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Ways in which my Media Product has used, developed and challenged forms of real media products
JACK HUDSON
My Product; AMPLIFY Magazine
What is Amplify Magazine?AMPLIFY Magazine is an indie
rock magazine, focusing on the newer, upcoming indie rock bands and artists. AMPLIFY takes its inspirations from other indie magazines, such as NME, but also from rock and metal magazines, such as Kerrang! Magazine.
Front Cover
The front cover of my magazine is made to look as effective as possible. I made the front cover rather simple, to help portray what's inside AMPLIFY to the potential reader.
FRONT COVER BREAKDOWN: MASTHEAD
For my masthead, I chose something that would appeal to the Indie Rock audience. For my
research, I decided to look at an article from NME Magazine, and pick out words that would appeal to
an Indie audience. I went through the whole article, picking out individual words, but the best 3 I chose were "Riff", "Rebel" and my final choice of
"Amplify". These words all have connotations of Indie, for example "Riff" being a part of song,
usually involving guitars (another part of Indie). One of the most famous riffs for example is in
"Brianstorm" by one of Indie's biggest bands, the Arctic Monkeys. I chose "Amplify" because it
shares the connotations of both words, as Amplify has connotations of gigs and concerts, things that
the original indie fans would "Rebel" to attend. This uses and develops the conventions of real
media products as this, by using the word “AMPLIFY”, uses the same style of connecting with the audience as magazines such as NME and Q
FRONT COVER BREAKDOWN: SLOGAN
The slogan, the small line below the masthead, I chose was “The Finest of Indie Music”. The
reason I chose this is because it conveys the high quality of the magazine. The
research I did for my slogan was taken by looking at other music magazines and their slogans. The music magazines I examined
were Q, Billboard and VIBE. All of these had slogans which were very positive, and
almost cocky. They showed their confidence and how they show how good their
magazine is. Some magazines don’t include a slogan, but I decided to use one as its a
short and memorable phrase visible to the reader of the magazine. This uses the same conventions of Q Magazine, connecting with the audience in the same way as they both
are slightly over-confident slogans, but both work as they aren’t completely over the top
FRONT COVER BREAKDOWN: main coverline
I added the main coverline across the bottom right hand corner of the page. The masthead covers a lot of the
bottom part of the page, which draws a lot of attention to the main front cover, and in particular the cover model; it intrigues the reader to want to know what and who "Matt
D" is and about. My research for the placement and choice of words for the coverline was again done by
looking at other magazines, such as NME. The first coverline I chose was much larger than the final
coverline, which draws more attention to the artist than AMPLIFY Magazine itself, so I made the size of the
coverline smaller. The pull quote of “Time for a new leader” was chosen because indie artists and lead singers
are usually quite outlandish and over-confident, such as Matty Healy from The 1975 and Morrissey from the
Smiths, so this quote was chosen as it would connect with the indie audience. This challenges the conventions of
magazines as the coverline is nowhere near as big as the coverlines placed onto magazines like Billboard. This is
because Billboard is an established music magazine, and doesn’t need to show off the name of the magazine to
sell copies. AMPLIFY however has to as it is a new magazine trying to establish itself in the magazine world.
Front Cover Breakdown: Secondary Coverline
The next thing I added was the secondary coverlines. The symbol of "+" symbolises
extra information in the magazine, and also that the magazine is not just only
focused on the main cover star, as that would make for bad reading for the reader. The secondary coverlines of
"Massive New Albums for 2017, Foals, The 1975, The Courteeners, Jaws and Circa
Waves " shows that there is a wide range of articles and stories in the magazine, not
just giving the large acts, such as Foals and The 1975, the entire focus; the
magazine will focus on the smaller acts of the indie genre, such as Circa Waves, and the unsigned Jaws. This is using the same
conventions as Billboard Magazine. Billboard also uses the plus symbol as it
wants to show how much information there is inside the magazine, the same as
AMPLIFY is doing.
Front Cover Breakdown: COMPETITION COVERLINE
The competition coverline, "WIN! V.I.P Courteeners & Blossoms tickets“ helps to also grab the attention of the reader as they see an opportunity to win some free tickets to see one of indie's biggest
acts in The Courteeners, and furthermore one of indie's biggest
newcomers in Blossoms. This will help grab the potential reader's attention,
and make them possibly want to purchase "Amplify" Magazine. This was
originally placed in a puff (Pictured left), but I decided to change it to another
coverline as the puff looked rather unprofessional. This challenged the
conventions of magazines such as MOJO. Instead of using a puff, I created another
coverline instead, challenging the conventions of other magazines.
CONTENTS PAGEThis is my contents page.
As shown, there is a lot of information placed
on the page, which shows how much is
inside the magazine. The page has been split
into 3 main parts: The masthead and title at
the top, The subheadings placed on
the left hand side of the page, and then the
images of this week’s main articles.
CONTENTS PAGE: MASTHEAD, WEBSITE AND TITLE
I added the masthead at the top, along with "Contents". The reason I decided to use the
word "Contents" instead of "This Week" or "Inside This Week", is because AMPLIFY is
not a well enough established magazine to be able to use things like that. NME or
Billboard, for example, can do this as they're very well established in the music magazine world, and people know what to expect from them. Amplify however, has to use the word
"Contents". I also added the masthead above the word contents, and changed it to
white text colour, and the "Contents" to a Cyan blue, sticking with the same colour
scheme that I used on the front cover of the magazine. I finally added a website into the
space below the masthead. I added this because it will show the reader that there
will be more information on the website, and it shows them where to find it. This uses the
same conventions as Q Magazine, stating that its the “Contents”, but also challenges
the conventions of NME, as AMPLIFY has used the more simplistic and clear
“Contents” instead of “Inside this week”
CONTENTS PAGE: SUBHEADINGS
The next thing I added was the subheadings on the left hand side of the
contents page. I split these into sections; “THIS WEEK IN INDIE”, a small page about the goings on in the worlds of
indie. Also, I added “NEWCOMERS”, “GIG WATCH”, “ALBUMS” & “COMPETITIONS”. I placed these into sections because it will make it easier for the reader to find what
it is that they want to find in Amplify magazine. Furthermore, it will show the reader how much information there is in
the magazine, and it could intrigue the reader more to want to purchase the
magazine. This uses the same conventions as NME Magazine, as
AMPLIFY and NME both use sections to make it easier for the reader to find what
it is they’re after in the magazine.
CONTENTS PAGE: IMAGE ONE
The next thing I added was another image of Matt D, on the right hand side of the page. This will make it clear to the reader who this week's main focus is, and will also show that there will
be a large bit of information about Matt D. I also placed a coverline over the image, and I
placed it in the Cyan Blue again, continuing on the colour scheme. Furthermore, also another
small kicker of "'Cheshire's Finest' New Indie Chart Topper Speaks about Inspirations for
his Number 1 Album" underneath to let the reader know what the interview is about. This
uses the same conventions as Kerrang! Magazine’s contents page, with the large
image showing who the main focus of this week’s magazine is.
CONTENTS PAGE: IMAGE TWOI then added another image onto the page, an
image of a new, young and upcoming Indie Rock band called The Continental Phase. The text
placed onto the image of "The Continental Phase“. This was then put into the cyan colour,
and then I added a small kicker below of "Manchester's freshest band talks about their
upcoming UK & Europe tour" which was placed into a white colour, sticking with the same
graphology as the rest of the contents page, making it come together. This was placed below
the image of Matt D, in a space that was left empty for a while as I was unsure whether to use
the same conventions as Q or Kerrang!, as they place an Editor’s Note, or competition below the main image. However I decided to challenge the
convention, and add the image of The Continental Phase below the image of Matt, as this shows the
reader that there is more than just the main article of Matt D in the magazine, but also makes the contents page unique to that of Q or Kerrang!
DOUBLE PAGE SPREADFor the double page spread, I decided to
make my cover model Matt a stereotypical indie rock act, such as
Morrissey from The Smiths and Matty Healy from The 1975; brash, outlandish and rather cocky from the outside view.
But, if Matt wasn't this character, he would not have made his name in the
indie world so quickly, which is what the interview is mainly about; Matt D's amazing rise thanks to his new album, titled "Nostalgia Trip". This album title
fits in with the front cover of the magazine as the car used behind Matt
was released around about the same time that Indie was beginning, and the
title "Nostalgia Trip" is saying that Indie has changed, and it needs to go back
to the original roots, which is what I am trying to achieve here.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD: BACKGROUND IMAGE
The first thing I had to do was choose the correct and suitable image for my
double page spread .This is the image I chose, taken from my first shoot. I
chose this because Matt is represented as indie by his hairstyle and his
clothing. Also, the fade to black on the left hand side looked like a good place
to place my main headline and text, as they would stand out a lot against the
black background. I cropped the image slightly to apply with the Rule of Thirds,
so Matt was moved over to the right hand side of the page. This uses the
same conventions as Q Magazine, as I have placed the background image of Matt onto one of the pages, and then placed the text onto the other page.
Double Page Spread: Pull Quote Headline
The next thing I did was add in the headline at the top left hand side of the page. The
headline reads "Indie has been Crying Out For A New Leader", which is a pull quote taken from the interview with Matt D, when he is
stating how Indie has "lost it's original touch" and the new leader role is a role that Matt
states he "has to fulfil". The change of colour, from the white to red, especially on the words
"crying out“, shows the importance of the newcomer Matt D, and the words "crying out" is almost like a call for help and saving, which
is what Matt and his new album are "here to do“. The use of a pull quote uses the same
conventions as Kerrang! Magazine, as the pull quote shows a small amount of what to expect in the interview, therefore this is why Kerrang!
And AMPLIFY have both used one; to give the reader some insight as to what to expect
Double Page Spread: Kicker
The next thing I added was the kicker. The kicker acts as the introduction to the
article, attracting the reader. The kicker I chose was "Matt D speaks about
inspirations for his new number one album 'Nostalgia Trip'". The text again
has a change of colour, which shows the importance of those words, which in
particular is the title of the new album. The red font is a classic colour of the indie genre, along with the black and
white background behind the text. This again uses the same conventions as
Kerrang! Magazine’s double page spread about rock band My Chemical
Romance. The kicker is a small introduction, adding not just another
insight to the page, but also to the aesthetics of the page
Double Page Spread: Article
The next thing I added was the text. I placed the text into columns to give it a more
professional look, but also it means I can include more into
my text, making the interview a better read for the reader. I also added a drop capital to the start of the text, to make it generally
more aesthetically better. This again uses the same conventions as the Kerrang! Magazine Double
page spread; They’ve added a drop capital to make it more
aesthetically pleasing.