Audience

Audience Demographic

Every successful product must consider different elements that must appeal to a specific audience. These must all cater to the audience's need, and it is necessary for me to ensure this when it comes down to producing my own magazine, as I must create a magazine cover, contents page, and feature article of which all are successful in this particular way in order for it to appeal to the target audience. The reasoning for having a specific target audience to base my magazine on is because I will be able to gain knowledge of what the audience desire from this genre. Hall and Holmes (1998) said “Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience” which means that I must conform to this in order to be successful. If I do not know my audience and profile them accurately, they will unlikely be drawn to my product and it will not be a success. There are differing ways of categorising an audience, I will consider representation theory, social class and the Uses and Gratification theory.

There are two different types of audiences, a niche audience and a mass audience, which magazine institutions/creators pitch their magazines to. A mass audience is a large, mainstream audience who consume who consume mainstream or popular culture, such as Kerrang, Top of the Pops or Billboard. In terms of marxism, this is said to be made up of predominantly working class people. By contrast, high culture is usually associated with broadsheets, opera, ballet and BBC Four; music magazines which cater for this audience are Music (BBC) and ClassicFM.

Niche audiences are quite different. They are a lot smaller than a mass audience, meaning that magazines who target niche audiences are able to target group of people who are not mainstream. Niche magazines are usually very influential, e.g. in terms of Marxism, upper class/middle class control the media may wish to see 'high culture' programs, the reasoning for the launch of BBC Four, for those who wish to see/ hear  artistic high culture programs. This is not the necessary audience for a niche magazine, they can be a small dedicated group who advertisers feel are worth targeting/marketing products for. Examples could include NME, Metal Hammer, and Vibe.

Indie magazines are predominantly targeted towards male, though have secondary target audiences of females, as the range of people who are interested in this genre is wide. You can tell automatically whence reading NME that the main Indie magazine on the market targets itself towards males, though other magazines such as Paste appear to be targeted more so towards females. Personally, I feel as though my magazine might be something of which portrays and represents females slightly more than males, as I am a female who is interested in the Indie genre, and know what they want from the magazines, though I will still research into what others of this gender and interest feel as though they need out of the magazine. Therefore, my indie magazine will be primarily targeted towards females. I will not sexualise any females in pictures on the magazine, as I want to represent the audience in a positive way. Laura Mulvey states in 'The Male Gaze', that females are placed in the media for the pleasure of places in a sexual sense. She believes that males control the media, and therefore are able to control the way in which females are represented.

Concerning the age of the audience, relatively young people are targeted, due to the fact that it is relatively 'new' music, which an older audience will not be entirely familiar with the genre, nor will they be comfortable with it because they would be used to the music which was dominant throughout their generations youth, from when they were students. In consideration of this, I have decided to aim my magazine towards people between the ages of 16-27, predominantly students. Though, the majority of these people will not have disposable income, so I will have to ensure the magazine is relatively cheap, but also effective in persuading the audience to purchase it with generic conventions and features which will appeal to them, and I intend to discover these aspects with a survey on the website Survey Monkey.

The basis for the system is, effectively, money. The audiences of which are stereotyped to have more of  a powerful disposable income are A and B, compared to C,D and E. This is due to the fact that higher classes do in fact have more money, and so are able to indulge more often in magazines. However, it is also presumed that A and B audiences prefer high culture, e.g. classical music magazines, rather than the magazines of which C,D and E are stereotyped to enjoy commercial mainstream products such as Top of the Pops, or kerrang. These make up a larger proportion of society, making this the 'mass audience.' Because I have chosen to target students, the class of which I am targeting is E. The secondary class is C/D- lower 2nd and working class, as I am not solely targeting students, but also a young, working audience who are interested enough in the genre that they are attracted to my magazine and want to spend their money on it. Most people of indie culture and bands have an ethnic origin of white British. Therefore, I will represent my audience in this light, and ensure that the primary audience is females age 16 to 24. The secondary will be males age 16-19. I feel as though males any older than this would not be interested in an indie magazine, but this very specific target is, I feel, accurate in the knowledge of audiences and what each wants. 

Both the primary and secondary audience will be looking for the same things in a magazine. Because indies have the tendency to want to search for new bands, as they want to know the unknown to ensure they are unique and unlike anyone else. They also want information on these unknown bands to show others that they have a vast knowledge in an area of which the others do not, making them seem superior in musical knowledge.  Personally, I believe that they also sneakily look for articles which could assist them in becoming more indie, so they do not fall behind if anything changes on the indie scene. 

When relating my own product to my target audience, I know that I must ensure my magazine is minimalistic in some ways. It cannot be crowded, as this is the way in which pop and mainstream magazines behave. They tend to be over-crowded and excite the youthful audience they aim themselves at; exactly what I do not want, as I am aiming my product at an older audience who find less to be more. The simplistic nature of my magazine could be very attractive to them. I will use neutral colouring, as bright and bold colours represent fun, happy mainstream music, whereas indie is solemn and 'cool', deserving of neutrality. 

How my audience will be represented through: 

Star Vehicles

It is not possible for me to actually bring a star vehicle in for my photo shoot and magazine article/interview, as it would be far too expensive. However, I do have a friend of whom is a singer; she is indie herself, so will be perfect for the part. As I stated earlier in this post, indie people want to acquire information on new and unknown bands/artists, so Taylor, my model, could be part of the introducing section. She has qualities of which could be considered as a star vehicle, so I will emphasize on these, such as her indie fashion, hair, attitude, and general appearance. 

Shot Types

In terms of camera work, I have decided upon using a mid-shot, as this is a common convention of near to every magazine, and is incredibly successful. The model will be in a 3/4 position so the audience can see her emotion in a way that is not flat. She will not be facing the camera, which I feel as though the audience can relate to in the way in which people who enjoy indie culture are stereotyped to believe that their music sense is better than everyone else's. 

Typography 

The typography has the potential to be a substantial section of the magazine which represents the audience correctly. I have decided to use Myriad Pro as the standard font for my article, as it is simplistic and not difficult to read or to produce. I will also use a typewriter font from a website to use on quotations from the interview. I have seen a lot of indie photography and art which contains typewriters or their lettering, as they are vintage and have pleasingly rough aesthetics. 


Ideology

Ideology is an important factor to consider when creating a product because I have to represent the ideology my target audience wish to see. Ideology refers to the systems of beliefs that is constructed and presented by a media product. As Marx claims, the dominant ideologies are those that already underpin society. This can differ country to country, for example a fashion magazine made for a UK audience will differ to one made for a US audience, Spain or Iran. Athusser argues something similar, that ideology is a force in its own right. Class rule is sustained by organized power in two ways, by force (military, police and laws) and at an ideological level by subtly reinforces the ‘dominant’ values through the media, education and religion. Chomsky argues that the mass media is used to divert attention from real issues such as poor living conditions, unemployment, global warming etc. He maintains people prefer to escape into popular culture (music magazines that often discriminate again groups who are not dominant, e.g. women, people of different class etc) than indulge in educational and informing texts. This relates to 'escapsim' (Blumer and Katz, Uses and Gratification Theory, 1974).

The Uses and Gratification Theory theory is the opposite of effects theory because it relies on the premise that audiences have free will and choose to consume certain things for different reasons. The theory was developed in the 1960s and was in expanded in 1974 by Blumer and Katz who suggested a series of possible reasons why audience members might consume a media text:

•    Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)

•    Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution gossip magazines for friendship).

•    Personal identity (constructing their own identity from star vehicles in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)

•    Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

THE FOUR C’S (cross-cultural consumer characteristics):

This is one of the earliest, but still most popular, ways of profiling audiences. It profiles the audience in terms of wants and needs, not simply demographic. The categories are as follows:

•    Mainstreamers: this is the largest group. They are concerned with stability, mainly buying well-known brands and consuming mainstream texts.

•    Aspirers: they are seeking to improve themselves. They tend to define themselves by high status brands, absorbing the ideologies associated with the products and believing their status alters as a result.

•    Succeeders: people who feel secure and in control – generally they are in positions of power. They buy brands which reinforce their feelings of control and power.

•    Reformers: idealists who actively consume eco-friendly products and buy brands which are environmentally supportive and healthy. They also buy products which establish this ‘caring and responsible’ ideology.

Individuals (highly media literate, expects high-production advertising and buys product image not product, requires high-profiling sophisticated advertising campaigns).

Feature Analysis #2

Analysis of UNDER THE RADAR Feature Page

In terms of the target audience, the feature article has aimed itself towards females, which is incredibly clear to see concerning the manner and posture of the male of which the article is based on. He is staring slightly lustful, yet wisely into the distance, a connotation being portrayed to the readers that he is smart and sexy, which females interested in indie music are stereotyped to look for in a male. The class of the target audience is B-E, like the rest of the analysis' I have done. I would say that the text is predominantly aimed towards students, so in particular, grade E, and perhaps females slightly older who are working class, but in a small job. If this were aimed at anyone younger than 15, it would seem quite daunting due to large block of small text, and they would relate it to the task of reading books in school, which the vast majority of people of this age do not particularly enjoy. Therefore, I believe it is aimed towards 17-27 year olds. The text portrays how the producers clearly want the target audience to be people who enjoy reading and find pleasure in it, so, in terms of discourse, it has been laid out with delicacy and consideration for the intellect the target audience possess.

The headline is made up of two proper nouns; the star vehicles' name 'James Blake', a standard feature of a magazine. Though, a lot of magazine actually take quotes from interviews with the star vehicle to use for the headline of the feature page. The juxtaposition of the calm, soothing baby blue in the typography with the shouting capitals makes for a rather calm and collected twinge of excitement within the reader. They did not want to over-do it, therefore they kept the headline minimalistic, so it is quite small in comparison to other magazines, suggesting that they do not want the magazine to be busy because people who enjoy indie music like a simple layout and minimalistic features. The font is simple, the producers have ensured they did not use a complicated font, as the audience would not be attracted to it sue to the fact that indie people prefer simplistic features and aspects of magazines to anything complicated. 

Connoting how red is a representation of many differing emotions, such as lust, love, danger, death etc, is the red bird painted on the wall in the background of the page. In this particular situation, I believe that it is connoting lust. As I mentioned vaguely before, the female readers have been attracted into purchasing the magazine by a lustful male who is able to pull them in. The male who is clearly very lustful is standing in front of a paintings which portrays his lust further. In terms of graphology, the graffiti shows a sense of rebellion, which tends to be associated with lust more than often, and seeing as a lot of people interested in the culture of indie music smoke and often are slightly rebellious, this should appeal to the target audience. It is also artsy, another interest commonly associated with the audience chosen, as fashion is widely related to art. This means that the two work closely together when it comes to peoples interests. The male appears to be wise; wiser than the audience, which ensures that they therefore look up to him and want to read the magazine due to the attractively wise and fashionable male on the feature page. 

In terms of typography, again, the font is simplistic. It is in baby blue, as a relation to childhood which will hit the feelings and emotions of the audience, and remind them of the best time of their lives. In every magazine article, the first letter of the writing is a lot bigger than the rest of the article. This is to attract the readers straight into the beginning of the article, which entices them into reading the entire article. It is also in blue to match the the headline, contrasting to the typography of the article, which is black and small. The articles is in columns

columns organised.
soft

Layout

Simplie- picture text title.
Black line- looks cool. Picture takes 60% of page- important.
three long columns. Could be daunting to the reader as it is not broken up, but three ia an odd number so rule of 3
Subheading underneath heading in black, heading in blue,



In my personal opinion, this feature page is the best out of all three I have analysed. I intend to create a very minimalistic, simplistic magazine feature page, much like this one. I want to imitate the way in which the star vehicle is posing, as he appears to be wise, which the target audience would look up to, so I would like to use this as my style model, though only imitate features of it, rather than use all of them.

Feature Analysis #1

Analysis of ROCK SOUND Feature Page

*ADD PICTURE OF FEATURE*

This double page music spread from 'Rock Sound' makes use of graphology in such a way that it appeals to the specific audience required to sell this particular genre of magazine. Through the likes of typography, imagery, background, layout and juxtaposition.Though this is not an Indie magazine, the band is Inide, and I feel as though it is appropriate to analyse and will give me an insight to suitable features I could potentially use. The purpose of this text it to inform, persuade and entertain. In the majority of music magazines, there are certain social factors of which are present. The primary target audience is teenagers, from the ages of 14-18, and of whom are interested in rock music. It also opens up to a wider audience, attracting people up to the age of 27. They must be interested in this genre of music, otherwise the magazine will be full of unfamiliar bands and music they dislike. Though this double page spread looks as though it should be something of which attracts males, predominantly, females will be attracted to it as this is the bands largest social fan base. Students who are white and relatively rebellious is the stereotype that hangs over this article, and this stereotype has been used by the producers of the magazine to attract this particular audience. 

Of course, the headline has been typed in capitals as a typical feature of any article, initiating a subconscious excitement within the audience, especially if 'Biffy Clyro' is a band of which the readers either favour or recognise. The font of the headline is similar to fonts such as 'Dirty Ego' and 'Boycott'. A grunge appearance takes the style of the headline, which is not such a typical thing to expect when it comes to an article on a indie band, as grunge is a style of music itself, taken on by old bands such as Nirvana. This still appeals to them nevertheless, as it makes them feel slightly more edged towards rebellion and going against 'the system'. Osgerby's 1998 theory therefore applies to this particular article, even if this is not conceived as a negative representation by the youth culture. He says “We do not have to search too hard to find negative representations of youth in postwar Britain. Crime, violence and sexual licence have been recurring themes in the media’s treatment of youth culture, the degeneracy of the youth depiction as indicative of a steady disintegration of the UK’s social fabric”.

In terms of typography, the predominant text present throughout the article is jet black, particularly small at font size 7, and a thin version of the font 'impact'. The reasoning for the contrast of the black text on the white background is to ensure the audience is easily able to read the text; it is striking, rather than acting as though it is camouflaged. Directly at the beginning of the article is the 'I', typed in the exact same font of the headline and is the same size. This is a typical feature of articles, and can be found in almost every one. It draws attention to the start of the article, enticing the audience into reading it. The only quotation that has been enlarged to stand out, has been successful in doing so. It is basically the inverted version of the text, showing a unique side to the magazine. The background of this quote is black, and the writing is white, creating a high contrast between the two, which is simple to read, especially for people who have difficultly when it comes to reading. This contrast draws the readers eye, taking the best part of the interview and inciting the  audience. It has been typed with the font 'American Typewriter' indicating that there is a vintage style present in the text, which is appealing to the people who are interested in Indie, as there is a stereotype that they love vintage clothing and objects. The questions the interviewer asked the front man are in bold, connoting how the questions are of more importance than the answer in a sense, because the reader would not know what the question was if there was only an answer.

The main image is a common convention of every article. This allows focus of the subject and purpose of the article, through the use of star vehicles. It is above the article itself, for the purpose of presenting WHO the article is about, Biffy Clyro, before presenting WHAT the article is about, their album. This allows recognition for the band, and anyone who recognises them and enjoys their music will automatically feel an obligation to read the article. There is a slight comical element to the central image, as the front man is making a face which would not be suitable for a solemn photograph, implying to the audience that the band is not only entertaining, but comical people themselves.
The wide angle mid shot of the Indie band has a high contrast due to the effects of editing. This gives a certain melancholic look to it, reinforcing the strong stereotype which is related to this particular. Though this could just be the editors of the magazine attempting to ensure the correct audiencee is reached and find it appealing; they would not use bright, bold colours of which portray happy emotions, as 'mainstream' music and music magazines  is overly often seen using this specific colour palette. The target audience would believe that it is just another mainstream magainze and would not look twice. The vocalist and guitarist of the band has been placed in a position to make him look taller than the others, also in front of them, giving off the impression that he is the dominant male of the band, and has more power over the audience than the other two members. Another picture of which is highly contrasted is the album cover. They have edited it in such a way to ensure the picture is of a warm colour palette, but the door and reflection of light are cold colours. this is a suggestion that, along with the missing piece of him lying on the floor, something he loves is vacating, creating an emotional response within the reader, feeling empathy of perhaps being able to relate to those feelings. 

'If the hyperbole surrounding the release of Biffy Clyro's long-awaited new record is to be believe, this is the one to send the trio stratospheric', exclamatory sentences, such as this, have been used to put emphasis on the optimism towards this particular album. This is especially used in the first sentence to put this across to the audience immediately. The article also makes the album appear to be better than it is through prominence. This ensures the audience are excited for the release of the album, and heightens their emotions, particularly the target audience of teenage girls, due to their hormones.

Columns, as a typical aspect of articles, are present to ensure the article does  not look like a daunting string of words, but rather easy to read, which would widen their audience, as people who, perhaps, are not particularly good at reading will not feel as intimidated by the text. There is not a clear gap between each paragraph, this usually breaks the text up. It is a small text, so this is understandable, it would not look very sophisticated. Though, the Q and A on the other side, naturally, is structured in paragraphs to break up the questions so the audience can comprehend where each question starts. This part of the text is located to the right, almost in line with the article, as to not take away attention from the article itself, and the reader will look forward to reading it. The heading introduces the band to the reader, or for readers who already know the band, excites them. It is located underneath the main image, which tells the audience what the bands name is and that it is them. It attracts people and draws them in. Positioned in the article, and interrupting two columns, is a quotation from the interview, which is always one of the most interesting quotations used in magazines as a common convention to grasp the attention of the viewer. This particular magazine expresses its informal qualities. Neat, lined up bode have not been used to line the text, but avoided entirely.  The text overlaps the picture, which the reader feel slightly comforted by the fact that it is not flu of formality, and the environment included within the text is relaxed and entertaining. The text boxes overlap each other in a rough manner, representing the stereotype that bounds itself to this audience. The image overlaps the centre of the page, and the audience can see that it comes down after the headline, but the majority bellow this cannot be seen. This is to ensure the piece does not have a blocky appearance. The columns positioned underneath he headline and next to it break up the text. In the top left of the spread, it is easy to spot a convention of which is usually common within covers of magazines, the head of a member of the band overlapping a box of text.

Overall, I feel as though this is a good style model to base my own article on. Though I do feel as though an image which spreads across a page rather than sitting in a box might be much more appropriate. I will obviously use columns, and perhaps a grunge-like font. I also enjoy the fact that the imagery is relatively comical, and I would love to add this sort of tone to my own feature article. One thing I will not do is had a 'review' section down the side of the page.

Contents Analysis #3

Analysis of KERRANG Contents Page

Though Kerrang is not solely considered to be an Indie magazine, it does feature this genre of music through articles and features more than often as Indie stemmed from rock, the genre of Kerrang itself. Heavy metal and other closely related genres are also featured in the magazine, which shows that it is able to appeal to a wide range of people. It is clear to see that this particular issue has the purpose of attracting an audience who are interested in Indie music, due to the fact that the feature is an Indie band. Usually, rock magazines would not be inclined towards the inclusion of pop-like bold colours which are used in mainstream magazines such as 'Top of the Pops' and 'Billboard', but in this case, on the incorporation of Indie bands, there is a somewhat colourful palette concerning the imagery and typography. Indie is not considered to be as dark in emotions and general appearance as the rock genre, as there are different representations. The producers of Kerrang, upon deciding to base the issue on Indie bands, must have deciphered the difference in representations of the genres concerning colour palette, and through my previous analysis' I discovered that Indie magazines are relatively colourful in comparison to the other genres of which are considered to be 'dark'. In terms of audience demographic, it is blindingly obvious from the first glance that this is targeted predominantly towards males, due to the thumbnail of a gaming platform, which males are stereotypically better at than females, the use of capitalisation, and the various band pictures in which most members have a tough exterior and an appearance that is rebel-like. 

The heading 'Contents' has been produced with a yellow font and placed in a black box. This  follows the colour palette of black, yellow and white concerning the typography. The subheadings are exactly the same as this, only smaller and in capital letters to ignite excitement within the readers, but also to ensure each the articles are separated into different sections, such as 'news' and 'features', to make it easier on the reader to find which article they desire to read, or to find a specific area of the magazine which has drawn them in or enjoy reading every week if they are regular customers. The reasoning for the heading not being typed using capital letters is because it is more casual than the previous contents pages, more relaxed and casual, rather than shouting out at the customers. They feel less obliged to actually purchase the magazine, which draws them in even more because the audience will feel comfortable enough with it. Rather than being relatively long and tall, the font of the headline is quite wide and curvy, again, portraying the magazine as relaxed and nonobligatory. Both the heading and subheadings stand out, but the contents title is much more prominent, drawing the eye in before any other lexis, due to the size difference between the two features. It is also easy to identify the heading to subheadings, as the heading will always, in any successful case, differ from the subheadings. For example, underneath the lexis 'Contents', but still in the black box, is the issue number and date, portraying the heading as an aspect of the contents page which is of more importance than subheadings, conveying a certain sense of responsibility. 

  

In terms of graphological imagery, star vehicles have been used in almost every photograph to attract each of their fan bases and because people recognise them, which makes the reader understand that the magazine is popular and is able to acquire interviews with famous bands and solo artists prestigiously. The featured star vehicles of this contents page is ‘The All American Rejects’, an Indie rock  band which will therefore attract both their fan base and people who enjoy Indie music. The medium long shot of the members is typical  through its camera shot type, and in the way that four members of a band have been captured with a canted angle and the lead man has been purposely placed in front of the others to connote his dominance of the group. This is the same case with the image of ‘Enter Shikari’, though this is not canted. An obvious representation of the genre itself is the images of front men holding in their hands microphones pulling expressions which would not be associated with lighter genres. Again, the same concept, the front man Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, a well known rock band rather than Indie, poses with a guitar and shows it off, a connotation that he is proud and confident, something which is necessary in the music industry to be successful. Images of previous Kerrang magazines have been included to persuade the reader to purchase future magazines, as they get a taste of what they are like, and to subscribe to receive each issue in the post before it is released, a seemingly good deal. It also pushes these in their faces and shows them what they are missing out on, what they could have if they just subscribe. As people who are interested in indie music are stereotyped to love gaming, as I mentioned in the introduction, an image of an xbox and games is present to convey an obvious giveaway, igniting excitement within the reader and making ten want to purchase the magazine to find out more about how they could enter the competition for a chance to win. The image next to the number 14 has a band which are using fun postures. One member is lying on the floor whilst the his band mates surrounding him in a victory-like pose. This connotes to the reader that they have fun personalities which the audience is be to be attracted to and get along with. A colour palette consisting of dark colours and high contrast, with hints of colour concerning the mise-en-scene, for has been used 

In terms of the colour palette of which has been chosen, the contents page is rather dark, but in a colourful way. For instance, a lot of black has been used concerning the background of the masthead and general mise en scene (the costume). Though some costume is bright and colourful, as the man wearing the red hat and bold trousers, and the guitar one of the star vehicles is holding up is bright yellow. Stylistically, typical band pictures have been imitated in order to complete the photography for this page. Four men are together with one man, the lead singer, standing in front of the rest. This is incredibly typical, and on any rock magazine these types of images will be seen. The fact that the lead of the band always stands slightly in front of the other members is a portrayal of how he has dominance over the band, as though he owns it and makes all of the decisions. It also shows how the audience favour lead singers the majority of the time; therefore they are the ones who achieve the most attention, and if any other member is presented as the lead should be, then the audience will be disappointed and potentially move onto other bands which cater to their needs. The sleeve tattoos which are on one of the men portray how the member is a rebel, as tattoos are seen as a way of rebellion and being tough. The spotlight makes each of the stars' lifestyles look somewhat glamorous, though not in the way that they own lots of pink items and diamonds, but in the way that they are successful, therefore they own a lot of money. The album cover for the band 'Madina Lake', is a promotion for the bands new album, which will sell to the particular audience of which the magazine targets and successfully sells to.

In terms of typography, the key pages have been highlighted in yellow to stand out to the reader, so they are aware that these particular articles are the most important and that they have been made specifically for that issue. This differs from the other contents pages, and is unique. The subheadings are in yellow, and boxed in black, to ensure they stand out against the white and because the yellow draws in the eye. These are all capitalised, as to shout out at the readers, igniting again a sense of rebellion. It's not soft and feminine, rather hard and tough to portray the ideology that a man expects of himself, and the stereotype that males are  supposedly tough and strong. The editors not has not been capitalised, and this is the only thing of which has not been. This is due to the fact that there is an abundance of text within this particular box, and if the producers had decided to put this selection of text in capital letters, every other part of the contents page would not stand out; the specifically capitalised features to catch the eye would not stand out as much. In consideration of the fact that there is a lot of text, I feel as though it would be a very bad idea to capitalise it all, and the producers obviously did too, as a huge chunk of text capitalised would be daunting. 

To conclude, this rock/indie magazine is not something of which I would particularly like to use as a style model for my own magazine, due to the fact that it is not solely based on and indie audience. I don't feel as though the features used are actually appropriate when it comes to making my own magazine, as the magazine is targeted towards men, so the features have been portrayed in a masculine manner. 

Contents Analysis #2

Analysis of Q Contents Page

There is a lack of contents pages which can be located on the internet for my chosen genre: Indie. Because of this, I have not been able to match the cover analysis with the contents analysis, therefore must analyse a different contents page to cover. Though, this is not a great problem, as I am able to look at a wider range of Indie magazines. The target audience ranges from the ages of 16-30, it appeals to a youthful audience because older people tend not to enjoy this particular genre of music as it is not what they are sued to, and a lot of them do not want to be associated with another generation concerning music taste. Again, like each of the other Indie magazines, it attracts an audience demographic of B-E social grade, and also white heterosexual males. In terms of Marxism, second class white heterosexual males are in control of the media and choose to allow the audience only to consume certain views.

The mast head is incredibly sophisticated, and I personally do not feel as though this flows appropriately with the central image, it is too elegant to juxtapose with an image of which is overly casual.  The abbreviation 'Q', short for question, has been used because producers, editors, and even the general public believe the misconception that teenagers are fond of this type of lexical feature, as a lot of people use abbreviations within text conversations. The red gives an appearance of which resembles the tabloid press, attempting to attract and invite intellectual people to purchase the magazine, igniting excitement within the audience. This intelligent targeted audience must also enjoy the genre of the magazine, as they would be purchasing it for no particular reason if they did not. Concerning the actually typography of the masthead, I feel as though it is relatively feminine, but in a sophisticated fashion; the stereotype of females tends to be through such small things as typography, especially this particular font used, as it is 'fancy'. This could be to draw in a secondary target audience of females. White also represents purity, and as the font also appears pure, this connotation could be a portrayal and representation of the stereotyped secondary target audience of females. The centre circle of the 'Q' is tilted at an angle, connoting that the magazine are venturing out to make their masthead distinct and unique, rather than conforming to what other magazines incorporate into their own mastheads. Whilst the masthead appears to be feminine and a symbolization of purity, 'Contents' contrasts to this strongly. The lexis typography is white on black contrasts highly, meaning that anyone can easily read it, and ensuring its simplicity at the same time. It is also in capitals, but uses a thick, casual font that the reader is comfortable with.

In terms of imagery, the magazine succeeds in fulfilling its purpose of attracting the correct target audience. The main image is stereotypical of an Indie band when it comes to band posters and photo shoots, as they often appear seldom and professional in a casual sense. Though one of the photos has been produced with sunlight and a summery tone, the other also conveys this feeling, despite the grey clouds in the background. The miss-en-scene of the sunglasses trick the audience into believing that the band is stood on a hilltop which is surrounded by sunshine, but it is only when you look closely that you acquire a taste of what is realistically happening. Sunshine is associated with happiness, naturally making the readers immediately feel happiness. Photographers like to make band photos with an element of fun to them, so that the audience do not think that they are solely about professionalism and money, but also having a good time and a general optimistic outlook on life. In almost every band photo, what has happened here will have occurred; the front man has been placed slightly in front of the rest of the group to convey to the readers his dominance, and how he is the one who leads the band. The 'second in command is usually the guitarist, and the bassist and drummer are often placed behind. A common convention of the central image is eye contact between the individual reader and the model on the page, allowing the audience to feel as though it is personal to them, and they are included and invited into the text. Both of these long shots are shot in areas which are not considered to be mainstream concerning the music industry in photography, connoting how they are endeavoring not be observed as a mainstream magazine, quite rather a niche, and want to be as far away from it as possible. This is why sometimes people who are Indie are related to 'hipsters', who want to be the opposite of mainstream. The rural area is considered to not be mainstream, which makes them seem even 'cooler' to the audience. The two males on each end are both wearing jet black t-shirts, a portrayal of how people from this industry have been stereotyped to wearing dark clothing, and be interested in dark things.

Typographically, the contents page appears to be sophisticated, yet is able to attract the likes of the youthful target audience. As what is seeming to be a common convention of Indie contents covers, the page numbers of each article in the magazine are red, to ensure they stand out against the rest of the writing, and also to separate them from the descriptions, a crowded page with a lack of colour would not be suitable in regards of attracting the target audience. 'Oasis special' and the page numbers within that section are in a thin  font, which is quite difficult to see and is not noticeable.  Though, the gold-like colour adds a hint of importance, as this is a colour associated with big events such as the Oscars, which makes the reader feel as though they are special just by reading the magazine. It is unique to the other colours of fonts on the other page, adding another colour to balance out the use of red. The subheadings are larger than the descriptions, naturally, to draw the eye and summarize what will be in each section, making it easier on the reader to find what they want, rather than allowing them to get frustrated about not being able to easily locate articles and deciding that the magazine is too difficult to figure out. They are also capitalized, shouting out the words to each person who comes across the page and putting emphasis on certain areas which is entirely necessary if they want to ignite excitement within the audience. An issue number and date are side by side, as these two are closely related in magazines, in a white font formally. Not many factors of this magazine are formal due to the target  audience being young and the overall informal tone of the contents. The sub-subheadings, such as 'Buskers' give a quick overview of what each article will be about, these are black, capitalized and in a smooth simplistic font. This is because they do not want to complicate the visuals of the typography, but rather ensure they are simple and do not clash with each other. The description underneath each one of these is a lot smaller, as it is not important as the simple overview, nor are they capitalized because they do not need to be shouted out at the audience. Usually, this is not what gets their attention, therefore is not as important as many other factors.

Again, sections of different articles are separated by subheadings, which I have found to be another common convention of Indie magazines, this organizes the text for the reader, so they find the contents page much easier to file through and find what it is that they are looking for, or what they find interesting. The review has been located at the bottom of the page, in line with the feature article, though is not of high importance in comparison to the feature itself, and has a smaller section of which it is confined to. This itself is important, but as the feature is always the most important part of a magazine, the review is smaller as not to take away focus from the feature. The list of content has been placed down the left hand side of the page, like NME's contents, but on the opposite side, suggesting that this is a common feature. Most magazines consist of contents which cover the length of the page, as there is a lot of information in magazines, and so a lot of space is necessary to inform the reader on the information. Subheadings are above each different section of articles in the magazine, 'Feature' Oasis Special' and 'Every Month', to ensure the audience are aware of which article belongs to which section, therefore what they are about concerning the subject; this also makes it easier for the reader to comprehend and understand what is going on in the magazine in this particular issue.  There is a horizontal band spreading across the top of the page, because people tend to read from the top to the bottom, which means that they will pay attention to what is at the very top and immediately be aware of what the page is about. Next to this is the date, issue number, and website address. These three are together because they are minor parts of the page, and should not be spread out because it would be very confusing and would not look professional.

To conclude, I feel as though this contents page has been built with a large amount of sophistication, though manages to attract the youth regardless of this. Personally, I dislike the masthead, as it reminds me too much of a newspaper and does not, in my opinion, cater to the needs of the specifically chosen target audience. The band picture is both appropriate and suits the genre of the magazine well, therefore is easily understood to be the genre of Indie. What I would love to incorporate into my own magazine is the subheading to the section which reads 'Every Month'. I feel as though this gives the readers something to look forward to every month which carries on through each issue.