Production Log

I sketched the first draft of my front cover on the 27th of January. At the moment the title of my magazine will be a picture of a crown, which connotes a king, so my title will be king of grime. The grime will be graffitied on my cover because grime music is usually underground and is usually distributed on the streets. At the moment the colours i will use will be, White, black and red. I have chosen white to be the colour of my background as everything i put in the foreground will stand out. The red will be used to highlight the important text also the colour red suggest danger, which is usually linked in the music produced by artist in the grime scene. The black will be used as the basic colour of most of the text, as it will stand out more against the white background.

My magazine will contain many conventions you would expect to see on a music magazine, such as a website for the audience to view exclusive gossip and stories about the artist, i will also have many sell lines which you can see in my first draft of my magazine along the sides. As well as the sell lines i will include a barcode and a main story to attract my Target audience.

Contents Page Analysis

The contents page of most magazine address the audience directly as it seems almost as it is talking to the audience, this contents page consist of many example, such as " Who's got all the cash?". The use of a rhetorical questions involves the reader and makes it seem as if they are having a conversation, which leads to a gain in sales as the readers like being addressed directly. Another way the contents page addresses the reader is through the use of the main image. 50cent looks directly at the camera, makes the audience feel as if he is looking at them.

This is a contents page from a music magazine called "In The Mix". As you can see it has many conventions which you would expect to see on a contents page of a music magazine.
One convention is the fact that it has many subtitles on the right hand side of the page along with numbers to help the audience find what they are looking for, such as the artist and stories featured inside the magazine. This also helps the audience to understand what type of genre this music magazine is, for example this contents page has an image of famous rapper 50cent, which tells the audience that this issues will be about the rapper and gives us information about the target audience. In addition to this 50cent is shown as a stereotype of a rapper, we can see this through the mise en scene as he is wearing baggy jeans and a t shirt with his gang "G unit" written on it, he also gives a mean look to camera man suggesting he is angry, also the sub headings also give the audience an idea of what the magazine will be discussing.

Another convention which is being used is the limited colours involved on the contents page. There is only two colours being used, black and red which could be the colours which feature in every issues of "In The mix". This is used to make the magazine look more sophisticated and it is easier for the magazine to use limited colours because they make many issues of their magazines.

However the fact the this contents page has the issue number on the inside isn't a convention, as in most music magazine it is shown on the front cover, This may lead to a loss in sales as consumers might not purchase the magazine because they would not be sure weather it is a magazine they have previously read.

Contents Page Analysis

The contents page of most magazine's address the audience directly as it seems almost as it is talking to the audience for example it says 'Chris rock is back' suggesting that you are telling someone that he is back therefore making the magazine seem as it is addressing you directly which is going to have more of a successful impact as it makes the reader feel more involved with the magazine and it also makes it seem more personal, this also suggest that the audience is in the know about all the gossip. This contents page is from Vibe magazine, the content page has a lot of typical conventions of a music magazine contents page. An example of a typical convention would be the page numbers written down to each story, which allows the audience to find what they are looking for quickly. Another convention would be the that the colours are limited on the contents page as they would be on the front cover, also the text would be the same as it would have been on the front cover, this is too make the magazine look more sophisticated. An additional convention would also be the fact that, they have their website written on the contents to allow the audience to view latest news and information on artist whenever they like and also shows how Vibe magazine have become an convergence industry in recent years, and this suggest why there is a decline in people purchasing music magazines. In addition to this the pictures along the side suggest that this magazine also talks about fashion and the clothes they are wearing suggest the target audience for the magazine. Nearly all contents pages contain images on them to allow the audience to see at a quick glance who will feature in the magazine.

However it could be argued that this contents page is going against what a typical contents page of a music magazine would look like, this is because the contents page seems to be 3 pages long when most magazines such as XXL or Billboard magazine tend to use a just 2 pages, maybe this is because they want the had many artist and topics to cater for in this Issue.

However this contents page also has another typical convention which is the image, which allows the audience to see which musician is featured in the magazine and also gives the audience an idea of who the target audience is for the magazine.

Textual analysis - T.I.

Vibe magazine is a music and entertainment magazine which was launched in 1993 by founder and music producer Quincy Jones. Vibe is a famous music magazine and is know world wide for featuring famous musicians such as Chris Brown, Kanye west, Usher and Beyonce.

The front cover of this issue of Vibe shows T.I, a rapper who has recently made it big in the music industry, this suggest that the magazine is up to date with the music industry. T.I is dressed as a successful business man. The use of a suit, hat and glasses take the audience away from the stereotype of how rappers usually dress. The suit also sets out the colour scheme of the cover which is white, black and red. I think the text highlighted in red suggest these are the main topics of this issue of the magazine. E.g " Ain't no such thing as a secret snitch" as well as the sell lines on the right of the magazine, " 50cent, Prince, Lauryn Hill, DR.Dre, Jay Z and Biggie" in addition the fact that "Vibe" is also highlighted in red suggest that I'm right. This front cover shows typical conventions of a music magazine front cover, the fact that the colours are limited, the use of many sell lines along the side of the main image, the lead story on the right of the main image. However the fact that the masthead is in front of the main image is a surprise as in other issues of vibe it is usually behind the main image also the fact that their is no bar code on the cover is surprising.

The sell lines as well as having T.I on the front cover tells me that this magazine targets Hip hop and R&B lovers, aged 16 - 30.

The audience are being addressed through T.I as many of his lyrics are about his struggle in life and how he lived on the ruff streets of Atlanta, which targets people who might be in he same situation he was in, also most of his songs target people aged 16 - 30, which is also the target audience for the magazine, so the use of T.I allows them to target a mainstream audience. Also the fact that the image of T.I looking straight at the camera, suggest that he is looking at the audience.

Textual Analysis - Soulja Boy

Billboard magazine is a leading music magazine in the USA. They are referred in many songs which show how popular they are. Billboard also has their own charts and awards which make them very important to the music industry. Billboard magazine specialize in many genres, such as Hip Hop, R&B, Rock and Pop.
This front cover tells me that the magazine is targeting people aged 14 – 25. I think this because Soulja Boy is a renowned rapper who is just 18 years old, thus leading me to believe that billboard are trying to target the same audience, Soulja Boys music targets. I think this also suggest that this issue of the magazine will be about hip hop as it has Soulja Boy on the front cover but one of their sell lines also suggest it will be about hip hop. “Lil Wayne leads Grammy noms”, which is an award in the music industry. Lil Wayne a notorious rapper know well wide, also there is a lot of media frenzy around this particular rapper. However billboards other sell lines suggest that this issue will not strictly be based on hip hop as they talk about “The Beatles”, furthermore they talk about CBS radio and how they strike another online deal. This also tells me that this magazine talks about more than musicians, the talk about every part of the music industry, which allows them to target a more mainstream audience.
The colour scheme used on the front cover is white and yellow, as you can see in the background the “B and the D” are coloured in with red and yellow and Billboard is written in white which are traditional colours of billboard and these colours will always be seen on the front cover of a billboard magazine.
I also feel that the magazine highlight the most important features of the magazine. E.g. “Soulja Boy and Lil Wayne are written in bigger text than the other sell lines, which suggest they are the most important features of this issue of billboard. The audience are being addressed through Soulja Boy. I think this because people who are fans of Soulja Boy are most likely to but this edition of billboard, also through the use of mise en scene. The jewellery he is wearing suggests that, the music industry is all about money and power and who has the most “bling”. If you look at the jewellery Soulja Boy is wearing it is all covered in gold, which connotes that he has made it.