CONVENTIONS (EVAL Q1)

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

Presentation Key

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During the research stage we looked at a wide variety of music magazines, as well as work of students from previous years. Looking at these, the more successful magazines, or those that got the highest marks were those that followed conventions of magazines or with backed up evidence and examples went against those conventions. The reason for

this is that the people who produce the magazines know exactly what will make their target audience buy the magazine. They know what kind of model is needed on the cover and how they need to be represented to what social

groups and target audience. After looking at the golden spiral concept, we can also see magazines are designed to draw your eye to the most aesthetically pleasing part of the page. This would usually be the

mast head top left of the page (e.g. NME Magazine or Q ) of a key part of the image. However, some magazines do challenge these conventions, they do this because they know it will appeal to an audience. An example of this would

be Homme magazine or gentle woman placing there masthead at the top centre of the page and including a black and white central image , this not as ‘appealing’ as a

NME magazine with coloured mast head or large image. Other conventions rely heavily on the rule of three, the way the page is divided portrait and landscape, the colour scheme, and the different fonts used. The masthead nearly

always goes across the top of the page, either starting from the left or centre. Most magazines have at least 60 pages, and

divide their contents pages into easier to find categories (for example reviews, new music etc.) and feature a relative amount of images

. Other conventions, such as the colours used relies heavily on the genre of the magazine most commonly black, white and red , and the audience in which they are appealing to such a males or females. Again

certain magazines can go against these conventions the colour scheme may not be the usual three colours and instead may be just black and white (e.g. Homme, Dapper Dan). These unconventional magazines may also have a larger page count to the normal conventional magazine magazines such as PORT and Clash have significantly more

pages. Again differential to conventional magazines the contents pages may not include images (e.g. Loud and Quiet & Monocle) or may include images but not in a vast amount or in the usual boxed format (e.g. CLASH).

When it came to the designing the magazine, I took strongly into account these conventions, and convention oppositions purely because in some cases the conventions made the product appear to be a magazine but also going against the convention allowed me to create an alternative product different to anything else. I took a lot

of inspiration from Loud & Quiet, CLASH and The FLY as these are the magazines that most interest me and I read on a regular basis. Another key factor for me when choosing these ‘zines was the intended target audience. The audience I wanted to aim my final product at included individuals similar to myself. This

therefore meant that if I produced a product I would buy, it has worked well. My masthead is conventional of real magazine as it is the largest text on the page, is bold, clear to read and stands out. This ‘The Sonorist’

masthead is also positioned in the top centre of the page, which again follows convention (e.g. Homme, Loud and Quiet, Clash, The Fly). I feel using the polka dot themed bold font for the masthead, found on

www.dafont.com, matched the alternative genre as it is different to the normal. This would not be used before on another magazine and the whole theory behind a new font every week is unique and quirky, this again

matching my alternative genre. This font and name combined indicates sophistication. Sophistication is also a theme I wanted to portray. My choice of name was hard to come across after searching through the thesaurus I trawled through my music library looking at band names, names of records and names of songs to use as inspiration, this came up dry. Instead I looked at websites and blogs which I use on a regular

basis and based it around a fashion blog named ‘The Statorolist’ www.thestatorolist.com . I placed my masthead above the photograph as I felt it was more readable and would stand out. The placement of my

masthead is unconventional as usually they would be seen under or over the main image (e.g. Kerrang,NME). Black & White were the main parts to my colour scheme and I felt that if i was using a white background, black

text would make it look basic, simplistic, minimal and overlay like an old fashioned gentleman's newspaper. Again this is against magazine conventions as three main colours are usually used

The graphology of the pages is possibly the part of my magazine in which I have focused the most of my time on. The reason for this that I feel a minimalistic style article can sometimes

look bare and sparse. Personally I wanted to create a simple, minimalistic contents and double page spread that stayed with my black and white colour scheme while also

appealing aesthetically to the reader and encouraging the audience to read. I felt that although a lot of writing will be on the page if it is laid out nicely and cleverly the audience will not mind reading it. I think the layout is particularly successful on the contents page I have produced as I really feel it appears professional, includes a lot of detail for example subscriptions and sections off the pages well. These elements follow conventions which

would be seen in most magazines. The inspiration was taken from Loud and Quiet & CLASH especially as these are of the same genre to what I wanted to make. I analysed three

contents pages in total and used the best elements from each. The layout consists of a title area, in space named ‘Sonorist contents January’. Below this are two columns. One of these columns included with a selection of images, subscription details, details of the magazine as

a brand and photography details. The overall aim was to create a detailed contents with clear page numbers, clear and clever titles and short description of the article while still

keeping a minimalistic look and same colour panel as on the front page.

The photographs were also a key part to the magazine and possibly the most difficult part to use the conventions as the photographs on real magazines have been taken by a professional photographer, so reaching that level as an amateur who has never took photos like this is very hard. This meant making the shots as easy as possibly and

getting the subject as relevant to my genre as possible. When choosing a model I already had some criteria I had decided upon, for example I wanted to use a male who appeared to be older than a teen, I did this because I felt

most artists within my chosen are older men or women, not kids. I then looked at the older male artists in my genre as well as other males on fashion websites and took inspiration of style, clothing. facial hair, hair etc. The clothing and the styling of the model was the key part, as well as the need for them to be photogenic but fit with my genre and not look fake, artists in my genre tend to look rough or uncool. My model had long hair and stubble, I found this perfect as it made the model appear older and suited my genre as it is not uncommon for long haired males to grace the covers of magazines like Loud and Quiet, CLASH, NME and The FLY. Examples of these artists include

Justin Young from The Vaccines, Miles Kane and Dinosaur Jnr. The clothes were very casual as I wanted to represent the artist as a rough up and coming musician rather than a well off, well established fashion icon. I did match the

clothes to some of the styles I had seen on older male artists I had looked at artists like Graham Coxon, Alex James, James Murphy, Pete Doherty and Terry Hall. I also kept the colour scheme of black and white in mind, choosing

neutral colours or a patterned knitted jumper. I think the setting of a studio worked well as it kept the image simple and clean. I would say this follows and breaks conventions. It follows conventions as front cover shots are usually

taken in a studio however images in the contents and on the DPS are usually taken at a realistic setting. The photographs I took were widely varied so when it came to choosing the best ones I could have a vast amount of

choices. After taking the photos I looked at which ones captured the golden spiral rule and the angles and overall feel which applied best to my genre, as well as the poses that worked well. I obviously decided not to include

images that where blurred or un photogenic. The shot I personally found most effective for the front cover was the ones when George (the model) was giving eye contact; I felt it made him more interesting and the eye contact with the audience would intrigue and entice. Using a nimage with eye contact is conventional. This convention proved to

be necessary as with my draft I found that no eye contact meant less connection to the reader on their first impression. I found that the images with no eye contact worked better on the DPS as they where intriguing and

would make the reader stop on that page if flicking through.

Overall, my media product heavily relies on the use and development of a small amount of conventions from real magazines but also challenges a lot conventions at the same time. I feel challenging conventions allows my magazine to be unique and

alternative. Ultimately my magazine will stand out from others.