Forms and Conventions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. Title: The title 'Zephyr' comes form the Greek god for the west wind. However it has been used to title bands, songs, cars, motorbikes, sweets and a load of other things. My audience will however think of 'The Zephyr Song' by Red Hot Chili Peppers' and possibly the car and motorbike. The word is regarded as cool and that is the main reason i chose it.

2. Mise-en-scene: The images in my magazine challenges the codes and conventions of similar magazines because they are all location shots. In many music magazines the images, especially on the cover, are taken against a white background. However they are relevant to the magazine because of the way that they portray the person in them and the intended look of the articles.

3. Costumes & Props: The clothes my model wears are very similar to the target audience. He wears jeans and a hoody which identifies him as young. They are conventional because they portray him in a way that is accepted by the masses and loosely fits in with the stereotype of today's youth. There are no props because I felt them to be unnecessary. This goes against the convention of magazines with a similar music focus because the models often have a guitar or some other prop.


4. People in the photos: The person in my photos has an expression-less face and he is looking away from the camera. This is used often in magazines to give the model depth. His pose and clothes are very normal. This is unconventional for the type of music magazine this is because in ones containing similar music (like Kerrang) the artists are usually in rock clothing and/or in some kind of rock pose. This would usually lead the person to look extreme or obscure in appearance.

5. Masthead font and placement: To make the masthead of my magazine I learnt a  photoshop technique to smash text, this follows some codes and conventions, for example it has a similar effect to that created by 'Kerrang!' magazine.

I also made the text appear metallic to follow the conventions created by tech magazines and websites like Gizmodo.

The combination of these two however challenges the conventions because the smooth, metallic feel of Gizmodo is the opposite of the rebellious and dirty Kerrang.

The masthead follows the conventions set by a large of majority of magazines and is situated at the very top of the page in the centre. This is so that anyone glancing across a magazine rack will be able to see the magazine and what it is very easily.

6. Written content: type of language, length, form: The language in mt magazine is all informal to mirror the relaxed nature of my target audience. However there is quite a lot of it in my double page spread and in the descriptions on my contents page. This is because my audience will want to read the content and be true fans of the music, not just people in a passing trend. My audience will be more likely to prefer reading the article than lots of pictures. My audience will be hungry for information.

7. Music genre: The genre of music that would be featured in my magazine would be modern indie and modern rock. Indie bands like Vampire Weekend, Band of Horses and rock bands like Muse and Wolfmother. The clothes that my model wears are typical of the clothes that someone who listens to this type of music will wear.

8. Contents page: The contents page is very clean and direct. This corresponds with the house style of the magazine in it's clear-cut approach and simple style. It is not in your face or too exciting but does the job well. It follows the codes and conventions set by many other magazines in the 'Regulars' and 'Features' sections. The layout of the contents page is very similar to the one found in Classic Rock magazine. The music styles may be fairly different, the attitude of the audience will be similar in the preference of content over style.

9. Double page spread: My double page spread has a layout that is used in  large number of articles of all types of magazine. It also follows many of the codes and conventions of magazine articles, for instance the drop-cap, pull-quote, kicker, columns and guttering. These combined make the double pages spread seem professional and real.


10. House Style: Overall, the house style of the magazine is made up of all the above. The style is different from magazines like Kerrang that cover similar genres of music because of it's more sophisticated approach to its coverage. The way it is set out and the graphic style add to this.