In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?
1. The Title
'Swagger' is a single word which is used on similar magazines such as 'Q' 'VIBE' 'KERRANG'. The masthead was also manipulated using photoshop and indesign to make it stand out with a thick outline and drop shadow which is used on exisiting magazines.
This logo uses a slight black outline as well as making it 3D and have a shadow on it to make it stand out.
This Q logo uses the red background in order to make the white stand out and attract peoples attention.
This logo using a white and black outline which makes the letters stand out especially on a background with multiply colours. This ensures the reader can always read it clearly and is drawn to this.
I think my masthead is successful in putting the fierce vibe accross which I wanted. I also think it portrays the genre of the magazine effectively an is very eye catching and although it follows the conventions of magazines there is nothing similar which is a key attractive point of my magazine. I also found it a convention to have the main image over the magazine which is a convenion of R&B magazines.
This Vibe magazine demostrates the masthead being behind the image. I think this is effective because it makes the exclusive celebrity stand out.
2. Mise-en-scene of images
Originally I had planned to use the Christmas picture with the snow and candy cane leggings as the front cover however this didn’t work because firstly it wasn’t a medium close up which is conventional for a magazine and secondly the background was too hard to write on and the text was unclear. The images I took at a photo shoot allowed me to get realistic image with good lighting and clear pixels making it look like a professional magazine. I took enough photos to have a range of choice for my magazine. I took the image with a white background which easily allows the writing to show up. This is a common convention to have a white background which is shown in my competitive magazine Vibe:
The attitude of my pictures portrays the vibe/feeling of an R&B magazine. For example on the contents page the man in the suit looks fierce and well dressed which people often relate to R&B stars. The double page spread shows the comparison from a good girl to bad through her hair style her outfits and her facial expressions from happy to attitude. The outfit for the ‘bad girl’ shows long suspender socks which is icon of sexy women. She then is dressed with dark eye makeup which has connotations of fierceness. Her hair is up in a tight bun with no fringe showing, it also has a hat on top which again reinforces the good girl gone bad. In contrast the good girl image in the double page spread shows a ballet like outfit with little makeup and a stylish sleek bun showing fringe to make her look respectful and to show the transformation. I also edited the hair using Photoshop to change the bad girl to purple hair. This is a common representation of R&B females to have brightly coloured hair as it shows their attitude and uniqueness:
The mode of address in my images is shown by the eye contact. On the front cover by her looking down it hides her eyes and shows of her dark makeup portraying her bad side but also makes readers want to open the magazine to see them. The contents page every image is looking at you except the club image. The double page spread shows the eye contact of every photo portraying a feisty vibe. The hands on the hips of the main image of the good girl on the double page show that she had attitude before she changed her image. There is an image on the contents page with snow and red. This was the original idea for my front cover, the red costumes, the snow background, the candy cane stockings and the Christmas hat suggest that it is a Winter special edition.
Costumes & Props
The important part of the magazine is the comparison from good girl to bad. The costumes were essential in achieving this effectively. For the good girl I chose a simple ballet like dress which has connotations of innocence. For the bad image I chose to have dark blue socks/suspenders which have connotations of sexy, feisty women. I also had the bad girl wearing heels reinforcing this image; I also chose to include a small hat on some of the images which was black which is a colour of darkness and naughtiness.
This is my inpsiration which I got when deciding the costumes which she would be dressed in. I thought they were really effective in portraying an innocent look. I liked how the hair and dresses shaped the meaning and feeling they wanted to convey.
For the more fierce vibe I used images like this to create a real impact. The suspenders as seen on Katy Perry portray a naughty/sexy image. Cheryl coles hair is also sexy and fierce which is what drew me to design the hair like that. The hat on Beyonce is also really effective and which is why I included a hat on the main front cover image - especially in the black colour.
These images were useful when trying to create a Christmas themed magazine. I originally was going to use the left hand image as my front cover. The costume - candy canes suggests Christmas allow with the Christmas hat, the snow in the background reinforces the winter edition. The red costume also implies winter.
4.People
Although the manipulation on photoshop helped to make 'Laura Turner' look older I could of still used an older model for this. I think that the people R&B singers are often mid 20s she does look slightly out of place however she definately looks old enough to be a model around 16-17 maybe 18. I don't think this matters too much however because the make-up, the story line and the costumes help her to look muh older than what she is. The other stars featured on the Contents page look old enough to be R&B singers. I could have chosen more men to be featured in the magazine because it is very female dominated however the way in which it is written favours females such as topless men. To improve futher I could of made up a band image su as Black Eyed Peas a mixture of both genders. The magazine is very conventional with the stars however because they are not many boy/girl R&B bands. Photoshop helped me out as it allowed me to change peoples hair colour, costumes, hair, and eye colour allowing me to make them look much older than what they were. A few of the people who viewed my magazine said she looks vey different.
5.Title and Font Style
The font style of my magazine is very simple which is conventional for my target audience and R&B magazines. Too much complex text would have made the magazine look childish and aimed towards teeangers. The masthead is very conventional, it is bold, has the image situated infront of it and is straight not at any angle. It is also big which draws peoples attention to it. The front throughout the magazine is the same. I matched the 'contents' writing with the sub-headings such as 'The Lowdown' so that there is a consistent house style. The text on the front page is easy to read and gives quotes that makes the reader want to find out more. I used different sizes in text to make key words stand out and emphasise their importance.
6. Written comment
The writing throughout my magazine follows a slang/street/chav diction. This appeals to my audience and makes it exciting to read. The editors comment opens with 'wassup guys' and makes it a friendly greeting. It is conventional for a R&B magazine to have this. It would appeal to my target audience as this is how they talk through social networking and in person. It can be seen as quite unconventional because magazines often write full english words but in pharses that imply R&B not through specific words. I think this is what makes my magazine very unqiue as well because it allowed me to to write to an age group which I am growing into so I know their diction. The editors comment on the contents page allows a warm opening which gives the readers an insight to what has happened to make this issue special and what influences it has. The style of the double page spread is not a question and answer session because this isn't what you would expect in a more adult style magazine. I have written the story in a narrative point of view with quotes but it is mainly written away from Lauras point of view summarising the key events. I thought this is conventional of a magazine aimed at the same target audience because it is more sophisicated and adult allowing a deeper understanding of the guest star. On the right hand side of the double page I have included an exclusive interview with Laura on the songs on her album. The idea came from a youtube video of Cheryl Cole telling her fans about each song, I thought this would be a good feature to have in the magazine as it gives a personal exclusive to the readers which will make them want to buy it.
7. Music Genre and How My Magazine Suggests It
The main genre of my magazine is R&B. This is apparent throughout my magazine through the use of props, costumes, diction, and mode of address.On the front cover the title alone implies this 'swagger' which is a word often used in R&B songs, and music videos. The diction such as 'mash up' 'lowdown' 'buzzzing' emphasises the genre and these type of sayings are commonly linked to people who enjoy R&B music. I think the main way my magazine portrays R&B is the type of language and the cover star which is the unique selling point. This is a common convention of all magazines. The audience is drawn to who is featured and who they are associated with. The costumes on the double page spread highlight the change from being good to becoming a huge R&B singer through there look, colour and how respectful they are. I think the less conventional picture is on my contents page in the right hand corner because the two girls featured in it don't seem to be wearing specific clothing linked to R&B or posing with a very apparent R&B attitude. The house style throughout the magazine shows that it is R&B. The simple colours creates a bold powerful appearance which links to the genre.
8. Layout
The layout of my magazine has been voted for on the poll at the top of my blog over how professional it is. The poll shows that the majority believe that it does look conventional, I think the miniority of people who voted lower than 9-10 would have done this due to my contents page. Usually in R&B magazines the contents page contains little writing and usually one big image, however I felt I should add more text to give an insight of what to expect in the magazine. The double page spread has a very clear layout the black lines show the divide between the small images and the text making it more interesting. The main big image helps to seperate the two interviews which also helps to break up the page and make it more conventional. I think the paragraphing of each different topic indicates to the reader where the story changes and makes the magazine much more light hearted to read and not newspaper like. The front cover is dominated by the picture which is my unique selling point. This is what draws the reader in to want to read more about my magazine. The banner along the bottom gives a tease of what to expect and the small bits of writing suggests which stars are featured, this is conventional for an R&B magazine such as 'Vibe'. They use alot of names printed on the front cover to capture their audiences attention which is what I have achieved. I also included a paint splat on both the front cover and the double page spread which I made on photoshop. This is conventional of a magazine because they don't just have text, it also makes my magazine very interesting to read.
9. Contents Page
I think that my contents page is the weakest element of my magazine. I feel as though it doesn't look as sophisicated as my other pages. The conventions however are similar to professional magazines including the editors comment and signature. The page containing lots of different image sizes and colours making it interesting and appealing rather than all the same people and similar props. I used snowflakes which I made on photoshop to highlight the issue of the magazine being a January edition. I think it is conventional however the layout could be more interesting for an older target audience.
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