Fanzine PowerPoint- research

1. Fanzine Research
Caleb Wilcox

2. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread

3. Existing Product
This first existing fanzine product of which I have chosen to look at Is in fact a rock based fanzine, from looking at the front
cover of this rock based fanzine there is multiple standouts for me that make it stand out to be a fanzine based around rock
music. The first thing that I noticed to be quite influential to this fanzine is the color of heading/subheading/text. The
metal/silver color of the title and other text areas for me give it a instant hint that it is a rock based fanzine because the
metal/silver colors have always connected to the rock music genre due to the cold/heartless appeal of which they have
hence why they have always been relatable to the rock music genre. The background image for the front cover is quite
appealing and drawing to a viewer of this fanzine as the image is of a shot of a city street but at more dusk, but what makes
it especially appealing is more how it looks like a faded background image which is clever as the author of this fanzine is
wanting you to be able to see the back image but not be so drawn to it that you don’t really view the rest of the cover. Not
just this but it also makes the rest of the front cover stand out, for example it makes the person ’Richard Marx’ stand out
against the background image its as if they have used a 3D effect to make him stand out against the background and text as
you can he his head is overlapping the title, which makes him almost appear as if they have glued a picture of him down
onto the front cover, which is effective as it makes him stand/bounce out more against the background ,especially by the
way that he is stood side on its almost as if he is letting the viewer look past him to view the background/rest of front cover.
The design of the double page spread of which I screen grabbed is one that you get the instant opinion that it has been
designed for rock music, you can get the instant opinion of this just by looking at the way its been layed out around the
edges of pictures and text it looks as if someone has just scribbled around the edge in anger/fury or from listening to rock
music and taking out his/hers anger/frustration, this is a strong design feature that helps to show how some people express
themselves when listening to rock music. The chosen images in the double page spread seem to be giving two different
representations, the one on the right is showing a dark image of a rock band on a black background with a fire going on, this
is a photo expressing what rock music is really about, the photo of the band is probably trying to influence what the band is
more into and that I believe is playing heavy/dark rock music. On the second page there is another image of a rock band but
this time it is showing a much different approach as from looking at it, it seems to be giving a much brighter approach
towards rock artists/bands hence the white background, or unless it is trying to represent it as being
bland/boring/depressing which would suggest that rock music has two different sides to it, one being dark and depressing ,
the other being sad and bland.

4. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread

5. Existing Product
This existing fanzine product is one that has more been based around Football but imparticuly one that has been based
around the football team ‘Newcastle United’, this can be clearly seen/pointed out by any viewer of the front cover by the
fact that it has one of ‘Newcastle United’ players dead center and with the majority of the front cover being more aimed
towards him It would be hard to miss that. Some people may say that having a star player of a certain team center on the
front cover would be seen as favourism but this is not the case with this franzine as the whole thing is actually based around
‘Newcastle United’. This would explain why the background of the front cover behind the player is actually the stripes of the
football shirt that the player is wearing but instead of it being in color it has been changed to a faded black and white, I
think that this was a good thing for them to do because I believe that its giving a sense of history behind the club and trying
to give the viewer the sense that they are going back and taking a look at the clubs history. The background of the front
cover and the star player on the front cover kind of link together because the player is clearly happy/victorious/celebrating
and the background is maybe trying to influence there glory days of the past/trying to not let people forget that they are
still a winning/victorious team. From looking at the front cover you obviously get the idea that this fanzine Is all about
‘Newcastle United’, so It doesnt take a geniuse to work out that the screengrab of the double page spread from this fanzine
I took Is about the team and the teams home ground ‘ St James Park’, this double page spread is layed out to look a bit like a
newspaper article which can be seen from reading the text you can see that it has all been layed out in text boxes and
margins, I find this to be quite strange as I wouldn't’t have expected for articles in a fanzine to be layed out/presented in a
formal manor like a newspaper article, especially with the way that fanzines are given out to people around the world,
especially with the audience focus being more towards people who went/go to gigs/festivals. I find the general design of
this double page to be quite simplistic but effective and strong, the black/dark blue background makes the text stand out
much more, not only that but the white from the text and the dark background could be trying to give representation of the
stripes of the ‘Newcastle United jersey’ with the black and white stripes of which the jersey has. From this you can get the
impression that the article is going to be about ‘`Newcastle United’ before you start to read it, this might not be the case for
some as they may not see this small link . The double page spread also features a close up picture/image of the entrance
wall of ‘St James Park’ in the top right hand corner, this gives me the impression that the main subject of this double page
spread is more aimed towards there home ground and maybe the home crowd/fans which would make sense with there
being a subtitle ‘tough crowd’ again in the black and white refering to the black and white stripes on the teams jersey.

6. Existing Product
Front cover Double Page Spread

7. Existing ProductThis fanzine of which I have chosen to look at now is a quite different to the ones that I have been looking at previously, this fanzine
is more based around the ‘comic’ genre and the marvel scene. From looking at the front cover of this fanzine you get the instant
impression that it is based around the comic theme/genre, the main thing that gave this away for me was the heading at the top of
the cover as it seems to have been created in comical/space text which can be seen by the way that it is so big and bold, making it an
instant eye catcher, especially by the fact that it is on a white background so any color is standing of the white. I think that the white
background also gives the title a kind of 3D effect towards especially by the slight slanting of it which makes it look like it is zooming
past or about to zoom away, this is good as it makes the front cover look more detailed and eye catching to a viewer/ glance /reader.
Not just that but it also makes it seem more comical rather then it looking more formal, which is obviously what they didn't’t want
to do. For me the main color stand out on the front cover is the color of the title at the top of the front cover because it more looks
like they have taken the color of ‘Captain America’ outfit/costume or maybe of a spaceship, it really stands out from the white
background and just seems to be a appealing color that it’s the kind of color that I would like to see if I were to make a comic/marvel
based fanzine. Another of the main design standouts on the front cover of this fanzine is the big ‘100’ in the center of the cover,
what I find to be especially drawing to this is the idea that it is created out of clips from comics/covers/comic films that actually
show all the hero’s e.g. Spiderman from the marvel films, this is a key design standout for this fanzine and is something that would
definitely draw people In to viewing it, this would be looking at a wide age range of audience as it will obviously appeal to the
younger audience but also to a older audience/those who are older but still have an interest in comic based stuff like this. From
looking at the screengrab of the double page spread of which I have screen grabbed I also get a comical like impression from looking
at it. With this being the first double page in this fanzine you get two different layout styles on the left hand page it is more a list
with it just giving of the content of the fanzine, the second page is set out to be a bit like a newspaper underneath the pictures on
the right page as it has been layed out in margins/ columns but has also been wrapped around the images, this is a good feature to
include as some people like to be reading the text and also be able to view images/pictures along the way to illustrate the text
instead of having to look somewhere else to view the picture/read the text. One design feature of which I feel stands out in this
double page spread again is the title/text at the top left hand page because It again has that big bold stand out 3D style text with it
this time looking more like balloon text as if it is about to burst/explode, not just that though but it also stands out against the again
plain white background especially with that bright blue again which is quite an eye catcher/drawer when looking at I against a white
background, which I think is something quite good to do as the text at the top is busy trying to emphasize that it is the 100th issue.
I believe that on a whole if you took this fanzine to a gig/festival it would sell quite well/ be given out easily because I think that
there would be quite a lot of people there who would have an interest in marvel/comics as pretty much everyone likes a good
marvel film.

8. Research summary
• Summarise what you have learned about
fanzines.
From looking at the fanzines above and analysing them, there is quite a few thins of which I have learnt
about them, one of the main things that I have learnt about them is that you can create them about
anything you want and put anything in them as long as they have some form of text in them to go with the
pictures/images. I have also realised that there is a wide audience range when it comes to fanzines as you
can create them about what you want, so you will be able to aim it towards any audience, depending on
what you want to create it around. Also I have realised that you don’t have to buy them, at first I thought it
would be like a normal magazine, you have to buy it, but no they are free and most common to be handed
out at gigs/festivals, this I found surprised me the most because I thought you would have to buy them like
you do with everything else. But on a whole it was something of which I hadn’t heard of before until given
the brief and started with research, even when I started my research I thought that it would be just like a
magazine but that is where I was wrong as it may seem like a magazine at first but actually it is quite
different. When I was conducting my research I tried to come up with links with the different fanziens of
which I researched but I was unable to so because I couldn’t really find any and then it dawned on me that
pretty much every single fanzine is different so it made it quite difficult to come up with links between the
different fanzines.

9. Initial Ideas

10. Idea 1

11. Idea 2

12. Idea 3

13. Bibliography

14. Bibliography
1. MRF (2012). Melodic Rock Fanzine. .: issuu.com. 1-24
2. True Faith (2015).issuu.com.1-29
3. Light, A (2017). Back issue 100th. .:TwoMorrows Publishing. 1-3