Task 2: Researching Music Magazines
DJ
Magazine (known as DJ Mag) is a British Magazine which focuses on electronic
dance music and DJ's. Founded on January 31st 1991, this popular monthly
magazine has its own translated versions in 10 different languages, with Polish
being for the last 5 years (according to Wikipedia 2015).
Image
The
image of Berliner Thomas Gold is taken at a medium shot, with a large amount of
the picture taken with a shadow on him. on the right of his body, is the
brightest, where we can clearly see him and what he looks like, his eyes, ears
and facial hair. But, the left side of him is far from it. It is dark, and
almost silhouette like. By wearing a black shirt, this darkness of the left
side of his body and mainly his arm blends in. By having the image taken in
this way, it may be portraying that there is more than what meets the eye with
him,you don’t get the full image. it can also be to do with the theme of his
music, that he does 'Metal', hence the name Metal Guru. In the background, we
see two shades of gold in various shapes. The shapes can vaguely be seen on the
bottom right of his shirt. This could be representing his name, in the fact
that he has a gold background to a picture of himself with his name being
Berliner Thomas 'Gold'.
Conventions of page layout
The
font used in this magazine is very standard – easy to read and not too posh or
fancy. The double page spread is shaped like a newspaper, written in
columns,but styled in a Q&A style, with the questions in the same font and
size as the rest of the writing, but just in bold to make it clear and show the
beginning of new columns. the main part that stands out in this double page
spread, as it should be, is the header text. 'Metal Guru'. The Metal
part (written in bold) stands out the most, in a much thicker, black writing,
which can be related to Berliner and his black top and shadowy figure. Although
there is the header text and drop cap at the beginning of the columns, we do
not see any pull quotes. This may be for many reasons, but one reason I can see
why is because there is not much writing on the page anyway, so the header text
itself should be enough to drag the reader in if there is not going to be a
pull quote. Also, to go along with the dark theme is the black writing. Being
the most standard colour for typing it links with everything else, and gives
the best contrast of black and white, meaning it is easy to read.
Language
Written
in a Q&A style, this piece of writing, is very formal, as we are reading
what he was saying in person. The tone of the language was very calm, it
allowed us to read it in our heads and imagine just how he would have said it,
which most people would like. The structure, as we said before is like how a
newspaper would display its articles. In this format, it makes the writing look
more professional. The writing itself is separated, and does not collide with
the gold background or Berliner himself. This makes the writing stay on one
page, and doesn’t make it hard to read.
Genre
The
picture of him was most likely taken on a white background, to allow someone
else to edit the gold in, and make for a more professional image. This makes it
different to others, and shows a genre of being more towards the younger
generation – laid back, simple dressing of just a black top, whereas he could
have been dressed in a suit and have a more explosive background, which might
show it is aimed at a different type of audience.
After it was marked, my teacher gave me a C grade, with a few notes that could help me achieve a better grade. 
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