Main Exercise-Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Contents Page

Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Contents Page

· Magazine name – Top left hand corner

· Editor letters – Pictures and signature

· Includes - date, issue list, issue numbers/date and subscription

· Contact Details – Phone number

· Headings – Used to divide up contents, e.g., regular and features

· Content – Page number then text, one or two words bold or slightly larger text subline in smaller text

· Pictures – Corresponding page number on them, anchors the image to the written content

· Pictures –Creative photography

· Strip at top or bottom – Says the artists in magazine

· Colour Scheme – Consistent and few colours usually the same as the front cover colours

· Plain background – Usually white

· Weekly magazines – Easier form of content

· Content – Regular and features

· Free CD’s

· Headings – Used to categorise content

Main Exercise-Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover

Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Front Cover

· Title – One word or letter(s) and is in the top left hand corner and covers the full page width

· Unique font on title – Same height and is the largest text on the front cover

· Main picture – Biggest picture and usually a band or singer medium close-up , no smiles conveys an attitude and they use direct address (looking at the reader) - juxtaposition

· Main image - low angle camera shot –more power/more imposing – creative photography

· Main coverline – Over main picture to anchor picture and tells the meaning of the main image, frames main images and is on the left side of the cover

· Coverline – Usually two or three lines and are information about contents, tease the audience and provokes interest

· Cover line and subline – Few words as possible

· Smaller pictures – People using doing gigs in pictures

· Consistent colour scheme – Only ever three or four colours throughout – Looks classy not cheap

· Typography – Look of the words and letters, consistent throughout only ever a few fonts used, they use the font to reflect the target audience and subject

· Serif Sans - Is youthful

· Bar Code – On the bottom right hand side as it’s the last place people usually look, is not on the back because a paid advert is placed there

· Free stuff – to entice readers to buy

· Buzzwords – Exclusives, strip at the bottom or top of the cover – list of names and topics

· Puff – something for nothing, sales puff

· Masthead – Title, Position statement , dater and price usually all together

· Positioning statement – By the title, either above or below issue date and price

Main Exercise-Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Double Page Spread

Codes and Conventions of a Music Magazine Double Page Spread

· One main picture – one page or more ( bleed across from one page to another) – quirky and creative use of photography

· Quotes used

· Bold Headline – links the two pages – usually bleeds across

· Little pictures – used to break down text – usually panel

· Byline – Journalist included – by stand first

· Limited use of colours

· First letter of the writing paragraph – Big – Drop Capital

· Access to further details

· Strapline or border – Used to bleed across the DPS – to link together and to create a coherent design

· Bold text – first line of article – sometimes larger font size

· Stand first – Summary/intro –introduces article – works with the headline to tell reader what article is about

· Headline – Doesn’t tell the story

· Artist/Band name is highlighted

· Magazine title – next to page number and sometimes issue date and/or website

· Usually three or four columns

· No questions and answers by themselves – lazy

· Informal writing style

· Personality of the journalist comes through in article and sometimes there won opinion.

Preliminary Exercise-Evaluation

Evaluation

My task was to create a front cover and contents page for a school magazine. I had a variety of criteria to stick to which included the main cover image to be a medium colse up and a contents page that was only one page.

I believe that my new media product uses the codes and conventions of a magazine correctly by having a magazine title that stretches across the whole width of the page. It developes the codes and conventions of a magazine by using gender neutral colours.

To construct my new media product I used Adobe Photoshop and Quark. I used Photoshop for my front cover and then Quark for my contents page as it is a professional software.

There are many strenghts to my product which include the contents page. I like the contents page the best and I belive that it looks professional because I used Quark which is a software designed for making contents pages. I belive the main weakness of the product is the main cover image as the models face is obstructed by some of her hair.

Production-First Drawings for Front and Contents Page

First Drawings for Front and Contents Page

Preliminary Exercise-Pictures Taken

All pictures taken

Used on contents page

Used on contents page

Used as main cover image

Used on contents page

Used on contents page

Preliminary Exercise-Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Contents Page

Research
Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Contents Page
· Magazine name – Top left hand corner
· Editor letters – Pictures and signature
· Includes - date, issue list, issue numbers/date and subscription
· Contact Details – Phone number
· Headings – Used to divide up contents, e.g., regular and features
· Content – Page number then text, one or two words bold or slightly larger text subline in smaller text
· Pictures – Corresponding page number on them, anchors the image to the written content
· Colour Scheme – Consistent and few colours usually the same as the front cover colours
· Plain background – Usually white
· Weekly magazines – easier form of content
· Content – Regular and features

Preliminary Exercise-Codes and Convnetions of a Magazine Front Cover

Research
Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover
· Title – One word or letter(s) and is in the top left hand corner and covers the full page width
· Unique font on title – Same height and is the largest text on the front cover
· Main picture – Biggest picture and usually a band or singer medium close-up , no smiles conveys an attitude and they use direct address (looking at the reader)
· Main coverline – Over main picture to anchor picture and tells the meaning of the main image, frames main images and is on the left side of the cover
· Coverline – Usually two or three lines and are information about contents, tease the audience and provokes interest
· Cover line and subline – Few words as possible
· Smaller pictures – About other features in the magazine
· Consistent colour scheme – Only ever three or four colours throughout
· Typography – Look of the words and letters, consistent throughout only ever a few fonts used, they use the font to reflect the target audience and subject
· Serif Sans - Is youthful
· Bar Code – On the bottom right hand side as it’s the last place people usually look, is not on the back because a paid advert is placed there
· Free stuff – to entice readers to buy
· Buzzwords – Exclusives, strip at the bottom or top of the cover – list of names and topics
· Puff – something for nothing, sales puff
· Masthead – Title, Position statement , dater and price usually all together
· Positioning statement – By the title, either above or below issue date and price