Rules of Construction (Prezi)

Ideology In Music

IDEOLOGY IS A BELIEF  

All musical genres have a certain 'ideology'. Often genres divide along binary oppositions or dichotomy. 

Ideology- a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

Pop and Rock are very contrasting genres so have very different ideologies. 



Pop 

• Clean
• Calmer
• Non-Sexual, A-sexual
• Euphemistic
• No drugs/drink
• Happy
• Professional
• Apolitical
• Fake, artificial 
• Money and success 

Rock

• Dirty
• Agressive
• Sexual
• Literal
• Drugs + Alcohol
• Angry
• Appear to be less competent/concerned 
• Political
• Authentic
• Making a statement

As you can tell form this quick list, Pop's ideology may initial seen as better than Rock's. However, often Pop is seen as fake and artificial and the artists often arent as 'authentic as Rock artists. 

Adding to this, recently Pop has been crossing into the Rocks Ideology. For example, Artists such as Ke$ha use lyrics which links to drugs and sex which was commonly against Pops Ideology. 

Unconventional Magazine Covers

One of the most popualar unconventional magazines is RAYGUN  by David Carson. It is considered very contraversial due to its unconventional designs. It was first published as an alternative rock and roll magazine in 1992, it explored experimental magazine typographic design.

Many of its front covers are seen as very unusual and use strange features such as;

• An upside down image
• Abstract wrting
• Foriegn writing
• Random images
• Obscure placement of things

My Opinion

Although Raygun uses strong counter types within the magazine and goes against the majority of the codes and conventions for music magazines I find that the unigue design is intriguing and interesting as it deviates from the typically magazines.

However, the exremity it goes to to be unique and lack of housestyle is offputting to the consumer as it does not allow a familiarity that magazine readers look for.

Male Gaze

A theorist called Laura Mulvey came up with the theory of the 'Male Gaze'. She argued that most media reflects the male gaze as the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male for example, it may linger on a woman's curves. Woman also seem to be objectified. 

The Male Gaze typically focuses on:

-         Emphasising curves of the female body

-         Referring to women as objects rather than people

-         The display of women is how men think they should be perceived

This is also commonly seen in magazines as well as digital texts such as TV and film.

Both of the magazine covers are clear examples of the camera being used as a 'male eye'.

The front cover of 'Q' is a very common example of how magazines use the male gaze in the front cover. The camera and her pose together excentuate and make the eyes focus on her posterior and her legs. Her pose also links to the male gaze and audience as it is the type of pose which would appeal to men. Similar to this, Rolling Stones front cover of Miley Cyrus also using a peovocative pose and is seen topless much like Lily Allen in Q. Both front covers use the woman to help appeal to both men and woman. They do this as men are attracted to the women they are portraying and woman aspire to be/look like them.

Media Terminolgy

To help make my music magazine look as professional as possible I need to be able to use Media terminology and understand what the terms mean

I shall be using print terms such as;

• Serif
• Sans Serif
• Uppercase 
• Lowercase
• House style
• Mid shot
• Close up
• Long shot
• Wide shot
• Extreme close up 

 These terms will help me with the overall presentation however they may not help me with the initial construction of my magazine pages.

Bleed printing is a technique used by many if not all professional printing companies. It helps ensure that no mistakes are shown at the edge. This method will help me to ensure a professional cut  The picture to the left explains the term 

 1- Shows the trim where the product will be cut.
 2- Shows where the 'Bleed' is, it is a safe zone outside the trim area
 3- Is the margin which is a safe zone inside the trim area

M.I.R.A is a term which will help me to construct my magazine but it will also arise questions for other magazine types.
M- Media form. Movie, TV, Magazine
I-   Institution. Who made it?
R-  Representation. Who or what does it show?
A-  Audience. Who is it for?

'Pass along audience' is also important to consider when researching your target audience. These readers are also known as a 'secondary audience'. These readers are not people who actually buy the magazine. This could be due to the fact the magazine has been left around the house or found in a dentist waiting room.

When constructing my magazine I will need to consider the use of Gutters and Alleys. The gutter in a magazine, especially a two page spread allows room for the binding eg the staples. It also ensures that the text wont get lost between the two pages. An alley is used to make the text more clean on a page. A magazine often uses columns and an alley is used to seperate the two texts to make it easier to read.

A Strap line is a short 'slogan' which is used to identify brands eg Tescos 'Every Little Helps'. I will need to include one of these whilst producing my magazine as it will make my magazine identifiable just by the memorable slogan. A strapline is also known as a 'tag line' which is used to strengthen the memorability of the individual product.

Pug is a media term which describes the extra information seen at either side of the title- like ears (hence the name pug). This will able me to add snippets of information on my front cover.

I also may use a Call out/Pull quote in my magazine. These are small pieces of text from an article inside the magazine- often no longer than a few words long- which will engage and interest the reader/buyer. They are normally very short and snappy.

History of Music Magazines

For my 'History of Magazines' I have chosen to investigate the music magazines 'KERRANG' and 'Q'. I will be discussing topics including the history of the magazine, the typical content, who the typical readers are etc.

 For the first magazine, I chose the Classic Rock magazine 'KERRANG'.

Kerrang! was first published on 6 June 1981 and was edited by Geoff Barton, initially as a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focused on the New Wave of British heavy metal phenomenon. Angus Young of AC/DC appeared on 'KERRANG!'s first cover. Launched as a monthly magazine, KERRANG! began to appear on a fortnightly basis later, and in 1987 it went weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991.

 The target audience was 16-25 year-olds (particularly rock music fans). Although over a period time the age of the target audience dropped to 14-17 year-olds (teens who tend to buy the magazines due to the featured bands on the front cover portrayed to much 'cooler'. Additionally the older years began to see 'KERRANG'! in a different light, some saw their obsessed with rock music and being an emo as a faze and grew out of it.

 The agazine tends to include things the audience will be interested in, such as; gig reviews, posters and competitions. 'KERRANG!' also includes full page advertisements for music companies such as HMV and Play.com as well as promoting other retailers such as Virgin, Playstation,  xBox, alternative clothing and jewellery manufacturing and concert ticket lines.

The first 'Q' magazine was published in October 1986. Its Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers. 'Q' was first published by the EMAP in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photos. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled 'The modern guide to music and more'. Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine.
The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring new music releases, music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It also includes a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.
Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists. The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many ranging from 'The 100 Greatest albums' to the '100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists'. Every other month, 'Q' have a special edition. These have been about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician.
'Q' is considered to have a very niche audience as it is specifically aimed at only music fans. However, the founders of the magazine felt the older generation were being ignored so chose to aim the magazine at over 25's rather that teenagers. By doing this, it allowed the magazine to be more expensive as most of the buyers have a paid job.

Text Analysis

For this post, I am going to compare a real school magazine to my completed cover and deconstruct each cover.. Before creating our school mgazine cover, we recapped on the stereotypical magazine conventions;

• A masthead at the top of the page 
• Sell lines
• Images
• Main story as the focus 

FFH Magazine
 The Masthead of the magazine clearly fits into the codes and conventions of a magazine as it clearly placed at the top of the cover which immedietly draws the eye to the title of the magazine. Also, the font within the cover is Sans Serif. This fits into the style of the magazine as the use of Sans Serif is seen as more 'trendy', 'modern' and 'present'. Compared to Serif which is seen as more 'traditional'. The FFH also includes the convention of 'Sell lines' which are commonly used to persuade and to sell. Adding to this, the image used on the magazine is that of a mid shot which are very commonly used on the covers of magazines. 

My Magazine
 Similarly, my magazine includes a clear Masthead and many sell lines. Adding to this it also includes a main mid shot as the main focus. However, one of the major differences is the fact that my Masthead is in a Serif font as I wanted my School Magazine to appeal to parents who would relate to the Serif along with the younger generation who would relate to the more 'modern' Sans Serif font used through the rest of the cover.