Friday 26 November 2010

LIIAR Interpretation of Kerrang magazine contents page

Language - The man in the main image looks like a rocker kind of guy, what with all the tattoos, the fact that he's swearing with his fingers and the expression he's pulling. Tattoos symbolise people and this man has lots of them. He's swearing, which tells us he's a bit of a rough guy and doesn't care what people think of him. His expression makes him look like he's passionate about what he's doing, which, judging by the headphones around his neck, is something to do with music. Nearly every one of the other images is one of a person singing, which I think is quite good because it tells you that you're reading a music magazine. One of the pictures is of the logo of AC/DC, which is quite a good idea for a picture because most people know the logo and will recognise it. The title at the top of the page is yellow with a black background, which is a good choice because the yellow stands out well against the black background. There is a plug in the bottom corner, which is trying to convince the reader to subscribe to the magazine. There is also an ear at the top depicting this week's issue of the magazine, which is pretty pointless because the person reading the magazine will already know what the cover looks like otherwise they wouldn't have gotten to the contents page. The only reason for this I can think of is in case the cover has come off and the person wants to know which issue of the magazine they are reading.
Institution - The institution is Kerrang, obviously, which is a segment of the institution of Bauer Consumer Media. Bauer publish a few different types of magazines, a lot of them very different from this one. They publish magazines about sport, music, lifestyle and gossip, etc. The company produce lots of different types of magazines, which is probably a tactic so that they can make more money than if they only published one magazine.
Ideology - Most of the images on this contents page are of people singing or playing music, which tells us that the magazine is one that loves its music. The main image depicts a man swearing, which tells us that they don't care about whether their content offends people.
Audience - The audience is, I suppose, anybody who likes rock music. Mostly, it's aimed at young males that are unemployed or are students. This doesn't mean, however, that other types of people can't like it because they can, as I said before anybody who likes rock music will probably like this magazine. The price is £1.80, which makes me think it's for young people because that's quite cheap for a music magazine. It could also suggest it's for unemployed people because they don't have much money either. Basically, the magazine is aimed at rock-music lovers and people from classification E in the social classifications.
Representation - The guy in the main image tells us that the magazine features only those who don't comply with usual conventions and go against what other people think they should be like. The other images suggest this too as they are all quite rough-looking people, who would not be accepted into other societies but fit perfectly in this magazine, representing what the magazine wants representing. It's lucky for both of them really because the model gets promotion in the magazine and the magazine gets promoted by the model. It's a perfect example of synergy.

Friday 19 November 2010

LIIAR Interpretation of Kerrang magazine cover


Language - The model, named Brian Molko I'm assuming from the headline, is looking straight at the viewer, which makes them feel involved. The intensity of the stare supports this feeling profusely due to the fact that it makes you feel like he's looking straight inside you. The camera is at an extreme close-up, which gives the image a sense of intimacy, like it's just you and him alone. He's wearing quite a fair bit of makeup because, in this proximity, you'd be able to see lots of imperfections that you wouldn't spot from any further away. The makeup isn't just to cover up any imperfections; it's part of his image. Without the makeup his image would be in tatters and without an image he'd just be like any other singer - boring, ordinary and just another face in the crowd. With a little bit of makeup and some funky clothes he goes from regular nobody to singing superstar, which is what every singer wants to be. The masthead is black on a a red background, which is very striking and stands out a lot. The name of the magazine is striking in itself as it's sort of a use of onomatopoeia. The word Kerrang sounds a bit like an electric guitar sound. It sounds dynamic and exciting and makes you think of rock music.
Institution - The institution is Kerrang, which in turn part of the institution of Bauer Consumer Media. Bauer also publish Heat, Match and Yours, which are all very different to Kerrang. The fact that they publish so many varieties of magazine tells us that the company is very diverse and they cater for all types of people so as to broaden their appeal. Also, the model is obviously an unconventional character, but he's on the front of their magazine, which makes us think they don't discriminate against the strange types of people.
Ideology - The fact that the model wears makeup tells us that the magazine doesn't care about whether the person looks odd, they are more interested in the music. They don't care about what kind of morals a person has or how they look, they focus specifically on the music that person plays. That isn't to say that they don't like to make an impact because they really do. They like to choose the most shocking of people, a man wearing makeup is the definition of shocking, so as to really stand out from the other rock music based magazines. We know they like to shock people by the few headlines that read 'What's wrong with cannibalism? Murderdolls bite back!' because cannibalism is illegal and it's like they're promoting it, which would certainly shock people. Going back to the model, his look, which is quite unique, tells us that it's okay to be different and not comply with the conventions other people expect.
Audience - The target audience is any person who enjoys rock music. Those would mainly be young males, however, the magazine could appeal to anyone who's into that type of music. The price reflects the aim that it's for young people because it costs £1.80, which is fairly cheap, cheap enough for a student to buy it. It would be cheap enough for people from the E class in the social classifications to buy.
Representation - The model on the front tells us that the magazine promotes those who have an edge to them, who don't comply with the rest of the world's expectations. In reverse, this tells us that Brian Molko on the front cover promotes magazines who like unique people like him. The two aspects, the magazine and model, use each other for promotion opportunities. This is an example to synergy, where one piece of media helps another in return for help from them. The model is using the magazine to sell his tour and the magazine is using him to sell them. It's a simple cycle. The magazine presents the model as something to aspire to somebody to look up to and hope to be like one day. He wants to be a role model to people and they want somebody to use as a role model on their magazine.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

LIIAR Interpretation of the Brief

Language -Camera angles/positioning/distance
- Conventions/codes
- Layout - house-style (the look of the music magazine needs to be consistent)
- Splash (the cover once finished)

Institution - Q (Bauer)
- Hammer (Future)
- Mix Mag (Development Hell Ltd)
- NME (IPC)
- DJ (Chris Kempston (published independently))

Ideology - All have own values/messages/morals
- Presenting stars in aspirational terms
Audience - Target audience

- Gender/age/social classifications
A - Upper class
B - Middle class
C1 - Lower middle class
C2 - Skilled working class
D - Working class
E - Under class, long-term unemployed, students

Representation - Front cover represents magazine and audience
- Re-presenting images/values
- Aspirational
- Presenting aspects of society and our aspirations back to us
- Synergy (when one piece of media helps another, mutually supporting each other, the singer using the magazine to promote tour and album while the company uses the singer to promote their magazine)

Music Magazine Brief

The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.