This question asked me to analyse my magazine. I have discussed how my magazine is typical or unconventional of my genre of music magazine. I have commented on each page and I have identified all the conventions of magazines and how they apple to my magazine.
Transcript
During the creation of my music magazine, I continuously looked at existing magazines of my music genre which is pop music and how the conventions are portrayed and presented. I tended to look at the Billboard magazine as the layout and conventions really inspired me and it included my kind of ideas and suited my target audience especially after the audience survey. I feel I have successfully used the conventions of an existing magazine.
Front cover:
The masthead of my magazine appears at the top right hand
corner of my front cover because this is where majority of the mastheads appear
of music magazines and also most viewers’ eyes are directed to the masthead as
soon as they have seen the main image and main sell line. The audience would
look at the main image as that it is generally most important however in the
case of my magazine I have used an extreme close-up with my model looking right
into the camera so it seems she is looking directly at the readers which
engages them with the magazine. Due to the use of an extreme close-up the
readers will immediately look at it and then look at the name and masthead to
see who the story is done by, which magazine. The masthead appearance and
colour was inspired from the NME magazine even though it is an indie/rock genre
magazine whereas mine is pop genre I didn’t feel there is anything immoral in
using the appearance. My masthead does not appear to look like NME’s masthead
but the idea of putting it in red and in top right hand corner was used.
I have used a tag line to promote my magazine as to be the
best as the tag line I have used is ‘bite into the best’. It links in well with
my masthead name which is ‘Beat Bite’. I feel the tag line will grasp the
audience’s attention as they want the best. I have incorporated this convention
in my magazine as it looks and sounds effectual on the Q magazine ‘The UK’s
biggest music magazine’. This makes their magazine sound extremely successful
and the best so that is what I was aiming for.
Furthermore, the sell lines are surrounding the main image.
I feel surrounding the main image with text is not crowded as all the text is
away from the text. This was effectively prepared as I had planned the main
image before my photo-shoot so I knew exactly how I wanted it to turn out. I wanted
my model’s hair to blown out with a fan so her hair spreads and fills up the
majority of the page. Additionally, this fitted my colour scheme well and
allowed me to use the colour white more effectively on the black coloured hair.
The sell lines itself are bold looking which attracts the
audience further and makes them read the entire magazine and in order to do
that they would have to buy the magazine so the sell lines have to be
exceptionally superior and must try to grab every potential reader. I have made
the artists names big and bold so the fans can catch the attention of it
easily. I made the main sell line the biggest and boldest firstly because she
is new to the music industry and her name needs to be heard in public.
I have included a barcode which has the price and the
website on it. I have included two prices; one is the UK price in pounds (£)
and the other is a price for EU countries which is in Euros (€). This is commonly seen on
most magazines which suggest that the magazines are not only sold in UK but are
sold in other countries which expands their audience and makes their magazine
more and more popular. This code of magazine is successful and I have included
it to get a high number of people to read my magazine.
Moreover,
I have included a puff by incorporating a free A4 poster to attract my readers
into buying my magazine. I have made the ‘free’ sign big and bold compared to
the other text in the puff.
Contents page
My contents page contains a lot of the conventions you would
see in a regular but thriving contents page starting from the categories the
information is split into which is ‘News’, ‘Features’ and ‘Regulars’. These
three columns are the ones that stand out the most as they are the ones that
need to get the audience attracted as this makes it easier for them to see what
my magazine contains. Another two columns which is bold is the ‘Subscribe’ box
and the ‘Stay in Touch’ column. These two columns have been made bolder so it
can catch the attention of the readers to subscribe and stay in touch with the
new media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Another typical convention found in magazines is a ‘Band
Index’ which is a list of artists and bands that is mentioned in the magazine
with page numbers. This allows fans to find their favourite artist’s page in
the magazine easily. This is normally placed on the left hand side of a
contents page in a different colour.
Furthermore, having quadrilateral images with page numbers
on it is highly conventional in magazines. However I have included an
unconventional feature. This is the fact that I haven’t used any quadrilateral
images with page numbers but images of my models without a box around it. I
haven’t seen this on many contents pages maybe one or two. I feel this makes it
effective as the page doesn’t look too boring with boxes everywhere. However I
have included two quadrilateral images however one is promoting an artist’s new
album and the other is a regular feature that I have included in my magazine
which is ‘Guess Who’ where audience have to guess who the picture is of and
they find out in the next issue of the magazine. This is unconventional as well
but a valuable way of getting the potential readers to become existing readers.
I have also included an editor’s note which is also conventional
in magazines as this tells readers who created the magazine. The editor’s note
contains a short message from the editor stating what is included in this
issue.
The main thing is that I have created the contents page on a
double page spreads which allows me to add more information and have it spread
out.
Double Page Spreads
My first double page spread is conventional as it follows
most double page spreads in existing magazines. The first double page spread
includes an image or more of the artist that the article is based on. My first
double page spread includes a big title which is the artists name and then in a
bit smaller size the title of the actual article. I have included three images
of the artist. This isn’t conventional as not many double page spreads contains
more than one image. Additionally, I have placed the first paragraph on that
double page spread as well. This allows the readers to have a heads-up on what
the article is about. My second double page spread is the main article. I had
presented this in columns which is extremely conventional as mostly all
articles are put in columns. This makes it quite easy for the reader to read. I
have incorporated another image on the left. On the right hand side, I have
added a column which is dedicated to promote the artist’s latest album. This is
seen quite often in magazines whether it is about the same artists or another.
My third double page spread is of another artist. This is also conventional as
I got the idea from an existing double page spread. I have created a montage of
my model doing different poses but in full shots. I changed all of them into
black and white except the middle one and it looked phenomenal. This took up at
least three quarters of the page which allowed me to do a small article
underneath. I have also included pull quotes in both double page spreads which
is seen in all magazines and not only musical ones.
Over I feel I have included all the codes and conventions of
a successful magazine I could that would suit the genre I have chosen and the
target audience. Other conventions are changed to fit in with my target
audience’s expectations.
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