Music Mag Photo

Music Mag Photo

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  MUSIC MAGAZINE PHOTO JOURNALISM ANALYSISAND RESEARCH INTO MUSIC MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHY FRONT COVERS
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  MOJO MAGAZINE This image usedby ‘MOJO’ portrays the simplicity in which can COVER encapsulate an audience; the image is striking and poignant. John Lennon acts as the focal point of the issue, his stance is shown with a close up shot on his face, his eyes gaze directly to the reader and his face adopts a neutral pose. The SFX on the photo depicts the photography as dated and antiquated; the sepia tones create a mesh between the typography colour and the image, making a simple colour scheme appear powerful and distinctive. The photo itself is in the form of portraiture; it denotes vulnerability and simplicity implying that the issue will be personalised to this artist.
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  ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE COVER Thisedition of ‘Rolling Stone’ creates a cartoon/caricature effect; it doesn’t follow traditional gritty realism photography techniques in order to portray raw emotion – it amplifies fakery and distorted reality. It also mimics WW2 propaganda portraying women as not just an item of sex appeal but a protagonist. The colour scheme on the cover reinforces this ideology; the blue, white and red adhere to the retro environment of the photo. The stance by the artist Christina Aguilera is a very staged and unnatural one; her hand is stationed around her forehead in a salute with her mouth slightly ajar to implying that she is performing and her gaze is direct at the audience with her head tilted upwards showing off the mid long shot that correlates with the theme.
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  VIBE MAGAZINE This example ofphoto journalism is not the most innovative one; it is COVER gimmicky and predictable in terms of conventions of magazines. The artist in question, Michael Jackson, adopts a forced, garish pose, captured with a close up, in which his hand is placed in a pensive stance with his head tilted slightly on a downwards gradient keeping his gaze direct at the audience. This type of stature is stereotypical among 80s/90s magazines, denoting its discord in modern day magazine photography. The colour scheme too is very flamboyant and mainstream; the use of block colours illustrate the juvenility and almost satirical connotations it has, feeling misplaced among a musical legend creating a conflicting piece of photography.
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  BILLBOARD MAGAZINE COVER This pieceof photo journalism is unique and engaging; the use of colour and SFX create an innovative style of capturing photos. The artist Rihanna being the focal point of the issue appears to be leaning over, with her back towards the camera looking over her shoulder holding a direct gaze with the audience. The use of a mid close up emphasises the closeness to the artist in such forms as the feature article. The use of SFX is used to drown out demure colours and highlight vibrant colours, making the artist pop out among the backdrop. The colour scheme appears to circulate around the colour red, denoting anger, rebellion and love, perhaps again correlating with the feature article successfully.
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  TOTP MAGAZINE it is Thisis another less enticing piece of music magazine photography; COVER of photos onto the dated and meretricious. The use of superimposition main image detracts from its desired effect, the photo of artist Justin Bieber blends in among the backdrop. The stance adopted by the artist is also meagre and stereotypical; his head is slightly tilted, gaze directed at the audience, smiling, with his finger pointed at the audience. This superficial pose makes the audience lose relation with the artist as it is a clearly staged pose and not realistic. The colour scheme doesn’t tie in with the main image either; there is a lack of fluidity and correlations between the image and the rest of the cover.
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  SPIN MAGAZINE A goodexample of photo journalism skill is in this cover of ‘Spin’ in which COVER the artist Lily Allen creates an obscure persona to adopt on camera. Her pose is visible with a mid long shot, her hands are on her hips adopting a stereotypical fashion magazine pose with her legs slightly apart. Her mouth is also slightly ajar with her gaze directed at the audience. Her shoulders are also slightly hunched, creating a different meaning to the dominant hands on hips pose. The colour palate used are carnival-esque, with brash, conflicting colours meshed together, also asserting the discord between the pose and the meaning. There also appears to be a rabbit in her hair, adhering to the carnival theme.
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  Q MAGAZINE COVER This edition of Q magazine is revolutionary in the colours and stance it uses in terms of mainstream music magazines. The artist Chris Martin (Coldplay) is captured in a quirky, albeit strange dancing pose, which is not common in terms of placing in magazines, especially front covers. However Q pulls this off successfully; the long shot allows the audience to be in full shot of what is going on in the image, imploring its gritty realism in portrayal of artists. The colour scheme works well alongside the image; the use of graffiti, urban walls surrounding him would conjure images of bleak, grey colours but the SFX contradicts this convention by reviving the mise-en- scene with bold, brash neon colours correlating with this modern image.
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  NME MAGAZINE This special edition cover of NME illustrates expertise in the COVER photographer in capturing this innocent yet poignant image of Amy Winehouse. The image is a mid close up, featuring the artist tilted sideways to the camera exposing the tattoo on her arm, her shoulder is lifted slightly as if it were a shrug with a serene look on her face. The colour scheme being black and white monotone imply the loss of an artist, portraying that the image is in the past. The heavy use of black also has connotations with grieving and sorrow, adhering to the issue’s focal point of the tragic death of Amy. The fact that the image is the sole item on the cover also reinforces its poignancy; the loss of talent is indescribable.
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  KERRANG MAGAZINE or thought Amongother magazine photography this image is not as striking COVER‘Kerrang!’ it is the provoking. However, in keep with other issues of most classic yet engaging cover; it features the rock culture that is ‘Kerrang!’s USP but in a less flamboyant manner. The band Green Day being the focal point have the main singer superimposing the backing musicians of the band, asserting who is more powerful/authoritarian amongst the others. Their facial expressions are extravagant; adopting alluring eye gazes and apparent screams, all visible clearly due to the use of a mid close up. The colour in the image are muted tones, in a medium between black and white and colour, portraying a balance between extremes.
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  CLASH MAGAZINE Compared toother magazine photography already analysed, this COVER cover doesn’t appear to have its desired effect; it is faded and monotonous. The image features the artist Jamie XX forming an almost bored-like stature; his head is placed in his hand correlating with tire and being uninterested, his shoulder are hunched forward and his head is tilted downwards. All of these aspects of body language add up to a sense of a mundane environment. However, the image of a ‘monster’ emerging on the right hand side of the cover implies a second meaning to the front cover, implying perhaps that with boredom comes great imagination making the images success a difficult one to predict due to its ambiguity.