IN WHAT WAY DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Magazines are publications intended to inform, educate, but mostly to entertain the reader. Media

products use codes and conventions to attract audiences and consumers to the product. The

different types of codes used in magazines includes, written codes, symbolic codes and technical codes. Written codes include content found in mastheads,

cover lines, strap lines, slogans, pull quotes and puffs. Symbolic codes include, colours, background

and props, clothing, hair and make-up, facial expressions and eye contact, and are decoded through connotations. Technical codes include,

camera angles, font, typography, graphics, shapes and use of space.

I have used a variety of symbolic codes throughout my music magazines front cover, contents page and double page spread. Examples of this include the darker colour scheme which I followed throughout all of my magazine pages. I used darker colours as they are stereotypically associated with the genre rock music which is the genre of my music magazine. This was also the colour scheme which received the most votes in my target audience research questionnaire. I also decided that I should use exciting backgrounds for my photos, and positioned my main model in front of some cartoon styles street art. This would be decoded by my audience and interest them and engage them to look at the pictures. This is because I know that my target audience have an interest in cartoons. The colours of the cartoon images are again dark and include images of drawings such as skulls and gravestones which is another theme stereotypically associated with rock music. Another symbolic code I used was having my artist smiling directly towards the camera (direct mode of address). This challenged normal conventions of a rock music magazine as the typical association/ stereotype is that musicians linked to rock music are tough and scary but as the artist is smiling nicely the photo on the front cover challenges this. Other symbolic codes I purposefully used on my magazine was through the clothing, and make-up of my artist. All the clothing and make-up worn is black. This is what is stereotypically assumed when society think or rock musicians and therefore makes it obvious that the artist on the front is a rock musician.

An example of a real published music magazine is Kerrang! and this also uses a variety of symbolic codes to identify with the magazines audience and genre. Through the photos used on the front cover, contents page and main article, Kerrang! uses direct mode of address and funny facial expressions to engage the reader. This challenges normal magazine conventions as in the issue I looked at, the musicians were not presented as themselves, but as special guest editors of the magazine. This also meant that the clothing the artists wore was brightly coloured suits and not the normal expected dark colours, skinny jeans and leather jackets. This obvious change engages the reader of the magazine to look and see why the musicians are presented differently to what is typically expected. Another symbolic code used by Kerrang! is the background and location of the musicians in the photos. The musicians are clearly shown to be located in ‘office like’ locations by sitting on desk chairs and desks. This is decoded by the magazines audience and the readers know that the musicians really are ‘guest editing’ that particular issue of the magazine.

I also of technical codes throughout my music magazine pages. These include a variety of different photos which I took by using different camera angles and camera shots. In my final music magazine, I used a close up for the front cover, a medium close up and longshot for the contents page, and a longshot for my double page spread. A variety of different images makes the pages look more interesting and will engage the reader more as there will be more for them to look at. I also used explosion graphics on my front cover and on my double page spread. The graphics make the page more exciting and interesting to look at. The graphics also subtly hint, and have connotations linked to the main article on my front cover and on my double page spread. This is because my article is about a new, famous band who have basically gone from being unknown, to very quickly becoming very famous and well known. This is similar to the way my graphics are explosions which also start off as nothing but get a lot bigger very quickly. I also used lightning bolt shaped graphics on my front cover. This matches the graphic lightning shaped sound waves and lettering on my masthead. The design of my masthead matches the word it is illustrating, amplified. This is because the word amplified has connotations of loud music and the soundwaves either side of this link to this. The name of the magazine and the way it is graphically presented also link the genre of my music magazine as rock is always stereotypically assumed to be extremely loud. I used different typography throughout all of my music magazine pages as it is a good way to show different sections of the magazine. On my double page spread I used different fonts, colours and sizes to clearly show the reader the title and the name of the band, the pull quote, the introduction and conclusion to the interview, and the questions and answers in the interview. used a range

Rock Sound, a published music magazine which I looked at, also uses a range of technical codes throughout out all of its magazine pages. On the contents page, the magazine includes a variety of photos which have all been taken using different camera shots and camera angles. The photos are also a range of different sizes on the page. Rock Sound also uses lots of different shapes to present the images and text on the contents page, both the different variety of shapes, and the selection of photos and how they are positioned on the page through the use of space, really makes the page look exciting and gages the reader’s attention. Rock Sound also uses different fonts and typography, particularly on the double page spread about the main article. The text is coloured differently to show the questions from the answers in the interview and the font is also different as well as the size of the text. This makes it very clear who said what in the interview.