2 Artists from chosen genre w/ 'Star Image'

The first artist from my chosen Hip-hop/Rap genre is Dr.Dre. Dr.Dre is very famous in this genre for his old school rap music especially with rapper Snoop Dogg. 'Nuthin but a G Thang' and 'Let Me Ride' are just a few of his successful singles that have captured his true laid-back, cool and ''gangster'' approach. It would be particularly unusual to see Dr.Dre with a wide smile and his hands in the air as that is not the image that Dr.Dre gives us of him. He comes across , like most rap artists, as very serious and concentrated in his work which is possibly why the cover features him playing chess which is a typical game that consists of seriousness. The items of clothing he is wearing being all-black also give the impression that he is not someone to be messed with especially when it comes to his music. As mentioned in my previous post, the typical red, black and white colour scheme is used again as they are colours that aren't seen as eccentric or ''over the top'' therefore enhancing the serious image of Dr.Dre that they're trying to get across.

The second artist that I've chosen is 'Ice-Cube'.
 Ice-Cube, like Dr.Dre, has been in this music industry for a very long time. Ice-Cube has been very successful in this genre especially with his well-known hit 'Today was a Good Day'. He also has a very serious image and 'hard' exterior as they is no sign of a faint smile which could hint vulnerability, instead, he has a very stern, cold stare. The attire he is wearing shows where he's from and also the street fashion. The silver chain connotes wealth and money but with the plain outfit it shows that he still sticks to his roots. He's not wearing a posh tuxedo to impress the audience, he is sticking to what he knows and likes best ,and as the audience, we can identify this. The font of 'Ice Cube' is also made to be a pun.

Genre Chosen w/Conventions

The genre I have chosen will be Hip-hop/Rap. It was initally going to be just Rap, however, I realised that both of them can be intertwined and incorporated together as they are of the same type of music to work around so I deemed it appropriate to choose Hip-Hop/Rap. The conventions of Rap magazines are usually of a ''boy-ish'' area. You rarely find rap magazines with a 'cute' pink and yellow theme unless its a female rapper e.g Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks.
The most popular magazines of this genre today would be 'XXL' and 'VIBE'. In the past, 'RapPages' was a very successful rap magazine too.

Popular rappers/ hip-hop artists featured can include : Eminem, Nas, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Kanye West, Jay-Z.

 

The magazine would usually have a very masculine image as the genre is stereo-typically aimed at men and listened to men. Though a lot of women listen to the genre its very rare to see women as the star image on the magazine. It has been usual that the cover artists on rap magazines don't usually smile. This shows dominance and seriousness in the industry. It also gives the impression of not showing vulnerability so not being used. There seems to be a consistent colour scheme of red, black and white which seems to be more and more common in the rap music magzine industry. The magazine cover in the top left gives a very serious impression of the artist and the type of music itself. Unlike most other genre of magazine like Pop there is no smile or ''hand on hip'' pose rather he is crossing his hands with a very stern look which connotes no messing around and how set the music genre is.
The target audience is usually for men however its not excluding the other gender. A lot of young adults are usually into hip-hop/rap and would propbably be the steady fans in that industry.

Magazine Cover/Contents and 2 Page-Spread annotations

In this contents page from an issue of 'Q' magazine, there are various features and techniques used to entice and capture the reader as they may browse for favourite artists or significant titles.
The picture of Matt Bellamy from Muse is presumably the biggest picture due to his high status and well-known success. Fans of the band Muse will undoubtedly want to flick to page 48 to read about their loved frontman of the band. Also the very succesful, arguably the most succesful, band 'The Beatles' are included at the top of the mgazine as they will attract a wide range of people due to their famous success from their career.  It is logical that the contents are in chronological order as that should be the order the audience view the content in. Musicians like The Beatles, Muse and Mike Oldfield and people like Rick Rubin are essential to this issue of the magazine as they are popular rock cultures.

The well renowned artist Florence Welsh has been largely placed on the contents page. This is due to popularity or new information about the artist that would attract Q readers attention. Florence is widely known for her successful singles like 'You've got the Love', 'Dog Days are Over' and her hits on successful films e.g 'Over the Love' for 'The Great Gatsby' film and 'Breath of Life' for the film 'Snow-White and the Huntsman'. Also upcoming artist Ed Sheeran is featured int he top left corner as he's becoming an increasing hit with young audiences. In terms of mise en scene, we can see the big '96' in red is smaller than the 'Issue 306' as we can see that the page number representing Florence will clearly get the audiences attention more than the issue number of the magazine. The white background enhances the colour scheme and also makes the artists stand out aswell. The typography is used efficiently also as the spacing, colour and size all contribute to the contents page creatively.

 

This 2 Page-Spread of Lupe Fiasco gives a relaxed, calm approach for the reader. The mise en scene makes Lupe seem somewhat mysterious and with more to say which would be explained presumably in th text. The gold watch he's wearing, the gold imprint on his hoodie and the gold colour schemeb represent wealth, success and fame which is what someone of Lupe Fiascos life would have obtained.The specfic words highlighted in the seperate quote at the top also entice the reader as they wouldwant to understand what was the topic of the converstaion to make him say that quote.

2 Cover Magazine Annotations (My choice)

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a music magazine? w/ conventions

A music magazine can be very vague to define as there are a wide range of genres that are used. Initially, a music magazine is a magazine used or dedicated to music. Magazines can cover a specific genre of music whether it may be pop, rock, country or classical, all these genres of music appeal to different audiences and attract different kinds of people. In music magazines they may introduce new upcoming artists in that genre or how they are doing on the charts etc. On the cover it is usually a 'star' of the specific genre who will clearly attract that theme of music. It could be Beyonce on a pop magazine, or All American Rejects on a rock magazine. It wouldn't make sense to have Jay-Z on the cover of a classical magazine as that is not the genre of music he participates in.

.The colour scheme is essential to a magazine as it keeps it ordered and structured in terms of presentation. If the colours were all over the place then the magazine could potentially be tacky and unpresentable and may not reflect well on the magazine ulimately. Whether it be rock or classical, most magazines usually follow a colour scheme. However these colour scheems don't have to stick for every issue. Most magazines usually change their colour scheme all the time depending on the cover star or background.




The layout is usually the cover star/ or model is placed in the middle of the magazine and the puffs and addtional information is placed around the star usually on either side. The issue,price and barcode are most likely to be seen at the bottom right of the cover. The Masthead is the biggest font usually placed acroos the top/middle of the magazine cover. The Masthead would obviously be placed infront of the cover to show the name however the person is placed infront with certain letters showing as it's obvious that to regular readers what the magazine is even with certain words hidden.

The typography is also essential when it comes to magazines. The way text is arranged on a page can affect the magazine in ways the reader may not expect. Putting big names in a slightly larger font next to the cover star invites fans of those people to read the magazine. Font, size, spacing and colour are all essentials when dealing wth this. The size connotes importance in a way as the writing in a bigger font is usually what the readr is most likely to check up on in comparison to less important information that would be in a smaller font like the issue number.

Introduction to Music Magazine AS

My name is Sophia Bah. I intend to show my development as a media student  by producing annotations of magazines, model pictures, analysis of various covers and my reflections on them. I understand how to do key things on this blog due to the preliminary task we accomplished beforehand :

Sophia Bah AS (School Magazine) : http://sophiabahas.blogspot.co.uk/

This blog shows the skills I have acquired and the reflective journey I have been on, including uploading pictures and getting questionnaires imported etc. I hope to use these skills on this blog and learn many new skills along the way.