Codes & Conventions

I've learnt that pop music magazines are more likely to

• Target specific genders: particularly female
• Show LOTS of sell lines so as to attract a new audience rather than relying on devoted readers. this suggested to me that the content may be fairly fickle or unspecific
• Feature modern artists

I've learnt that alternative music magazines are more likely to:

• Feature cover "art" rather than just an unedited photo - this usually carries some implication of what the article featuring the cover star will be focussed on
• Show swearwords - as are aimed at an older generation
• Be non-gender specific
• Feature upcoming artists OR previously iconic artists. Not just whoever's topping the charts

Initial Research

I've not only broadened my knowledge of the magazine industry, but I've also now got plenty of ideas for my own magazine. I think that if I choose for my magazine to revolve around a genre of music that i am both knowledgable of and interested in I will be far more successful in this project. Therefore I plan to investigate both alternative music magazines and pop magazines further, to develop a strong knowledge of the conventions within each genre of music magazine before deciding on which genre to focus on for my own, original music magazine.

Preliminary Task: Text

Before deciding whether to focus on print or film for our coursework we were given the option to do preliminary tasks. I plan to complete both preliminary tasks before making my decision. This is mock up of my magazine that I quickly drew up before taking my photograph etc. This was exceedingly helpful and made putting together the facets of my cover far easier. If I were to choose to create a music magazine I would definitely employ this technique again.

For this task I captured my own image, then put it together on a page with a header and articles etc. I decided that my key article would be about music, so I could get a greater idea of what it would be like writing articles to go inside my music magazine.

I learnt that I really enjoy writing these kind of articles, especially as I can write them about the things I know. At the moment I think I may do an alternative music magazine for my coursework as I think I will enjoy it more, and that I am more knowledgable when it comes to what to write about, and what does and does not look good when it comes to print media.

Preliminary Task: Film

Before deciding whether to focus on print or film for my coursework, in groups we had to make a short piece of film depicting someone walking down a corridor, through a door and then sitting down and having a conversation with someone. We were encouraged to incorporate match on action, and experiment with a variety of camera shots such as close ups.
I not only improved my filming skills, I also learnt what it would truly be like to film the first two minutes of a film and whilst I enjoyed this task I decided that I will do the print task and create a music magazine, as print media is something I'm far more interested in than cinematography.