Pages

Sunday 14 October 2012

Codes and conventions of music magazines

Masthead: this always goes right at the top of the page, its job is to catch the readers eye immediately so that it already grabs their attention, it should also be in a certain typography that makes the reader aware of what the article would be about, the magazine's well known style, and the overall genre of the magazine, it should always relate to a certain topic. It us usually bigger than the rest of the text on the page, as it is the most importance. On the contents page it would be more basic and smaller, yet it will still follow the colour themes and the typography  However the double page spread maybe more different because it would relate more to the article than the magazines typography. 
Example: "Kerrang" has very bold, capital and grunge font, for its masthead, this also follows into the contents page with the classically yellow and black colour theme, also their mastheads in other pages are quite aggressive and Gothic. 

Buzz words: They are small words which are commonly found on the front cover of an magazine, these again are used to attract the attention of the audience. These words can add more excitement to the magazine and make it sound much better so the reader would want to buy it. It makes it seem more interesting. They are also used throughout the magazine with a bright colour, font, or box out to highlight that it is new and exciting.
Examples:  "Plus" "Free",  "Exclusive", "new" , "win" etc...

Cover Lines:  Usually found on a double page spread or front cover, however can be on the contents  around five lines which are related to the genre of music. There would always be a main image of the band or artist, where their body language, and image shot reflects this to the audience of the genre of music.

Tag lines: are used mainly on the front cover to attract attention as also to give the magazine a unique twist to its audience. They will all have different lingo which each ones audience will understand and relate to.

Background: On the front cover of a magazine  the background is seen to be white, or plain in many cases, this just shows that is a blank page. It makes the other features on the magazine stand out more and also makes it look more professional. This also follows onto the contents page, however the double page spread is different. It always has a different colour, or the main image taking up the space as a background to show that this is important and needs to be in your face.

Model (main image): On the front cover this would only be one single person, or if a band, the whole group. However the main singer in the band would be slightly larger, or the main focus than the rest to show that their still is a main person holding the image together. A mid shot is the commonly used camera shot because it allows the audience to get into their personality by allowing them to see their clothes, body structure and posture. The contents page would have many images however the main one would be larger, and would not be as posed. This would be a picture of the artist/band live in action, a performance maybe. Then on the double page spread we would see a lot more, it would have a mixture of posed pictures, with live performances  and a incite to their normal life, maybe them doing normal things. It is also crucial that the main image takes up one whole side of the page and even may carry on to the next to show that this is a double page spread.

Bar-code: This would be found at the bottom right or left corner of the page on the front cover. This is stereotypically used to actually purchase the magazine, it also would tell you the price, issue number, date of released, a little bit more of extra information that is not as important.


Box outs: These are a bright coloured box which is usually found on other pages rather than the front over however can be used in the contents. The aim of this is to catch the audiences eye and make the writing in the box clear and easy to read. The background colour of this would be a contrasting one, that makes the text stand out. This is usually used to separate texts and show that they are talking about a different topic on the same page, and loosely be related.



No comments:

Post a Comment