Media Studies Coursework: Evaluation

Conventions:
From researching popular music magazines I was able to find out the typical codes
and conventions of Indie/ Alternative genre music magazines; for example, NME and
Q.

FRONT COVER:

I found that on the front cover there is typically a bold and eye-catching masthead
sans serif; this is the first thing that attracts the reader’s ‘route of the eye’ and so has
to be aesthetically appealing to the consumer. In my magazine I attempted to create an
outstanding masthead; above is a comparison between my “NOISE” masthead and a
successful NME masthead.

In comparison both are

eye catching and
conventional of music
magazines.

There are also many coverlines relating to the topic of the magazine on the front
cover; these are helpful to the consumer/ reader as it gives a brief insight into what
features will be articles within the magazine. This is an example of one of the
coverlines from my front cover in comparison to a Mojo front cover Coverline.

Both coverlines have a bold The New Music

title Coverline and give an Issue:
idea to the reader about the
“10 New Artists
article that will be featured
in the magazine. for 2011”

25th December 2010 Another typical front cover convention of a music

£2.30 magazine is a bar-code, price and date; I placed the
date of my issue and price directly on each other as
they have the same relevance to the reader.

There’s usually a main image focused on the band/ singer of the issue in the
centre of the page; a convention of the front page of music magazines. To the
left on my NOISE magazine I used a long shot of one of the main featured
artists ‘Jake Wignall’. The costume of the artists are representative of the mise
en scene and cliché of the Indie genre of the music magazine; as Jake is a indie/
alternative singer, he wears conventional ‘Converse’; a convention on NME,
where ‘Vampire Weekends’ motif are sunglasses; these create band association.
 FREE POSTERS: Ellie Goulding,
Marina Diamandis & Florence Welch!

I also used a lure of ‘free posters’; these are conventional as they give the reader
more of a reason to buy the magazine as they are also getting something for free;
which is also brand marketing. This is similar to NME AND Q magazine who give
away "free V Festival Tickets!" – This consequently encourages the target audience to
purchase the magazine.

Band Index: Vampire Weekend . Klaxons . Foals . The Drums . White Lies . Kings Of
Leon . N*E*R*D

Another convention of the front cover of a music magazine is a scrolling

coverline of the names of bands featured in the issue, although
sometimes this is featured on the contents page rather than the front
cover. This gives the target audience reader an idea of what artists are
going to be featured in the specific issue; this helps them to decide if
they find the band’s featured interesting or not and is a typical
convention of music magazines.

The choice of colour scheme is conventional

of a music magazine as the colours connote
and relate to the target audience! NME has
Red and Black – this is representative of
teenage magazines. I tried to incorporate this
style of colour scheme into my product
throughout the whole of my front page,
contents page and double page spread after
creating a survey given to 20 members of
my target audience. On the front cover two
of the artists have the colour red on their
image; Chris on his hoody and Jake has a red
guitar I have accomplished colour continuity
by making the background colour
surrounding the text red to create a constant
colour flow.

CONTENTS PAGE:

A crucial convention of music magazines such as

NME and Q are that next to each Coverline or
image on the contents page there is a page number
that allows the reader to easily navigate through
the magazine; if they only want to read a specific
article then this is useful to the consumer.

Band Index:
BandBand
Index:
Index:
Vampire Weekend
Vampire
Vampire
Weekend
. Klaxons
Weekend
.. Klaxons
Foals. .Klaxons
. Foals. .Foals .
The Drums
The
. White
Drums
The Lies
Drums
. White
. Kings
. White
LiesOf. Kings
Leon
Lies ..Of
Kings
N*E*R*D
Leon
Of. Leon
N*E*R*D
. N*E*R*D
The date of issue sometimes appears on the top of a contents page, but it is not
typically conventional as the date of the magazine has already
probably been revealed on the front cover. However I decided to use
a san serif outstanding font so that members of my target audience DECEMBER
who buy NOISE magazine every month/ week would be able to order
the magazines chronologically; making it easer for the reader to
associate a certain feature from a specific issue through a clear date on the opening
pages.

An eye - catching masthead is also fundamental to the contents page of the magazine
as again it is one of the first things that attracts the reader’s ‘route of the eye’. I chose
to go against the typical NME style ‘THIS WEEK’ masthead, instead I repeated the
title of the magazine ‘NOISE’ and then not far too the right I wrote ‘ON THE
COVER’ so the magazine still looks like a typical music magazine contents page.

Sometimes on the contents pages of NME and Q there is an ‘Editors

comment’, usually placed on the left hand side in a *newspaper article
style*; therefore it is in some ways a convention. I incorporated this
and created an ‘editorial note’ so that the target audience reader
becomes familiar with the magazine and feels excited in a way that
they are getting to read something written by the editor of the
magazine.

There are usually subscription offers; these are another

form of a lure to give the target audience reader more of a reason to purchase the
magazine annually as they will be saving money or getting something for free after a
certain time period. This is typical of nearly every magazine; not just music
magazines and therefore is a clever convention to attract the reader further. For my
magazine
38) One To Watch
instead of giving the reader
money off “Everyone’s
an annual subscription, talking about him
I gave
them the opportunity toand
haverightly so, Christian Smith
a free CD
from the main featuredthe new
artist talent of the Indie
in the
specific issue. world, for next year. He pops by
On some contents pages of music magazines three is a weblink; for and chats to us about
example,
"nme.com". These allow the reader to find out more on the magazine’s entering
websitemainstream
about radio, his
a band/ artist than maybe they could in the magazine; allowing thedebut
reader album, growing up in
more depth:
where to buy CD’s, where the latest gigs are and what competitions are coming up.
London and recording at Abbey
Road” .
 There is sometimes an image of
the front cover of the magazine
on the contents page; this shows
continuity but is not necessarily
essential to the magazine. In my
‘NOISE’ magazine I used an
image of the front cover; I’m not
exactly sure what the purpose of
this was. NME usually instead
has a main image of the band
featured in the centre of the
page.

A final typical convention of music magazines are that the cover lines are split
into sections "News", "Live", "Albums", "Gigs" and "Radar"; I have done this
is in my magazine to follow the codes and conventions of already established
music magazines. Also, the reader over time would be able to familiarise with
the different sections. Also the colour scheme of my contents page follows on
from the colour scheme of the front cover to create continuity and give more
professional look to the overall magazine.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

A typical convention of a double page

spread of a music magazine is that there is
at least one large long shot or medium
close up image, usually on the right hand
page; this is the first thing that the reader’s
‘route of the eye’ is drawn to on the double page
apart from the main masthead. I chose to use a
plain background instead of a distracting
background that would possibly take the focus
off of the artist. ‘Chris’ is holding a guitar; this
shows that he is an Indie singer as showing the
artist with an instrument helps to convey the type
of music genre they play. The guitar strap that
‘Smith’ has is of a Union Jack symbol; this
signifies his regional identity and cultural
background; showing that he is from England;
this is further backed up by in the article he
reveals that he used to live in London. I believe
that this kind of position of long shot is a kind of
 live image and connotes to the reader that when he plays live he puts emphasis into
not only his singing; but his performance.

Another typical convention of double page spreads is a "kicker" at the opening of the
article; this is one of the first things that catches the readers ‘route of the eye’ other
than the masthead. W As it is in a bold font it appeals more to the target audience
reader and signifies the opening of the article interview; meaning they are more likely
to be interested and read it as it is eye catching.

“Look where I There is often a pull quote in the top right hand corner of the right
page; this gives a brief insight into the interview within the article.
am now; about These are usually the most interesting quote from the artist as it
to helps the target audience reader to decide whether or not they wish
release an to read the interview; if it interests them or not. I chose to use the
amazing album” quote “look where I am now; about to release an amazing album”;
this signifies the artists cocky and confident style of personality;
most artists have this type of personality so when choosing this pull
quote I took that into consideration. I also chose to use colour continuity on the
background of the text on the pull quote as on the front cover ‘Christian Smith’ has a
red stripe on his hoody which is then continued throughout the magazine with the
background of the text boxes and the red stripe on his guitar strap. When comparing
with a pull quote from NME magazine; I believe that mine is more appealing as
Kerrang!’s just states “I had a meltdown”; this could be to do with anything; not just
music, making it seem possibly irrelevant to the reader. Also the font colour that they
have used for the
artists name is barely
visible on a black
background whereas
mine can be easily read; however this could be due to the genre differences between
my NOISE (indie/ alternative) magazine and Kerrang! (rock/ metal) magazine and
there colour scheme may connote something different to a different style of target
audience.

PIECES OF ME:
Name: Chris Smith
In some music magazines there is a brief ‘Pieces of Me’ section that
Age: 19
Record Label: Sony gives a brief insight into the artists favourite film,
BMG artist etc. I chose to use this style of information as
Genre: Indie/ it involves the target audience reader more as they
Alternative may be intrigued as to what is the artist’s favourite
Favourite Band: The song of all time is; for example. This in a way is
Smiths something extra/ free to the lure as they can
Favourite Soloist: identify with some of the choices made by the
Jessie J PIECES OF ME:
artist. In comparison with the NME
Favourite Film: Name: Chris Smith
Avatar Age: 19
Worst Soloist: Justin Record Label: Sony
Beiber BMG
Genre: Indie/
Alternative
Favourite Band: The
Smiths
Favourite Soloist:
Jessie J
Favourite Film:
Avatar
Worst Soloist: Justin
COMPARISON OF FRONT COVER WITH NME:
COMPARISON OF CONTENTS PAGE WITH Q:

COMPARISON OF DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD WITH KERRANG:

Overall I believe that I have researched conventions of a music magazine successfully
and have created a successful music magazine that meets the typical codes and
conventions through my analysis.

9.