During the design process to the actual construction of my magazine I have followed existing heavy metal magazine conventions as this will help my audience identify my magazine as being professional and take it seriously as being a heavy metal genre. The masthead is situated at the top of my magazine as this is where my target audience are mostly likely to look first and is the most common place for a magazine masthead to go. I have used a real photo rather than a picture as; again, this makes my music magazine look professional. The photo itself follows heavy metal magazine conventions as it conveys two individuals looking rather sc
ary and intimidating as this is what my target audience would expect to find in this music genre. The band name and anchorage also follow magazine conventions as they are positioned below the photo so that it’s not obstructing the audience’s view of the band in any way. I have included other relevant information at the bottom of my magazine which may interest my target audience, such as current heavy metal bands and posters. I decided to display this information because I researched into existing heavy metal magazines (e.g. Kerrang!) and found that they all advertise more than one band on the same cover, so I did. However, unlike existing heavy metal magazine conventions, because my magazine was the first issue, I was unable to stretch my masthead across the whole width of my front cover, as one of the band members would be covering it. So I made it smaller and put it in the left hand side corner which in a way may challenge existing magazine conventions as it doesn’t follow ‘normal’ heavy metal magazines.
My media product represents (Richard Dyer) the heavy metal social group though the photo and the magazine name. The photo connotes intimidation towards the audience as I used a low angled shot to give this effect. The actual expressions on their faces connotes that they are angry, annoyed, rebellious, rebelling against ‘normal’ pop, rap, r’n’b artists because they aren’t happy, they have struggled to get where they are in the music industry. And as I have research this kind of culture (punk, heavy metal, hell’s angles) more than half of the people who follow it have had to struggle through their life, or at some point in their life, which is why they can relate to this genre as it makes them feel normal because they know their not alone and that its not just normal people that have to struggle but famous people do too, but all the while, they display a ‘mean’ face because they don’t want anyone to know. The magazine title ‘KRANK’ refers to the saying “Krank it up!” which heavy metal bands are known for saying, or normal people if they want the music louder, which is what KRANK features, artist’s who produce loud rock music. I think that my magazine relies heavily on stereotypes to identify the heavy metal genre/ culture; this is shown through the models expressions and poses as well as the mode of address and language used inside, although stereotyping is not always a bad thing as Tessa Perkins (1979) suggests, for some people it’s a way of life/lifestyle, like Hell’s Angles.
My media product would be distributed through a conglomerate company as it is aimed at wide audience and would be on sale on only in the UK but the USA as well, because the first issue features a band from Oklahoma which would interest those from the same culture but in a different country. It would also be cheaper for a conglomerate company to distribute my product because they would have connections with American companies who could sell the magazine over there at a lower cost as they would be part of the same company. My magazine would cost £1.75 which is about average or slightly below.
My target audience is girls and boys heavy metal fans from the age of 17- 27. My target audience look stereotypically like punks or hell’s angles style; they rebel against society by standing out in crowds by wearing bold fashion statements to define themselves (e.g. brightly coloured hair, clothing, piercings, etc) as Ien Ang (1991) imaginary entity. They are interested in mainly rock music as music shapes their life. Heavy metal rockers do not follow any religion, or they might say music is their religion (as it talks to them). They hang round in groups or gangs as this makes them more intimidating.
I used stereotypes to create my front cover. The photo with how the models are positioned and what they connote to the audience. The colour scheme which is dark, mainly red (connotes danger or blood), black (connotes scariness) and white (mainly used to outline typography so that the audience can clearly read the text). I addressed my audience through, peer to peer, informal which is seen in the double page spread and teacher to pupil, as on the contents and front cover the magazine tells the audience what the band are, in a way a change the mode of address, fluctuating. The name of the featured band connotes that there’s something weird about the band which makes them ‘Tainted’ as they were once ‘Saints’. This type of ‘good girl gone bad’ kind of thing is most common and appealing to this genre as this is mostly the case with its followers and fans which make it appeal to them.
Throughout the process of constructing my product I have learnt new technologies and how to use them, for example, I was familiar with digital cameras but not with how much lighting on a photo can suddenly change the atmosphere and the subjects within it. I became very knowledgeable about a computer program called Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 as I created all my front cover and contents on it, and I edited all the photos changing the contrast to make them better quality. I also used Quark Express, another computer program, which I designed my double page spread on as it allowed my do displayed my text in neat columns. To show what I was capable of doing on the above programs I used Cam Studio to record what I was doing on screen.
Overall, I think my music magazine is a vast improvements form the preliminary task, better photo, better layout etc. I have learnt so much from the computer programs I used and from the photo shoot I did, all the little tasks which showed me how to take a good photo suitable to put on the front of a magazine. I do like my final product however if I was to design it again I wouldn’t change the genre or target audience I would make the front cover I little more ‘busier’, I would advertise more information on what’s inside the magazine, the reason why I didn’t, was because I had no space as the front cover photo took up too much room at either side. I had a few problems at first with getting to grips with the working s of Quark Express, I thought it was all very complicated, but I persisted in using it and soon realised it wasn’t that hard, although I did struggle which cost me some time.
ary and intimidating as this is what my target audience would expect to find in this music genre. The band name and anchorage also follow magazine conventions as they are positioned below the photo so that it’s not obstructing the audience’s view of the band in any way. I have included other relevant information at the bottom of my magazine which may interest my target audience, such as current heavy metal bands and posters. I decided to display this information because I researched into existing heavy metal magazines (e.g. Kerrang!) and found that they all advertise more than one band on the same cover, so I did. However, unlike existing heavy metal magazine conventions, because my magazine was the first issue, I was unable to stretch my masthead across the whole width of my front cover, as one of the band members would be covering it. So I made it smaller and put it in the left hand side corner which in a way may challenge existing magazine conventions as it doesn’t follow ‘normal’ heavy metal magazines.My media product represents (Richard Dyer) the heavy metal social group though the photo and the magazine name. The photo connotes intimidation towards the audience as I used a low angled shot to give this effect. The actual expressions on their faces connotes that they are angry, annoyed, rebellious, rebelling against ‘normal’ pop, rap, r’n’b artists because they aren’t happy, they have struggled to get where they are in the music industry. And as I have research this kind of culture (punk, heavy metal, hell’s angles) more than half of the people who follow it have had to struggle through their life, or at some point in their life, which is why they can relate to this genre as it makes them feel normal because they know their not alone and that its not just normal people that have to struggle but famous people do too, but all the while, they display a ‘mean’ face because they don’t want anyone to know. The magazine title ‘KRANK’ refers to the saying “Krank it up!” which heavy metal bands are known for saying, or normal people if they want the music louder, which is what KRANK features, artist’s who produce loud rock music. I think that my magazine relies heavily on stereotypes to identify the heavy metal genre/ culture; this is shown through the models expressions and poses as well as the mode of address and language used inside, although stereotyping is not always a bad thing as Tessa Perkins (1979) suggests, for some people it’s a way of life/lifestyle, like Hell’s Angles.
My media product would be distributed through a conglomerate company as it is aimed at wide audience and would be on sale on only in the UK but the USA as well, because the first issue features a band from Oklahoma which would interest those from the same culture but in a different country. It would also be cheaper for a conglomerate company to distribute my product because they would have connections with American companies who could sell the magazine over there at a lower cost as they would be part of the same company. My magazine would cost £1.75 which is about average or slightly below.
My target audience is girls and boys heavy metal fans from the age of 17- 27. My target audience look stereotypically like punks or hell’s angles style; they rebel against society by standing out in crowds by wearing bold fashion statements to define themselves (e.g. brightly coloured hair, clothing, piercings, etc) as Ien Ang (1991) imaginary entity. They are interested in mainly rock music as music shapes their life. Heavy metal rockers do not follow any religion, or they might say music is their religion (as it talks to them). They hang round in groups or gangs as this makes them more intimidating.
I used stereotypes to create my front cover. The photo with how the models are positioned and what they connote to the audience. The colour scheme which is dark, mainly red (connotes danger or blood), black (connotes scariness) and white (mainly used to outline typography so that the audience can clearly read the text). I addressed my audience through, peer to peer, informal which is seen in the double page spread and teacher to pupil, as on the contents and front cover the magazine tells the audience what the band are, in a way a change the mode of address, fluctuating. The name of the featured band connotes that there’s something weird about the band which makes them ‘Tainted’ as they were once ‘Saints’. This type of ‘good girl gone bad’ kind of thing is most common and appealing to this genre as this is mostly the case with its followers and fans which make it appeal to them.
Throughout the process of constructing my product I have learnt new technologies and how to use them, for example, I was familiar with digital cameras but not with how much lighting on a photo can suddenly change the atmosphere and the subjects within it. I became very knowledgeable about a computer program called Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 as I created all my front cover and contents on it, and I edited all the photos changing the contrast to make them better quality. I also used Quark Express, another computer program, which I designed my double page spread on as it allowed my do displayed my text in neat columns. To show what I was capable of doing on the above programs I used Cam Studio to record what I was doing on screen.
Overall, I think my music magazine is a vast improvements form the preliminary task, better photo, better layout etc. I have learnt so much from the computer programs I used and from the photo shoot I did, all the little tasks which showed me how to take a good photo suitable to put on the front of a magazine. I do like my final product however if I was to design it again I wouldn’t change the genre or target audience I would make the front cover I little more ‘busier’, I would advertise more information on what’s inside the magazine, the reason why I didn’t, was because I had no space as the front cover photo took up too much room at either side. I had a few problems at first with getting to grips with the working s of Quark Express, I thought it was all very complicated, but I persisted in using it and soon realised it wasn’t that hard, although I did struggle which cost me some time.
