print screen conversations. /media magazine

Profiling Your Audience

Cogan, 17, from East London, he loves listening to the mainstream grime and rap scene such as K Koke, Devlin, Tupac and Professor Green. It influences what he does in life that he chooses to acquaint himself with and what his desires are. His music basically influences who he is as a person if he isn’t listen to music he’s in the studio, trying to pursue his music career himself, as well as being in his second year at college so the artist he listens to influences the direction he goes in but as he listens to a wide range this allows him to be creative in what he talks about with his own productions and this then sets a tone for him to be a individual when it comes to his dress sense. The way he acts and the things he does is something he wants to be proud of as he is hoping to one day show it to the world like those he idolises.

In this magazine, to target Cogan I will bring a selective amount of different artists that are in the mainstream rap and grime scene to attract him immediately. Then by putting certain opportunities in the magazines and chances to help underground and undiscovered artists, such as Cogan, to have a chance to make it in the industry. A lot of key points, if doing your own music how to balance it with college with like Cogan and a lot of other people and having pictures of the celebrities, such as K Koke, Rick Ross and Drake to show him their style with questions and answers show so he has the chance get to know the artists. The magazine cover itself will include a lot of black and gold as in both rap and grime many artist talk about themselves being rich and they represent themselves in that way by also wearing a lot of jewellery  and expensive brands. Filling all the front cover with as many big names as possible to attract people like Cogan.

editted image

i editted a photo of my friend that i used for the magazine cover and contents page using different effects.

Magazine cover & contents page

bulletpoints - contents page

·         In this photo there are two photos of a artist and a band.

·         The page is structured so all the information comes before  the photos and they go in a vertical structure.

·         The text describes what happening in the photos, all the text mostly relate to the same type of hip-hop music, minus the bottom right which talks about indie music which doesn’t necessarily relate to the rest.

·         The contents page is designed so that all the writing is understandable and easy to read and that all the page number are easy to see and bold so that you can see them properly. Famous hip-hop artist are put in the left column  and other articles are featured in the right hand side of the magazine.

·         This magazine has up to 66 pages.

·         On this contents page there is only `one photo on it, but there is only 1 of 3 contents pages in the vibe magazine. So there would be 3 in total.

·         The page is structured so that the actual features are fitted into the photo of the artist that features in this issue so that the main point of the contents page is the picture.

·         The writing works around the photos taken.

·         The articles are spaced out and the page number starts at page 68 and skips numbers, this could  just be like this so that the readers can see the important articles that vibe think will attract more readers.

·         108 – but you don’t see the details of every page.

·         In this magazine there are quite a few, 9 to be precise. This makes the page more attractive.

·         The structured is very scattered and nothing is in order apart from the article information that’s put on either side of the two pages and goes in a vertical order .

·         The pictures are used to describe what’s going to be in the article tat write about in the sidebar.

·         Everything’s scattered but it is easy to read and understand it isn’t very organised apart from the fact that the pictures are always on the same as the writing about the particular page.

·         146 pages, the left side are full of features and the right side is regular things that go on in the magazine.

·         11 photographs of the featuring artists.

·         The page is structured by used the biggest name in the biggest square at the top and the other artists being in smaller boxes surrounding it.

·         The pictures are on one side with a little description, so this may suggest that there the most important features in the magazine and the writing on the right hand side are just minor things going on it’s organised so that the photos do not mix with the writing everything’s done more neatly.

·         That’s a total of 71 pages in the whole magazine.

anniebaker analysis

Denotation:

This cover is a lot more simple but clever with it’s colour choices. It uses black and white basic colours to match the artists costume but also bits of pink around the page to distinguish the feminine side of the magazine and that the artist Nicki Minaj is a women and she’s dominating the magazine. This is a medium long shot and her head covers the title. She seems to be shown as towering the cover this could show her popularity and how famous she is.

Masthead:

The Title is behind the artists head and this can however make the title harder to recognise but as it is a well known magazine it is easily recognised by fans of it. The word ‘KING’ is enlarged and a lot bigger than the other words in the title and king in then repeated again inside the K. This does then make it a more masculine magazine by using the word ‘KING’.

Character:

The artist is female rapper Nicki Minaj.

Composition:

She’s posed quite casually looking directly at the camera giving us a direct mode of address.

Costume:

She’s wearing a bra and knickers with a silk t-shirt that she is removing. Silk could be seen as seductive as well as the minimum clothing adds to the ‘sexy’ effect.

NVC:

As she’s looking directly at the reader to grab attention and pushing out her chest it shows to be attention grabbing.

Lighting:

The light seems to be shone directly onto Nicki Minajs’ face.

Setting: A plain white background allowing you to concentrate on the artist.

Cover-lines:

Even though the magazine seems to be quite masculine it has a lot of female artists’ featured into it and the use of pink does draw a female audience. However, this could also, due to the seductive picture, draw more men to see other pictures of the artists and the possible pictures of other artist like Nicki Minaj. ‘Nicki Minaj Blow Ya Mind’ is the main title as ‘Nicki Minaj’ is used in the biggest font out of the other cover lines. This suggests that she’s going to have something big to announce and share with the readers so it therefore makes you want to buy it and it also links to one of her songs on her debut ‘Pink Friday’ album called ‘BLOW YA MIND’.

Target Audience:

After analysing I think the main audience would be men, since the pictures very suggestive and the artist isn’t wearing many clothes and shows off her assets. However, it would attract a small number of females if they are aspiring to be rappers and to get ideas of what to be like in the business and what goes on in the world of ‘rap’ as it does show to be a hip-hop magazine.

Denotation:

The colours is a nautical set red white and light blue. I think that magazine uses the as all of the artists’ tattooing are in red and blue or just black – hence the black t-shirt that links with the small amount of black writing. This is a medium shot showing up to her waist. She isn’t in the direct middle of the cover but she is slanted to one side since the title is ‘The Diva & Her Demons’ maybe her leaning to one side represents ‘The Demons’ winning her over.

Masthead:

The Title of the magazine is ‘Rolling Stone’ which is a very famous magazine which photographs those who leave a impression in the world of music and this immediately lets us assume that Amy Winehouse was something great and a legend. Even though you cant see the whole title it is very, very recognisable by mostly everybody.

Character:

The late Legend, Amy Winehouse.

Composition:

She’s stand in a, possibly seen as, shy position as she’s slanted to one side with it very different to your typical shot used for covers – showing she is different.

Costume:

A plain black t-shirt this could symbolise she isn’t anything fancy she is just her, she doesn’t need an amazing costume to grab attention and her tattoos tell stories in her life.

NVC:

She’s looking at the camera but her head is slightly tilted up maybe this suggests that she’s shy.

Lighting:

Clear lightening.

Setting:

A white background allowing you to pay attention to the artist.

Cover-lines:

The big headline on the cover is ‘the Diva & The Demons Amy Winehouse’ the artist name is in the same colour as the magazine title and since the magazine name is such a legendary one this makes us think so is Winehouse. The title of the article ‘The Diva & The Demons’ is in a bright red to show it’s importance as well as the Summer Tours which show who’s touring this year so you can get a chance to book.

Target Audience:

The target audience could be of a older generation because the magazine has been around for a long time BUT it could attract a younger audience because Amy Winehouse has a fan-based of a young audience too. So the target audience isn’t clear but is of a wide range.

Denotation:

Red and Black are used. Red is used to highlight her hair and relate to the artist and black is used because the two colours work well together. The shots a medium long shot, not showing her legs to the audience. She is in front of the masthead and the other cover-lines on the page, the font for Rihanna is big and bold. The red is used in the title to relate to the artist.

Masthead:

Masthead is behind the artist and in red to relate to the artist, it’s always the biggest thing on the page as well as the stars name but it shows authority and ownership of the magazine.

Character:

The massively famous singer Rihanna.

Composition:

She’s looking back at the camera, but she’s giving off a good girl image a kind of ‘girls next door look’ as she looks onto the garden or view of some sort.

Costume:

Very short shorts but highlight her sexy attitude but a simple top to so her normality.

NVC:

Looking very dreamy into the camera but this could be seen sexy.

Lighting:

Using natural light to get the shot.

Setting:

This could either be a Rihanna’s home as she seems comfortable or on holiday.

Cover-lines:

All the cover lines are in black which could show the equality and importance of each article in the issue. However Rihanna’s cover-line is slightly bigger than all the other ones and has a bit more writing than the others. It also shows it doesn’t only focus on music but other talents and nationalities as it has the famous English comedian Ricky Gervais in the magazine too. This can bring in a wider audience and show that even though it is music based it does cover other topics in the world giving it diversity.

Target Audience:

The target audience is a very wide range it goes from old to young, male and female and not only music fans by acting and comedy fans too. This magazine targets everyone not just a certain type. Explaining why it’s one of the best selling magazines ever.

Denotation:

The magazine cover is made up of four colours black, white, grey and red. The red is to interpret into the signature logo of the magazine ‘Q’. The show is a medium long shot as you cannot see past the knee. The background colour is grey but it seems as if i gets lighter as it goes down the page. The artists name is in white and the ‘A’ goes behind her but the ‘G’ is in front of her. The image of the artist covers the whole magazine cover and is large, she is almost in quite a prerogative position.  Behind ‘Lady Gagas’ head you can see the Masthead and also behind her is a few different cover line stories that are featured inside the magazine.  Barcode is visible at the bottom right hand corner.

Masthead:

Q’s masthead is easily distinguished from other magazine covers. It has its famous red block with a white ‘Q’ in the middle. The logo is ALWAYS in the top left hand corner on every magazine they release, it’s never anywhere else and it’s always just under the running banner at the top of the page.

Character:

A very famous American singer ‘Lady Gaga’

Composition:

Her body position is very sexual and this is confirmed by the use of her hands and the fact she has no clothing on her top half.

Costume:

She isn’t wearing much clothing so this immediately will attract a male audience, her has latex gloves on in the style of ‘Freddie Kruger’ which would then confuse the audience because that isn’t ‘sexy’ but as Lady Gagas’ fashion is always weird and elaborate this actually will be seen as quite normal. Her bottoms have spikes coming out the side ad this completes the rock look that she is displaying in the photograph.

NVC:

Her Non verbal communication is also very seductive as she is looking directly at the camera and her mouth is only slightly open but she shows a lot of concentration.

Lighting:

The lighting is brightly set on the artist to emphasise her presences.

Setting:

The only setting is the grey black drop which fits in with the colours of the writing in the magazine and adds to the ‘rock and roll’ effect Lady Gaga seems to be pursuing.

Cover-lines:

The title that introduces lady gaga on the cover says ‘Move over Madonna, LADY GAGA has RISEN!’ This suggests that Lady Gaga is the new and improved Madonna. There is a lot of rumour that Lady Gaga gets her style and ‘unique style’ originally from Madonna. However, the other meaning could also be that Madonna in the media is also called Madge which also means Mary (as in the holy mother) and since it says ‘LADY GAGA has RISEN!’ it could symbolise that Lady Gaga is Jesus and since she has ‘risen’ she is new and reformed for this article which would make people want to know what’s changed or what she has to say. The other stories on the magazine cover a much large musically audience and go from big international names such a Lady Gaga and Jimi Hendrix to quite artists like Vampire Weekend.

Target Audience:

All the artists mentioned on the front cover are aimed at a much younger generation but, Jimi Hendrix is mentioned which then aims it at the much older generations such a 35-50’s. Male and females as the music is quite balanced.

Denotation:

The Colours are once again very simple, black red grey and white. This time the grey is used as writing and it actually seems to be a ‘faded’ black to show less important information and anything in black and red is important eg. An artists name. The artists head is in front on the magazines name ‘VIBE’ and he is also above any other writing on the page. In the photo you can see his shadow in the photo which is usually erased from a photo showing the was lighting used.

Masthead :

The colours used in the masthead in red fading into black but unlike most magazines that isn’t it’s set colour ‘VIBE’ magazine works with the theme of the magazine by the issue so one day it would be black the next white.  All the writing is done is capitals showing that it is all important information for the reader. VIBE doesn’t tell us or give us an idea of any particular genre of music.

Character:

Cover is of the famous white mc – Eminem.

Composition:

He is in a very angry position, looking at the camera in a intimidating way showing he’s got something to say and he isn’t happy.

Costume:

He’s wearing very plain clothes, but he has his jewellery out showing that he is rich. He also has his arms showing which are covered in tattoos. Tattoos when used in a certain way can be related to violence or ‘toughness’ and in his tattoos you can see his daughter on his right arm that he raps a lot about in his songs and talks about the difficult relationship and on his other arm the name ‘Ronnie’ who was someone in his life who passed away who he really cared about showing some heartbreak and sorrow in his life.

NVC:

He shows to be giving off a bad attitude towards the readers by the way he is standing and staring at the camera.

Lighting:

The lighting is used to put focus on the artist.

Setting:

There is no background but this then puts all the focus onto the artist there is nothing else to distract the reader from him being the main reason of the magazine.

Cover-lines:

The main writing which shows what Eminem will talk about in the article ‘EMINEM COMES CLEAN’ and a list of drugs he used with a quote from the article saying ‘I LITERALLY ALMOST DIED.’ This will immediately attract attention to this issue because he’s talking about a personal time in his life he isn’t just going to discuss anywhere else. All the other cover-lines used on the article are to do with grime or hip-hop artists this shows that the magazine isn’t to do with anything else but hip-hop and grime.  Cover-Lines suggest they are very involving in the readers opinions as there is quizzes and ranked status’ of artists in the magazines.

Target Audience

The obvious target audience is teenage males, since the music is all male based there isn’t any female rappers name on the front cover and Eminem is in a manly intimidating position. There will however be female readers but they are a very small percentage, everything on the cover seems very masculine too. Black and red show to be dark dim colours while stereotypically girls would like bright colours such as pinks and orange.