIBE music magazine. In addition, using the correct terminology to describe the double page spread and the content it holds and analyse the pages in depth.

The denotation of this image is Solange Knowles posing in the ‘VIBE’ music magazine wearing Blue, Red, White, Black and Grey with lilac-purple shoes these are strong colours which are basic but effective it connotes the type of personality that they state that Solange supposedly has “Forget her sister outspoken Solange Knowles created one of the year’s best R&B albums”. Solange Knowles is on the left hand side of the second page, double page spread which is in colour and in the background there are miniature pictures of her in black and white posing in different positions with the same outfit. Solange is wearing lilac-purple shoes. Solange is standing in a very blunt position which is connoting that she is serious and direct about what she is doing.

The connotation of the colours worn by Solange Knowles, blue represents natural, original, calm. Red connotes fierce, fiery, passion, sexiness, romance, seductiveness, positivity. White connotes purity, cleanliness, also positive and safety. Black connotes dark side, cheeky, being bad and grey connotes stylish, chick, futuristic, fashionable and modern. Combining these colours together connotes that Solange is diverse, creative and innovative with her ideas as an artist and musician and works to perfect her craft, which is music and entertaining her fans.  The purple high heel shoes that are being worn by Solange connote spirituality, prosperity, mellowness and delicateness.      

There are no props used for Solange Knowles photo shoot, once again the photographer wants the buyers to focus on Solange, mainly the picture of her in colour. Solange costume consists of a dress, necklaces, a coat and shoes, she is wearing all the items. Solange’s dress is red, puffy, fitted to suite her figure and body, the top half of her dress is like a corset, while the bottom half is puffy to look similar to roses and look slightly scruffy in a sheek way it is quite rock chick. Solange’s dress stops just above the knees which leave her long legs revealed.

The scruffiness of the dress indicates that Solange is the type of person that likes to be in control of what they are doing. She is wearing a small bold blue necklace and a long thin pink necklace. The bold blue necklace implies that Solange is the type of person that likes to take risks with her creativity in clothes, fashion and music. The pink necklace connotes love, girly, youthful and that possibly Solange has a childish, girly side to her. The shoes that are worn by her are simple with little detail but stylish. Overall, indications show from Solange outfit and the way she is posing suggests that she likes to be the centre of attention and possible an extrovert talkative the one that is usually noticed within a crowd of people and remembered by all. The blue furry jacket this connotes power, strength and determination. The furry blue jacket reaches her waist which emphasises her hips and shows she keeps up to date with the fashion world.

The setting of the double page spread is probably a white screen or wallpaper. This setting is mainly used when celebrities are taking photographs for magazines such as ‘VIBE’ and glamour magazines; therefore the setting is in a studio which was booked.

The lighting used in the double page spread is a high key lighting which is very obvious as they wanted it to be bright because they wanted Solange Knowles to be the main focus because they could not have a low key lighting with a white background. I had come to the conclusion that it was a high key lighting because there are no dark shadows.

The body language that is being expressed by Solange is strong and upright which connotes that Solange is alert and ready for anything. Furthermore, that she likes to be in control and organised and focused. Solange is giving direct eye contact which suggests she is aware that the picture is being taken of her. Her body language also connotes a ‘not caring’ attitude, but a sense of determination to get the work done.  As for her pose, her leg stance she is trying to act innocent but as you can see from her miniature pictures on both pages you can see she is carefree. There is full eye contact which shows that she is fully concentrated on the camera which in turn will be the audience. There is hardly a face expressions like a straight face, her arms are behind her back which could represents she is shy and is scared of being open and letting people know too much about her, but on the other hand maybe approachable and easy to talk to. These are the NVC’s that I believe Solange perceived in the photo.

The anchorage used in the text of the double page spread is sans-serif as there are no flick ups and seems very modern and stylish to suite Solange’s personality. The font chosen also looks futuristic as some of the words have been written in grey and Solange genre of music is futuristic.

Analysing the image an asymmetrical composition is used on the left side which has the full blown picture of Solange Knowles which is also in colour is the picture that the audience will mainly be attracted to as it is attractive and eye catching as the miniature pictures are small not in colour and in a way out of focus so this gives the double page spread a sense of imbalance which will draw the audience to the main target which is the full blown picture of Solange Knowles.

The double page spread has a wide depth of field even though it has a blown up image of the artist in colour. The area that is focused on is the picture of Solange which is in colour; this is the area that is focused sharply. While the pictures in the background are not, this is mainly because they are in black and white.   

In conclusion, I have analysed the double page spread from VIBE music magazine. In addition, using the correct terminology to describe the double page spread and the content it holds and analyse the pages in depth.

Picture Of Vibe Music Magazine

Analysis of Music Magazine

Textual Analysis of a Music Magazine Front Cover

The assignment will demonstrate a clear understanding of a textual analysis of the front cover of a VIBE music magazine.  Furthermore, using the correct terminology to describe the magazine and the content it holds and analyse the cover in depth.

Vibe magazine is well known around the world and is based around the world of Hip-Hop, Rap, Soul, Jazz and R ‘n’ B. It tends to feature people from all walks of life, musicians, artists, entertainers. The front cover given to analyse has a picture of a female R&B and Hip-Hop singer named Ashanti. Ashanti is wearing a white dress with diamond necklaces, bracelets, ring and pearl earrings; the background is a green but mellow screen. Ashanti is seated on a round stool with her right hand casually resting on her left leg while her head is resting upon her left hand.     

Ashanti is wearing a white dress which symbolises purity, innocence, angelic ness and wholesomeness. However, her stance represents seduction, sexy, sassy, elegance and confidence. The mellow green in the background is refreshing and calm, but eye catching and allows Ashanti and her dress to stand out in this vibrant cover.

Mise-en-scene revolves around costume, props, setting, lighting and Non- verbal communication [NVC]. Ashanti’s costume is a white dress that is short and fitted to suite her figure and body, it is also sheek it is all kept neat and tidy with diamond jewellery, her costume is kept very simple to allow Ashanti to have the main focus and her white dress does that very well, by drawing us in. The costume is a short dress and low cut at the front to attract mainly guys as it is seductive and sexy but shows she is disciplined as it is not to revealing.

 On the other hand, teenage girls and ladies may see this as a place they want to aspire too or may imagine themselves buying a similar dress like what she is wearing or want to look like her. Ashanti, wearing the props and costume indicates to the audience that she is an attractive young black woman that is respectful of herself and can be sexy but elegant at the same time. Props were kept to minimum with just a black stool which she is seated on, this is a good technique as it is making sure Ashanti is not drowned by props around her and consumers will be interested in what she is wearing and how much it cost rather than the props and how much it cost.  This is similar to a Marilyn Monroe photo as she wears a white dress which is revealing, covered with diamonds, a pearl necklace and a fringe with all her hair rested on her right shoulder.

There setting for Ashanti photo the mood or atmosphere that I believe was trying to be created is the times of when blues and jazz was popular even the stool I believe was used to create that type of setting, when people would go to clubs and listen to some soulful and live music. Men would have the hair slicked back wearing suites and women would wear long elegant dresses with jewellery and sway their hips to the lovely music. The photo is taken in front of a green screen they tried to use a colour which wasn’t dark but vibrant that could also make the white dress and the font which is also white stand out so it could give the front cover that vibrant eye catching feel to the magazine. The lighting used in the front cover is a high lighting because it is quite even and free from shadows which is not surprising as she is wearing a white dress. This allows us to get a full look at what she is doing and how she posing.

The type of NVC that I am receiving from the VIBE cover is direct eye contact looking straight which means she is giving full eye contact to the camera which in turn means she is looking straight at the person whoever is looking at the magazine to show she is fully focussed and giving her one hundred percent concentration to the audience. The position of her left arm on her head implies she is comfortable with herself, relaxed, but also wants to look pretty.  Ashanti’s head is tilted down with her mouth slightly open and her eyes gazing directly forward connoting that she is teasing the buyer and knows she is being photographed.  Ashanti’s right arm is on her knee with her left leg raised slightly showing her thighs it draws guys attention their and allows them to visually imagine “playing with their mind” overall  Ashanti seems like if she is in her element in the front cover. Ashanti’s body language is strong and upright, but not in a domineering manner, it is more relaxed connoting that that she knows what she wants and what she is doing and is in control.

The anchorage on the front cover tells us a lot about the style and type of magazine VIBE is. It indicates that its target audience are mainly black people. The font and sized used connotes that the magazine should be taken seriously VIBE written in white with black around it connotes its firm and strong. The topics that are spoken about in depth within the magazine are written in brief and underlined, but are still in uppercase and bold font connoting that it is important and something that must be read

  The font used on the front cover is big and bold which is relevant to the genre it bases it content on music, people and entertainment.  It has no flick ups and generally connote a font that is more modern so by analysing these key factors I can conclude that this font is a Sans-Serif font which is also bold which kind of represents the image as a whole, even though the singer is dressed classy and her pose is elegant she is bold, which makes her stand out. They also made sure that the information that they put in bold was clear to read from a distance and is quick and easy to read and important and what they put in lowercase is less important to the buyer, until they get to that specific page in the actual magazine. The font and the way it is placed were based on Ashanti’s pose.

The composition of the image has an asymmetrical composition as on the right her left hands is behind her head and on the left her right hand is on her knee this connotes a sense of imbalance but in a beautiful way as she poses.

In conclusion, the assignment has demonstrated a clear understanding of a textual analysis of the front cover of a VIBE music magazine.  Furthermore, using the correct terminology to describe the magazine and the content it holds and analyse the cover in depth.

Introduction

I have been set seven assignments over the holidays which will help devise a plan on how make a college music magazine which is the main task. I have a brief with a checklist of assignments which are meant to be done and due in on certain dates.

Firstly, I will do a textual analysis of a music magazine front cover denotation, connotation, masthead, Mise en scene, etc.  Write at least 800 words on the front cover. Then I will do a textual analysis of a music magazine double page spread which will be at least 400 words.

Thirdly I will do a profiling your audience assignment which is where I look at a music magazine website similar to genre I wish to do and analyse there website and go into depth on there ‘advertising info’ on their site this will help me identify the demographic profile of my target audience and by analysing this information it will gradually help me on how I would want my own college music magazine to look like.

Then I will make a questionnaire ranging from 12 and so on questions on targeting a age group 16 -17 on how they would like a music magazine to look like and what attracts them to a college magazine. This questionnaire will be sent out online by using social networking sites.

After the 30 questionnaire I have sent out have been sent back to me I will be able to gather the results and which answers were more common and take the answers into consideration and start to plan on how my music magazine will look like.

Furthermore I will do a case study in which I will be analysing a publishing company and the titles it publishes answering the main question, why would it try to target different audiences with each magazine it makes? And this case study should be between 500-800 words long.