Question 1: In what ways does your media

product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

The title of the magazine: The

Masthead of my magazine follows some
of the many conventions for music
magazines mainly Clash and brings
separate interpretations on their well
renowned cultural presence and their
instant recognition. I wanted my
magazine to have a stylized look that
could be instantly recognized by
readers, I realized that the first place to
start in this would be by using an
innovative masthead. I noticed the
common theme of blocky magazine
mastheads with large and bold letters (ie
CLASH) and realized that this could
cause confusion with potential
audiences buying the magazine at a
store. This is why I decided for a gothic almost cursive style font, it
allowed my magazine to be instantly recognized by font alone and
would also separate my product from other less niche music
magazines giving hopefully a good initial impression on my target
audience of young adults with less mainstream music tastes as a
magazine centered in Punk rock and Midwest Emo Revival. The
positioning of my masthead is heavily inspired by CLASH with the
off center masthead acting to split the page in two. One section
shows the title, information, date and featured band yet the other
half of my page being free to display my cover image and allow the
readers full focus of each element separately. The blue coloured
masthead in contrast to the black and white image is used to set the
theme for my magazine, the use of this odd colour scheme was to
pay homage to the classic punk DIY fan-zines that were prevalent
throughout the 90s with the inability to use vivid colour palates and
the usual default of black and white products due to low costs and
accessibility. The reason for the use of Gaze as my magazine title
is because it is short and punchy again following along the
conventions set up by music magazine greats like CLASH MOJO
DIY. It is easy to remember and sounds nice read out loud.
Page Layout: The layout of my magazine is rather simplistic. I
wanted to keep a consistent font pool throughout my magazine,
meaning I had to make sure to use all of the fonts found within my
magazine on my front cover. The Fonts used were: Painter,
Myriad Pro in both Bold condensed italics and in regular. I felt that
the use of a consistent font theme kept my magazine feel uniformed
and professional. My main reason for using Myriad Pro in italics
was to keep with the distinguishable features of my masthead and
its cursive stylisation. Myriad Pro is also a very legible font in my
opinion making it easy to read for articles and pull quotes, it stands
out enough to make It easily recognisable yet also it doesnt fall into
the block capital blocky geometric font types used in many popular
music magazines. My magazines font sizes are structured as to
decrease in size with the decrease in importance meaning my
masthead Gaze takes up the most space and has the largest page
presence in regards to all other text on my page, this is then
followed by the bands name Launchpad McQuack. This is
significantly smaller than my masthead however I have inflicted the
monochromatic colour scheme upon it as an attempt to keep the
users focus on branding and the cover image, I did this because I
feel like readers of my magazine would already be introduced to the
artists featured and this magazine would be to give the next depth
of knowledge regarding the music industry and scene. I think the
relaxed colours used for my front cover create an inviting and
attractive atmosphere surrounding my magazine and this is
conveyed rather well through my colour schemes. The lack of
barcode on my magazine is because of it being a free magazine, this
is explained through my editors note on my contents page. I made
this decision because I admire the creative choices and the
community aspect of free campus magazines, the magazines I
researched were mainly functioning around Canada and the
Montreal college campus music scenes. This is also the reasoning
for my colours scheme, in theory the black and white would be a
cheaper printing cost and increase the distribution rates. I also felt
that free magazines in the UK did not hold the same quality I saw in
other regions. On my contents page I chose to use a header image
of some buildings, this gave my contents a rugged and punk look
contrasting my calm and relaxed colour scheme, I left a gap of
negative space the size of one column to separate my table of
contents with my editors note and distribution information. This was
I think gave my contents page a more relaxed and spacious feel in
comparison to some other cluttered magazines like Kerrang.

Cost
umes, props, iconography used to reflect genre: My front
cover model Ethan Smith and subsequent band members were
styled in a range of clothing over multiple photo-shoots, this meant I
was able to pick the exact images I wanted to fit with my magazines
genre and the genre of music my fictional band were creating. The
clothes are meant to be quite simplistic and yet they still needed to
hold detail even through being made black and white, this is why
most of the raw images are actually quite monochromatic and there
is very little use of prevalent colour throughout. My cover image
consisting of only Ethan has been specifically selected as it has
quite stylized punk undertones with the blocking of the model
looking down upon the camera and with the scrawled writing upon
the hoodie, however it also comes across as quite calm with the out
of focus high aperture Bokeh background normally associated with
stylized Japanese magazine covers. This enabled my model to fit
with the genre aspects whilst also having a stylized and different
flare towards it. This theme has followed throughout my double
page spread with the use of one large image and on the second
page a collage of images all showcasing the stereotypical punk
aspects I have become familiar with throughout my research.
Camerawork and framing: As previously stated I have used a
low angle on my cover image to show the dominance of the model
and fit with the punk themes I researched throughout my
coursework. The smooth and Bokeh trees backing the image have
been used to add a layer of depth to it and comfort. I did not find
using the studio practical enough and wanted to take all of my
images outside, relying on natural light for composition and giving
complex and unique backgrounds for my models. My initial idea for
my contents page was for the three band members to be together
sitting on recycled props found around the school premises. This is
what I did for my first double page spread however I came across a
problem related to text and the composition of my image, I wanted
to keep the desk in the picture yet it meant I could not fit my article
on one double page. This desk I believe give the first image a
rugged and nonconformist flare yet contrasted with the blocking of
Ethan sat strapped into a car chair it gives a juxtaposed
connotations of conformity and rebellion. I wanted to get a high
angle for this shot with a (fairly) wide depth of field (50mm) to give
a natural perspective and to show the rugged background concealed
within the image. For my second double page spread I wanted to
use different perspectives and ranges for camerawork, I chose to
use three headshots of the band members to be able to introduce
the reader and show the conformity throughout my magazine. The
main image of the squatting was something I had not seen done
before in many magazines and I wanted to be able to manipulate
the blocking and layers of my photo to clearly show the graffiti on
the wall behind the subjects. This way of using headshots to
introduce the members of the band I have seen used throughout
multiple magazines and I felt was necessary to convey the attitude
of the article.
 Article, header etc.
font and style: My article follows a simplistic style, I learnt
through my research that most people are likely to just look at the
images in a magazine rather than the text itself. With this in
consideration I tried to make my article friendly looking and less text
focused. I decided to use a bold font for my article reminiscent of
the CLASH font type, this gave my article a friendly and
approachable design. To link my pages together I have also used
Myriad Pro in bold condensed italics for my pull quotes and
headers. I feel this gives my magazine a needed sense of fluidity I
would be unable to get with varied font types throughout my
magazine.

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread

suggests it: I think my magazine presents the DIY punk scene
quite well through the use of black and white, the grungy effect it is
given through the black and white leads some to the imagination a
key aspect of the punk genre. I also think the black and white theme
conveys the non conformist attitude of the punk and Midwest emo
subcultures as it is no longer the norm for single colour scheme
magazines to be in production, this gives my magazine the rugged
and independent aesthetic commonly regarded with these genres.
This running theme also adds an aspect of professionalism and
would incline the audience to read onwards.
Cover inspiration: My cover was inspired by a variety of
magazines, I really liked the use of a single profile shot used
prolifically within magazines like I-D and CLASH however I also
wanted to incorporate themes from fanzines with their black and
white themes and uses of big borders (E.g. radio riot pictured
above). Above all these however I wanted to keep a minimal and
stylised front cover fantastic man esce.
Contents inspiration: My contents page was heavily inspired by
the handmade Punk fan-zines of the 70s however I wanted to give
this a modern edge. I did this by using elements of magazines like
clash to format my magazine whilst also keeping natural fonts for
headings to add to the handmade aesthetic of the fan-zine
community. I came about the decision to use a singular colour as an
ode to the early 70s artist Leslie Schiff with her sure of having a
singular vibrant colour overpowering the scene in contrast to the

dark and monochromatic images.

Double page spread inspiration: This was inspired primarily by
photographers like Roberta Bailey and her photos of the Ramones
with their serious and stern facial expressions. My formatting
however was inspired by CLASH in the layout of text bodies, I still
wanted to pay homage to the fan-zine culture however and tried to
use a culmination of images and collage them whilst still keeping to
the modern format.