Task 2 Theory Work
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This document analyzes the target audience, images, words, colors, layout, and codes/conventions used in the music magazine Q. The target audience is males aged 32 on average with a high social economic status (73% ABC1). Images in Q are high quality photographs of popular artists to appeal to the affluent audience. Text is concise on the front cover but interviews inside provide in-depth information expected by the readership. A simple color scheme and layout make Q visually appealing and easy to read. Conventions include dark colors representing indie music and large photographs for posters, fitting the music magazine genre.
Task 2 Theory Work
- 1. Defining an Audience Task 2 Melissa Storey
- 2. Q Target Audience Q has a target audience of a medium age of 32 years old with a 70/30 percentage male over women readership, which they claim has the youngest and affluent audience than any other music magazine. In the UK Q is the No. 1 actively-purchased music magazine with 369,000 readership. Overall the readers have a 73% ABC1 social status which expresses the high quality photographs and slightly complex text. The media pack I found has given me a lot of information into their audience and a large paragraph on a subject person who reads Q and an example of National Express who advertises with them and their feedback.
- 3. Images “Q‟s readers prize its lavish photography, indepth reporting and sense” humour. of www.bauermedia.co.uk/uploads/QMediaPack The images are all photographed towards a impressive high quality of popular bands and artists. The front covers of Q‟s magazine are usually shot with a medium close up to make the artists seem close to the audience. A high quality shot then edit is taken making the magazine seem professional, relating to the 73% ABC1 social class as they have money to buy a high quality music magazine. Inside Qa large interview is usually placed in the middle of the issue from the artist on the front cover. In this page spread there is usually one high quality image on one side of the double page spread, which is shown with the Lady Gaga interview to the left, as well as other issues I have looked at. In the image inside the issue of Lady Gaga you can see she is wearing a lot of make up but not a lot of clothing. In fact a few chains and her own hands cover her breasts to keep it from being too explicit as it has a high social context to follow, being the highest social grade music magazine. Dark or a black and white filter are used on the photographs to make it sophisticated but also fits with the unique music they talk about
- 4. Words “ The text on the front cover is simple with bands and artists names standing out in a larger font or a brighter colour which will grab the audiences attention on what they are interested on the most. There is not a lot of information on the bands except for the main interview with the Arctic Monkeys and the White Lies and Richard Branson. On the front cover the use of alliteration is used for a simple effect to lure the audience quickly in with “Bread, booze and backing cakes” an unusual three things put together which gets people interested on the article. Just from the look of the interview inside Q you can see it has a large amount of information. This shows it is targeted at an audience who have time to read a lot of information about their favourite artists. The bright „L‟ in the middle of the page draws away the amount of text on the page looking like a symbol for Lady Gaga. The text is small leading on again that the audience targeted to this magazine is that they have time on their hands to read about music and music is a particular interest for them. This is supported by the reader profile given in the media pack. ” Chris is 29 years old and lives in Leeds. Music is more important to him than anything else. It‟s at the centre of his social life. It soundtracks all the best moments in his life. It‟s his identity, his social currency and his world. - The Reader This was taken from the media pack on Qfrom one of its very own readers which helps Q fit musical influence interviews and information on festivals. Q is a more informational about the artist. It looks formal therefore expects to have formal
- 5. Colours A simple three colour scheme is used; red, white and black. The colours could be in different shades, e.g. black to a dark grey. A simple colour scheme attracts the audience more the images and the colour white is there to highlight certain words (Arctic Monkeys and White Lies) The blue banner across the top is there to highlight 25 years of triumph and tragedy, a 17 page special inside. These are called stickers and when they are placed across a front pages are there to tell the audience something exciting you can read about inside, grabbing their attention and getting that certain person to buy the issue. The dark colours complements the type of music in Q, a new grudge, unique bands and artists. Altogether the colours are formatted well together and compliment each other making the magazine look professional and new.Inside the issue the colours are very simple with just one large red „L‟ which instantly links it to Lady Gaga. She is well known and popular therefore doesn‟t need any recognition inside the magazine with her unique photographs. Having a black and white image makes the photograph look sophisticated contrasting Lady Gaga in the image with her not wearing anything.
- 6. Layout The layout is simple, sophisticated and easy to read. There is a 50/50 ratio of images this shows both are as important as the other. This shows that the audience has quite a high status and a passion for music. They have time to read and look at high quality images. On the front cover of Q 90% of the writing is towards the bottom. So the audience look at the photograph of the popular band and then are drawn into the text explaining who the band is, a caption to bring you into the Arctic Monkeys interview and some more information about bands and artists relevant to the same genre as the Arctic Monkeys. It also advertises a special edition magazine on the front of the cover in a form of a sticker, again to grab the readers attention quickly. The reader may have enough time to read quality work but they want to be able to quickly find their favorite music magazine. Inside the magazine Q gives the reader a great quality of high resulted images of their favourite bands which attracts a high social status audience as they wouldn‟t want camera phone images live from a Arctic Monkeys concert but a well thought out image which takes up a large space inside the issue. Lots of text about the interview with the artist inside the magazine gives you lots insiders about the particular artist but not in a gossip magazine way, more sophisticated and journeyed through their promotion.
- 7. Anchorage Using a different page spread from Q I can talk about anchorage. Music magazine do not use this as much as gossip and women‟s magazines as they are mainly aimed for a male gender. But in most interviews they will cut out a quote that sounds interesting to make the audience feel a certain way for the band or artist. For this instance the pulled quote on this page makes the audience feel sorry for the band as they have used phrases such as “we weren‟t taken seriously” and “that really hurt us”. This draws an audiences attention and causes them to want to know what happened and to read more on the article.
- 8. Codes and Conventions Colour Scheme Q is a magazine which specify in new but unique music. A lot is in the indie genre. The codes and conventions of the indie genre are dark shades to represent the dark alleys where this kind of music was first found. Magazines like this who also follow the dark code and conventions of an indie magazine are NME as they also portray the indie genre. The front cover uses dark grays, blacks and whites to fit with the indie genre that the Arctic Monkeys come from. The gray background contrasts with the bright red background for Q. This helps the reader easily find Q‟s magazine on the shelf of a newsagents quickly as it is a bright contrasting colour to catch your eye. Inside Q the colours are very simple but has a large contrast with the bright red „L‟ on the white background which is making a statement just like the indie genre and who the article is about, Lady Gaga.
- 9. Codes and Conventions Photography Usually music magazine use low quality images taken at concerts, festivals and gigs but Qwant to give their readers high quality images. This lets Q have an advantage over other music magazine as both older and younger music fan audiences like high quality images of their favourite artists. Inside the magazine they product large quality images on one full page- like the Lady Gaga photograph, so people can take these pictures out and pin them on their wall. This is extremely common in music magazines for them to incorporate posters inside issues to get teens to buy their magazine. Posters are a great way in music to sell a print magazine as people will go out and buy the physical copy and not on the e-reader. High quality images are a great way to grab an audience‟s attention because more often or not they look at the artist on the front cover before reading the text, therefore the images are what sells a music magazine. This would not be the same for a hobby magazine as that audience read that genre of magazine for an informational purpose rather than an entertainment purpose.
- 10. Codes and Conventions Fonts A common convection for Q‟s magazine is to have a large single letter of the artists first initial under their interview. Have a convention like this makes it easy to fine the main interview in the issue. It takes up the whole page, this is a unique feature for a magazine but it bring some interest to an interview page with paragraphs of text. The rest of the text does not take attention away from the images. If Q want to make some text stand out they will make the size larger or change the colour. The basic san serif fonts keep the magazine look simple and easy magazine to read, showing the audience have a sophisticated for a music magazine. This causes it to be busy lifestyle but they still have time to be interested in an their musical lifestyle.
- 11. Codes and Conventions Modes of Address Q let the artist talk for themselves, there is not a lot of addressing the audience in the interview pages. These are more informational on the artist being interviewed. For example there will be some information about the artist, a quarter of a page, then the rest is the interview from the artist. It is not conversational based but more written like a story of the interview which is unusual. You can tell this music magazine is for an older audience than NME or Karrange‟s audience as they use slang words and address the audience a lot more. Having a magazine that for the same genre as others but addresses a different social grade and age range is more likely to sell a lot more and Q achieves this standard well. The way it addresses the audience shows a ABC1 social grade as it is not informal or uses lots of slang.