Contents Page & DPS Analysis

Music Magazine –

Contents Page and DPS Textual Analysis

Name: George BarnstableCandidate Number: 3010Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 3010

OCR Media Studies – AS Level

Unit G321: Advanced Portfolio

Q Magazine - Contents Page Issue Details – In this case, there isn't much to say about the issue detailing, it simply accounts for the issue number.

Main Image – This imagine is the focal point of the contents page. In this case, it is a photograph of Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl. The importance of having a celebrity endorse your magazine contributes to financial gain as it means that you are able to target a larger target audience.

Star Appeal (Richard Dyer) – Dave Grohl, an American rock star, is a member of large rock group “Foo Fighters”. The importance of the magazines contents page and front cover featuring a rock star is significant as the magazine is able to attract a large audience as, for numerous years, rock has been the most popular music genre in the US.

Sub lines – As mentioned before, the sub line follows the sub heading, it is simply a short summary about what the pages content is about. Sub lines are very concise and are there to inform the consumer about the content but not try to reveal too much information at the same time.

Sub headings – These titles suggest the alternative pages and articles in the magazine, followed by a short summary of the actual content (sub line).

Masthead – the use of having the masthead on the contents page is significant due to it being a consistent feature of Q’s magazine. Additionally, it allows for brand identity.

Front cover – this is a common convention in many Q magazines, which allows for the brand’s identity to be noticed.

Q Magazine – Double page Spread

Drop Capital – the significance of a drop capital is that it draws the consumers eye to it due to its size compared to the rest of the article.

Main Headline – in this case, the headline “Special Delivery” is important due to it being able to symbolize how exclusive this months lot of news is. ‘Special’ suggests that it is unique and acts as a USP when compared against over magazines of similar context.

Page number – the page number allows the reader to identify different pages in the magazine and negotiate their way to and from page. It is a crucial convention for any magazine.

Pull quote – Often times this is taken from the interview, quoted from the interviewee. The quote is styled in a consistent font to Q magazine’s usual font. The font suggests seriousness, which is evident in the wording of the quote as Edge admits he has “wanted to kill himself”. The white and ending red text is completed by the grainy, black background – again fitting into Q’s usual colour scheme. The pull quote is significant as it is intriguing however not too revealing; this makes the consumer want to know more.

Stand first – The stand first is simply a short summary of the topics touched on upon in the article. In this case, the language used is very revealing and touches upon the controversial occurrence when U2’s 5 year in the making album, happened to “automatically land” in Apple users iTunes libraries.

Main image – This picture is a wide/long shot of indie/rock band U2. The image makes up more than half of the total page and fits in well with the black, red and white colour scheme in which Q magazine consistently use. Moreover, this is an example of Star Appeal (Richard Dyer) due to famous Rock band U2 being on the cover. This technique draws in consumers and also appeals to a large target audience as rock is currently the most popular music genre in the US.

Masthead and strapline – Q magazines masthead is simple and easily recognizable. The strap lie “if it matters, it is here” connotes that the magazine only covers the most exclusive and worthy topics of discussion.

Repeat (Steve Neale – 1980)Main Image - I plan to repeat a main image shot in my magazine to engage the viewer since an easily recognizable celebrity allows the reader to immediately identify who they are.

Drop Capital – The drop capital is essential in any magazine, it captures the immediate attention of the readers eye due to it being an intentionally larger size compared to the rest of the text. I am going to repeat this for my my own magazine to engage my readers into reading the whole article rather than just skimming through the magazines pages.

Pull Quote – I intend to repeat this convention because of its overall effect on the consumer: it gives the reader a very small insight into what the article may conclude. The font is bolt and large which draws attention to it, in this case, the font connotes a serious tone due to its style of font and words included.

Repeat (Steve Neale – 1983)

Throughout the magazine, it is crucial that the Masthead is present on every page. This allows for consistency, brand identity and makes the masthead more recognizable.

In my contents page, I plan to use both sub-lines and sub-headlines. This is because these indicate to the consumer which articles are on which page, allowing them to easily navigate their way to the ideal page through the magazines page numbers.

On my DPS, I am going to use a main headline. This bold, usually exciting, and very vague headline makes the reader anxious and begin to brainstorm ideas on what, in this case, the term ‘Special Delivery’ could actually mean, making them want to read on and find out.