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

the conventions of real media products?

My music magazine conforms to the conventions of punk rock genre of magazines through following some of the paradigms of this genre.

I researched a few magazines , before planning my magazine it was important to understand the rules of making a punk-rock magazine. As I read this genre of

magazine myself, I already have a limited insight into what to expect , however not all magazines follow the same conventions.

COVER

The layout of punk rock magazines are usually quite messy and seem slightly careless, in a relaxed and comfortable way. They usually have the main colour as black, and then use a lot of primary colours, such as red, blue and yellow, which is featured a lot in the issue to the left and the colours also compliment the bands clothing. They have the same expected basic layout like any other magazine, with a skyline, masthead, main image, a few secondary images, a few cover lines, and the barcode with the issue number, date and price on it. The sides usually have a lot of extra content, that have buzzwords to draw your attention, like this one has WIN! and FREE which stand out and will attract the readers. All the extra components frame the main image which helps to make the band the main attraction.

Another main topic is the carelessness and rebelliousness of the music genre, which reflects on the rebelliousness of the age group and magazine. The masthead looks 'broken' which also compliments the theme and relates to the crazy and 'rock 'n roll' style of the music. The camera shot is a fairly long shot as it shows the whole bodies of the band members, this gives more room for the rest of the 'extra content'. The men have a half-smile kind of look which ties into the conventions of the stereotypical, grumpy idea of bands, however, because they are in a way, smiling, it makes them appear more approachable, interesting and easy to talk to which gives a good impression for the main article. They're all making eye contact with the camera which makes them seem very open and make the audience feel more connected with the band. The fact the tag line uses direct language also will make the reader feel like they have a bond with the magazine and band. The posters advertised at the bottom can seem quite intimidating, as Tenacious D look really scary which again links to the stereotypical 'scary' idea of rock music. Finally, the cover is quite ‘blocky’ as a lot of the images and extra shapes are squared/rectangled.

MY COVERWith my own magazine, I used a few different aspects from real magazines such as Kerrang! and Rock Sound. I tried to keep to the conventions of the usual layout, with the skyline featuring the posters,

and I used a few buzzwords, and badges. For the posters, I decided to use photos from live gigs, I thought that this was a good idea because it would make the audience feel connected with the bands, and as concerts and gigs are a huge aspect of this genre of music, it

would be a good and interesting style of imagery. Also, the intimacy that you get at a gig is also replicated in the gig photos, so the reader will feel intimate with the band when the posters are on their wall etc. As for the models I tried to replicate the look of Twin Atlantic in the Kerrang! example, with the half-hearted smiling poses.

Again, like in Kerrang, has given an open and friendly feel to the band, and I tried to explore using different shaped badges, such as the banner one, I thought that this would make it a bit more modern and edgy, but I decided to use the typical star badge for the Win! to draw attention and make it look excited etc. I used quite neat badges for the extra information, such as the 'Mallory Knox are back' and the list of bands that are featured inside, again, to emphasis my idea of being a more professional and organised magazine, I've tried to encourage this style throughout my magazine in all its aspects. The fonts I have used are mostly the same to

keep it familiar and smart.I've also stuck to the colour scheme because they're the colours that are associated with the music genre, and so would be recognised as being a punk rock magazine by its readers, also they're bright which will attract the eye. As well as this, from our research, black, white, red, grey and yellow were the highest scoring colours to attract an audience, and so that was important to include them frequently in the magazine.

I kept the title short and sharp, like NME but included what it means underneath. The phrase, 'no boundaries, no rules' is linked to the punk genre, as it was known for being a reckless and rebellious genre. The font of the title was chosen because it can be seen as fairly reckelss and messy, but without being too messy that it looks amateur-ish. I've tried to get a balance between the typical, messy and rebellious look that would be linked with this genre, and a neat and professional look which will help the magazine seem more genuine and truthful. I've used quite modern fonts to give it the new, edgy and up to-date look rather than an old newspaper style.

CONTENTS PAGE

Kerrang!'s contents page is quite 'chunky' and 'blocky' as it is made out of mostly squares etc. A large dominant image of Tay Jardine takes up most of the page on the left, and features a couple of secondary images underneath it, it shows what the main double page spreads are about to give you a teaser to entice you to want to read them. Tay has been taken as a long shot, her hands reaching out gives the image a 3D effect and shows her fun character, the 3D effect makes it feel like she's reaching out to you to read the article about her, the fact she's smiling shows a the nice and friendly side of the magazine, and this helps because it makes you want to read the article.

KERRANG!

The right hand side sections up the articles under different subheadings, the stories are in bold which helps the reader find the articles they want to read quickly, a few of the stories have a small insight into the article so the reader knows that to expect from the article and see what it is all about.The contents page follows the colour scheme and style of the contents page, with blue, red and yellow as the most common colours, however a few other 'pop' colours like pink is included, this will be because of the small badge that says 'pop-punk's not dead' which links the pop side of that genre with the more fun, and colourful colour of pink, which is often associated with pop music. The general consistency of the colour scheme and style as a whole keeps the magazine tidy and constantly linking back to the genre.The bottom has a small message from the editor, James, this really helps the reader to feel linked and interactive with the magazine, as it makes it feel like the magazine is made specifically for the reader as he uses direct language, also, there's a casual photo of the editor to give across the relaxed, friendly vibe.

With Rock Sounds contents page, it appeals to me a lot more. It's very neat and organised and keeps its all co-ordinated, this works well for basing my contents page on. It follows a mainly red, white black colour scheme which is simple and matches the colours linked with rock. Like Kerrang!, Rock Sound is quite 'blocky', as the top half of the page is primarily pictures that help to section the subheadings, which link to the subheadings in the written section underneath. I think this works well, if the reader was more literary they would be more suited to read the little paragraphs under each subheading (eg. the noise and features) , where band names are in bold, this helps the reader if they're scanning the sections to find the article that they'd be most interested in which I think is quite good and unique. As for the images, they are all mid close-up or long shots, this again, helps the reader to feel more intimate with the band or the artists which is achieved at gigs. Also, the pictures are laid out as posters would on a fans wall.

CONTENTS PAGE

Finally, there is also a message from the editor, like in Kerrang!, again, there's a fun photo of the editor which gives a relaxed feel and makes the reader feel like they know the editor. He talks about the main article about All Time Low which gives the readers an idea about what the main article is about and his rhetorical questions make the reader feel involved.

MY CONTENTS PAGE

I have used a few different elements of mainly Rock Sounds contents page, as I thought it matched my criteria of being a professional styled magazine which makes the magazine appear more reliable and truthful. I have tried to add a bit of colour, but keeping to the colour scheme, I think the various, brightly coloured parts catch your eye. I like the little arrows that say ‘cover story’ and I think this is quite good, as for someone who wants to quickly find something that’s on the cover. I stuck to the ‘blocky’ idea, as it works well in organising the page and doesn’t overcrowd the reader. I have used a similar layout to Rock Sounds, as half the page is dominated by imagery, the page as a whole is quite visual as there is little in the way of actual text. I put words that would interest the reader in bold, for example, ‘giveaway’, ’inked

up’ and ‘gig guide’ because I thought that putting short and sharp interesting words in bold would entice the readers more. Each of the subsections have an image which relate to the topic, for example, I used a picture of Natives live, under the reviews. I chose quite close up and dramatic pictures which will make the audience feel more intimate with the bands. I also decided to have a message from the editor, it’s quite informal and addresses the reader directly, again, adding to the intimacy. The page numbers are quite large along with the subheadings, so if the reader wants to skip

to one of the subheadings it’s really easy to find the page number.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

KERRANG! DOUBLE PAGE SPREADFor the double page spread, I noticed a few common occurrences between K! and Rock Sound. The dominant image takes up a very large percentage of the page, and often also goes onto the next page, in this example, Gerard is photographed at a medium-long shot.The colours have been kept to a minimum of 3, the white writing on the black background makes it a bit different, and the red makes

the page seem much bolder, the red could also represent the typical view of rock music being linked with blood and anger. 3 secondary images in the bottom right add a bit more depth to the article, and can offer the reader a small insight into what the article might be about,. The images are of the band in a recording studio, this helps the readers feel closer and more involved with the band. The colour editing chose of the images support the ideology of MCR being an ‘emo’ and ‘goth’ band as its all in black and white. As well as this, the quotation from the article ‘we’re being the best MCR we can be’, is written in a worn out styled effect, which also replicates the stereotype and style of music that MCR is. As for the article, it’s very small compared to the other elements of this double page spread. On the far right, there is additional information about My Chem, which might interest fans.

ROCK SOUND DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

The main image of Alex Gaskarth is spread out over the double page, the colour scheme of this double page spread is pink and white, this is because All Time Low have an incredibly large female audience, so this colour scheme would attract their target audience, as well as this, Jack (guitarist) and Alex (singer) have a bromance (a jokingly brotherly romance), so this leads with the inside joke within the fandom, linking to pink, which is stereotypically a gay colour. The images would suggest to the reader that the article is about their tours and gigs, the bright colours would attract readers eyes, as well as this, they are styled like disposable camera images, which looks like a fans personal collectionof images, which would make the reader feel interactive with ATL, especially as they are fairly close up images from a mid shot. The quotation in the bottom left hand corner would be quite amusing to people in the fandom of ATL so again, that’s an inside joke.

In addition to this, Alex looks as though he’s been cut out of a magazine and stuck into a fans scrap book, the right hand side looks like it has also been torn out, and the images have been laid out to look like a collage again, appealing to the fans. The large

drop down letter before the article is in a sans-serif font, making it look hand-written, which is used again in the subheading within the article.

The main article its self is written in a serif font to make the actual story seem more professional, rather than a creepy fangirl has written it. This gives it asense of validation and truth in thestory.

MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

My double page spread needed to be simpleto match the professional approach. I wanted to convey the boys personality within boththe article and the imagery. I stuck to the same colour scheme that I adopted for the cover, of red, blue, black and yellow. The yellow colour for the quote helps to break thepage up a bit, and adds a new colour to the article rather than the blue and red I stuck to for the page on the left. I used a drop downletter for the beginning of the article because I thought that it makes the article seem a little bit easier read by being able to break up, which is also helped by the quote from Tom in the middle. I decided to display the secondary images a little differently to the example pages, and by overlapping the film reel, it makes the two pages seem more connected to each other, I felt that I could easily convey the personalities through the reel, as I used the fun photo-shoot photos to help make the page seem a little bit more relaxed. In the article there were some swear words, but I felt it was important to keep those because it matches the style of music and genre of magazine, adding to the reckless and youthful punk ideas. It also helps make the article seem more genuine and raw, rather than something that was constructed and designed.