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


A convention is something that gives us a template to follow. It allows us to know and see what something should look like. For example, a magazine normally has a masthead at the top of the cover which usually stands out from the rest of the text. Conventions exist so that it grabs our attention or lets us do something so that it is accepted. For example, the masthead is in a bigger font than the rest of the text so that it grabs the reader’s attention.

The genre of my magazine is post-hardcore/ rock. This covers a fairly big target audience, therefore allows me to get more readers. Many of my ideas were taken from other magazines of similar genres. These magazines were ‘Kerrang’ and ‘Rock Sound.’ I used a similar type of masthead that Rock Sound used and I also copied the idea of Kerrang using lots of images on the contents page.

The title of my magazine is ‘Decay’ which suggests quite a depressing feeling however it’s actually expressing the love for music of rock and post-hardcore. I have also edited the title so that is connotes that decaying feeling by taking chunks out of the word. This shows that it is decaying. I have similarly followed the masthead of Rock Sound but added a different colour and changed the style slightly.

For my main image I used my friends’ band, Rumours. Before I cut the image out and put it on the cover, I tried to have a dark background and a light image that brought the characters out of the picture. Unfortunately the dark background didn’t work with my colour scheme; therefore I had to edit the image using brightness/ contrast, etc. Then I cut the band out and placed the image on the cover so that it didn’t cover the text or the masthead. However by cutting the image out this allowed me to get the image I was looking for so that it looked more professional, similar to that of Kerrang or Rock Sound.

I asked Rumours to wear clothes that were stereotypical to that of post-hardcore/ rock. This would allow me to get the image I was looking for. I was looking for an image that would be similar to what would be seen on the front of Kerrang or Rock Sound. I used the band that I did because they fitted the type of magazine I was constructing and they also played music similar to the genre of my magazine. The age I was looking for mirrors that of Kerrang or Rock Sound and the image I used for my cover was an objective shot. This helped my audience want to pick my magazine up from the shelves.

The masthead is at the top of my cover, and I have done this because I noticed most magazines situated their mastheads at the top of the page. This is because everyone should look here first then goes down the page as this is where it gets more interesting. My title suggests a negative mood however ‘Decay’ is simply showing that people are moving away from mainstream music and finding music specific to their personality. This magazine is therefore aimed at people interested in post-hardcore/ rock music.

The text throughout my magazine has a sarcastic tone however that is not how it is meant to be read. For people interested in this kind of music would read the text within my magazine a lot differently compared to someone not interested in this kind of music. I kept the text on the cover short to keep people wanting to read on, whereas on the contents page I developed the text further to give people an insight into what they are about to read.

The music genre of my magazine is post-hardcore/ rock and the front cover suggests this by the bands that are mentioned. For example; Good Charlotte, Escape the Fate and Senses Fail. For those that the magazine is aimed at will instantly recognise that this magazine is a post-hardcore/rock magazine due to the fact that they know and listen to these bands.

My contents page is set out similar to that of Kerrang or Rock Sound. The contents page has a regulars and a features column which follows the conventions of Kerrang and Rock Sound. The whole layout is generally the same as a typical contents page, features, regulars, more images than the cover which can be seen in any music magazine. I have used four different images on the contents page. One of them is to give an insight into the feature page, interview with Rumours, and the others are images of other pages in the magazine.

My double page spread follows the conventions of typical post-hardcore/ rock magazines. For example on the DPS in Rock Sound it has pull quotes, kicker, drop cap, main image and captions. In my DPS, I have used a kicker to get the reader to want to read on and find out what the article is all about. To introduce the article I have used a drop cap which helps the reader to understand where to start to read the interview. I also used a pull quote because this also lets the reader know what they look forward to reading further on in the article. The image helps to set the tone of the article and the caption helps the reader to understand what’s going on in the image.

Overall I think all of the things I have included in my magazine have enabled me to create a depressing but however at the same time a love for music theme. I think there is needs for a magazine of this type in the market as people are getting bored of Kerrang and Rock Sound, therefore need something fresh. As I am targeting a specific target audience, I think my magazine would sell well because there is only a small segment of the market wanting this magazine.