This is a Kaiser Chiefs article from an issue of Clash, which fits very well into the rock movement, and therefore isn't the style I want to do, however it will give me a good idea of conventions of double page spreads of a general popular magazine. Although the Kaiser Chiefs are quite mainstream, so maybe they are the kind of artist I could feature as a fusion genre. But as I'm aiming for grown-up pop, I may have to use the factors of the double page spread which make it aimed at the older audience and apply these to the pop style of my DSP.Starting with the image, I noticed it features all of the band members, however only 2 are carrying out the interview. This is something I've noticed often with magazine interviews, however it's not something I consider as a convention, as normally it's just because it's cheaper to have just a few band members. Unlike covers, all the band members are smiling, as now the readers are in the magazine, they need to be influenced to read the article, so the smiling conveys a happy sign to the readers, promoting the article as a source of diversion.
Also, I think the purpose of an image on a double page spread is to give the artist some identity, and then encode this for the reader to interpret themselves, which in turn leads to them forming an opinion of the band. Something that stands out to me about the image of the Kaiser Chiefs is that the majority of them are wearing sunglasses, although it may denote that it was just a sunny day so they needed them, it is also a recognised code which can position the reader into thinking it's cool to like them. This preferred reading should hopefully be recognised by most readers, as sunglasses have a fair amount of agreement to what they mean, as they are used a lot in popular culture, such as on the MSN emoticon for "cool". They are also a symbolic sign of celebrity status, as well as an opportunity to name a brand the audience might like, therefore making a connection between star and reader.
I also like how the image isn't in a studio, but out on an average street, as it looks more spontaneous and laid back, something which may appeal to part of the target audience, as it may resemble their own traits of a carefree lifestyle. This suggests for me that it is aimed at a younger audience, possibly around uni student age, as this kind of scene would be most familiar to them. Also it's been blurred slightly to again enhance that celebrity element, suggesting these people are much more important than the average life that goes on around them.
Their clothes are fairly fitting to the genre, and look even more like identity the target audience may adopt than the Jonas Brothers cover of the Amy Winehouse cover. Basically all of them are wearing a shirt of blazer, really imparting a sense of a fashion craze on the photo, which will be important for Clash as they are partly a fashion magazine.
The article itself also gives off a fairly spontaneous vibe. It begins almost like a story, which I believe sets the tone for the rest of the article. It is very light-hearted, casual and humorous, using elements of the latest gossip from the GQ awards and the band's feud with Noel Gallagher, combined with casual language which may intrigue the audience, like "peculiar cerise-hued bruise", "flicks decidedly" and "scissor kicking indie pop". I think this article gets the balance right between general chatter and music info, as there's the playful joke about the Feeling and "nice guys in indie" reputation, but there's also the scrapped US tour and new album talk, and therefore presents to the audience a well-rounded representation of the band.
I think the question and answer form that most of the article is in signifies some sort of relationship between the magazine and celebrity, and allows for chatter and inputs from the interviewer, which I personally think is much more effective than just large blocks of writing. I think the Q&A style of the article/interview is more aimed at the younger generation, and makes for light reading, whereas larger articles with no breaks that I briefly looked at in class seem to be for someone with much more of a genuine interest and larger attention span, so possibly a slightly older audience. I hope to use to the Q&A style as I find it much more flexible, however I think it poses a risk when combined with pop as it could seem too childish and not right for my target reader.
The font of the whole interview is just very plain and readable, generally what is expected of the mass writing part. However, bold is used to emphasise the input from the magazine. The title font I'm assuming is that of the Kaiser Chiefs but after some light research I haven't found the same font being used anywhere, but as I know fonts of the band are generally used in a feature, I'll just accept that it is. The font itself is very bold and has large serifs, giving it a fairly ornamental, classic look like the Rolling Stone logo, yet it is updated by not being filled, and just an outline. It's as if it's trying to make the Kaiser Chief brand recogniseable and memorable, and therefore uses the same font but smaller for the quote, as well as in italics for the blurb to try and imprint the brand.
The colours are fairly dark, and mostly black and white with accents of colour from the image, which I think does convey a rockier vibe to the reader, but also because the article itself is black on white, it may be read as quite serious by the reader as an obvious conotation would be that it looks like a newspaper. This may the the magazine trying to gain some credibility from the target reader so it becomes a respected music publication. I think the white block used to put the writing on gives it the whole spread a thrown together feel, like a scrapbook, which would be a reading I think a fairly young audience would accept, therefore appealing to their target readers.
I really like this DPS, although it's rockier than I picture my own, but I think the white block for the article part is a good way to make it seem more credible, and I've learnt a lot about how to write it. I think Clash in general leeks slightly into the pop genre with it's style, so I think the language in this is defnitely a kind I'll want to mimic.
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