1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

For the masthead of my magazine I used the font ‘Sketch Block’ which I had found on the website www.dafont.com. I decided to use this as it stands out from the rest of the text on the front cover of my magazine. I wanted the masthead to stretch across the top of the page – which is a typical convention of rock and classic rock magazines – but also have a different aspect to it so it stood out compared to regular magazine mastheads.

I researched magazines such as ‘Revolver’ and ‘Rolling Stones’ that all have a plain masthead that stretch across the top of the magazine where is where I got my inspiration from to place my masthead where it is.

 

I feel that my masthead challenges some typical conventions of regular magazines as yes it does stretch across like the magazines I was researching, but the man beating down the ‘E’ adds a quirky individual take on it. I feel this is what makes the masthead stand out making it eye catching and noticeable to the audience. 

As a template I looked at various magazines where I got inspiration from for my layout. I mainly used ‘Classic Rock’ magazine for a template as it was similar to what I was trying to achieve when creating my magazine. It matched the type and genre I was going for but although I used ‘Classic Rock’ I also used ‘Rolling Stone’ for ideas when looking at the contents page. I feel that the layout I’ve chosen for my magazine has a simple, formal look to it which attracts the target audience. It also relates to the genre in a more sophisticated way even though it has similar aspects to magazines which are currently in the market.

 

The costume and props that are used throughout my magazine are all conventional and all relate to the genre. For example my model wore a ‘New York Doll’s’ t-shirt as it’s a band who he looks up to and a band that has relation to the genre of classic/punk rock. This typically challenges conventions of current magazines as usually models wear clothes that are plain or the text on the shirt has random text on instead of band names etc.
My model also used a guitar and in some of the photos he has alcohol bottles and records around him to symbolise the theme of rock ‘n’ roll. These props and costumes are typically found in magazines such as classic rock etc. as it relates to the theme well and are examples of the ‘rock star’ image. This is a way in which my media product uses some conventions of real music magazines as some pictures are taken with more of a set to them.

 

When taking the photos I used a range of sets, there was one created that gave across the rock image and there was another where a plain blank wall was used. When making the images look work on Photoshop I used a various range of tools. For example the photo on the cover of my magazine was taken and then cut and placed on a black background, I then ‘de-saturated’ the colour of the picture and using the ‘history art brush’ tool on Photoshop re-stored original colour to the guitar which the artist is holding – visible at the bottom of the photo – I previously tried this out with different photos seeing where would be the best place to restore colour and finally I decided at the bottom would be the right place to. The guitar the artist was holding was red so when I tested out a range of colours with black and white I saw that as the guitar is red the colour scheme would look better black, white and red so it looks more efficient and smooth.

 

All text on the cover is places in a straight line which is conventional in regular magazines. But I’ve used various fonts to attract audience attention such as the cover line. I feel that if the cover line ‘Sun Circus’ is different from the rest of the text it attracts more audiences and the cover line is the biggest text on the page. I looked at some different ‘Classic Rock’ magazines to see how they challenged this using different colours and fonts to attract audiences. Also the text and colours used relate to my genre well and also connect to my target audiences. Although the text is very conventional in how its placed it also has some unconventional aspects to it such as the man beating down the ‘E’ on the masthead as most magazines have a plain masthead that is not diagonal or different just straight and plain across the top of the magazine.  

 

The genre of my magazine is classic/punk rock which. This is represented well throughout my magazine through use of costume, props and other text on the page. For example using a symbol text I found I used a plectrum on the contents page to act as a paper clip to the two pictures and this is a way in which the rock aspect was coming through in small detail. Also the record which replaces the ‘O’ in ‘Contents’ also is something that represents classic rock in detail, the text also represents the genre as there is references to ‘Download Festival’ which is a rock festival and also recent news stories such as the death of Gary Moore. Having features of actual festivals and real artist feature on the front cover makes it clear to the audience what type of magazine it is. 

The artist is represented in a very unconventional way as he is young which is a shock in classic rock as when you think of classic rock nowadays you think of artists such as Keith Richards and Gary Moore but I feel that having a younger person on the cover of my magazine highlights the fact that my magazine is trying to re-create classic rock and that there is young people out there who have a passion for this type of music. My target audience is between 19 and 40 having a younger person may not appeal to the older audiences but as the artist is headlining on a classic rock magazine it may change their mind and make the magazine more desirable to see why a young person would feature. 

There was many options when trying to find a suitable colour scheme but after my draft I decided to use a black, white and red colour scheme as they are colours that are usually related to the rock genre. There was an ‘Elle’ magazine I found in which the colour scheme was black and white and pink. It worked really well and I felt that if I used the right colours I could make my magazine use a similar colour scheme and make it relate to the genre well, as ‘Elle’ is a fashion magazine not a music magazine I’d have to work really hard at making the colours match my genre and target audience. I also looked at the ‘Classic Rock’ magazine featuring ‘KISS’, the colours were grey, beige and pink but the pink stood out more compared to the rest of the text because of the plain colour scheme and the sudden burst of pink.