|In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?
One of the conventions of rock magazines that I have used on my cover is the classic black, white and red fonts. The masthead is a large, black font, however the masthead breaks convention as it does not take up 1/4 of the page, it is a little bit smaller so I could fit in all the features I desired without the page looking cramped.
The use of the banner across the top and then across the bottom ties the page together as there is red in the article title but that would be all without the banners. These banners also allowed the attention to be pulled to the points in these banners as they are important features.
I have included a free download in a pug the colour of the leaves in the background of the image to promote the free music available in the issue which is a convention of rock magazines.
I used quite a bold font for the story line articles as they need to attract attention from across the aisle in a shop, also the bold articles were a convention that I saw used on many of the existing rock magazines I had researched. I have used the colour of the blue from the models hair on the cover as this is generally known as a masculine colour and this would attract more of a male audience. It also ties the page together as it is from the photograph and also in the text. The model, wearing clothing that has become a convention of rock, like ripped jeans, a leather jacket and purple lipstick with the blue hair represents the female audience as this would be a style icon as someone they could aspire to be like. The photo also could be described as being attractive and so adheres to Mulvey's male gaze theory which would attract more people to buy the magazine. I have used a few different fonts and two banners to attract the attention to these main features. I included many stories on the cover to show the audience that there is a range of content available and also because from my research I found that this is a convention of magazines suited to the rock genre. The main features that I included on my cover were the type of article frequently featured on rock magazines, for example; reviews, news, exclusives and competitions.
There is social media links included on the page as many magazines now have apps and social media to able to keep up to date with the latest music releases, album charts and tours etc. these allow the magazine to stay modern enough for the target audience to stay interested and keep buying it.
The conventions I have used on the contents page of my magazine are largely similar to conventions I have used on my front cover, this is because I wanted to create synergy between the pages. One of the conventions I used is the big black font labelling the page as the contents, the red font behind the black text highlights the word but also adds in more colours generally known as conventions of the rock genre. In the contents page I have again, mainly used the iconic red, black and white rock colours to reiterate my genre to the audience.
I also used some pink in the page to draw in female readers and also attract the attention to this puff as it is a main focus point of the page because it offers a deal to keep buying the magazine monthly at a cheaper price which would allow for a continuous audience, this is a convention of rock magazines. The unique shape of this puff shows that rock isn't plain and boring it is exciting.
I have used a lot of photographs on my contents using both location and studio shots. The group photo of the band shows their heads are at different levels which is a convention of band photography in rock magazines. Most of the photographs are also of people looking into the camera, however one of the photographs shows the model looking away from the camera, this breaks convention as I wanted the model to be shown as a unique artist who 'breaks the rules' as it suggests on the front cover. The choker and colourful hair of this model also suggest this point but also represent the rock genre.
The all black clothing of the band is a convention of the rock genre, there is even instruments in the photo to show that they play their own instruments which is common in rock bands. The main articles are shown with photographs and also a description to allow the reader to determine if they want to read the main articles or not, this is another convention I found while researching other rock magazines. The contents also includes photographs taken at concerts which is a convention commonly used in rock magazines to advertise the concerts for the artists featured in their magazines and also from the concerts they review, this is why I added the ticket master logo on my cover and used a voucher code from the site as a feature in my magazine, as many rock fans go to concerts and festivals, more than fans of any other genre.
In my double page spread (DPS) the conventions I used started with my model at the photo-shoot, I made sure to direct her to wear black ripped skinny jeans, a leather jacket and a white top to add contrast to the black, these items of clothing are iconic conventions of the rock genre and can be used to attract both a female audience - who may see the model as a fashion icon, and males - who may find the model attractive and want to read about her more.The background is conventional of rock as it has graffiti in the background and the location was an abandoned tunnel that was quite hidden away. The conventional pose suggests the model has attitude which is also common in the rock music industry and in rock magazines. The black, white and red colours are again used to further create synergy between the pages but also because it is part of the house style of the magazine, these colours are iconic rock colours and so work well for my magazine. The two fonts used in the title has the artists name bigger than anything else on the page as this is the most important feature as the article is about her, this is a common convention of rock magazines.
The page numbers have guitar silhouettes over them as guitars are iconic rock symbols and I wanted to incorporate these into the page, this also creates synergy to the page number on the contents and also to the guitars in the corner of the contents page.
The explicit language used is a convention of rock magazine as the music is often uncensored and uses this language so the magazine needs to relate to the music it is supporting, it also suggests that the target audience is older teenagers and young adults. The text is also san serif as this is another convention of rock magazine as serif fonts usually look more mature and elegant which is not what the rock genre represents. I have used another convention on this page which is using pull quotes to break up the text as the reader may get bored reading so much text in one block, these pull quotes are in rough edged boxes with (again) the red coloured font in to break up the text, these quotes are the ones I felt were the most important from the interview. The pull quote on the picture is larger than the other two and also has a banner around it to show that it is the most important quite and that this quote is mainly what the article is about.
The stand first is larger than the rest of the text as it gives a summary to allow the reader to decide whether to read on or not, also, conventionally, I have included a drop capital.
