There are many ways in which my magazines use, develop on, and challenge existing forms and conventions in real professional magazines.
Firstly, my magazine is a music magazine and therefore fits into a big market of music magazines. There are many music magazines on sale in shops proving that there is a demand for them, in all different styles and genres. My magazine fits into the metal/rock music genre, which there are already a few of on the market with magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Metal Hammer'. By looking at professional magazines that are aiming for the same target market as mine, I can compare and contrast on how my magazine fits in with the conventional forms and ideas and where it develops on or challenge them.
Front Cover
My front cover has many parts to compare to a professional magazine, starting with the title of the magazine. 'Metal Militia' is a suitable name that fits in well with the target audience, relates to a song, and has the same basis as other titles. 'Metal Militia' identifies the music genre in the title straight away so that potential readers can easily find out at a glance. Also, the idea of Militia fits into the target audience and genre of music, a society that fights against the main powers. The real magazine of 'Metal Hammer' also has this idea; the Metal easily shows off the music genre and the Hammer represents rebellion and power, themes associated with metal/rock music. The style of the title uses conventional ideas, but also develops in some ways, in my opinion. Having the colour as red helps it stand out and link into the genre. However, I believe I have developed on professional magazine titles since I have placed a colour gradient over the title making is darker at each end. This gives it the effect of a search light going over it and adds to the effect of the genre and pulls the reader in.
The main picture on the front cover also plays into typical themes of the music genre and subsequently used by real magazines. The shot is a medium closeup that takes up most of the cover, with the headline below. The pose of the person in the picture also plays to conventional magazine methods. He isn't standing there looking happy, he is giving a hard stare into you and has a fair amount of stubble which can come across as anger or rebellion, linking into the music genre. The clothing also comes across with the music genre and therefore with other magazines. In my picture, he is wearing a rock band t-shirt, and a black beanie hat. The band t shirt easily fits into the atmosphere of the picture since its all about music and rock/metal, but not showing the band's name on the t shirt since having another band's name on the front cover can confuse the main story, and having your own band t shirt on can look vain from the reader's point of view. I believe that I have also challenged conventional magazine methods for my front cover picture; Most music magazines picture the whole band in the front cover when having a band as their main headline. I have challenged this idea since I am doing a story on a band, but I have decided to only put one person on the front cover because I believe that putting the whole band in the picture makes the front cover seem more messy and makes the focus of the picture less powerful.
In the picture above, the top arrow shows how both covers have a competition advertised on the cover with the title 'Win'. The 2nd arrow shows how both backgrounds are based on gradients, but my one is darker as i feel it suits the genre more. The 3rd arrow shows how they are both the same in the picture. They both have a black tshirt, they are both medium close-up, they both have the same expression on their face, and they both have facial hair to some degree. And the 4th arrow shows how the language is the same. both have 'Exclusive', and then the title of the article, followed by a one-sentence description.
Contents page
My contents page has many similarities to a professional magazine contents page, which will hopefully improve reader satisfaction when reading and it is as helpful as possible. Firstly, the articles have been split up into two different groups, Features and Regulars. Most magazines do this because its an easy way to highlight their big front cover stories, which are usually the feature articles. This makes it easier for the reader to find the pages and get more satisfaction from reading the magazine. Since each of the feature articles take importance, due to the fact the most money has been spend on getting them and they are what the reader wants to read the most, each of the articles and page number has a brief description of what the article is about. This attracts the reader to read the stories since it gives them a preview to the story and acts as a hook to go on and read more about it. By splitting it up into different sections, two columns are made and most magazine contents organize their contents with columns since it separates everything and makes it easier to read for the reader Another part of the contents page which is used in real media products is a small notice written from the editor. It usually includes the editor talking about what is in the issue and what has been happening at the production offices. This is a small touch, but gives an extra closeness between the reader and the magazine. It is usually in a conversational tone which makes it more personal.
This compares my contents to Metal Hammer's contents. The top arrow shows how both have used a 'features' and 'regulars' layout of article, seperating the both into two different columns. The 2nd arrow shows how a description of the article has been shown with the article title and page number, helping the reader, and advertising the story more. The 3rd arrow shows that both magazines have a 'from the editor' section, and the 4th arrow shows how pictures with page numbers on have helped advertise the articles to back up the written contents
Double Page Spread
There are different parts of the double page spread which compare to double page spreads in real life magazines. Firstly, there are basic things such as the layout of the page since it has been organized into many columns, which gives it a more professional look and the colour schemes link it into the music genre like what other magazines achieve. This is used by real media products as it makes it easier for the reader to read and navigate round, and the colour scheme appeals to the readers music genre. Other ways in which there are similarities between my DPS and real life ones is the text-wrapping round pictures and the drop-capitals. Text wrapping enables the writing to detect the edges of the picture and fit exactly round it, saving space on the page, and making it look more professional, and the drop-capitals help the reader see where the begining of the article is and attracts attention to it. Most real magazines use effects like these, so i felt that i should encorperate it into my magazine to help it look more professional and look better to the reader, as well as being more practical.
No comments:
Post a Comment