The basic conventions of Magazine front covers are; the Masthead, Dateline, Coverlines, Main Image, Main Coverline, Bar code and Selling line. I have used all these typical conventions on my own front cover.
The Title of my magazine shown above is typical of magazine titles; it is bold, at the top of the page and is also using a house-colour style of white and black. The white attracts attention from the rest of the page as its bright and the shadowing I created on Photoshop allows the name to really stand out to the audience, so the name of the magazine is remembered. I have allowed the title to be in the background rather than in front of the models head purposely to create a laid-back, unimportant effect that the audience can realise is for subtleness.
The Dateline is at the bottom with the Barcode because I feel that the place where the price is where the audience will look before they buy it, so they know the validity of the magazine straight away as people can be very critical of prices before they decide to purchase the magazine. Shown below the price is in white smaller font so the price isn’t the first thing that the audience look at when they see the cover.
The convention of the Model I used is challenging conventions of magazine covers due to the fact she isn’t using direct address to the audience, her eyes are elsewhere, I used this because it connotates that she has attitude, she has a careless teenage appearance which links to the target audience. I used the image in black and white style to use the house colour style but also because it challenges the typical colourful bright grinning model on most magazines, the difference being that most teenagers like simple modern covers that contain one large image.The style of the the double page spread and the cover were influenced by other magazines conventions that were given as examples by real magazines. For example, my inspiration for the contents page was by the image below:
I have used a strapline (selling line) at the very top of the page to be a catchy phrase that the audience can see then maybe trust the magazine more, so they can become solus readers of Buzz. I have arranged the Strapline to be at the top so it’s right near the title so the audience will recognise that straight away, as well as having the Main Coverline right on top of the Main Image as they relate to one another, and the use of red and white and varying of font type is standing out to the audience and they can see it from quite far away so the reader can notice the magazine amongst a range of them. I have used Coverlines down the side of the magazine so that the space is filled without overlapping the Main Image as these Coverlines don’t relate to the main image, the Coverlines begin with red text that has a different font style to the smaller white font underneath that explains the subheadings, this indicates to the reader what is inside the magazine, they may be interested in the content so want to read more. The Coverlines are separated by lines to appear modern and readable, the spacious layout allows the reader to gaze over the cover rather than be overwhelmed with content.
The typical conventions of a double-page spread are Title, Gutters, Body Text, Main Image, Drop Cap, Kicker, Pull quotes, Sidebar, Captions and Border space. I have followed these typical conventions with border lines of the magazine house-colour of red, this gives space for the audience to feel like they can take in all the information at their own pace rather than being overwhelmed completely with a full page of writing.
The captions I have used don’t give specific dates because the shoot was one specifically for the magazine rather than to give images from the past to follow the narrative. I used typical conventions of a Drop cap so the body text has a specific order that flows simply for the audience to follow easily. Pull quotes are very typical and I have used these several times to create the suspense of what happens next in the article, the quotes are specific parts of the body text that sound more appealing. Some magazines have sidebars for extra information or related information, I decided to use this because then the audience would be able to know a little bit more about what they can do in the situation of Sophie’s. The style of the the double page spread and the cover were influenced by other magazines conventions that were given as examples by real magazines. For example, my inspiration for the contents page was by this image:
The kicker of the double page spread gives information that you need for prior knowledge to what you will read about in the body text that has gutters to spread evenly in columns across the pages.
For the contents page, I used the above image that influenced me, the house colour is the same, white, black and red so I used red for the page numbers, in the sections of Features and Regulars, so that new readers can learn about the features specifically in that issue that they were interested in, and for the regulars that are in every issue, the contents doesn’t have every page number to advertise what’s on every page but this allows the main important content of the magazine to appear on the contents page for the reader to be attracted to, then the rest just fits into the magazine. I used a simple main image that keeps the contents page simple and not referring to anything in particular except for the model on the cover and the main feature of the magazine issue. The date is at the top of the page next to the Buzz logo, this gives the reader the constant reminder of the brand name of the magazine, so they know that they want to get familiar with that magazine if they decide they like that brand name in particular. The typical convention of the contents page is the small letter style from the editor (me) that is signed also, to give a more formal effect as if its personal to all the readers of Buzz, the text invites the reader to the issue and explains personally the welcoming of the features of the issue.
The genre of my magazine was a music lifestyle magazine, more indie music than anything else, so the fashion is a significant part of the magazine as readers will be interested in the bands and clothes as they come as a package with their indie style. The magazine is quite upmarket for teenage readers specifically, and so is a glossy magazine. I got my influences from magazines like Q and NME.
The conventions that are important in the making of Buzz are:-
The title: The title Buzz came from the inspiration of something that is music related but also is language that is used by the target audience of teenagers and young 20 year olds.
The model shot, the long shot is more attractive to the audience as they can connotates what she’s wearing, the converse, the black and white top, the leggings, it gives her a unique style that indie readers will admire, and they take dress sense seriously, so I decided a long shot would be appropriate. The model is the main double page spread character that the reader gets to know by her story, so the age and relation to the audience was vital, the reader can relate to Sophie due to her story but also due to her attitude and age.
The language I used is quite formal but also more modern, young language that the reader will understand, the double page spread contains insults that are *** rather than swearing as the magazine is more upper-market and has a formality to it.
The genre is clearly music due to the magazine contents being specifically advertising bands, and involvence of Sophie’s band to her story, the story is based upon music dreams even when the main narrative could be about any dream that readers want to pursue by university.
Good work. Note that you mean "direct address" not "direct mode".
ReplyDelete