Magazine Research: Masthead

Masthead - Title of the magazine.

The masthead is one of the first things that a person notices when picking up a music magazine, I am trying to think of a name for my magazine that is unique and different to other music magazines. Popular music magazines all have big, bold mastheads to identify that this is the title of the magazine to the reader. As you can see here the front covers on both NME and Q magazines they both have two similarities:

NME front cover

• The mastheads are the biggest text on the page
• The colour of the mastheads match the house style and colour scheme



Q front cover

• The mastheads are on the top of the page as they always are

A masthead has to be the biggest text on the page, this is so that the audience can easily identify that this is the masthead. They also are identifiable on each magazine through different ways. On the NME magazine the masthead is highlighted in bold so that it is eye catching and the first thing that the reader notices when picking up the magazine. On the Q magazine the colour of the text is different to the rest of the text as you can see the rest of the text is black and gold. Also the masthead is on a red background which makes it stand out more because the rest of the magazine is white, this also matches with the colour scheme.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

There are several factors that need to be taken into consideration when designing the front cover to a college magazine.

This is an example of the front cover of VIBE magazine, I am going to analyse this front cover for ideas for my own:

• This has a very structered layout.
• Balanced colour scheme of black and green.
• Medium shot of Chris Brown
• Facial expressions emphasise an arrogance about him to match the genre of music he is representing.

The artist on the front cover of my music magazine has to be displayed through a medium shot, this is because:

• Close up is zoomed in too much.
• Long shot can make artist unrecognisable.

I also need to find a suitable artist that relates to my chosen genre, so that the magazine looks professional. As well as the front cover I need to design a mock up of a contents page to do this well I need to consider:

• The contents of the magazine
• Genre of music I will focus on
• Balanced colour scheme
• Professional layout

This is an example of a double page spread about a band called The Vaccines, this helps me in thinking of my design because the pages are split one side a picture of the band and the other side the article on the band. The text also stands out in the background as an aspect of the colour scheme, and it starts with a drop capital as well as a pull quote which is the text in blue.

To design this I will be using photoshop, but because I am not skilled at the software I will need to improve my skills if I am to create a professional looking magazine.

Magazine Front Cover Annotation: VIBE

To create a successful magazine I have had to identify some of the key features of another magazine front cover to aid my research. I have done this using my understanding on the terminology and produced a short Prezi presentation. The production is my analysis of another magazine front cover, please take the time to watch my presentation.

Applying the Male Gaze

Applying the Male Gaze

The Male Gaze is a media concept used in today's society, it is associated with how women are represented in the media. This concept applies to a variety of media such as:

• Television
• Magazine covers
• Advertisements

In this clip of Hollyoaks I will analyse how actress Jennifer Metcalfe is presented in the scenes, I will be applying the Male Gaze to this clip.

The drink is split on her top at the beginning of the clip and this is used to show off her body in a seductive way. Throughout the clip her body language and facial expressions emphasize that she is enjoying the male attention. She also takes her top off to once again show off her body to the audience, this is used to attract more attention to her body than the scene itself. The Male Gaze theory is supported by this clip as Hollyoaks have used the attractiveness of Jennifer Metcalfe to attract the male audience. The clip is not very long but you can clearly see how the Male Gaze theory can be applied to the scene, the camera angles also support this.

A medium shot is used so that the audience can clearly see her appearance and the fact that the camera stays on her despite their being another person in the scene outlines what Hollyoaks are trying to do in this scene. Edits also approve the theory as high key lighting is used to connotate that she is the main person to look at in the scene.

Feminism

Feminist propaganda

Feminism

Feminism - Various ideologies that defend and establish women's rights. 

Feminism has led to women gaining more rights regarding politics, economics and social rights. Feminist activist groups are the reason that women have so much equality today and examples of the rights they have gained from these groups are:

Marie De France

• Right to vote
• Equal rights in law
• Equal pay to men
• Freedom to decide whether or not they want 

First feminist - Marie De France lived in the 12th century is the first recorded feminist, she was a poet and used her poems to portray her feminism. 

There have been three major waves of feminism throughout history they are:

Kate Upton

• 19th century - early 20th century (over turned legal equalities) this mostly known as the woman's suffrage movement
• 1960's-1980's (cultural inequalities and women's role in society)
• 1990's-2000's (considered as part two to the second wave)

There are many modern day feminists that strongly appose attractive women exploiting their sexuality, an example of this is the picture I have found of Kate Upton. This is a picture I found of her from a photo shoot, a traditional feminist will appose to this picture, the question with this is; are the apposing due to feminist beliefs or jealousy.

Change in Feminism

Even though there are some very strong minded modern day feminists, there are also women who aren't particularly a feminist but just jealous of the woman they are looking at. An example of a modern day feminist is Lady Gaga, here is a video of her outlining her feminist beliefs.

The issue of NME of a revealing Beth Ditto on the front shows the negative side of feminism, because coincidentally there seems to be no objections from feminists regarding this cover despite it being against feminist beliefs. Raising the question of is feminism really just jealousy?