Analysis Of Existing Media Texts

Top of the Pops Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly glossy publication published by BBC Magazines. It features chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It is a supplementary magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops. Its readership is young girls between the ages of 12-15 and primarily focuses on the pop music genre. I have chosen this specific as it is a popular mainstream magazine that is available in most newsagents, and therefore arguably represent to the reader what constitutes the modern teenage girl.

A typical Top of the Pops reader is a young teenage girl who uses magazines as a confidant or advisor who speaks her language (Use of OMG! In front cover). This is certainly a factor that influences the purchasing behaviours of young teenage girls as it is how they would communicate with their own friends. They have a love of music and use it as a form of entertainment; they turn to artists such as Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus...all fun-loving, cheeky and clean cut singers who will also will appeal to parents as they convey in their songs the issues that young girls go through today such as having ‘crushes’ on boys, their appearance and embarrassing moments at school. At school she is bright, bubbly and playful, she loves to gossip with her friends and listen to the latest music by some of the ‘coolest’ artists around.

On the front cover the masthead is slightly hidden by the main image of Twilight actor Rob Pattinson; this is probably because of the fact that the TV show and Magazine are so well known, almost like the main image has eclipsed the masthead. The main image facial expression is moody and sultry which captures his public image as the broody vampire who is also a global ‘heart throb’. The blue in his eyes matches the background which entices and entrances the reader. He is placed two thirds of the way up on the magazine which is predominantly where the reader will look first. The latest ‘vampire’ craze which started with the ‘Twilight’ Phenomenon is magnified on the front cover as it shows that young girls cannot get enough of Rob Pattinson, and that their obsession is only going to be strengthened by the release of the sequel ‘New Moon’. He is every teenage girl’s fantasy as he is loyal and protective but fans of the film know that you cannot be with him, this only fuels the fascination in the reader.

The sell-lines appeal to the reader as they are bold bright and all feature current artists/bands. They share their own view and tips, plus also sharing their own issues, allowing the reader to feel that they can relate to them and also aspire to the artist as they have achieved success through being bullied. Also readers will empathise as and relate to the artist, ‘how racist bullies made me cry’; girls will want to read on as they want boys to share and express their feelings and also to be sensitive. The Puff is large bold and centred to signify the magazines exclusivity to the band JLS, revealing that you won’t get better gossip anywhere else. The colours used are childlike and pretty, they are soft and will remind the reader of bubblegum and sweets. Along with a love of pop music the reader is also interested in beauty tips; maybe to impress friends or their ‘crush’, they want to look like their idols as they are successful and trendy, also by using the phrase ‘A-list’ it means that the magazine can offer the reader a pop star look but at an affordable price. The use of sans-serif font compliment the style of the magazine, the masthead font appears bubble gum pop and futuristic. All of the sell-lines include artists; it shows that the magazine is keeping true to its roots. As the magazine is owned by the BBC it also is a way of advertising its annual charity Children in need by placing its icon on top of the masthead.

Top Of The Pops Magazine Double Page Spread 

This is a double page spread from top of the pops magazine. The tone of the language used in the article is colloquial and chatty. An example of this is 'hello campers'. This is friendly and will invite the audience to read the article. It is also advertising a film so it has included the casts reviews of the film and they all say it’s good so it will make the audience want to watch the film.  The image that dominates the page is of the Jonas Brothers who are popular amongst teenage girls who will attract their attention, they also are role models for young people as their promotion of abstinence and good clean fun.  There is also images of the cast introducing themselves which is could be seen to trying to make friends with the reader and to try and present themselves as their character.

The colours used throughout the double page spread are bright and inviting and will attract the reader’s eye. The quote 'we want the girls we date to be our biggest fans ‘have been pulled. This makes the teenage girls reading the magazine want to be their fans because the question of the interview is put in bold and in a different colour to the answer. This shows the reader what part is the question and which the answer is. Also it shows the change in the speaker.

The house style consists of four colours, black, white, chalk green and chalk pink. The pages are split up with the use of boxes and images. Each box coincides with one date/detail of “Miley’s tour secrets”. There is a centre image taking up the most space, outlined with the little text boxes around. It is a large image of Miley Cyrus. She is not looking at the camera as the article is about secrets. So looking away from camera creates the sense that Miley is not in on the secret. This is the same with all the images. There is a bar across the top of the page; it is used as a heading to imply the “exclusiveness” of the article. All text is neatly placed in boxes; there is no mayhem in the layout.

The use of different colours to show the different topics within the article, takes the form of an interview with Q and A layout. The use of a quote as the title, informing readers it’s an interview. The images are of the interviewee one large image of the Jonas Brothers immediately stating the interviewee. There is a balance between text and images’, suggesting the information becomes more important.  

The main sell of this magazine are the Jonas Brothers. They are a Disney manufactured boy band that are very popular with young girls and pre teens at the moment. This appeals to the target audience because the Jonas Brothers is something they are interested in so they would buy the magazine to read about them. The main sell has been placed in the centre of the cover with a large cover line across the picture. The name of the band is the biggest and in a different colour to make it stand out and draws the readers eye to it.

This double page spread is an article on the Jonas Brothers. It is about the Disney film they are promoting called 'camp rock'. The main image is of the band posing with their instruments. There are then smaller images along the bottom of other cast members. The picture takes up one side of the double page spread and the article the other. Again the font used is a sans serif font keeping it simple and slightly less formal. There is also the handwritten font being used again like on the cover. This lowers the formality and makes the text look more interesting. The colours used are all bright and eye catching. They are also quite girly colours. The article has been written in two columns. These columns have then been separated by a quote from the article. The reader may see the quote before they read the article, and if they read something they find interesting or amusing they are more likely to read the entire article.

NME Front Cover Analysis 

The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music magazine in the, published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music magazine. The magazine primarily focuses on indie/rock music for males, although it has a strong female readership also.

The route of the eye starts from the masthead so the reader is aware of the magazine and it will catch the eye of their common readers. It then carries on at the top to go through the cover lines. Next it goes down through Hayley Willams to attract any Paramore fans. It then goes through the cover story further connoting the importance of the band to this magazine. Finally it ends with the bar code and price in the terminal area. The top two hotspots are on each side of Hayley William’s head to draw a lot of attention to her and some, but not as much to her band members. The bottom two hotspots are placed on the cover story, with most focus being on the band name “Paramore” this catches the reader’s eye and draws them into the magazine.

Only one image is used on the front cover but it is very conventional for a music magazine to only have two at the most, possibly three. It is of the band Paramore however all focus is on the singer Hayley Williams. She is in front of all of them by a long way to exploit her fame to the reader so many fans will feel compelled to read it. It draws in a feminist audience as she is seen as more dominant than the men, giving women a role model. It also draws in a male audience as they may find her attractive and so feel more compelled to read it.

NME traditionally maintains its large male readership through its use of text and colours. For example, the masthead uses sans serif fonts which are informal and will appeal much more to a wider audience. Also the colour scheme used on the Paramore cover really emphasises to the redear their genre of music which is typically rock or grunge. By asking a rhetorical question and use of rhyme in the magazines use of describing the band it will draw readers in.

The target audience for NME is teenagers, both male and female, this is evident because there are male and female musicians on the front cover. The main readers will fall into the age category of teenagers as it largely focuses on today’s music, but while also covering the legendary artists who influence music today. However, NME won’t appeal to all teenagers, only the ones that like the music it features which is heavily indie rock. The main image on the front cover is of Lily Allen. Lily Allen has probably been chosen to feature in the magazine because she has been in the press a lot as being well known which are what teenagers are stereotyped as being. She looks like the stereotypical image of a grunge artist with her black messy hair and smoky eyes. Although the text next to the image which says “Lily Allen takes on the world” represents her as being a strong female so her appearance could be used to make her look more authoritised. The main coverline is in a much larger font size than the other writing which appears on the front cover. It is written in a house style font. The letters aren’t the same size and they are not all straight. This makes the coverline look like it’s made up of letters cut out of newspaper headlines. It is also in black in white; white writing with a black background, these are also newspaper colours. This links in with the fact that NME used to be a newspaper. At the bottom of the magazine, there is a list of brand names; this is used to attract one of buyers. They are separated by yellow line; this is part of the house style. The word ‘plus’ is written in an arrow pointing towards to the edge of the magazine, suggesting that the bands will be found inside.

Above the masthead is a black banner, the black stands out over the red of the masthead. In the banner is a picture of Alex Turner, a member of the famous British band, Arctic Monkeys. It is anchored by text advertising new music. Other coverlines are inside circles, making them stand out and to separate them from the main coverline. The feature about ‘how David Bowie started the Credit Crunch’ has been used because it relates to real and major issues going on in the world.

NME has a simple colour scheme. It uses colours such as red, blacks and white. They have used a white background so that that the text and the pictures don’t blend in with it and they stand out more.

Vibe Magazine Contents Page Analysis 

To begin with, upon the contents page, the background is clear but is a fade away effect from the top starting with a dark black and then fading down to black and almost white, this makes the contents on the page and the image contrast with each other to make it easier for readers to read and attract them for the right reasons.
The title is placed at the top and is in bold, big lettering in white, as I have said before it contrasts against the black at the top and then fades away. The text shown on the left side of the magazine is in dark but bold colouring which is also easy to read and attractive without having to be too colourful and over the top like some magazines which tend to seem cluttered most of the time.

The colouring of the model ‘Ciara's’ shoe is also a dark purple colour, which once again contrasts and make the attraction on the model and text, as it is a bold statement against the text which is also bold and against her legs, so also easy to read. The fonts are bold, but also seem like a nice neat handwriting but created in a way once again to be distinguished clearly for readers and to attract the correct readers.

There is only one image shown on Vibe Magazines contents page and this is a long shot of ‘Ciara’, this then shows the full image in a lot of detail which can be used for many different reasons, such as the way they are dressed so fashion, style of music by using the correct music artist. The image and text shown aren’t colourful like most contents pages, it is uncluttered and has clear bold black and white text. The heading separates itself from the text shown to indicate page numbers of different articles inside the magazine. This sets a representation to a specific target audience as the target audience being young teenagers and young adults aim at just getting to the point and to know straight away what they are going to read about and what they want to read in the magazine. The magazine features on the contents page are not really aimed at a male or female audience as it hasn’t got indication of many colours for this, but as there is a well know music artist, many young female adults will be attracted to this as she is dressed up to date and will then look up to her and want to read the stories inside.

The pose and image shown on this contents page inside, Vibe is one main image of a popular music artist ‘Ciara’ and is posing and positioned once again to fit all the different features around her on the contents page. She is lying down with her legs up in the air, and is sort of representing an expensive kind of genre for the magazine overall. Her clothing also sets a typical urban theme as it is quite revealing but unique at the same time and attracts the aimed target audience once again.

The pose and the way the image has been made are shown as 3D which makes the contents page much more interesting. Her hair style is long and drags across the floor also, her hair colour also contrasts well with the colours used as it is black and her makeup is also plain and natural, so not
over the top with too many colours which can make the whole contents page not adjust well together, and can make readers and the target audience not be as attracted to it as they might of been if particular pieces of information and images were changed to adjust much more effectively.

The contents page within Vibe magazine, does not have much text but there are main parts which stand out, such as the heading ‘contents’ is in a large text, bold and connects with the whole page, so it doesn’t clash and represent as boring. The colour of the heading and text are themed as black and white. This is without any patterns which show to the readers and plain and easy to read text so they can just get straight to the point of what they want to read. The text and background is a black and dark grey colour which makes the heading seem and suggests to readers that it is important and can be seen from a distance without it being difficult to read if small. The words and text used underneath the heading show the popular and well known music artists which are going to be included within the magazine. This attracts the specific target audience of the magazine so they will buy it as they know what they will be reading once purchased.
The size and layout of the contents page within Vibe magazine, are large and presentable for all different types of readers, it is eye-catching to be read and seen by a distance without getting uninterested and not wanting to read on through the magazine. The reasons why they will stand out to readers are from all the points that I have explained and justified above by the contents page.