Further analysis of 'Top Of The Pops' magazine

As 'Top Of The Pops' magazine is going to be my style model for the main part of my coursework task, I have decided to do a more in-depth and detailed analysis of it.

Front Cover

The title of the magazine runs across the top of the page in large, bold writing, and the date, issue number and barcode are at the bottom in the middle, which is actually quite unusual for a magazine, because this part is usually closer to the title. Everything on the front cover is situated around the main feature/cover star so that the main attention is paid to them. The largest font on the front cover is also associated with the cover star in the form of a quote from the interview that celebrity had with the magazine. Other special features have been circled or put into a box to show importance but not detract attention away from the main article. Another device which has been used to draw in the reader's attention is the use of alliteration: "107 brilliant bargain buys" - this makes the statement a lot more catchy and interesting. In addition to this, the "107" is in a much larger font than a lot of the other font on the front cover, and so this draws attention to that part of the magazine. The things that have been put on the front cover are clearly things that the production teams think are going to make the magazine sell the most. This is then emphasised with tricks or play-on-words. For example, in the box which says "Hitched or Ditched?", there are 2 famous stars, who you would assume to be in a relationship from the way in which the writing has been worded, but once you actually look inside the magazine, you find out that they are not dating each other but completely random people. This tricks the readers into buying the magazine, because they think that two famous celebrities are getting together, when in fact, the article does feature both of them, but not within the same situation.

Contents Page

The contents page is separated into several different simple sections to break up all of the different articles within it. This is helpful for the main target audience (kids to teenagers) because it is then easy for them to find the exact articles they are interested in reading.

The most relevant/exciting/best articles or parts of the magazine have been highlighted so that readers can easily find the pages they want to be looking at. This is also aided by the small picture of the front cover which has been inputted onto the contents page and annotated to emphasise exactly where the main articles are situated.

The colour scheme on the contents page is very similar to that of the front cover, which inkeeps with the house style.
Instead of the headline/heading of the contents page being the most obvious "Contents", the magazine has tried to make itself sound cooler and perhaps more appealing to the target audience by headlining it "Inside the mag...". The abbreviation of "magazine" to "mag" is typical of a pop magazine aimed at kids and teenagers, because they are trying to use the same kind of colloquial language that younger people in the hope that they become more easy to relate to.

Double Page Spread (Interview)

The title of the interview is a quote from within the interview, which is likely to be the best or most shocking quote from the entire interview. This single line is often enough to make the reader want to read the whole article. For example, in the case of this issue of 'Top Of The Pops' magazine, the quote from Justin Bieber is as follows, "Yes, I was bullied!" Seeing as Justin Bieber is such a huge star all over the world at the minute, thousands of fans are going to want to know why anyone would want to bully their idol and what exactly it was that the bullies did to him. There is also another quote in a smaller font further into the interview which reveals slightly more about what the interview is about. Before the main quote, there is always some kind of tagline to introduce the celebrity and the subjects that they are being quizzed about. For example, the tagline from this particular interview states, "Even the world's biggest star isn't safe from the haters, as JUSTIN sadly admits." This clearly gives information about both the celebrity and the topics/issues being raised.

The box in the top left hand corner of the double page says, "Exclusive interview" which really emphasises how famous the interviewee is and how privileged/lucky the magazine is to have been able to interview this celebrity.

At the end of the interview, there is a box giving advice to anyone who has problems with any of the issues raised within the interview (bullying, in this case) just to make sure the readers don't feel as if the issues have been brushed over and ignored because the interviewee is now a huge star. This obviously is not added to every interview, but for interviews that address sensitive topics, then this is essential. The fact that the interview with Justin Bieber is all about bullying makes it a lot more personal because when people are bullied, it is often quite a private issue which you don't want to open up about. Interviews which get stars to reveal secrets or issues from the past are often the most successful and I will have to think about this when I create the interview for my own magazine.

The photographs of the celebrity being interviewed have to be relevant to what the interview is about, and so in this article, Justin Bieber has been dressed up as a school student because this is where a lot of bullying tends to take place. For example, he is wearing a rucksack, carrying school books and holding a basketball, which is often a hobby taken up at school. This is something else I will have to consider when I am deciding on the locations and people that I want to have in my photoshoot for the double page spread of my magazine.

The colour scheme within this double page spread is a drastic change from the colour scheme on the front cover and the contents page, but perhaps this is to highlight the fact that a famous celebrity is being interviewed and they need something completely different on the pages they are featured on to really make them stand out.