Textual analysis of NME

The OFC of NME usually sticks to the same pallet of neutral colours (black,white,grey) and other bold colours (red, and yellow). The magazine on the left has used blue lighting in the main picture. Also, the brand name has been made black rather than the usual red. This is probably to create a good balance between the colours. The cover lines though are also in white and yellow. These are one of the main selling points of the magazine so by using these font colours, the magazines grabs more attention from the audience.

The cover lines either reference to the articles in the magazines or they extract a pull quote from an interview in the issue. For example, "Nirvana pissed people off and so do we." This quote also shows that the magazine is not afraid of swearing.

The main image is of the artist/s looking directing at the camera. The image is usually made to look quite moody with the various effects of lighting used on it. Sometimes the artist/s pose, hold an object or do something else to give a variation in the OFCs. Like this one on the right where Glasvegas has words written on his body.

The contents page is organised and set into three columns. On the left hand side there is a "Band Index" showing what bands are featured in the issue and what pages they're on. This is something that I may use in my magazine. It's direct, to the point and shows the reader hat it wants to see. The next column is a small article. It's entertaining enough to be in the magazine but not big enough to be one the magazines main articles. The final column shows what is in this weeks magazine. They have subheads such as "News" and "Radar" and then underneath they tell what is the magazine. At the bottom, there is a subscription offer for the magazine and at the top the brand name is at the top left hand corner.

This is a music article interview with 'White Lies' from NME. The image of the band dominants the spread making them the main focus of attention.

The headline of this article is a pull quote extracted from the interview. It is in a big, bold font and underlined in purple to gain the readers attention. The rest of the article is the interview itself, laid out into two columns.

Investigation of NME and Kerrang!

NME magazine:

The New Musical Express (globally know as NME) was first launched in 1952 and was the first British paper to include a singles chart. During the 1970's, it became Britain's best-selling music magazine and became closely associated with punk rock. Now promoting alternative music, NME covers a wide range of topics in their articles. They also do interviews of singers/bands and reviews of bands and their albums.

Between October 2009 and September 2010, NME was read by 333,000 people. 257,000 of them men and 76 were women. It is mainly read by people aged between 16-44.

The house style of NME is basic has pretty much stayed the same. The brand name is kept in top left hand corner of the OFC. They then have an image of a music artist with a bold sell line saying who they are. There are also sell lines and other graphics on the OFC either laid out along the bottom, left or right hand side of the page (sometimes all three).

The current owner of NME magazine is IPC Media, which is edited by Krissi Murison.

The social groups associated with this magazine are independent people, with a passion for music as NME also does a regular look back on the magazines 58 year heritage.

Kerrang! magazine:

Kerrang! is a rock music magazine, first published in 1981. The original owner of the magazine was United Newspapers until it was sold to EMAP in 1991. They then sold it in 2008 to the current owner, Bauer Media Group. Initially Kerrang! focussed on the genre of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of other hard rock acts such as AC/DC, who appeared on the first front cover. Now focussing on the genre nu metal, it has featured bands such as Papa Roach, Slipknot, Linkin Park, etc.

Between October 2009 and September 2010, the total number of people reading Kerrang! was 396,000. 256,000 of them were men and 141,000 were women who were all aged between 15-44 years old.

The house style of Kerrang! has varied over the years it has been published. Today the brand name is at top of the OFC with an image of a band underneath (sometimes covering the actual brand name). The band is also referenced in a sell line. This is usually in a big, bold font and placed in the centre of the magazine. Other sell lines are placed in various places of the front cover.

The current producer of Kerrang! is Bob Soper. According to the Bauer Media Group's website, the audience of Kerrang! are "individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced. They are an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty."

Preliminary OFC

Here is my first OFC for my preliminary task:

Initially I was going to use the school colours (red, white and black) as my colour scheme on the OFC. Having tried it though against the picture, it did not look right as the font was either hard to read or not eye catching. I kept the fonts as sans serif to make it more appealing to the younger audiences.

Also, my first idea was to have the main picture as an event that was occuring in school. I tried doing this by having the model do a drama performance. Unfortunately, the lighting in the pictures was either too bright or too dark. Although this may be alright to do in a music magazine where you can be more experimental, in a school magazine it's better to keep the pictures looking formal and professional. In the end I decided to have the model hold the globe and then have one of the cover-lines reference back to it by saying "Going global? Find out how your school cares about the world"

The layout is simple the name of the magazine on top and a motto underneath. The coverlines don't cover the model's face or the object that she is holding.

The coverlines and motto also gain the audiences interest by refering to them as 'you' or 'your'. This means they'll be more likely to read the inside content of the magazine as it is affecting them.

The school magazine OFC was created using Adobe Photoshop.

Prelim research

Here are a selection of school/college magazine OFCs:

The fonts that have been used are more basic than in other magazines. This is probably so that they are easier to read and therefore become more appealing to read. Most of them use a sans serif font on the OFC. This might be to appear less formal so that students are more interested in it. If it was in a formal serif font, students aged between 11-18 wouldn't be interested in reading it. So by using sans serif font, it appeals to a more younger audience.
Also the font colours are either neutral (white or black) or are in the colour scheme of the school colours. I will probably use the colour scheme of school colours on my OFC.

The pictures in the magazines above tend to be of recent school activities such as a netball match or a school performance. I would like to use this idea in my prelim task because I think it will different than rather someone studying/reading. It will be more appealing to the audience because of the interesting picture and they'll also get an idea of what is happening in their school. I may also reference the photo to one of the cover-lines on the OFC. This will also gain more attention from the readers.

Initial ideas for music magazine

Recently I have been thinking of ideas of how I can make my music magazine be consisent. I'm only making one magazine so I need to be consisent in other ways such as the text, grphics, logos, etc.

On the OFC, the magazine name and banner will be placed along the top. I have noticed by looking at various music magazines that on the fron cover, the main photograph is placed infront of the title. This is probably because when people look for magazines, they look in sequence by looking at the picture first and then the title of the magazine. Therefore, I may try and copy this using photoshop. Also, they layout in a music magazine is usually layered just like the OFC. So I may be consisent with this idea as well.

Also, the colour scheme will limited down to around 3 or 4 colours. Music magazines tend to stick to basic colours such as white, black and red. However they also tend to use yellow on their OFC. This is probably to catch audiences attention when they are searching for music magazines in shops.

In one of my future blogs, I will probably put some examples of music magazines that are currently on sale in the UK. I'll analyse them, giving references of colour schemes and graphics that I have mentioned in this blog.

Welcome to my blog

Hello. My name is Sophie Oliver. This is my blog for my AS Media Studies coursework.

As part of my coursework, I must complete a preliminary task, which is to create the front page of a new school magazine. This should feature a medium close up shot of a student with some appropriately laid-out text and a masterhead.

Afterwards, I must complete my main task to create the front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.