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

By Natasha Stapleton

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 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 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.

Front Cover
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 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 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.

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.

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. The sell lines on the AP cover are in the header and at the bottom of the cover in small writing
My main sell line is spread out across the page and therefore stands out a lot more. 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 main the image the main attraction

My footer is different to AP s header as it just names bands inside that week, however AP s contains information in more detail about what is inside the magazine

Contents Page
The 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 eyecatching.
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 images of the bands inside the magazine to appeal to the audience There are headings to cut up the different pages. If you like a particular section then you can find it easily

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. There is an introduction from the editor on the Kerrang! Magazine which is something I also didn t think was necessary and that 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.

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.

A lot of rock magazines have images of bands playing live so therefore I put some images of them on stage.

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.

I wanted my heading for my double page spread to be extremely eyecatching. 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. 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.

Double Page Spread; Similarities

Collage; Different images from different times

Pull quote

Drop caps

Captions

Double Page Spread; Differences

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

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

The article isn t broken up with pull quotes in the middle of the text as the pull quote is overlapping the images

HARD ROCK, ALTERNATIVE ROCK

Originally, 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.

IPC MEDIA
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.

TAZMIN PYE
Age: 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 tshirts and experiment with her hair colours.

CHRIS DOCKER
Age: 17 Occupation: Student Works 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.

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) isnt really seen as a specific genders type of colour and I chose to use this because of the colour of the band members 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 isnt 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 its not another primary or secondary colour so the colours wouldnt clash so its a safe coloured background to place images on. The images I have used in my contents page show that the magazine isnt just for males but it isnt 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 havent 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 doesnt need to see gossip like Look who he is dating and just seeing the bands 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 rockn 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 its 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
6 4 2 0 Excellent Very Good Good

Overall Rating of Magazine

Best Things about my Magazine:

Colour Scheme Double Page Spread Images

Things needing improvements within my Magazine:

Contents Page Less Clutter

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.

Using InDesign:
I edited the images in Photoshop by deleting the background 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 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.

I have learned how to edit a picture by taking out the background on Photoshop. I also learnt how to feather round somebodys face in an image to make it look more natural and less obviously edited. Ive also used fonts from InDesign and colours to make it look more sophisticated and more professional.

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.