Task 2 (a): Q Magazine Analysis

FRONT COVER

• Masthead: The masthead has always been positioned in the top left-hand corner.  It always has upper-case ‘Q’, white colour fonts and is layer upon bright red background. This helps to make the magazine to stand out, and it’s recognisable for the public.
• Main Images: The main image is a picture of Lady Gaga which portrayed her very sexualized, as she is topless. At the same time she looks scary and powerful, because of the gothic clothing like the spiky gloves and trousers, also she have dark smoky eyes make-up which give off a dark and fierce feels to it.  Lady Gaga is known as the modern ‘sex symbols’ that’s why the magazine portrayed her in a sexual provocative way, in relation the majority of the audience who read Q Magazine is male. On the other hand, she is known for a wearing weird outfit that’s why she is wearing an outfit that is very unusual. The image is also a form of direct address, the image of Lady Gaga is looking directly at the reader to create a sense of intimacy on the cover.
• Main Cover lines/ Anchorage: The writing ‘Lady Gaga’ is in upper case and contrasts against the grey simple background.  Some of the texts come behind Lady Gaga, and some of it comes in front of her; this set a more of a 3D perspective on the images. The anchorage said “Has RISEN!” and this is anchoring the cover lines “Lady Gaga”, since Lady Gaga is a global superstar the fonts goes along with the anchorage by exaggerating it as in like she is the ‘biggest superstar’.
• Cover lines: This is at the top right corner in bold and red colours fonts. The red connotes scandalous as red usually symbolise ‘danger’, and the cover line is much bolder than the main cover line; the bold fonts connotes that there will be a lot of shocking scandal and gossip that’ll being talk in the magazine.
• Colour Scheme: There are only are on the cover which provides a simplistic and professional looks. Because too much colours can look too cluttered, and it’ll put off the readers; since this magazine is targeted to much mature audience, therefore the colours is needed  be kept simplistic but yet classy.
• Skyline: It said “The UK’s Biggest Music Magazine” but Lady Gaga’s hair covered the ‘Music’, this may be done purposely. Since Lady Gaga is a well-recognisable musician, therefore the general public will recognise that Q Magazine is a ‘Music’ magazine. It is also persuading the public to buy the magazine, as the skyline stated that this magazine is the “UK’s Biggest”, so it’ll stand out more in the Newsstand, as others music magazine is competing. 
• Uses of Flasher: The flasher is noticeable because it is right above the main cover lines. Madonna is referred as the ‘Queen of Pop’ plus the word ‘exclusive’ suggests to the readers that this interview with Madonna is only exclusively available in this magazine, which persuade the readers into purchasing the magazines as it curious them. The use of the ellipses shows that there will be a lot of gossip inside and it creates a sense of eagerness for the readers.
• Puffer: The puff was used to give more additional feature to the magazine. They used red for the texts “Album of The Year Already” along with 5 red stars, so it will catch the audience attention first since red is a bright colours therefore it’ll be noticeable. 
• Barcode/ Price/ Dates: The barcode is clear along with the price and the issue date of the magazine. This is usually the main codes of conventions of a magazine, because the readers must know how much they need to pay to purchase the magazine, it also let them know if they are buying the most up to date magazine issue.

CONTENT PAGE

·         Masthead: The masthead has the same house style as the front cover, also the words ‘CONTENTS’ is bold and stands out, so it let the readers acknowledge that they are currently reading the contents page. 

·       Main Image: There are 4 images of Lady Gaga in the magazine with a big number on the sides representing the page numbers. All of the images are Lady Gaga which could be hinting that Lady Gaga is the most ‘exclusive’ feature in this Q Magazine issue. The main image has a really bright and edgy colour scheme, which suit Lady Gaga concept; as Lady Gaga is known for edgy and weird fashion sense. A different image of Lady Gaga has different shot type, for example: Medium shot, Medium close-up and close up; so it allows the audience to engage with Lady Gaga.

·       Colour Scheme: Again like the front colour scheme it is kept minimal so it has the same general house style. Apart from the images, the images tend to have much more colourful and bright colours, so the magazine house style will not be too ‘dull’ if it kept too minimal and simplistic.

·        Subheading: The sub-heading said ‘SMASH HITS SPECIAL’ which could be another feature in the article, as it is not just exclusively about Lady Gaga

·        Layout: It had 3 columns, and uses 3 textboxes so it looks much more organised. It also has captions and this give preview as what the audience should expect from each page. At the top-left corner it had a picture of the front cover, so it let the readers reflect what issue they are reading and how the front cover looks like. 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD 

• Main Image: The main image is Lady Gaga; she takes up half of the double page spread. The picture has been put into black and white/monochrome because the mood seems very mysterious, and her make up looks very fierce at the same time. The black and white also gives the picture and article an ‘old’, classy look. A direct mode of address was used, so it let the readers feel like she is personally looking directly right at them.
• Mise-en-scene: She is topless which also reflect to the front cover, because in the front cover she was posing topless as well. However, the pose of Lady Gaga is making could be aimed to attract the male eye as all she seems to be wearing is a necklace. This is because she is portrayed within the media as a modern ‘sex symbol’; hence the image needs a relation between Lady Gaga and how the public view her.
• Colour Scheme: The colour scheme is very simplistic and it reflects the front cover, because the front cover had 3 colour schemes, and the double page try to maintain that colour schemes throughout the cover, contents and DPs. The colour scheme really goes well with the picture as it is in black and white, it gives off that chic feels which contrast along very well with the images.
• Layout: The of the double-page spread is very striking and is appealing, the article is split up into 3 columns and the letter ‘L’ is covering the whole page behind the writing which  you can see through it. This is a very common theme for ‘Q’ Magazine articles is that the first letter of the artists name is put in a large, bold vibrant, yet see through red over the text. This links well with the rest of the magazines colour scheme as it is in the style and colour of Q magazines logo. The ‘L’ is very prime and large, and the magazine is representing how ‘big’ Lady Gaga as an artist is as the letter ‘L’ is Lady Gaga first initial. Additionally, because the article was split into 3 columns the first columns had drops cap, which indicate where the readers should begin to read and this help the readers to breaks down the article a bit.
• Language:  The language style is quite formal but it is usually very casual, since ‘Q’ is targeted to mature readers they uses a lot of censored words, like rude/swear words. But this just makes the whole magazine seem much more grown up, and it is perfect for adult readers since ‘Q’ audience is mainly targeted to mature readers.
• Tagline: The tagline is almost like a ‘title’ in this double page spread, so it introduce and let the readers know who and what the article will speak about.