Q1-

I based and took ideas for my front cover, from a Kerrang music magazine that I found when researching typical Rock music magazines. Therefore any bands or extra information I made suitable to fit in with a rock genre. I decided to go with a rock genre due to the research I carried out which proved across the UK its was the most popular and the poll results (by target group) backed this up. The price of Kerrang , when researching, was £2.20. I felt this to be a little high for mine so chose to use a more conventional price of £1.50.

I used the typical ‘strap line’ to add extra information onto my cover. This was a reoccurring feature that I noticed throughout magazine research. I chose to make each ‘strap line’ a vibrant colour which I picked up from the Kerrang magazine. This made the information in a contrasting white colour stand out. The information includes the names of extra bands and it also advertises extra features including quizzes. This is a feature I noticed most music magazines use in order to advertise extra information clearly and in an appealing way.

I chose to challenge in a way ,the typical style of having the picture in front of the text. The ‘mode of address’ in front of the ‘masthead’ was a feature I found when researching to be very popular in most conventional music magazines. However I decided to place my picture behind the text and in Black and white. This again challenged most covers as their main images were in colour. I found that the black and white stood out more against the dominant colour red (of the text). Also because the picture stood out in an appealing way, I decided that placing it behind the text still worked well and found it wasn’t lost.

Mise en Scene – Choosing what to incorporate into my photo shoot challenged some conventional music magazines. This is due to for example Kerrang, there being no instruments present/ on show in the main image. I chose to incorporate two guitars and a microphone due to the instruments being typical of the ‘rock genre’. I chose a casual but mainly black outfit for each member in the ‘band’. This was a feature I chose to therefore develop and also with the outfit choices , use from a conventional music magazine.

The ‘Mast head’ originally was in a similar style of ‘Kerrang’. It also read ‘Music Matters’. However I decided that it was simply lost when looking at the magazine. I abbreviated the title to MM and developed the style to a more chunky and eye catching style.

I noticed that a lot of the conventional music magazines advertised free posters within the magazine , maybe with a picture. I decided to develop this form and include a real peel of sticker in a bright yellow colour. This meant the consumer would have to peel away the sticker in order to find out who the ‘extra band’ was that would feature as the ‘one off poster edition’. I think this made the magazine cover more interesting and improved the aesthetic value and added another layer.

The ‘cover lines’ I used on my music magazine follow the conventional style of most music magazines in the fact that they are lined up on top of one another. They are also in a reasonably large and eye-catching font. They advertise key features within the magazine which is typical of a real conventional music magazine.

I used the idea from most conventional music magazine contents pages of a large, prominent ‘masthead’. I decided to look at a typical contents page from ‘Kerrang’ (as this was the magazine my cover is based on), I noticed the title was in a chunky text and the same colour as the writing for each feature (the yellow). I developed this feature as I chose to use a contrasting colour to the background and use that colour for the strip down the side and the text. The fact that the strip (to the right) in the Kerrang and most conventional music magazine contents pages were the same as the background, shows I challenge this feature by making my strip a contrasting colour (Black).

I noticed that in most conventional music magazines the page numbers were the same colour as the text for the main features.

I decided to develop this idea and put a background behind each number, making them stand out. I also noticed that a feature in most conventional music magazine content pages is that the page numbers were small and about the same size as the text around it. I decided to develop this feature and make the page numbers larger in order to grab the readers attention.

I chose to use the space wisely and place the date in a large text. This was not a conventional feature of most music magazine contents pages ,I found, when I was doing my research. I think it challenges the normal form of conventional music magazine contents pages.

I chose to use the conventional form of most music magazine contents page layouts. This meant placing my images in a similar format to the ‘Kerrang’ contents page so the form worked. I chose however in my first contents page (where I used professional images) to use similar sized images. However in my final second one, I chose to use images that were slightly larger. I think this challenges most conventional music magazine contents pages as fewer images are used.

Mise en Scene was another feature I focused on and I decided to carry the sort of costumes/dress wear and props on into the contents page, which is a feature of the conventional feature of a music magazine contents page.

I made sure that I stayed to the ‘Rock genre’ by basing my double page spread on one from ‘Kerrang’. I chose to use the typical conventional form of most music magazine double page spreads, of having one large image on one of the pages. This I found to work very well . I wanted the picture to engage with the reader as when researching I also found a conventional form of the main image was to maintain eye contact with the reader. I decided to use this form and this I felt helped to attract the reader.I also noticed a conventional form of most music magazine double page spreads to be the use of columns. I used this form to keep an ordered and neat presentation of the interview. I think this worked well in improving the visual quality of this double page spread.

A conventional form of most music magazine double page spreads I found was to have writing on top of the largest and main image. I think I developed this form by not only putting a huge quote and circle to advertise and capture the readers attention, but I tried to make it more ‘fun’ and place a Target over one of the band members face. I think this would intrigue the reader as to wonder why she is or was being targeted.

I noticed another conventional form of a music magazine double page spread was to have the name of the band / the interview in the largest text compared with the any other text on the two pages. I used this form to create a title which I think grabs the readers eye immediately. I also noticed a conventional form was to have the first letter in a larger size before starting the introduction to the interview. I chose to use this form.

I also chose to develop the conventional form of the Kerrang double page spreads use of smaller images. I wanted to incorporate another image and chose to develop this by having a smaller image in the middle of the text columns. I put a quote above it and used the image to represent the quote. I think this develop the creativity and would hopefully again attract the reader.

Mise en Scene was another feature I focused on in my double page spread. Aswell as noticing the colours needed to be carried through from looking at kerrang (use of black , red ,yellow and white), I also noticed a conventional form was to have the instruments of the band present in the large and other images. I chose to use this form and focused on having the instruments present in each image I used.