Feature Page Analysis

Feature Page Analysis

For this post I will be analysing two feature articles from two music magazines of the same genre and target audience as my music magazine will have/be. I chose magazine's of the same genre with the same target audience of my magazine, this will allow me to identify and use certain conventions so the target audience recognises the product. As Bentley said in 1997 'The creative process is rearranging the old to create the new' and that is what I will do with the conventions I see on the magazines I analyse.

NME Magazine Feature Page:
This feature page is written about a well known band called 'The Vaccines' focusing on the history of the band.

The masthead takes up a medium sized space on the page which contains the writing and says the name of the band that the Feature Page is about allowing the audience to see a recognisable name and become interested. The typography style of the masthead is a very conventional one conflicting Stanley Hall's theory that youths are criminals and therefore rebel against conventions. 

The font is very plain and simple making it clear to read and allowing the readers attention to not be drawn from the main image on the opposite page. The colour of the masthead is plain back, contrasting against the white background making the title easily readable and clear to the audience. The black colour connotes death and depression, supporting Hall's theory that all youths are depressed.

The page is laid out in a conventional method using columns and a main image, with a quote from the article in the middle of the writing, giving the audience an idea on what they will read about in the article. The layout is very sophisticated and minimalistic allowing the audience to be focused on mainly the content and not focused on a cluttered layout that the page may have had. 

The double page includes a main image with a masthead, an introductory sentence followed by the feature article, a very conventional layout you would see in most magazines, but it's a very effective layout with the simplicity. I really like the use of abstract shapes placed randomly on the page, they give a hint of colour and make the page less boring and pleasing to the eye. The random shapes connote uniqueness and vibrancy and helps bring the text forward to catch the readers eye and helping them read. 

The colour pallet of the feature page consists of blue, black and white. The page had a white background and black writing with highlighted words in a pleasant medium shade of blue.  The colour blue is a cold colour that connotes peace, intelligence and strength. The colour blue represents the target audience because blue is usually seen as a more masculine colour but it is a gender neutral colour that can be enjoyed by both females and males, this means that both genders will find the page appealing, blue is also a very clean colour which contrasts the dirty vintage look you can see in the image and the off white background.

I think the layout and colour pallet of the page both conflict and support Stanley Hall and Dick Hebdige's theories. Hall said that the 'Common mood in teenagers was depressed' supported by the plain layout and black and white in the colour pallet, but Hebdige said that 'Youths are fun' supported by the fun shapes and pop of blue across the page.

The main image of the page is of the band that the article is written about, it shows all four band members staring into the camera with emotionless faces. The depressed look on their faces might appeal to the target audience if you go by Hall's theory that all teenagers are depressed because the audience might feel like they have something in common with the band. The image is a medium close up of the band members who are positioned in a diamond shape which is quite conventional of a photo of a band with four members. The star vehicles are addressing the audience directly by looking directly into the camera, this gives a personal feeling from the article to the reader. The image takes up about 2/3 of which is a conventional size for the double page article. The clothing the stars are wearing is clothes which look quite vintage and are neutral and dirty colours which works alongside the back drop they used which is a white/cream backdrop with stains on it to look vintage and used. 

The typography of the page is very clear and consistent. I like the clear columns you can see and the hierarchy of the page allows the reader to read down the page clearly. The article also uses initials at the beginning of each paragraph in a blue colour so the reader can clearly work out the writing and it also gives a book feel to the writing. The use of initials at the beginning of the paragraph is quite conventional with magazines with a more retro feel as it has been used for centuries. The whole article uses language which represents the target audience and address the audience personally. The language used is formal and very factual but not so formal that it is boring to the audience.

Kerrang! Magazine Feature Page:

The page I took from Kerrang! is about a band called AFI's lead singer and "Frontman".

The masthead takes up just under a quarter of the double page and is a bannered style due to the black rectangles behind the contrasting white and pink writing. The masthead is written in quite a classical font style which gives an easy to read, more conventional look. I think the masthead conflicts with Stuart Hall's 1904 theory and Dick Hebdige's 1988 theory because they both say that youth's are trouble makers, excited, fun and criminals but the masthead is a quote from the article and is the 'Rockstar' saying that he has casual Fridays, when it is stereotypical of youths and rockstars to party lots and live spontaneously, but this may relate to the audience well because it shows that it is normal to not always go to parties and live an exciting life which is often what youths that are students do. The splash of colour in the masthead may link to Hebdige's theory that youths are fun because it is different from just being black and white and is a bit more fun and exciting than just plain monochrome colours.

I personally really like the layout of this article, I think it is very clear and conventional but works really well. The layout is sophisticated and not cluttered which is different for Kerrang but conventional for all magazines of the genre that I have looked at. I like the layered look that this page has, where the small box in the top left is layered over the white circles/lights, and the photo of Davey Havok is also layered over the circles/lights. The pages have one image of the star vehicle, one article laid out in 3 columns which is very conventional and a masthead about the article and beside the photo which is a layout I've seen lots. I think the layout appeals to both genders because it looks quite gender neutral and doesn't represent a specific gender. The pages use a border around them made with white circles that look like the lights around a mirror you would typically see in the dressing room of a performer/entertainer, I think this makes the page more interesting and borders it well.

The colours used are grey, black, white, red and pink. The colours Black and White give a clean, retro look and follow Barthe’s idea of “Binary Oppositions” because they connote light and dark, good versus evil or purity versus sin which all works to represent youths as it links to Stanley Hall’s 1904 theory that stereotypes youths as reckless thrill seeking criminal rule breakers who are obsessed with sex, drinking and drugs. The use of black and white also connotes Hebdige’s mixed metaphor of; “Youth as trouble and fun.” The colour Red connotes power, anger and love making it a very strong colour; that ties into Hall’s arguments concerning young people being more prone to violence and sexual behaviour. It is also quite gender neutral colour because males may see violence while females may see in the connotations. The colour pink is usually seen as feminine and connotes romance, beauty and love but I think the colour has been used mostly to keep the page looking unique and not for it's connotations which links to Hebdige's theory of youths being fun.

The main image is a medium shot of the star vehicle Davey Havok from a slightly lower angle to give the effect of him looking down which makes him seem impressive and powerful to the audience. The star vehicle is the lead singer of AFI which stands for 'A Fire Inside'. AFI is a rock band from America which relates to the target audience which like the genre of Alternative rock and Indie music. The star vehicle is wear and white tshirt with a black design on it, a silver necklace with a cross on it, and he has tattoos and stretched ears which are all common looks for people of the Alternative and Rock genres. His hair is very stylish and is styled shorter at the sides and longer at the top which is a very popular look, it is also dyed in place which you would normally see among youths and fans of the genre which ties in with the theories from Stanley Hall and Dick Hebdige because it shows a rebellious, fun, unique style. Havok is addressing the audience with his eyebrows raised and a straight face, this makes it seem like he is directly addressing the reader instead of the whole audience. The image takes up the whole left page of the double page and has the same background as the other page making it tie in well and look flush.

The typography of the page is quite conventional as the mast head is the largest, the introductory sentence is less large but larger than the main article's size meaning that the hierarchy of the page is clear. The masthead is on a slant which is not very conventional and does not convey a consistent alignment that you would see if the masthead was straight. The language in the article is quite personal to the reader and relates to the audience well because it is mainly an interview style article with questions and answers. The answers are from Davey Havok and he writes in a more informal interesting way that is more exciting to the reader than a full formal article. He also uses a lot of informal words that the audience would use alot and he seems to use punctuation to make the writing more interesting and exciting, linking in with the Dick Hebdige's 1988 theory that youths are fun.

Music Magazine Primary and Secondary Audience Research

To research my primary audience I designed a survey on a website and posted the link to my Facebook page. The survey will allow me to collect the results and see what the primary target audience actually look for in the music magazine. I will be able to base my Cover on the results I gather.

 

The results from my first question show me that out of the 10 people that took my survey 60% are between the ages of 15-19, these results compliment my target audience as my target audience is 15-24 year olds. This means that the results I get from the survey will be relevant as the age of the people taking it were mostly the correct age for my primary target audience.

The results from my second question show that the genders of the people that took that survey are equal, this shows me that I will need to make the magazine appeal to both genders by using gender neutral colours and language.

My third question is about the household income. The results are very distributed but shows the majority of people that may read the magazine are of a average-high income background and so might be more inclined to actually purchase copies of the magazine. 

The fourth question I asked is about the ethnicity of the 10 people that took my survey. The majority of the people were white/caucasian but there were two people that weren't.  This shows me that the majority of people that will read my magazine will be White and British so I can put content that is mainly for white and British people, where as if I has a group of people with a with a wider group of ethnicities I would have to use content that is interracial.

The fifth question is asking what the people's sexuality is. The results show that 7 of them are Heterosexual and 2 of them were Homosexual and 1 was Bisexual. This means that my target audience will most likely be majorly Heterosexuals, but there will still be people with other sexualities. 

My sixth question is asking what music genre they prefer, the results show that the audience enjoy a wide range of genres but the results that tied were Indie/Alternative, R&B and Folk. This means that I will probably have to chose one of those genres as they got a higher number of people.

The seventh question asks what from the cover will make them want to buy the magazine. The majority chose 'The subtexts for the articles inside' which is the writing that is usually found around the main image that suggests the articles inside. This means I should concentrate on making the sections of text on my front cover very clear and appealing.

My eighth question asked what colours will work the best of the music magazine. The results I got were mostly pointing towards a black, white, grey and red colour theme due to them being chosen the most.

My ninth question asked how much they would be willing to pay for the magazine. The results show that the majority of the people would be willing to pay 51p to £1.00 for the music magazine. This would mean that the money earned from the magazine could be put towards keeping it high quality.

The last question asks What is most important in the magazine and the most picked answer was the contents. This means that the contents of the magazine must be of a good standard and must be very high quality to allow the target audience to want to purchase the magazine.

Secondary Audience Research

Halls and Holmes said in 1998 that “Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience." This means that to sell a media product to an audience, you would need to know about who the audience is to allow you to target them appropriately. 

During my research I found that it is important to profile audiences and to evaluate the audience demographics. To do this you need the following questions answered to find who you're targeting the product to:

1) What social class will the primary target audience fall under?

2) What gender is the primary target audience?

3) What age will the primary target audience be?

4) What nationality will the primary target audience be?

5) What values do the primary target audience have? 

5) Audience appeal - what will the primary target audience be looking for in a film?

Uses and Gratifications Theory-  understanding why people seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory speaks about how users search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion.

It says that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting media into their own lives. The theory also says that audiences are in charge of choosing media to meet their personal needs. 

Blumler and Katz’s uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use. The theorist say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfils the needs of the user. Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

Audiences- There are two main types of audiences that are found. The first is called a Mass Audience and is a large mainstream audience who consume mainstream and pop culture. The second is a Niche Audience which is smaller than a mass audience but influential to the mainstream culture. The Marxist theory would claim that the Mass Audience is made up of the 'working class' who have less power than the upper classes so tend to just follow mainstream and pop culture, where as the Niche Audience is made from upper classes because they have more control and power over the media. I think my audience would be partly Niche and party Mass because it is not completely aimed at the pop culture, however the mainstream popular thing recently seems to be quite indie and alternative.

The key representation theories I found also helped me to figure out how to represent the target audience. 
Class : 
1. (Marx) -"The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it."
2. (Medhurst, 1998)  “Stereotyping becomes ideological the moment it stops being simply a method of description and becomes a vehicle for values."
3. (Medhurst, 1998) “They are awful because the are not like us.”

Youth :
1. (Stanley Hall, 1904), “Youth must have excitement and if this is not at hand in the form of moral intellectual enthusiasms it is more prone to be sought in sex or drink”
2. (Osgerby, 1998), “Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric”
3. (Medhurst, 1998), “They’re awful because they’re not like us”
I have used quite a rebellious styling on some of the pages and had a unique look which supported these theories.

Disability :
1. (Jordanova, 1989), “The idea of otherness is complicated, but certain themes are common: the treatment of others as more like an object, something to be managed and possessed, and as dangerous, wild, threatening. At the same time, the other becomes an entity whose very separateness inspires curiosity, invites inquiring knowledge.”
2. (Jessica Evans, 1998) “Whites are not called to think about themselves as Whites but only other people as non-White…the power of non-disabled people lies hidden while the representation spotlight i.e. what is made visible to the viewing audience is focus on the impaired body.”
3. (Evans, 1998),“Disabled people are seen as childish, dependant and underdeveloped and are regarding as ‘other’ and are punished by being excluded from ordinary life. Thus popular images and rhetoric of disabled people abound which comfort us with people who are imperfect, helpless, disgusting, shitty, dribbling – a threat to rigid ego boundaries. During the socio-developmental process of infancy, a range of strict rules of decorum involving standards of privacy, decency and dignity effect a representation of these activities as taboo…therefore images of disability which cause unpleasure to the self simply be representing that expelling as already complete. We become literally alienated from (and cannot identify with) the object/person we observe.”
I am not aiming at a disabled audience so am not using any disabled models that represent the audience.

Race :
1. (Sarita Malik, 1998), “The word ‘race’ in the cultural and political terrain has almost universally been aligned with Black and Asian people, as though they are the only racial groups that ‘own’ an ethnicity… Whiteness has been naturalized, as though it is an invisible ‘norm.’"
2. (Staurt Hall, 1981) “You simply have to look at the programme with the set question in your mind: Here is a problem, defined as ‘the problem of immigration.’ What is it? How is it defined and constructed through through the programme? What logic governs its definition? And where does the logic derive from?...The logic of the argument is immigrants=blacks=too many of them=send them home. This is racist logic.”
3. (Alvarado, 1987) "The minorities can be portrayed in four ways: Exotic, Dangerous, Humorous and Pitied."
I am using white models because this theory states that whiteness in the media has been naturalised.

Regional Identity

1. (Andrew Higson, 1998) “Identity is generally understood to be the shared identity of naturalized inhabitants of a particular political-geographic space – this can be a particular nation or region.”

2. (Higson 1998): “Film like Trainspotting (1995) deal with quite specific cultural traditions, including working class traditions, youth traditions, all of which can be subsumed under the umbrella term Britishness.”

3. (Benedict Anderson, 1983) “The unification of people in the modern world is achieved not by military but by cultural means, in particular the media system enables people (of a nation or region) to feel part of a coherent, meaningful and homogenous community.”

Sexuality 

1. (Medhurst, 1998) "Men as screaming queers and their female counterparts butch dykes."

2. (Medhurst, 1998) "They are awful because they are not like us"

I am aiming the magazine at a majority of heterosexuals so am using heterosexual models that don't fit in with the theorised stereotype.

Gender

1. (MacKinnon, 2003) “Men are increasingly and unapologetically objectified, both in terms of erotic spectacle and as targets of advertising for product beyond cars and beers, including many items once thought to be market for women alone”

2.(Mulvey, 1975) women are used as “erotic objects of desire for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects of desire for the spectator within the auditorium.”

3. (Osgerby, 2003) “Consumer practice developed as a pre-eminently feminine province”\
I've used attractive models to appeal to the audiences.