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

By Natasha Stapleton

Front Cover

Large masthead that stretches across the top of the page. The

font is unique and the colours make it stand out. The font looks like it’s dripping, leaving it

looking original and rebellious.

The sell lines are on the side of the page which is normally the place to put them in

real music magazines. They are short and only take up a bit of

the room but they still stand out with the

stroke.

The main image is complete band taking up the majority

of the front cover, all with eye contact giving direct address

to the audience. The lead singer is standing on

something to make him seem taller, therefore more

dominant. They all have serious expressions which is normal for a rock magazine

as it shows attitude.

The main sell line stretches across the front cover as well but in the

centre. It stands out with the black font and white

stroke and it has the effect of cuts through the font, giving it that extra bit of attitude. The sell

line underneath describes what the article is about which is similar to real

magazines.

The flasher doesn’t take up too much room on the

cover however it makes it look more interesting and the colours match the rest

of the colour scheme.

The footer of the magazine includes bands that are all

shown in the contents page, they are all of

different genres of rock, attracting a wider range in

audience.

The barcode, issue number, date and price are all at the

bottom of the page, showing that they are important but not that

important that they take up a lot of space

on the page.

FRONT COVER; SIMILARITIES

Large masthead spread across the top of the

page

Image of a five piece band. One member looks slightly more

dominant than the others (the

vocalist)

Barcodes both in bottom right hand corner

along with date and price etc

FRONT COVER; DIFFERENCES

The sell lines on my cover are at the top

and are more noticeable, I did this because I wanted my

magazine to look more interesting. The

sell lines on the AP cover are in the

header and at the bottom of the cover

in small writingMy main sell line is spread out across the page and therefore

stands out a lot more. I did this because I wanted the band’s

name to be seen and to be clear from afar. The AP cover’s main sell line isn’t in large font and is just in the

bottom left hand corner of the page,

perhaps to make the image the main

attraction

My footer is different to AP’s header as it just

names bands inside that week this is so I could fit

more bands onto the front cover and make it more

attractive to a wider audience. AP’s contains

information in more detail about what is inside the

magazine

Contents PageThe image at the top of

the page is very unique. I’ve made it

look like an advert for an album but it is also

related to my magazine because this album is

being reviewed. Both of the girl’s eye lines are direct address and the

image is extremely eye-catching.

The masthead from my front cover is used

again as it is the magazine’s

trademark. Instead of ‘contents’ I’ve used

‘this week’ to make it a bit more original.

I have kept the same sell lines

from the cover and added in a few

more bands and artists. I have used

a variety of different genres of rock to attract a wider audience.

I have used headings for my list of pages to show the regular sections of my magazine. I also haven’t put a lot of

detail in my contents page and just written band names, this is because as soon as

someone see’s a band they like they’ll want to

buy the magazine to read the article.

Contents Page; Similarities

There is an image at the top of the page that looks like a banner.

The masthead and the ‘This Week’ is further down the page, around half

way

There are headings to cut up the different

pages. If you like a particular

section then you can find it easily

There are images of the bands

inside the magazine to appeal to the

audience

Contents Page; Differences

The word ‘Contents’ is at the top of the Kerrang!

Contents page, however I decided I didn’t want to put both ‘Contents’ and ‘This Week’ as I believed it was unnecessary. This

is because I thought it took up too much room and I wanted more room

to put as much information about my magazine on there as

possible.There is an introduction from the editor on the

Kerrang! Magazine which is something I also didn’t think was necessary because I

could use the space for more sections of the

magazine. The list of articles in

Kerrang! Is more cramped and filled with

images and some articles names have more detail. There is also subscription

information. I felt like I wanted my contents page to have more space and I wanted it to be easy to

read. I didn’t want it to be too packed with

information as I still wanted it to be clear to

read.

I wanted my heading for my

double page spread to be extremely

eye-catching. Most headings in double page spreads take

up a lot of the room on the page and I wanted to do this

but still leave room for my article.

Having ‘We are the Loveless’ as the

heading puts across that this band are strong

and united, therefore attracting

rock music fans.

Double Page Spread

I wanted to use the idea of a collage

because the article is about a ‘journey to fame’ so I wanted to put across that these images were taken at different times of

the year.

I wanted a pull quote to break up

the article and make it look less like an essay and

more like an article. I wanted to make sure the reader was still engaged in the magazine so I chose a pull

quote that would interest the audience.

I have put a date, the magazine name and page number on the bottom of the page to make it look more

professional as all magazines have this feature on every page so that the audience can identify the magazine.

A lot of rock magazines have images of bands playing live so therefore I put

some images of them on stage.

Double Page Spread; Similarities

Collage; Different images from different times

Pull quote

Captions

Drop caps

Double Page Spread; Differences

Layout is different. On one page is the article and the other are the pictures however on the

Kerrang! Magazine the article is spread over onto the first page aswell as on the second. I wanted mine to be seperate so that they were clearer to

see.

The images on my magazine are all set out neatly, all fitting well however on the Kerrang! Magazine they overlap each

other and there is a dominating image at the top. I wanted to make sure I had a lot of space at the top of one page for my

heading so it would stand out on the page.

The article isn’t broken up with pull quotes in the

middle of the text as the pull quote is overlapping the images. I didn’t want my pull quotes to overlap my photos because I want to ensure that you could

see the photos.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

HARD ROCK, ALTERNATIVE ROCKOriginally, the term ‘rocker’ was used for bikers predominantly men

who were normally seen wearing leather jackets with studs who listen to rock ‘n’ roll music. The stereotype has developed dramatically over

the years into several subgenres.

A Stereotypical ‘Hard Rocker’Gender: Predominantly male.Clothing: Leather Jackets, black clothing, leather trousers, denim jackets with patches and pins, combat boots, studded jewellery, long hair, tattoos, piercings.Activities: Creating music, consuming alcohol, taking drugs.

A Stereotypical ‘Alternative Rocker/ Scene’Gender: Both male and female.Clothing: Converse, piercings, tattoos, multi coloured hair, skinny jeans, coloured jeans, eye liner, ear stretchers, doc martens, Activities: Anything music based, skating.

IMAGES, COLOURS, GENDER

The main image relates to the particular social group I have chosen because they are all wearing leather. One band member has a bandana and is wearing leather trousers and the others are wearing band t-shirts apart from one who is wearing a t-shirt with an alcoholic drink on it. All of the men on the cover have a serious expression, connoting attitude and rebellion.

The colours are mostly dark, the black is there within the image but also in the text and the masthead to stand out. The colour purple I have used is a dark shade which matches the colour of the bandana. This colour scheme looks dramatic and almost gothic, attracting people interested in rock music and fashion. There are only men on the front cover however advertised in the sell line are the ‘Rocker Sisters’ confirming that there are females inside, therefore attracting both genders.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media

product and why?

IPC MEDIA

IPC Media is a magazine and digital publisher from the UK that sells over 350 million copies of their magazine’s a year. They publish many different genres of magazines; womens, music, homes, soaps, sports and business.

I would get IPC Media to distribute my music magazine. This is because the magazine that my magazine is similar to (Kerrang!) is distributed by another publisher (Bauer). The only other music magazine that IPC Media distributes is NME which is a different genre to my music magazine. Therefore, my music magazine would be distributed widely, increasing the chance of beating the rival magazines (Kerrang!, Q).

My magazine would be distributed in shops, supermarkets, festivals, gigs and specific music shops like HMV.

Who would the audience be for your media

product?

TAZMIN PYEAge: 17

Occupation: Student

Favourite Colour: Red

Interests: Music, Film, Writing.

Favourite Bands: Metallica, The Strokes, Paramore, Arctic Monkeys, Slipknot, Guns N’ Roses, Pink Floyd, Green Day, The Beatles, The Ramones.

Wears a lot of dark colours, band t-shirts, skinny jeans, shorts. Likes to cut up her t-shirts and experiment with her hair colours.

CHRIS DOCKERAge: 17

Occupation: StudentWorks part-time at a butchers

Favourite Colour:

Interests: Music, Writing

Favourite Bands: Fall Out Boy, The Kooks, Jimmy Eat World, Kings of Leon

Wears a lot of skinny jeans, band t-shirts, checked shirts. Has long hair.

How did you attract/address your

audience?

I attracted my target audience by using dark colours like black and purple. I used these colours as they would be appropriate for both genders and the clothing that the stereotypical ‘rocker’ would wear is dark, mostly black. Purple (dark purple not light) isn’t really seen as a specific gender’s type of colour and I chose to use this because of the colour of the band member’s bandana.

The band are dressed in leather and dark clothing which is the hard rock style and therefore would attract someone who likes that particular music. They are wearing band t-shirts showing that they are also passionate music fans relating to the reader. Every member has a serious expression on their face looking almost intimidating and one of the members have no shirt on underneath their leather jacket, conveying the attitude and rebellious behaviour of rock stars, again attracting the target audience.

Using the word ‘ROCK’ on the cover in big bold capital letters with a drop shadow would attract a reader because straight away they would know what genre of music this magazine includes and in the footer there are 3 bands who are different styles of rock, creating a wider range of readers who like different types of rock.

A hobby of the stereotypical ‘rocker’ is to listen to new music so therefore the use of the flasher claiming that this band was ‘voted best new band of 2012’ would appeal to the reader and make them want to buy the magazine and read about them.

I also chose to advertise ‘Early Bird Tickets for Festivals’ with would attract the reader because another hobby of the ‘rocker’ is to go to gigs and festivals. I also advertised another band and their debut album called ‘the Rocker Sisters’ stating that this magazine isn’t just for males as it has female bands included as well.

My contents page also has dark colours but it is a lot brighter than the front cover. The masthead is exactly the same as on the front cover because I wanted it to become the logo of the magazine so when it is written anywhere it would be in that font, colour and style. I also added another colour into the colour scheme here; gray. I wanted to use this colour because it’s not another primary or secondary colour so the colours wouldn’t clash so it’s a safe coloured background to place images on.

The images I have used in my contents page show that the magazine isn’t just for males but it isn’t girly because the girls still have a straight face and attitude. The other girl (the solo artist) is smiling however she is wearing a leather jacket, showing the style of rock again. The image of the band featured on the cover is at a different angle and shows the band looking dominant and strong, which would attract a rock music fan as they like bands that are fierce and have attitude.

For the actual list of the contents I haven’t added any detail to the list and only written the names of the band included as I believe that any rock music fan only cares about the music and the band and doesn’t need to see gossip like ‘Look who he is dating’ and just seeing the band’s name that they like would make them want to buy the magazine and read the article. I have used the names of different bands from different subgenres within the genre of rock to attract a wider range of readers of all ages (for example a Metallica fan would usually be older than a Paramore or You Me at Six fan.

I attracted my audience by using images from gigs. This would appeal to an audience of rock music fans because they are usually very passionate about gigs and an image would make them want to go to one if the band looks good live. The other images have fairly normal backgrounds (of greenery) showing that they are just men really and that anyone from anywhere could be part of a band. The captions used are catchy and short. Using the terms ‘rock’n’ roll’ and ‘rockin’’ again show the reader what kind of magazine it is and who it attracts. ‘Best mates to band mates’ show that they are friends as well as band mates, attracting the audience as they would know that there is little chance of the band breaking up. The colours in the live pictures are dark and connote a certain mood and attitude, showing the dark element to rock gigs. The colours of the article page are a different colour scheme to the front cover and the contents page however still has gray, black and white, still showing it’s a rock magazine with attitude. Using the colour red makes the name stand out and be seen from afar and that is the intention of the magazine; to promote this band. The use of the colour red in the pull quote stands out next to the white writing and would draw the readers attention and give them a brief outline to what this article is about, making them want to read it.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

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Best Things about my Magazine:Colour SchemeDouble Page SpreadImages

Things needing improvements within my Magazine:Contents PageLess Clutter

What have you learnt about technologies from

the process of constructing this product?

I used Photoshop to manipulate my images before putting them onto my magazine. I also used this program to create my whole front cover.

I used InDesign to create my contents page and double page spread.

I used a digital camera to capture my images.

I used Kerrang.com to research into magazine covers.

Using Photoshop:I have changed the levels on this main image to make it look darker and more ‘rock’ like. This makes the bands faces and therefore their facial expressions stand out a lot more as the rest of the image is darkened. I also used Photoshop to add text onto my front cover. I added a dafont.com font and edited it on Photoshop by taking away the white background, adding a drop shadow and changing the colour to purple to match the colour scheme. I also added a flasher by adding a shape onto the page and changing the colour.

Front Cover

Using InDesign:I edited the images in Photoshop by deleting the background and feather around the girl’s heads however I used InDesign to desgin the layout of my contents page. I also added a shadow around all the images to make them look blended in more. I also used InDesign to add columns for my list of pages, I used boxes to place my photographs into InDesign and used also used text.

Contents Page

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you

feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full

product?

I learned how to manipulate font from dafont.com on Photoshop to create a certain style relating to the

type of magazine. I also learned how to manipulate my images a lot better in my main task for example changing the levels of an image to create a mood

relating to the genre.

Front Cover Use of

drop shadow on font

Use of levels to make it more like a specific genre

Adding a footer to make it look more like a real magazine

I have learned how to edit a picture by taking out the background on Photoshop. I also learnt how to feather

round somebody’s face in an image to make it look more natural and less obviously edited. I’ve also used fonts from

InDesign and colours to make it look more sophisticated and more professional.

Contents Page

Adding a shadow around the edges of the images to make them look darker and more rock related

Using more professional font

Adding a black shape at the bottom to show the list section

I have learnt how to add images from Photoshop onto InDesign. I have learned to edit font in Photoshop and

added a stroke. I have learnt how to add columns in the article on InDesign and also how to add drops caps and

change the colour. I also learnt how to add shapes for my backgrounds of my captions.

Double Page Spread