In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?
1. Masthead and Title
For my masthead I used the font ‘extravaganza’. I chose this font because it was all one case type and was bold and clear to the reader. The font had jagged, textured feel to the text which related to the magazine’s genre of rock and indie. This was influenced by the masthead’s of magazines ‘Blender’ and ‘Kerrang’ they are both bold and symbolic and clear to the reader which is the look i wanted to achieve, it also made it easy for recognition for the readers in the future by not challenging the conventions over the limits. The ‘Kerrang’ logo was different to other conventional masthead’s which influenced me to challenge mine. I decided to chose a font that added texture, i didn’t want the masthead to be to extravagant because i would prefer the puff’s to stand out, as that is the main advertisement of the magazine.
For the colour of my masthead i wanted to keep it simple, similar to ‘Blender’ as i feel the more simple the bold colour rather than magazine logo’s such as ‘billboard’ create a much more dramatic effect. I think my masthead turned out v very well and the font and the colour blended and hit the target audience I wanted. It created a bold effect but also challenged conventions with its own unique style.
How is the genre reflected in your magazine?
My magazine genre is rock and indie and i wanted to reflect the genre in all the ways possible. By using the costumes of the artist’s and props created a real live rock show feel, with the image for the font cover showing the boy singing loudly. By using these images and demonstrating the use of rock and indie formed instruments such as drums and electric guitars all added towards the feel of the magazine and its genre. The colours used for the magazine also reflected this by using black and white two blocky and bold symbolic colours created a dark effect which i think reflected the sense of rock throughout the magazine. The overall construction i think hit the target audience i wanted, by using the correct fashion, camera angles, colours and font all reflected onto the rock and indie genre. But i feel the font could have been improved to become more interesting, by manipulating the puff’s i think i could have given a much more convincing rock and indie genre effect to the magazine.
Mise en scene of images
The images i used for my magazine were taken in a rehearsal studio in High Wycombe. The rehearsal area made it a very realistic and followed all the conventions of giving off the ‘artists’ at a live performance. By taking the pictures while they were in playing made the photos even more realistic. The images for the font cover and double page spread really reflected the genre of the magazine by editing them into black and white giving a different feel to the magazine. The contents page image is also in black and white but by using the picture of a female attracts both male and female audiences by creating mixed genders. I conducted a variety of different camera angles and shot types to capture different images and visualise the different emotions of the ‘artists’, for the front cover i used a midshot as it captured the centre of the ‘artist’ and created a bold statement immediate to the reader. The angle’s for the double page spreads were extreme close ups and wide shots to give a contrasting difference into the eye of the band. I also manipulated the images by editing them on ‘Photoshop’ and ‘Picnik’.
Costumes and Props
The costumes i used for the photoshoot were indie/rock styled clothing. The clothing were reflecting the genre of the magazine which would attract the audience. I used a number of different props, which were stereo equipment to give a realistic feel to the magazine photos. The costumes and props relate conventionally yet unconventionally to other magazines, by relating to unique ‘artists’ the magazine has the upper hand to express the fashion by celebrities in their casual clothing. This creates a personal connection between the magazine, the celebrities and the reader. However i did want to follow conventions of other magazines to relate to the stereotypical genre of rock and indie. People
The people i used in my magazine were a mixture of male and female, all of young adult and teen ages. This targets my target audience and relates the audience to the people in the magazine. I’ve used male and female in the magazine but more pictures of males due to the band ‘chemical wake’ were all male cast. If i were to do my magazine again i would add more pictures of females on my contents page to demonstrate its not a biased magazine especially due to the front cover. The age of the band ‘Chemical Wake’ demonstrates young artists and their aspirations and becoming a celebrity this draws in and creates prosumers for the readers connecting them together.
Font and styles
The fonts i chose for my magazine throughout reflected the genre of the magazine. The font i wanted to keep was bold and basic, so i didn’t use an manipulation devices and specifically used ‘DaFont’. If i could go back and change this i would have used the manipulation for the font for the masthead, as i felt it could have created a bigger effect on the magazine. The font i chose was intended to make a striking impact on each of the individual pages, the font throughout was all in bold, symbolic text making it clear to the audience. The font’s i chose throughout the magazine created the effect i wanted, the stood out and jumped off the page making a clear cut impression.
Copy/Written Content
In my magazine the language spoke to the audience in mixed types of language. If i were able to change the language again i would add more direct speech to the reader creating a personal approach. The style of language wasn’t to categorized but the use of slang was used on the front cover of the magazine in the main puff’s. I didn’t want to use slang throughout the whole magazine because i wanted to open to a wide audience of young adults and teenagers, this could have created a smaller target market by using too much slang. I used exclamation marks in almost all cases to emphasize the magazines puff’s and pull out quote, i feel this effect worked well and attracted excitement and a buzz to the magazine. I used the magazine ‘Vibe’ and ‘Billboard’ as influenced for the written content, i felt they used casual language and the use of punctuation draws the reader in.
How is the genre reflected in your magazine?
My magazine genre is rock and indie and i wanted to reflect the genre in all the ways possible. By using the costumes of the artist’s and props created a real live rock show feel, with the image for the font cover showing the boy singing loudly. By using these images and demonstrating the use of rock and indie formed instruments such as drums and electric guitars all added towards the feel of the magazine and its genre. The colours used for the magazine also reflected this by using black and white two blocky and bold symbolic colours created a dark effect which i think reflected the sense of rock throughout the magazine. The overall construction i think hit the target audience i wanted, by using the correct fashion, camera angles, colours and font all reflected onto the rock and indie genre. But i feel the font could have been improved to become more interesting, by manipulating the puff’s i think i could have given a much more convincing rock and indie genre effect to the magazine.
Front Cover Layout
The layout for my front cover is quite conventional. I have used aspects from both stereotypical magazines but used individual effects to separate it from the other magazines on the market. For example i used the front cover main image to full scale centre of the page this is used in a lot of magazines but i used an unconventional method of using no eye contact, there was a side shot image inside of full front. This made my magazine that little bit different it also gave a live effect which i wanted to achieve. The puff’s fonts are a variety of different positions similar to most magazines; but wanted to make the picture clear and separate them from the font this made a clear conventional layout which I wanted to keep. I wanted to follow conventions because i think this would blend with other magazine, i wanted to concentrate on other aspects of the magazine to make it unique. I used NME front cover as my main inspiration and influence on my design. The layout of the text and the main image’s centre position was the layout i wanted to achieve for my magazine. 
Contents Page Layout
My magazine contents page follows an unconventional layout to most magazines. Unlike my front cover i wanted the layout of my contents page to be unique. I decided to make the contents page firstly a double page, this then spaces out the information instead of crowding and overlapping of texts. This also gave me the advantage to add more things to my contents page which created an even more unique effect. I laid out the page with only one picture in the top right hand corner with a reflection; if i could do the layout again i would enlarge the picture more. The contents page was split into two different sections. One section was the ‘no1 hits’ on ‘little stereo’ radio this then advertised the magazine by using this unconventional layout. The layout of the text was centred down in columns creating a different effect and centring the text into the page, in straight eye-line view. The contents pages that influenced me, were two in particular were ‘Billboard’ and ‘Vibe’ by combining the two i created my idea for the perfect contents page layout, by the use of space and quality. 
Double Page Spread Layout
The double page spread layout is very conventional and similar to most magazines. I found it very difficult to make the double page spread layout unique to other magazines. But i discovered that by rotating the text and adding two different backgrounds laid out in different sizes and positions changed the basic layout into something original. I wanted to make the layout for the spread unique to draw attention to the page and the artist’s interview; also by using mainly pictures on the page in a variety of sizes created a visual connection with the reader. The pull out quote was another device i used to separate the middle of the body text to draw the reader into the main article. By using this layout it navigates the reader around the page and makes it very eye catching. There were many double page spreads that used unique techniques but i found the two double page spreads below to be the most interesting with making it unique just using the layout and i used these devices forward as excellent inspiration.
Conclusion
Overall in my magazine I feel I have followed conventions, although challenging followed conventions in certain aspects. I followed conventions to keep within the target market of existing magazines by following certain trends, such as the layout of the magazine. By keeping in the conventions I felt this could only benefit the magazine, by blending in with existing magazines, and satisfy the audience’s expectations. Although I did want to challenge certain conventions to make my magazines stand out from the crowd of existing magazines. I did this by giving the magazine a themed black and white colour, including the pictures; I felt this made the magazine stand out, and compliment the genre indie and rock. Throughout the magazine I wanted to tweak and alter certain conventions that were mandatory, and making them that little bit different. I felt by changing the pictures slightly and a range of bold fonts, all indifferent for the puffs gave the magazine a certain edge that other magazines didn’t pursue. Looking back at my magazine and if I could change things I would have challenged the conventions a lot more as of the constant demanding audience and the rapid increase of high audience expectations. If I could change my project I would have considered this in much more depth and created a much more dramatic emphasis to shock the audience.
