LIIAR analysis

MOJO

Language

The shot taken of David Bowie is a medium close-up that gives the impression that he is looking directly at the reader, trying to draw them in. this can act as a technique to grab the readers attention into taking a closer look at the magazine. Also by displaying a very famous classical rock artist, it not only indicates the genre of music to the audience, it also immediately creates an appeal to certain readers that may already be a fan of David Bowie. The masthead is displayed behind the main image almost so the reader cant read what it says. This indicates that the magazine is well established, and therefor don’t need the name on full display to be recognisable. It also follows the colour scheme or black and orange, two of the common colours used in rock magazines and therefor helps to display the genre.

Bauer Media Group publishes Mojo; a large cooperation that also publishes such magazines as KERRANG and Q. Bauer is a multinational cooperation that has its headquarters based in Germany. The privately owned, family business has been in the media industry for over 130 years and in that time has grown from being a small printing house to a huge worldwide distributer, with a circulation of around 38 million magazines printed a week. Not only does Bauer Media Group create published magazines, it also plays a huge role in broadcasting, with its 50% stake in Box television, it has been able to widen their marketing to other fields of media.

Mojo reveals to the reader that its rebellious and doesn’t want to follow the rules, with Bowie’s bright orange hair and the orange background of the magazine, it stands out to the reader from all the other traditional looking magazines.

Mojo is a magazine aimed towards classical rock lovers 30 years and over, as it displays the more mature/older bands and artists of classical rock. This is also highlighted through the display of more articles than advertisements and reviews for concerts and festivals, where a younger reader would be interested in these kind of articles, the age range targeted from mojo are not seen as stereotypical ‘hard rockers’ so the headline for the ‘Isle of Wight festival’ is one of the smallest cover lines, indicating that festivals aren’t the kind of thing the target audience will be looking for.

The magazine caters for classic rock lovers, showing David Bowie on the front cover who is one of the most famous classic rock artists. This genre of music is also represented through the choice in colour scheme, as blacks, reds and oranges are used fairly regularly to represent the genre of music. With the medium close-up on Bowie’s face, the reader can feel the overall grasp of the music genre of the magazine, as he looks mysterious and intense in his actions. He also looks as if he is looking directly at the reader and trying to draw them in.

 The layout of the double page spread continues to follow the stylistics used for the front cover and links with the cover line ‘how electronic music saved David bowie’. The background behind Bowie and the text on the double page spread resembles a circuit board, this links with the article being about ‘electronic’ music. The picture of Bowie is a long shot of the side of his face. He facial expression and slouched position gives the reader the impression that Bowie is rebellious and doesn’t try to stick to what others think is acceptable.

The contents page doesn’t follow the same pattern as the front page and double page spread but goes for a totally new colour scheme and layout. The other featured stories are placed down the right side of the page and are all equal in size indicating that none of them are any more important than the other and are just page filler stories. The contents page continues to tell the reader the issue, date and title, continuing to declare its name and create an image for the magazine.