Cast Study 1 -
For this case study I chose to do a rock magazine as my genre.
Front cover
The masthead of the publication is Big cheese, In the front cover the masthead is in a bold font the reason for this, the title is made to be engaging and it does a good job in doing so, also the masthead is partly hidden as the cover stars head overlaps the title, although it is still readable and I can make out the masthead. I also noticed that the mastheads font colour changes in tone it almost resembles an actual cheese, hence the magazines publication named Big cheese. On the top of the magazine front cover it shows the skyline, in this skyline it engages the audience to buy the magazine as it makes contact with the audience telling them that there is 4 posters with in the magazine and gives out information on an upcoming festival which will get viewers of this magazine publication to read. In this magazine front cover it doesn't show many cover lines, but gives however, it entices the audience that it is a "punk rock special" which catches the eyes audience, and notifies them that this magazine is one of a kind due to this promotion. On the front of the magazine it says the bands name in a bold font and in the colour yellow, this is used to promote the cover artist or band in a publication in this case its GREEN DAY. In the main image they use props such as a microphone to indicate to the audience that the cover star at front is a singer. The mise - en - scene within this magazine front cover reflects back on the genre of music which is rock, as it shows the cover star with tattoos, messy hair and make-up on his face, this is also stereotypical, as not all rockers need to have these qualities in order to portray themselves as "rock stars". Lastly, in this magazine it lists other bands that the audience may be interested in, as well as bands which the audience may listen to, this is a way of advertising other bands to help gain more fans, and as big cheese has a large fan base they may want to discover more about the other artists through the publication.
Contents page
The contents page is split in to 2 pages one next to the other. the first page consists of images, and band groups with numbers, the numbers on the page next to the image take you to an article based on the artist page number selected. On the left side of the content page, it shows different sources of cross media platforms and social media websites, like Facebook and twitter, the reason big cheese magazine has done this is to promote its fan page and to build a larger target audience. In the content page it displays the article with the cover star that was featured on the front cover, this helps find a double spread sheet about the artist on the front. In both of the magazine on the far left and far right it shows 2 columns one is named after the masthead and uses the same logo, the other is named cream cheese and shows fans on different media platforms. There is a house style which is used in this content page and was also used in the front cover which shows the colours white, yellow and orange the reason why I think the colours orange, white and yellow is because of the magazines title which is big cheese and as cheese can be different types of colour such as the house style font. The colours also stand out due to having bright colours on a dark background which makes it easier to find the information as it is bright.
Double sided spread
In the double sided spread, it shows the cover star who was features on the front of the magazine front cover, and contents page and now he is on the double page spread, this shows that the institution of the publication wanted to advertise the band GREEN DAY or maybe the fact that GREEN DAY is a popular alternative rock band and is being promoted on the magazine. The house style is changed in the double page spread as it now consists of white, green and black. in the double page spread the featured cover star has the same props which is the microphone, the reason is because it shows he is a rock musician. I noticed that in the green font used in this double page spreads, are pull quotes as they are quotes from other musicians and opinion based on GREEN DAY they use this to show the audience what the target audience thinks about the band. in the white font there is information on the article regarding the band on the next page and has information about them.
Press Pack
As BigCheese is a niche magazine they didn't have any press pack available that was visible to see on their website, or any other publications or on any cross media platform. On the BigCheese website I clicked on the menu and I then clicked on the option which said "Contact Us" for a press pack. I received a press pack from the publishers of the magazine after emailing them in order to receive information of the press pack. The BigCheese press pack is shown below...
The target audience for the BigCheese magazine is between the ages of 15 - 25 year olds, this is because the target audience, are more interested in rock bands compared to the older generation. As the target audience is between the ages of 15 - 25 year olds, this gives the impression that the audience are mostly students and unemployed as the target audience is aiming teenagers and young adults. The gender of the target audience is a percentage of 55% for males and 45% for females, this directly tells me that the audience is more aimed at males then females however, the percentage of both genders are not that distant. In the Big cheese press pack it shows the amount of copies that BigCheese sell, they sell a total of 10,000 in the UK which isn't a lot compared to other alternative rock magazines, however, as it is a niche targeted audience it is a good amount to sell in the UK, because producing more of the magazine will cause the institution to lose out on money, as their target market is not mainstream. Big cheese also sell 3000 overseas, meaning out of the UK and in to other countries, this is good as they have a specific target based on genre and target audience and their fans would like to buy their magazine as they may have an interest in the magazine, content, information or artists and bands displayed on the front cover of the magazine and within the magazine.
Institution and publisher
this is a respectable case study Abbas with some consideration of layout, conventions, images and genre. You could have thought more carefully about the use of graphics on the front cover, and of the categories used in the contents page. I would have also liked to see more detailed analysis of the DPS, to include a reading of the journalistic language. You need to address part b) of the Task and look at the audience for the magazine (use the press pack), and who publishes it. Vanessa
ReplyDeleteAbbas, I am pleased you have looked in much more detail at the audience and publisher. This really helps with your ideas for your own magazine. It is a shame that you did not address my other comments above, about the textual analysis of the magazine. VC
ReplyDelete