Contrast between music magazine covers

PREP: Analyse the media language of the MOJO cover below. Use the terms that you have learned.
Compare and contrast the cover with another magazine cover, drawing attention to the similarities and differences, and saying what the genre codes and conventions are.

The contrast cover can either be your own cover or another professional cover.

Above are two different music magazine covers. One is a "MOJO" magazine featuring David Bowie, the other is a "Q" magazine featuring Ed Sheeran. Their layout, colours, imagery and general design all have differences and Similarities to each other.  

A similarity they share is the layout of their cover lines. They both have cover lines, about other stories in the magazine, running down the sides with the name of the band, person or place in large letters, then a little sub-heading beneath it briefly describing the story. Another similarity they have with each other is the fact that they have the name of the artist (singer) featured in the main splash, in large letters, in front of that artist. This is to help emphasise that the main story will be about that artist and possibly about an interview they gave. They also both have puffs and pugs, trying to entice readers by telling them what special things are inside. The way they phrase their puffs, e.g. "Essential 50 albums of 2014", makes the reader feel they not only want, but need what the puff is promising.  

A difference the have is the position of the masthead. The MOJO magazine follows the usual convention and has it in the middle-top of the page, slightly covered by the artist featured in the main splash. However, the Q magazine has it in the top-left corner, not really covered up at all; but it does have a strapline that is slightly covered by the head of ED Sheeran. A large difference between the magazine is the eye contact, wile David Bowie is staring right at the camera slightly menacingly, Ed Sheeran is looking of into the distance as if he is day-dreaming. This could suggest a number of things; maybe that David Bowie feels his fans want to feel more relateable to him and Ed Sheeran thinks that his fans don't feel they need that kind of recognition. Also in the MOJO magazine the picture is taken from a low camera angle whilst Bowie is standing up, but the Q magazine has a mid-shot and close-up of Ed-Sheeran whilst he is sitting down. The Q magazine has Ed Sheeran being lit from straight on, but the MOJO one has Bowie lit from the side. 

02 Music MOJO magazine 2017

Question: 'How representations on magazine covers reflect the social and cultural contexts in which they were produced'.

MOJO is a magazine which gives an incite into the most recent developments in the music world. They mainly focus on rock musicians but they sometimes feature other genres. They have a main band featuring in each monthly magazine. There was a recent one on the Sex Pistols.

MOJO clearly think very highly of their own brand. Some quotes of them describing their magazine are:

"Every month MOJO brings you a definitive cover feature on an iconic act; a bespoke CD (especially compiled by the editorial team or a major musician in MOJO’s world)"

"MOJO is the WORLD’S LARGEST UK MUSIC MAGAZINE, delivering a monthly dose of world class journalism and iconic photography to an audience of extremely passionate music consumers."

"MOJO is THE MUSIC EXPERT – a magazine of high brand values and integrity. A carefully crafted musical archive covering the very best of music across genres. From classic and modern rock, folk, soul, country to reggae, electronic and experimental. It prefers to celebrate quality over popularity – music that will stand the test of time."

The Sex Pistols were a punk rock band, that were active from 1975 to 2008. They were a very aggressive, controversial, in-your-face, down-with-the-establishment type band that had a large following and a large amount of people who hated them. They constantly showed defiance to the establishment.

They were a huge shock to the establishment as nothing like that had been seen before. When they went on a talk show they kept swearing over and over. As swearing was not at all socially acceptable people were shocked at the Sex Pistols' outrageous behaviour.

The MOJO magazine that recently featured the Sex Pistols used the colours pink and yellow on their cover. This was because the Sex Pistols themselves used these as their main colours.

Music Video Codes and Conventions

PREP MUSIC VIDEO CODES AND CONVENTIONS

To prepare for the exam, we look at the media language of music videos, such as their codes and conventions below. For prep, copy the points in colour then add your own points in black.

1. Performance - the singer / band are seen to be singing and playing (including lip synching), to provide authenticity, so that followers believe in the talent and can see their star. Record labels sign stars and promote them to ensure sales. Avril Lavigne sings throughout the video using a mike and draws a huge crowd of fans around her when she jumps onto a car roof in the street. She sings with great passion, energy and conviction, holding the mike close to her mouth. Close-ups show her every word (lip synching is a feature of music videos.) She performs for her fans and for her 'boyfriend' the sk8er boi who features in the narrative. Screens often feature in music video and the sk8er boi is videoing Avril Lavigne as he gazes adoringly up at her. She returns his gaze as she sings about 'we rock each other's world'. The performance element creates authenticity (fans have proof of her talent) because we see her sing. 

2. Star - use of close-ups, sometimes direct eye contact with audience, to build relationship with audience. When Avril Lavigne starts singing there is immediately a close up. She is using this eye contact to grab the attention of the audience and to tell the story in a somewhat cocky way. In the close-up's she slightly leans into the camera and is somewhat aggressive towards the girl who turned the Skater Boy down. She is also building a relationship with the audience and letting them into her life. There are plenty more close-up's and these close-up's help us feel like Avril Lavigne is telling us the story directly and almost as if she is telling us not to do what the girl did. She is often scowling and snarling and crowing towards the girl, making her feel bad for turning down the Skater Boy and boasting that the Skater Boy is with her instead now. 

3. The visuals (what the star and other characters are seen doing) illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics (the 'story in the words'). Illustration = the visuals play out the story more or less literally; amplify = the words in the lyrics are only the starting point and the story develops in other directions; contradiction / disjuncture = the visuals do not interpret the words of the lyrics and may even show something contradictory. There is a mixture of visuals amplifying the lyrics and sometimes the visuals show disjuncture to the lyrics. The main example of this is when she is talking about how the girl who turned down Skater Boy. Instead of showing the girl sitting at home with a baby, Avril is jumping on top of cars and driving around with her friends, boasting about how the girl made the wrong decision. At the end the visuals are amplifying the lyrics because she is singing triumphantly and defiantly towards the police. 

4. The narrative usually features the performer in 'real life' situations but often with experimental types of film making such as hand-held, dramatic camera angles, symbolic codes and lighting There are a lot of wild and experimental camera angles. This along with the fast paced music and cuts amplify Avril Lavigne's personality and her life. It also amplifies the boastfulness of the story. At the end a hand-held camera is used for a close-up on Avril Lavigne. She talks about how she and the Skater Boy are in love, crowing to the girl that turned the boy down. 

5. The visuals are usually cut to the beat of the music; the editing is often fast-paced; there is often use of montage, ellipsis and intercutting, stylish effects. Especially in the opening of the video when it is an instrumental, there is a huge amount of cutting to the beat. As people see advertisements for the concert and as Avril's gang set up the concert, there is a series of fast paced cuts which are dictated by the music. The cuts are fast paced because the music is fast paced. The gang are making out their territory and the somewhat aggressive music ties in with the seemingly aggressive nature of Avril's tribe. At the end when the band are performing on the streets, Avril is dancing, jumping and punching to the beat, as are the crowd of fans. 

6.Refrain - repeated chorus, sometimes with variations The chorus is more or less repeated the same except a few lines are changed. At the start Avril sings about how the girl turned turned Skater Boy, Later she sings about how that boy is now famous and finally she sings boastfully about how she is now with Skater Boy. 

Media Language in music videos

PREP Get to know the one music videos by re-watching it, finding out about the performers and looking up the contexts in which they were produced. There are many guides to music video codes and conventions available. The sample question below is worth 4 marks and you would write about a page.








The music video of "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus has very illustrative visuals. The singer is telling a story of him having a crush on a girl at school but she doesn't know who he is. In each verse the visuals represent very accurately what is being sung. Whilst the visuals during the chorus don't illustrate the visuals exactly, there are people dancing around the band that is playing. This has a correlation to the beat of the song as it is very rock and roll like and the people in the background are dancing in an appropriate way to the beat. In one of the last verses the visuals are even more illustrative of the lyrics as the girl that the singer is in love with is speaking the words that are being sung. The correlation between the visuals and lyrics is very obvious and very illustrative. There is a very clear correlation. 

The music video of "Sk8er Boy" by Avril Lavigne has much more disjunctive lyrics. The singer is telling a story of how a boy wanted to be with a girl, but the girl turned him down even through she wanted to be with him as well. The singer later says that the boy becomes a famous rock star and that the boy is now with the singer. The visuals have little to no correlation with the lyrics as the visuals show a large group of older teenagers/young adults travelling towards a place in the middle of the street where the singer and her band set up speakers so that they can play music to the fans coming to watch. At the end the police come and start arresting people who are watching the band. Apart from a possible metaphorical correlation between the police arresting people and the lyrics, the visuals have nothing obvious to do with the lyrics. This is a big contrast to the music video of "Teenage Dirtbag"

Editing in cuffs

1.T identify the term
2.E describe the example
3.AA explain, anlayse, argue how meaning is made


PREP Analyse how editing is used in the extract from Cuffs to create meaning. Refer to at least two examples from the extract in your answer. (This means that a good candidate will write fully and freely, covering more than just 2 examples, as we practised in class).
Worth 5 marks: write half a side of A4 and post on your blog tonight. If you have DoE, take an extra 24 hours.

Forms of editing include: slow-motion, different kind of cuts and transitions etc. In cuffs editing is used on various occasions to create meaning. 

In the scene when DI Felix Kane is talking to the mother of the child who is abducted by her father, a "shot, reverse shot" is used. A shot reverse shot is, like the name suggests, when the camera shows one person speaking and then cuts to the other person and shows their reaction and then their reply. In this scene the "shot, reverse shot" shows how upset the mother is and how embarrassed the detective is and how he refuses to meet the mothers eyes. 

Immediate after this scene there is a scene when DI Kane is re-watching the video of the father with the child in a hotel room. Another "shot, reverse shot" is used here and really creates meaning as the detective realises that he has found a clue whilst watching the recording. The last shot is held on the detective's face as he realises the clue and shows the realisation and almost joy on his face as he realises that he has found where the father is. The detective then rushes out of the room to go to the hotel and a shot is shown of the clue he has found on the TV. The clue he has found is the name of the hotel. 

In one of the last scenes, we see Jake training with Ryan and the others. Several cross-dissolves are used when they are running from point to point. These are used to show that a lot of time has passed and to show that they have been training very hard. It is also used to show when some of the people training get out of breath and can't run anymore. 

At the very end a chain of scenes is shown about what each of the characters and what they go home to. It is partly satisfying and partly sad as we see the contrast between what Jake goes home to and what Jo Moffat goes home to. Jake has a big happy family and Jo doesn't. We also see the Indian boy in the hospital fighting for his life. 

The editing helps further develop the emotions we will feel when watching each scene and exaggerates the emotions the characters feel.  

Cuffs Mise-en-scene

PREP Analyse how mise-en-scene is used in the extract from Cuffs to create meaning. Refer to at least two examples from the extract in your answer. (This means that a good candidate will write fully and freely, covering more than just 2 examples, as we practised in class).

In the beginning, the chief superintendent is speaking in the head-quarters of the East-Sussex police force. It is a very formal environment, everyone is dressed formally and are standing with their hands together in a very formal way. In this scene the Chief is also speaking very formally using sophisticated and formal language. This mise-en-scene makes sense as, the Chief is introducing the new police constables and certifying them as having got the job. 

When Jake and Ryan are at the house of the drug addict, there is a mise-en-scene giving an incite as to what the drug-addict's life is like. There are piles of clothes and beer bottles all over the floor. The drug addict also has messy, unshaven facial hair and sores on his face. This shows that he is unwilling or unable to clean up as he either can't do it, feels there is no point or is focused on doing other things. 

When the young Indian man is stabbed a sinister mise-en-scene is created. When we first see the Indian boy he is presented as a happy, polite, middle-class boy. He is wearing a smart shirt and is clearly in a happy mood. When group of racist thugs arrive we instantly know they are bad news. The clothing that they were instantly tells us that they are thugs. Sinister music also plays when the thugs walk into the shop.