The conventions of the magazine front cover

There is a masthead which is generally on every front cover, there is also cover lines which depict

parts of the magazine that will be featured in the entirety of the articles. There are also plugs found

on this front cover, ‘Simply the best’ advertising LiL Wayne and DJ Khaled. There is also a subheading

which is usually and in this case found on top of the masthead, ‘DIPSET WANTS YOUR BEATS’

Representation

Lil Wayne and DJ Khaled are being represented in a way that they are hard-working and therefore

represented for people to aspire to be like them. They may also be seen as having a good lifestyle.

Generally they are seen to be idols of the younger ages and try to apply themselves and this manor

to that audience. The magazine itself if represented in the way that younger audiences might be

attracted to it through lighter colours and I can’t see this magazine being picked up my a older

man/woman, if they were interested in this type of genre it would have to be more sleek and less

over the top.

Ideologies

The kind of lifestyle being sold is the ‘good life’ where all the money is and also a sense of hard

working in the music industry, the fact that if you want to be able to work where they are working

then you have to work as hard as they do.

Audience

The audience for this magazine is the for younger people and therefore those ranging from 13 – 16 I

think that the ethnicity is open to everyone as anyone can have their own interests, gender is also

open to everyone for the same interest reasons.

Genre

The genre of the magazine is Rap/Hip Hop as LiL Wayne and DJ Khaled are featured artists on this

front cover, they also are artists that associate themselves with this genre and make this type of

music. The content of the magazine shows different artists featured inside the magazine, who make

similar music to LiL Wayne for example. An artist like Snoop Dogg who is a very known musician in

the industry, although mainstream he is wildly known and therefore this is the reason why he is

featured due to the target audience. The iconography and conventions that are evident are the fact

that there are two known and signed artists on the cover who people look up to and enjoy his music.

Ownership and institution

This magazine was founded in 2003 by Alex Fox and its first publication in 2004. This magazine is still

in print and the owner is still Alex Fox. The website is http://www.scratchmagazine.co.uk/

Style

The magazine is positioning itself in a different light to before and is focusing on different things as

well as Hip hop/rap, this light is a sense of fashion, this could be to widen their reader base. I think

that this change is fun as well as stylish which was the intended route for their change. The kind of

personality that the magazine reflects is the fashion side of things which would attract more women

to read the magazine. The USP for this magazine is ‘Scratch, dare to be different’

Layout

The text is bubbly and therefore this illustrates something like the music that is being represented in

the magazine which is hip/hop, the colour of the masthead is yellow which is a frequent colour using

in rap/ hip hop magazines.

The magazines masthead is at the top of the page with the subheading above that, there are cover

lines and plugs along the side and the main image in the middle of the front cover.

Content

The sort of the stories that are in the magazine are mainly things about other artists such as snoop

Dogg and new music made by him. This tells you that the audience is generally the younger age of

people and that’s because they are the ones that are interested in his music.

Main image and background image

The shot types used are medium shot and a long shot with DJ Khaled in the back; this may have been

used because LiL Wayne is the more famous and the main feature.

The use of mise-en-scene in this shot shows LiL Wayne holding a Microphone and in casual wear,

whereas DJ Khaled is in sunglasses and is wearing multiple pieces of jewellery, he is also using a

piece of technology like a synthesiser. Overall the colour of the magazine is quite bland with some

lighter colours but nothing that stands out to the reader. The setting is also quite bland with a

greenish colour to it.

Iconography

The message that the pictures give is hard working, or the ‘good life’, the choice of the positioning of

the magazine are that LiL Wayne is more important the DjKhaled.

Masthead

This says about the brand that they are a rap music magazine and that they promote the use of

expensive golden wear, based from the yellow colour, the colour yellow represents this expesive

wear that all rappers wear to fit their image as being rich. This reflects the genre as talking about

how rich these people are and what they are accomplishing through music records and the albums

that they are bringing out.

Colour

The colour being used is bland, dull backgrounds and the lighter colours such as yellows, whites and

blues, this is good contrast so that these lighter things do stand out. The colour of yellow is wealth,

blue which are sky, the sky can mean that they are aiming high or for the top, ie to be successful and

white is purity to be able to do this with hard work.