1. In what ways does this media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
2. The majority of music magazines within this genre often choose to have the main
image which is present on the front cover to overlap the masthead – because of the
fact that this is a first edition magazine I chose not to do this as otherwise, they will
not be able to clearly read the masthead and therefore, if they do not understand
that my music magazine is of the rock genre from the cover lines and the colours
used, they may not decide to pick up my magazine.
Similarly to those seen in my style models, I
have chose to use a footer which showcases
what else the magazine has to offer – this is
effective in attracting a wider audience as it
would inform the audience that there is more
inside the magazine.
I have chose to stick to using the colours
black/white/grey as my main colours and colours such
as red/yellow to highlight importance. This was used
in order for my magazine to connote the genre which
it was part of as these dark colours would be seen as
reflecting the Rock genre.
In the rock genre, usually the
magazine’s main image is a
medium shot which shows the
facial expression of the main
subject of the image but also
shows what they are wearing –
this is essential in attracting the
audience as my artist is wearing
merchandise of another band
linked with the same genre.
Like Kerrang, I have decided to put a
competition where the readers of my
magazine can win prizes and similarly to
Kerrang, I have chose to use a different
colour for the word WIN! In order for it to
attract more attention than it did before and
due to the fact that my colour scheme is
mainly black white and grey the use of the
colour yellow in my case highlights
importance.
3. Like Kerrang, my main cover line is
larger than the rest of the cover lines
present on my front cover. This is
essential in attracting the attention of
the audience and it also tells the
audience what the main focus of the
magazine is on.
Many music magazines make use of smaller images on the
front cover to act as a visual cover line to make the front
cover look aesthetically pleasing and is often placed within
the primary optical area or the strong fallow area – the
reason why I decided against doing this was because I didn’t
want to deter away from the main focus of my front cover
and I thought that my cover lines would be better at
attracting the attention of the audience rather than doing
this.
I have input my barcode and the price of the magazine
on the front cover as I thought it was important that
the audience are able to clearly see how much the
magazine costs in order for them to be able to buy it. I
placed my barcode and the price in the bottom left
hand corner of the page, this is the bit of the page
which isn’t looked at as much as the other corners of
the page and therefore, this does not distract away
from the information present on the main cover.
Many of the magazines which I looked at in my research into Rock
magazines made use of an ‘eroded’ style font as you can see using Kerrang
as an example, I therefore made use of this as it is then instantly
recognisable from the audience’s point of view that this magazine is of the
rock genre and therefore this would promote recognition amongst the
target audience.
4. Unlike this particular issue of Kerrang, I have
decided to incorporate information on a festival
which is popular amongst the target audience of
my magazine and the fact that this would be
exclusive information would persuade the reader
into buying the magazine in order to find out the
latest information regarding the festival.
Like Kerrang, I have used the word exclusive
on my page in order to promote the idea
that the information present in the
magazine is information that can only be
found in my magazine and not others of the
same genre.
Similarly to Kerrang, I have made use of a sky line. However, unlike the sky line of
Kerrang I have used mine to advertise things which aren’t necessarily seen as
features but would attract the attention of the reader due to the size of the font
and the stroke behind it. Also, the fact that I have decided to mention tours
would link well with my cover line of the 2015 Gig Guide – this can be seen as me
maintaining consistency on the cover of my magazine as I am constantly trying to
attract the attention of my target audience.
I have conformed to the convention of having the date displayed by the barcode and price as I
feel as if by doing this, the audience are clearly able to recognise the magazine as following
the conventions which would make them more likely to pick up as they would not be picking
up a magazine which is trying to do something new with the information inside.
I have to stuck to mainly using one font (except from my
masthead) as this is seen within magazines of the same genre
and the fact that my text is capitalized not only goes with the
masthead of ‘IMPACT’, it also goes along with what is seen
within the music magazines of the Rock genre and this is seen in
Kerrang as this would be something which would connote the
loud nature of Rock music and therefore, this would attract
attention to my front cover and this is further showing that my
music magazine is one which is of the Rock genre.
5. Similarly to Kerrang, I have chose to display (part of) my masthead on the
contents page and have also changed the colour of contents to the colour red in
order for it to stand out more, as this would be seen as a colour which could be
linked with the rock genre as the connotations which it has would be associated
with danger – especially wen twinned with the colour yellow, which I have done
specifically for this to happen.
Like Kerrang, I have decided to
display each of my columns down
the right hand side to conform to
expectations of the audience. I
have also used different colours
for the subheadings and different
colours for the features and for
the different page numbers in
order to attract attention to
them so that they will be clearly
visible and the reader is able to
see the information which
appeals to them and which page
this is on easily.
It is a convention of music magazines to have an editor’s note present within the contents page
and I have (like Kerrang) placed mine in the weak fallow area for the note to not deter away
from the information present on the right hand side of the page. The fonts which I have used
would attract the audience into reading the note and the fact that I have subverted my capital
letter usage would be seen as conforming to expectations also as it makes the note seem more
friendly and more welcoming as opposed to relating to the masthead of ‘IMPACT’.
Kerrang has decided to make use of shapes
such as stars to attract their audience, I
decided against doing this as I felt as if the use
of these stars could be seen as patronising
amongst my target audience and therefore,
decided against doing this as the target
audience would primarily be teenagers.
6. I have decided to repeat my cover date and the issue number on the
contents page as because of the fact that this was placed within the weak
fallow area on my front cover, it may not have been seen and putting it on
the contents page again in larger font with more attention drawn to it
would be effective as it would then be seen by the audience who have not
already seen it. Kerrang also do this by placing their masthead and the
text of ‘contents’ in the Primary Optical Area – like myself.
I have made use of social media websites such as Twitter and
Facebook by displaying their icons in the terminal area as the
audience which I am targeting would be adept at using
technology and therefore, they can keep up to date with the
latest information in the genre through this.
Unlike Kerrang, I have decided to display the number of the page in
the terminal area as this does not deter away from any of the
information present on the contents page and this would be seen as
me subverting genre expectations as the leading magazine of my
chosen genre does not display this information.
I have used two photos within my
contents page and they are both
captioned – however, the caption
they both come with is on the top of
the image as opposed to below
anchoring it – this is me subverting
expectations subtly which links with
the theme of rebellion seen within
the Rock industry and the Mise-en-
scene of the photo is seen as
industrial due to the use of the bricks
behind. The images both depict the
artists as smiling instead of looking
serious as this is also effective in
attracting attention due to the fact
that this is seen as more welcoming
to the target audience.
I have made no reference to the other features of my magazine except
from introducing them – Kerrang captions their titles with information
about them – the reason I did not do this is because of the fact that I
think my sub-headings introduce what the articles are about to the
reader well and therefore, there is no need for me to clutter my contents
page like Kerrang have.
7. I have used a title – titles are not always
conventions of my genre as evidenced by the
lack of one in the article next to it.
The use of a main image is conforming to the genre’s
expectations and by using this on the one page, I am able to
have all of the information clearly displayed on the first page.
The information starts off in the Primary Optical Area usually
and I have chose to subvert this slightly by placing my text
lower down on the screen – this would hint at a sense of
rebellion which would be seen as a convention of the Rock
genre.
I have conformed to the conventions of the music magazine
by using a dropcap to start my article – this dropcap is used
effectively in attracting the audience due to the fact that this
letter is prominent within the article due to its size.
The fact that my artist is holding a guitar on the image within
the double page spread is more representative of genre
expectations as opposed to the original plan I had of having
an image like this on the front cover.
I have subverted the expectations of the audience
and subverted the convention of displaying the pull
quote within the text and I have placed it on my
image in order to attract more attention than there
was previous to this.
The black clothing which is used in both articles hints
at the colour black being heavily associated with the
Rock genre – this colour connotes dark/evil – both of
these themes would be linked with this genre.
I have used direct address in my double-
page spread as this is a convention which I
think if I subverted the spread would not
look professional in design.
