02 MUSIC & NEWS

 MOJO magazine - we study the media language and the ways in which representations are created. The easy way to remember the difference between the two types of exam questions here is that media language is to do with what it looks like (layout, images, fonts, colours etc) whereas representation is to do with who is featured and how they are presented to us.

Questions about representation involve:

• what version of reality is constructed on the cover (reverence for rock musicians as heroic, as striving for excellence? young women as focussed on social media, romance and appearance?)
• are stereotypes or counter-stereotypes used (young white males as rock stars? anti-stereotypical portrayal of older men as rock musicians? stereotypical female teens loving pink?)
• what social groups are not represented or under-represented (male/female; young/old bias)
• what messages and values are conveyed
• the social and cultural contexts, like celebrity culture, attitudes to gender, to sexuality

Here is where you find OCR revision materials on music magazines (open the pdf link on the left). I have summarised it above.

Task 1: Copy / paste the top MOJO - the March 2021 - issue into a Word document. Use the vocabulary in the guide below to label it. This task is to revise your vocabulary. Think of a way to label it - perhaps add arrows and text in your Word document. Upload to your own blog.

PREP is Task 2:  Copy /paste the John Lennon edition into your blog. Write about how musicians are represented on this MOJO cover.

Possible Answers for this PREP Music magazines offer aspirational role models – musical stars – with whom their readers may identify. MOJO magazine features a ‘legendary’ musician on the cover every month.

On MOJO's cover, stereotypes have been used. The image of John Lennon is typical of  MOJO cover musician: a young, white male may be to fit the stereotype of rock musicians – this will enable instant recognition by audiences.

 

MOJO wishes to attract a target audience that shares its reverence for ‘classic rock’ so constructs a version of reality that represents musicians as authentic heroes, striving for excellence, e.g. in the photo of John Lennon forty years after his death, looking serious, gazing intently into the camera in close-up, with beautiful lighting shading his face, and a reverent comment about saying goodbye respectfully.

MOJO’s representations reflect the continuing significance of a 1960s generation who developed popular music in a period of social upheaval.  MOJO's representations celebrate the ‘classic rock’ values of authenticity and passion. Tommy Iommi is described as 'getting heavy', that is, talking about dark times for Black Sabbath. The Stone Roses' resurgence is described as a 'resurrection' which is a religious word, lending connotations of someone holy coming back to life in a miraculous way.

MOJO’s front cover associates musicians with quest, danger and struggle, celebrating the values associated with rock music of ‘living fast and dying young’. For example, Pink Floyd are represented as engaged in hostilities and The Stone Roses as fighting for survival.

Some social groups are under-represented. MOJO’s front cover mostly represents white male musicians in photographs, under-representing female musicians and musicians of colour, with Madonna top right as the only female photo.

 

MOJO’s anti-stereotypical positive representation of older people as popular musicians, e.g. Pink Floyd, Nancy Sinatra on the cover on the front cover. This may reflect the anti-ageism of an older audience. 

 

The covermount CD represents Garageband musicians as 'psychedelic'.  

LAYOUT
House style: consistent visual codes and written rules / conventions that define the particular brand image (for instance, a  busy cluttered / streamlined look, a header with a drop shadow, a recognizable style /font for the brand name)

Symmetrical and asymmetrical: evenly balanced / mirror images or unequal in layout; made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis; showing symmetry; regular and consistent / irregular; uniform / uneven.

Ratio of copy, photography and space: how cluttered, busy is the layout? Is there much negative space?
Masthead / banner: The title of the magazine or newspaper. It is usually placed at the top of the front cover for display purposes
Overline /running header: introductory headline in smaller text size above the main headline 
Caption: anchors the meaning of an image
Splash: main front page story. 
Cover lines : information about major articles given on the front page of a magazine   
Strapline: a subsidiary heading or caption in a newspaper or magazine. As in

"the strapline on the front page promised '13 pages of dramatic pictures and eye-witness accounts." A strapline can summarise what a brand stands for in just a few words.

It doesn’t have to be descriptive (although some are, like eBay’s “The world’s online market place”), but it should support the brand positioning and communicate what it is about.

Puff: words or phrases on the cover of a magazine used to boost status
Plug: Information about the contents of a magazine or newspaper given on the front cover 
Feature: A longer, more in-depth article.
Tag line: a short memorable line of cover text that sums up information
Pull quote: A brief phrase (not necessarily an actual quotation) from the body text to add emphasis and interest. A quote or excerpt that is used as display text on the same page to entice the reader, highlight a topic or break up linearity.
Talkie headline: a quote from one of the people in the story used as a headline 
Left-side third: A lot of important information designed to attract potential readers is placed in the left-hand side vertical third of the front cover page. This is in case the magazine is displayed in a horizontal shelving system rather than a vertical one.
Flush left: copy aligned along the left margin. Flush right: copy aligned along the right margin.  

IMAGES
Centre of visual interest (CVI): The prominent item on a page usually a headline, picture or graphic.
Choice of colour
Noise: A noisy image  is one where there are random or extra pixels that have degraded the image quality. 

Camerawork and mise-en-scène: positioning of the central image (mid shot, close-up, two shot), clothing codes, lighting and so on