In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
05:42Master-head:
I had two options for the name of my magazine. I first looked at the adjective 'Vivid'.
The connotations of this adjective are "striking bright and intense" or "full of life" this links with my magazine as I wanted it to be very bright and vibrant unlike most Indie magazines. However, I found that this master-head didn't fit across the top of the cover and I also found problems with the rainbow background.
My other option for the name of my magazine was the noun 'Narcotic'.
I preferred this brand name as my target audience said it linked more towards indie music but also was a very unique name. The definition of Narcotic is "an addictive drug affecting mood or behaviour". I linked this more towards music and how music you enjoy is very addictive and can change your mood. Also I said how magazines you enjoy are addictive and you want to buy every issue. Finally, Narcotic has connotations of drugs and most Indie songs relate to drugs or talk about drugs in the songs.
My master-head is located at the top of my cover; this allows the magazine to be noticeable for the audience at every issue.I placed the master-head behind the models head as this technique is used in most conventional magazines. I used white for the colour of the master-head as it stands out as the background of the cover which is more of a duck egg blue. At every issue I will change the colour of the master-head so that it fits with the theme of that specific issue. I decided to use Arial Black font for my master-head of my magazine as this font is used in a variety of Indie music magazines for example 'Wonderland' magazine also it looks very professional and bold so will stand out on the news-stand. This font will be used in every issue so that the magazine is recognisable for my target audience.
Cover image:
The cover image is very important for the success of a magazine as it is what the audience first looks at when they see the magazine. The image needs to catch the readers attention to make them want to purchase the magazine.
Un-edited image:
I took several images for the front cover image; I started with taking my images outside however I struggled with the lighting so decided to take a image with the green-screen as this allowed me to get the lighting I wanted for my image and the colour of the background. Here I followed the conventions of typical magazines as most images have used a green screen then edited.
Another convention I have followed is the models giving direct eye contact to the camera. This creates a bond with the models and reader making them more likely to purchase the magazine.
Edited image:
When editing my image I mainly wanted to focus on adjusting the lighting as most magazines have a very soft lighting on the models faces. Typical magazine cover images are very striking to make my image striking to the audience I focused on the clothing and positioning of the models. The clothes the models are wearing have a very similar colour scheme which makes the clothes work well together but are very striking pieces so will attract the eye of the reader. With the positioning I researched into other magazines with a trio on the front cover and how they were positioned. I took inspiration from Nylon magazine which had the band 'Haim' on the front cover. As you can see they are placed very close together which I liked the look of so my models are positioned very closely also I liked how one member of the band are at more of a side angle than the others which I tried to do in my photo-shoot for my front cover image.
Colour scheme:
I decided to keep to a colour scheme of neutral colours throughout my magazine so that I have a house style and that the format of my magazine is consistent throughout as this makes the magazine look more professional but also follow the typical conventions of a magazine where there is a specific colour scheme and style throughout a certain issue. At first I was going to use more vibrant colours as I found this is what my target audience preferred however I felt that more neutral colours fitted in more with the Indie style I wanted in addition I found that magazines like 'Indie' were using more neutral tones rather than bright bold colours.
As you can see the tones are very similar and I stuck to the three colours Black, White and Blue throughout my magazine as again this creates a house-style but also typically magazines stick to three colours throughout a magazine.
Cover-lines:
Cover-lines are very important for the cover of a magazine as it informs the audience the formula and function of the magazine. I decided to have a minimalistic front cover as this is what my target audience preferred in my questionnaire. In addition because of my audience preferring a minimalistic style I decided to challenge conventions of magazines and use less cover-lines on my front cover.I decided to follow a similar layout of cover-lines as 'Wonderland' magazine as I felt this most suited my front cover as it allows the audience attention to go towards the image rather than the cover-lines.
Conclusion:
Overall I feel that my magazine has been successful. I have followed conventions of a striking image, Master-head and a consistent colour scheme. This will allow me to attract my target audience as I have l have looked at what they would like to see in a magazine through my questionnaire throughout the production of my magazine. By challenging conventions of only using a small amount of cover-lines because of my target audience preferring a minimalistic style this has meant that my magazine targets more of a niche audience.
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