Joni Daniella Sommerville Media Coursework

Research and planning: Front covers. Type of magazine: Music magazines.

Analysis (Mixmag): ‘Mixmag’ is a music, dance and clubbing magazine. We know this because it’s written across on the skyline in a black, bold font.

To the left of it in the corner where the selling line would be, it promotes a freebee (A CD). The word ‘Free’ is highlighted in the colour pink to make it stand out against the black triangle it is on top of as well as the plain white writing beneath it. Having freebees in a magazine gives readers more incentive to purchase it because they get more, without having to spend any excess money.

Joni Daniella Sommerville Media Coursework

The masthead reads ‘mixmag’ in the same font as the one that says free, again contrasts to the white studio background of which the model is stood in the foreground of. It’s also in the largest font size of all the text on the cover as that’s what they want the reader to remember the most; mixmag. There isn’t any use of punctuation or grammar in the title therefore it implies that it’s quite a fun casual, upbeat magazine. It’s unconventional as it doesn’t follow the rules. In the corner next to the masthead there’s a vertical cover line, the cover follows the vertical rule of thirds whereby, objects are set to the left and the right to allow for whitespace. This is used to show the magazine’s professionalism, it can afford a studio etc. It is accented with a black and pink border. It features two articles; one encouraging its readers to go out into the clubbing scene (pictured: enthusiastic blonde girl wearing sunglasses). The second is about ‘FatBoy Slim’s’ battle with an alcohol addiction. The mention of these articles are at the top on the cover line as they’re seen as the most important. They encourage the readers to enjoy themselves but within limitations. Ironically underneath the masthead the main cover line reads ‘why celebrity DJs must be stopped!’

‘Celebrity’ is highlighted in the same pink used for the masthead- this was done to draw the reader in as they are the type of audience that is interested with celebrity culture. ‘Stopped’ is in a smaller black font again as it is quite a negative word in this context as it refers to the Dj to stop the party. The cover is trying to emulate the atmosphere of a party. Readers are again drawn in as they feel confusion and curiosity as to why Djs ‘must be stopped’. In the main image, a white female model is used as a stereotype of a Dj. She has a futuristic, edgy platinum blonde almost icy white bob and fringe.

Joni Daniella Sommerville Media Coursework

She wears heavy make-up, jewellery and accessories (A small dog, headphones around her neck and a vinyl player to imply that she is a Dj). We can see that Djs are idealised as they are presented as young and wealthy females, who are to be sexualised. Her dress is short and she is posed, hand on hip, leaning to the side (hand on hip), eyes narrowed and mouth open. To her right there is a plug that again promotes an outgoing, party lifestyle ‘HUGE XMAS AND NYE PARTY GUIDE’- This means that anyone who is remotely interested but has no clue can still take part as there is a ‘guide’, therefore they’re accumulating even more audience members. To the left and right hand side of the magazine, the subtitles and smaller features are continued, referencing the most important articles in the magazine to lure in the reader. At the bottom right hand side the barcode, price, web address and edition are printed. The web address allows readers

Joni Daniella Sommerville Media Coursework

to follow the magazines e-media so this magazine company is a multi-media platform. However this information as well as the price and edition are printed in a significantly smaller print which indicates that they want to draw less attention to this to the reader, as they’ll want the reader to purchase this on impulse.