Evaluation 1 develop conventions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The font for my title, which is also used on other pages, is a similar to kinds used in other rock magazines. The title for my magazine “Retro Rocker” is rather simple. When naming my magazine I wanted a title which wasn’t really ambiguous as to who magazine is being aimed at. “Rocker” clearly addresses that the magazine will include rock music. The positioning of the title is standard in and takes up space the upper-middle section. Again, this is standard of most magazines and it’s so the people can easily see it. I have included some miscellaneous information on the front cover such as a website for the magazine on the base and an advertisement for free tickets. These minor features creates a great deal of authenticity and alludes to a consumer audience. Other features like putting the title of the magazine in the top right-hand corner are extremely common in magazine front covers, so helps with making my magazine appear genuine.

I have used the generic “Contents” title for the contents page as I felt that this feature did not need to be challenged. I have also used the same font as the title for consistency.

The article of my double page spread is clearly laid out. This features in magazines such as “Classic rock”. The language is also appropriate for my magazine as it is formal and uses a rather developed vocabulary. Consistency is also demonstrated as a similar style is used from the previous pages. Pull quotes are also common features of magazines which I have included.

In terms of mise en scene my images very much conforms to the conventions of rock. The do models not strike youthful poses. They instead take on a very subdued pose. The black and white imagery has been used extensively throughout the history of rock and is still used today. The masculinity versus femininity aspect of rock as I had to choose between following the normal convention of rock magazines by mainly featuring male musicians or subverting it and photographing a female model.

The common design choice in most magazines centred around the rock genre is a relatively dark colour palette. This helps with ascertaining the target audience as the common stereotype of men preferring darker colours and women preferring lighter colours comes into fruition. Here I have developed this particular convention by featuring dark clothing throughout the magazine.

The images of the models posing as a musicians also follows the traditional use of a masculine figure in rock magazines. Men have been the main figurehead of the rock genre with not as many female rock musicians in comparison. The clothing the models wear is dark which is a stereotypically masculine colour. The use of black and white photography alludes to this idea of a magazine presenting late both twentieth century music and bands which still adopt their style.

My own magazine does challenge some conventions of popular rock magazines. One such convention I have subverted is used in the magazine “Kerrang”. This magazine has a much more varied style in terms of colour usage and the positioning of some features compared to my own. I opted for a much more subdued style as I wasn’t attracting a majority youth audience. The black and white imagery is not used extensively in mainstream rock magazines but it features throughout my own, challenging the common conventions used in colour scheme. The colour red also helps as a contrasting colour and to catch a person’s attention. The overall style connotes a relatively sophisticated magazine with the style taking place over content. The orderly fashion may slightly subvert the unpredictability of the rock genre with its image of non-conformity, my keeping a rather neatly structured style.