1. In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In creating my magazine I researched other front cover, contents page and double page spread. Researching other published magazine helped me become aware of the conventions that are used in magazines. I used a majority of these conventions but challenged some conventions. I looked in close detail of other Indi genres. I found out that there were mimunal features on the front cover. They mostly focused on the person who was on the front cover or focused on the colours used. One of the magazines that I was inspired by was ‘Indie’. I thought that they captured the genre appropriately for the target audience. However, I changed several conventions throughout the front page, contents page and double page spread.

Front Cover:

When creating my front cover I wanted to attract my targeted audience, which were people who are interested in the indie/rock genre. I wanted my magazine to be similar to other indie/rock magazines.

However I didn’t want the layout to be too busy or to simplistic for example ‘NME’ layout is
really busy although the magazine ‘Indie’ has a simplistic layout.

simplistic layout

busy layout

This allowed me to add my own individual touch to it, as I was thinking about the target audience. The first step was to add a background picture. I researched the kind of clothes that an indie/rock person would wear, which is shown appropriately in the front cover. The girl in my front cover is wearing appropriate ‘Indie’ clothes, which will help me attract my target audience. Other magazines such as ‘KERRANG!’ and ‘NME’ have the artist/main feature wearing suitable clothes, which represent the genre and attract the target audience.
 

I then edited and manipulated the background picture in Photoshop. I decided to darken the picture slightly but add colour boost in some areas so that it would have an indie/rock feel to it.


Original picture:                        

After picture:

As you can see I have manipulated and cropped the picture. So that it would look different and fit my indie/rock genre. I edited this picture in photoshop and added colour boost so it would look indie, the picture would be more interesting and would appeal to my target audience.







I looked at and picked several mastheads’s to use but I felt that this one would be the best one for my magazine.

I wanted my masthead to stand out and catch the audience’s eye however I didn’t want it to look to ‘rocky’ like the ‘KERRANG!’ masthead below as I thought it would change the genre of my magazine.

I chose a simple colour (white), as I wanted to keep it neutral and have an indie/ style towards it. However I challenged the ‘stereotypical’ conventions as I tilted the masthead and placed it at the side of the page. I did this on purpose; as I wanted to make sure that my magazine was different to other magazines. I thought that this would appeal and attract my niche audience, as it looks different. At first I did think to place my masthead on the right hand side of the magazine but was not able to as if it was distributed in the shops my target audience would not be able to see the title and therefore, would not be convenient.

The colour scheme on my front page is suitable for the indie/rock genre as it is quite simple but dark. I didn’t want my magazine to have a more ‘rocky’ look to it so I decided to outline a lot of the words and add a touch of rainbow colours on my tagline (‘Bringing Indie to you’), I felt that this would be an indie thing to do. I added two pictures on my magazine, as I didn’t want it to look too boring for my audience. The pictures relate to the features within the magazine and have taglines/captions underneath telling you what they are, which are included in other professional magazines.

Contents page:

The layout of my contents page is quite simple and similar to other contents pages. I didn’t want to have such a busy and complicated contents page as I thought that it would be too much for my target audience. I thought that a simple layout with the article features on the right and pictures on the left would be appropriate. I have followed the conventions of normal contents pages. As I have the title at the top of the page. I then have ‘This month’ at the side of it showing that it is a monthly magazine. Normally magazines are distributed weekly for example ‘NME’. However I thought that it would fit my niche audience better if it were a monthly magazine. I wanted to use the same colour schemes on the contents page to make it look consistence and fluid, which gave my magazine a more professional look. I kept the font the same throughout but highlighted the article names as I was showing they were important and added what the features were with a caption underneath it. I saw that most magazines did this, giving my contents page a more professional look.

I wanted to make sure that the pictures on the right fitted with the indie/rock genre. The pictures were all different mise-en-scene, angles, lighting and sizes. This added a more different look to my contents page and gave it a more professional look as other contents page do not have the same styled pictures. There is one picture, which stands out and challenges the conventions. The camera is tilted upwards and makes it looks as though the girl is looking down at you. I included this picture as I felt that it was completely different approach which would attract my target audience.

The language used is appropriate and shows that it is a music magazine. I used words such as ‘ready to rock’ and ‘upcoming tours/gigs’ to show that it was an indie/rock magazine and not a hip hop/R&B music magazine.

The contents pages I researched and looked at were:
 I have looked and included some features from both of the contents pages.

Double page spread:

The double page spread is a bit different from other magazine double page spread. I looked at other double page spread’s and saw that the mainly had the pictures on one side and the text on the other for example NME double page spread:

So I decided, I didn’t want to have a picture on the left hand side and just text on the right. I kept the title and sub text where it would stereotypically be making sure that I kept most of the conventions and made sure it stayed/looked professional. I kept the title 'AMERICA'S MOVE TO ENGLAND'  the same font on how it was on the front cover adding constancy to it. I overlapped and decreased the size of the text, as I wanted to add a sophisticated but different look to it. I kept the majority of the magazine an interview, as I wanted the main feature to be focused on her, as it was her big move to England.

The colour’s used are mainly red and black showing clearly who was the interview and the person being interviewed and  kept my font the same as the font in the contents page.

There are quotes around the double page spread, which are in a different font giving a more edgy style to my magazine. 

The photo I have used has been taken from a different angle challenging the normal conventions. I think this has worked, as the audience I am aiming it at will find it more interesting. I have added ‘words by’ and ‘image by’ on the corner of the picture to make it look/feel more professional.

The bar at the top with ‘exclusive interview’ empathises that it is the main article and this has been done in several other magazines. Furthermore, this also relates to the whole music magazine. There is also concert dates when ‘America’ is on tour again adding to the music genre.

Double page spread I looked/compared at:

The two double page spreads helped me think how I wanted my layout to be like. The pictures on all three double page spreads are not on the left hand side but are more on the right hand side or in the middle. At first I was worried if the picture would look right being centred in the middle as I was afraid that the picture would look distorted and strange but it worked well with the layout.