1. Music Magazine –
Contents Page and DPS
Textual Analysis
Name: George Barnstable
Candidate Number: 3010
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 3010
OCR Media Studies – AS Level
Unit G321: Advanced Portfolio
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
