evaluation f – forms and conventions
TRANSCRIPT
Conventions in any magazine not just music magazines are technical and symbolic codes that represent the magazine in a particular way. These codes tend to be repeated throughout a particular genre and then become conventions. These conventions familiarise the audience and therefore create gratification and form a connection between the brand and the target audience member.
However, some magazines do not conform to conventions, this is to make them unique and stand out and can also gratify an audience for being different. This is also called challenging genre conventions.
In my magazine I have used a range of conventions to appeal to the target audience and create gratification according to the uses and gratification theory. However, I have also challenged some genre conventions to create a unique and different represented ideology to my magazine brand.
What are conventions used for?
Conventions represented in my Magazine
Masthead of the magazine is called Vermin
The mise en scene is the final product that all the technical and symbolic codes make up, in this case the magazine front cover
Cover lines are located down the left hand side of the page with featured artists in bold white text with a fill background.
The ‘Bike Life’ text is a buzzword due to it being blue and featured and the ‘changed him’ is a puff incentive that attracts target audience.
Kickers are located underneath the cover lines
Main cover line is located at the top of the cover lines and uses a larger font.
Barcode is a conventional aspect that a magazine will stereotypically have
The ‘house style’ or colour scheme is very distinguishable and consistent throughout the magazine. It uses blue, white and black to create contrast and conform to its house style. Most magazines have a house style so this is a common convention for any magazine to have
Clothing and indirect mode of address from model connotes the feeling of a more approachable magazine, making it less intimidating and therefore more appealing to a wider target audience compared to most rap magazines.
Unique selling lines / ideology of the magazine is at the top of the page
Conventions represented in my Magazine
Vermin brand / logo is on the feature article, conventional to most music magazines
Use of white space is to represent a more mature article. This is also reflected in the journalist style of written content.
Column structure has been formatted for the ‘Q&A’ style questions and the long answers.
The unconventional logo for ‘SCOTTEE’ is used to enrich the white space around it
The start of my written content has a drop cap to give the audience some decoration that corresponds with the house style and also for navigation
It is unconventional for music magazines to have a single page dedicated to written content and then a single image on the other page
The colours used in the image unintentionally match the house style. This appeals to the target audience because of continunity.
Rule of thirds typically makes the audience’s eye wander to the upper right hand side of the image. However, I have been unconventional and put my main image in the opposite corner and used an image with an indirect mode of address
The cover line / kicker explaining in short what the feature article is about
Blue line creates continuity, contributes to the House style of the mise en scene and lets the audience know that the image on the second page is related to the written content on the first
Conventions Comparison VibeBoth magazines have a bold white masthead
Vibe has a three colour house style in this particular issue, similar to that of Vermin
Cover lines
Main cover line is larger than the other cover lines
Both magazines represent rap and hip hop, but Vibe does it in a more stereotypical way, where as vermin challenges these conventionsBarcode
Both magazines have information that their magazine represents above the masthead
Both magazines use convergence in their products. Website links next to the barcode.
Both magazines use an artist with a pose that represents no emotion, in itself representing patience and depth
Vermin has a different layout for cover lines compared to vibe
Both magazines use different ethnicities to appeal to different target audiences
Conventions Comparison Vibe
Logo / brand in the top left corner of the contents page.
Both magazines have a similar layout with a bolder text and style for the features and then smaller text underneath giving detail of the article.
Both magazines have an iconic house style, Vermin is much more colourful and Vibe looks much more serious and grimy in this example
Vermin extends its convergence to its website onto the contents page, however vibe does not do this.
Vermin has more than just the single image on the contents page
Both vibe and vermin have an artist in a pose on the right hand side of the rule of thirds in the background of the contents page.
Both Vibe and Vermin use artists with fashionable clothing to appeal to a younger target audience
Vermin has labelled the artist in the background on the contents page where as vibe has not
Vermin has taken up much more ‘white space’ compared to vibe
Conventions Comparison NME
Vermin has its cover lines featured down the left hand side of the magazine with the artists on the right. NME however has what appears to be one cover line in the top right, along with artists and then one main cover line in a superimposition over the background main front cover image.
Both Vibe and vermin have bold white mastheads. However, NME’s is in the top left quadrant of the rule of thirds and is not centrally set
NME has a very simplistic layout with a varied house style. Vermin is much more packed with information and has an iconic house style
Barcodes
Main cover line
Website links for convergence
NME uses a main front cover image which is stereotypical and conforms to music magazines due to the direct mode of address
NME has more than one image on its front cover
Vermin has a larger and easier to read issue date and price of purchase
Conventions Comparison NMENME uses 4 different colours in its contents page where as vermin has stuck to three colours as its house style throughout
NME has a house style similar to the representation of a newspaper where as vermin is more intertextual to vibe with its simplicity, house style and layout.
Vermin has a more in depth summary of each feature. However, NME has a more detailed description for its main feature article, where as Vermin has used a different style to highlight which its feature article is.
Both contain subscription advertisements for the magazine brand
Vermin does not have a band index as it is a different genre of music magazine and focuses on rap and hip hop, of which the artists were featured on the main front cover
Vermin has a much more subtle subscription advert and links it to convergence with the website, where as NME can be done directly.
Both vermin and NME have used more than just one image on their contents pages
NME is more ‘words than images’
Intertextuality of my MagazineDuring the planning of my rap magazine I wanted it to appeal to my target audience but I also wanted it to be unique and have a particular ideology that would create a unique selling point. I feel I have been able to do this through it’s representation of a more upper class / exclusive product and through other attractive features like its modern layout, appealing House Style and journalistic written content. However, I did use intertextuality to create my finished product.Intertextuality is when a brand or company ‘copies’ another brand but makes it different. This can be subtle or blatant depending on how they want the audience to perceive and react to it. In my case, I have used the vibe contents page as inspiration for my own and therefore my magazine is intertextual to vibe. This is because I liked the modern, sleek and simplicity of the Vibe contents page, this inspired me to make my contents page have a single image of one of the featured artists in the background and then the features in the foreground to the left of the image. However, I have made mine very different through my continuous House Style which is much more noticeable than that of vibe’s. I have also included a much larger logo than vibe’s subtle logo in the top left of their contents page. In my magazine I have also added an overlay image of my feature article with a blue connection to the text. This is to attract the audience’s eyes to the feature article which was also the main cover line on the front cover page.At the bottom of my contents page I also added a website link and a competition online. This is to create convergence within my magazine, we live in modern times and technology is as much of everyday life as using paper. Therefore I decided to include as much convergence as possible throughout my magazine, due to me trying to appeal to a younger generation of target audience that would also be heavily influenced by technology. Overall I feel that my product will do well to gratify the target audience despite being intertextual to vibe because it will create familiarity within the audience and if they enjoyed Vibe’s simple yet modern layout then they are equally as likely to enjoy my design. This is why I have been intertextual, to gratify my potential target audience.