1. ANALYSIS OF TOP OF THE POPS MAGAZINE
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Bethany Ryalls

3. THE MASTHEAD
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The masthead shown reads ‘Being Bella…’ at the time of release, the film trilogy ‘Twilight’ was
immensely popular. It had a wide audience from young teenagers to older adults. The desired
audience for this magazine is young girls, most of which will be ‘obsessed’ with the films.
Therefore, by using this title the target audience are more than likely going to read it because it
involves them finding things out about the actress from the film that they like. Also, even if some
readers do not know who ‘Bella’ is then the main image of actress, Kristen Stewart, is
anchorage.
•
In addition, colours for the masthead are pink and white. The pink is self-explanatory as the
article is reaching out to girls. White and pink are complimentary colours and it makes the
overall aesthetics of the title look pleasing.
•
As well as the colours, little images of moons and stars are surrounding the masthead and are
conventional to the film because it involves vampires and fictional creatures. This theme within
the film then connotes darkness and night which leads to the moon and stars being relevant to
the article title.
•
Finally, the ellipses (…) creates anticipation within the spread because it suggests to be
continued and will make the reader want to find out everything else included.

4. THE INTRO
• The intro or otherwise known as the ‘kicker’ to the article has been situated
underneath the headline. Alliteration has been used with the words ‘freaking
out and falling over’ this adds a fun and youthful affect for younger readers as it
rolls off the tongue and makes it easier to read. The intro has been used as a
bridge from the headline and the rest of the article because it summarises the
rest of the text and attracts attention from the reader as they will want to know
what is included in the writing before they decide to read it. After reading the
intro it can make audiences want to read on further as , especially with younger
audiences, it can create curiosity as to what other information is in the spread.
Furthermore, it sets the tone of the article and referring to my earlier point, it
adds a youthful tone because the words used are upbeat and fun.
• Consequently, the word ‘sensational’ has been used to describe ‘star Kristen
Stewart’. ‘Sensational’ is a superlative and has been used to make the subject
of the article sound better by emphasising how good she is.

5. MISE-EN-SCENE
•
The main image is a medium shot of the actress that the article is based on. Her clothes are
plain and simple, this could be because she doesn’t need to dress up extremely fancy
because the young audience viewing the article will not being paying a lot of attention to the
clothes she is wearing; they will be more excited just to see pictures of the subject. However,
this could be interpreted differently because the character the subject plays in the film trilogy
dresses plain and simplistic which they could then be showing through her clothes in this
issue.
•
A pull quote has been used below the main image. Pull quotes are used to entice the reader
by showing them what they think is one of the most interesting things in the article. It gives
the audience an idea as to what else is included.
•
Subsequently, there are several other pictures of the subject dotted across both pages. Again,
this is for the benefit of the younger girls that will be reading the issue, their young age means
that they will be excited to see pictures of the subject as they know and enjoy who she is.
These pictures are enclosed in a bright pink colour once again connoting girly girls.
•
The colour scheme of the double page spread is pink, white and black. The black background
to the article relates to the film that the subject stars in and this is the preferred reading by the
editor.

6. THE LAYOUT
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The article is laid out in precise and clear paragraphs. This enables the text to be simple
and not difficult to read.
•
The context of the story is an interview with subject and therefore the questions are
highlighted in pink and the subjects answers written directly below in white. Due to Top of
the Pop readers being younger than others they have had an interview rather than a story
about the actress. In other music magazines such as ‘Q’ and ‘Billboard’ they do not
always feature interviews, they will usually have a story from a third person perspective
whereas this may be too complicated for younger audiences. Therefore, by having a
direct interview with the artist it makes it easier for the readers to take in.