Detailed Research into Forms and Conventions
The genre I have chosen for my magazine is Female Rock. The
main focus is heavy music such as Halestorm and Nightwish, but the magazine
will also include some alt rock bands such as Paramore and We Are The In Crowd.
My target audience is going to females in the 16-25 age bracket. In order to research the forms and conventions
that I would need to include in this genre I have looked at the magazines
Decibel and Kerrang. Decibel is a monthly heavy metal magazine from America; it
focuses on extreme metal and is aimed primarily at men. I analysed an issue that had women on the
front to see how they were represented in male magazine. The style of music
featured in Decibel is the kind of music I want to focus on, only using female
bands instead. Kerrang magazine features
a broader spectrum of rock music and has more female readers. I looked at this
magazine because it had a younger feel to it and also attracted more female
readers than Decibel magazine.
Decibel Magazine
The masthead font is sans serif, bold and thick. This echoes
the no nonsense image of the women. This style of font attracts the male
audience as it connotes being muscular and strong, something a lot of men want
in their lives. As it is a dominant ideology that men should be fit and
healthy. However the font colour is quite light, this connotes a softer side of
masculinity, and perhaps they have chosen that colour to tie in with the women
on the front cover. The same goes for the coverlines which are also in light
colours. However, with the darker background the lightness of the font means
the coverlines stand out more.
This
magazine represents women as strong and powerful. The woman at the front of the
photo is wearing a red leather jacket. The connotations of the colour red can
be danger, the devil, passion or love. The colour is anchored down by the
woman’s stance. She is standing with her legs apart looking down at the camera;
this connotes masculinity and power as she is not afraid to stand out. This stance
mixed with red of her jacket gives the impression of danger and that she is a
woman you wouldn’t want to mess with.
This appeals to the male audience of the magazine as the
type of man who listens to heavy metal wouldn’t want a woman who dresses in
pink skirts.
The people featured in the photos inside this magazine
always have serious stances. They look straight at the camera which is often
placed below them to make them seem taller. This attracts the audience as it
makes them seem powerful and ‘badass’.
The layout of the front cover
stays constant throughout each issue; this is because the style of music the
magazine writes about remains the same through each issue. In mainstream music
magazines the style of music tends to vary more.
The spread inside this magazine has dark backgrounds; this reflects the style
of music that the magazine is about. The font used is unusual which reflects
the radical image that the audience feels that they have. The cracks in the words represents how heavy
metal is about destruction and bringing down the ‘man’, which appeals to the
audience because they see themselves as against the traditionalists in society.
Drop capitals and quotations from the text have been used to help focus the reader’s
attention and to let them know where to begin reading.
The articles included in this
magazine are pieces on specific bands, reviews on bands and gigs, as well as
regulars such as music news and new releases. This content is all focused on
the one genre appeals to a very specific audience who will buy this because
they know that there will only be articles they want to read it.
Decibels’ media pack states that
they don’t have readers they have believers and that it is the love of extreme
metal that makes people buy the magazine. This would suggest a varied readership
profile as music tastes vary from person to person. However, with 88% of their
readership being males and 86% being white, there is a very clear profile of
the person who reads decibel. 61% of
their readers play an instrument and 77% own an iPod or music playing device,
which shows that they like playing music, not just reading about it. Decibel is
produced by a small company in Philadelphia that owns three other magazines,
one focused on indie music and one environmental magazine. It is only available to buy in six different
outlets and is available in only six countries outside the US and Canada.
International distribution is currently at 0.6%.
Kerrang Magazine
The
masthead of Kerrang magazine is thick and bold. It changes colour from issue to
issue, this represents the variety of rock styles that the magazine includes.
The iconic font looks as if it has been smashed with a hammer; this connotes
destruction and appeals to the rebellious nature of the target audience. The
thickness of the masthead and the fact that it is sans serif connotes
masculinity. Kerrang is also always written with an exclamation mark, this
connotes excitement or maybe even anger. The exclamation mark also acts as a screamer, grabbing the reader’s attention from the off. When you put all of
these features together they anchor each other down in to a masculine,
rebellious, destructive ideal.
The images used on the front of
Kerrang magazine are often comical in nature. This represents the less serious
side of rock that is more pop-like, that the magazine writes about (for
instance you me a six, who a regularly in the top 40.) This draws in readers
who like the idea of being slightly less mainstream, by liking ‘rock music’.
The layout of the magazine cover
rarely changes, this makes the magazine easy to spot when the readers look it.
It also shows which bands the magazine will focus on that week, therefore if
non-regular reader likes that particularly band, they will buy the magazine.
The double page spreads inside Kerrang magazine often
feature short and snappy titles that are printed in large noticeable font in
order to get people to read the articles when flicking through the magazine.
The use of a fire effect connotes anarchy against society,
which applies to the audience who feel that
they are radicalists. This is
replicated with the statement ‘set the world on fire’. Layouting features such
as drop capitals help the reader to navigate their way around. The quotation
pulled from the text gives the reader an idea about what’s included in the
article. Sometimes these quotations are controversial to pull the reader in.
The contents page of Kerrang magazine follows an identical
styling throughout every issue. This appeals to their audience as they know
what to expect each time they open the magazine. The layout is simple which
makes it easy for the reader to scan and find what they’re looking for. The competition
helps to sell the magazine as people will buy it to get a freebie. In the
bottom corner of the magazine they have an advert telling readers that if they
subscribe to the magazine they will get a free gift. By doing this the magazine
creators increase the number of regular readers. The magazine keeps the colour
scheme of red, black, white and yellow consistent, this stops the page from
looking messy by only using a few colours, but it also uses contrasting colours
to make things stand out and attract readers.
Kerrang magazine is owned by Bauer Media, Europe’s largest
privately owned publishing group, it was started in Germany 136 years ago. The company owns 300 magazines in 15
countries, as well as tv channels and radio stations. Kerrang has a readership
of 404,000 and a mean age of 22, the gender split of the magazines is 59% male,
41% female.
How the research is going to affect my magazine.
After researching these two magazines I have decided on the
following features to include in my magazine:
I will use a distressed font for my masthead, as this will
show the nature of the music that I am going to include in my magazine. I will
make my masthead thick and bold as both magazine have done this. However,
because my magazine is aimed at females I will use white for my masthead
colour, to bring some femininity to it. I may use an exclamation mark like
Kerrang to grab my reader’s attention.
I will use serious images like the ones in Decibel Magazine
as the main genre of music is closer to the genre featured in Decibel than the
ones featured in Kerrang. As my models will be female, this serious stance will
oppose the dominant ideology that women should be timid and ladylike.
Inside my magazine I will be sure to use drop capitals and
quotations pulled from my text as both magazines have used these features in
their layouts.
Finally I will use effects such as fire or smoke to make my
models seem more mysterious and to add to the aesthetics of the magazine by
livening it up.
The audience of my magazine are girls aged 19-24 who are radicalists and non-conformists. As my audience are young adults and most likely students or shop workers, they would rank in the C2/D/E categories on the jicnar scale. They are all about living in the now and living life for fun, they care little about money or careers, music is the most important thing for them. 
They are artistic, and spend a lot of time on websites like Deviantart sharing their drawings and commenting on others. They also spend a lot of time on youtube, watching music videos of 
The contents page of Kerrang magazine follows an identical
styling throughout every issue. This appeals to their audience as they know
what to expect each time they open the magazine. The layout is simple which
makes it easy for the reader to scan and find what they’re looking for. The competition
helps to sell the magazine as people will buy it to get a freebie. In the
bottom corner of the magazine they have an advert telling readers that if they
subscribe to the magazine they will get a free gift. By doing this the magazine
creators increase the number of regular readers. The magazine keeps the colour
scheme of red, black, white and yellow consistent, this stops the page from
looking messy by only using a few colours, but it also uses contrasting colours
to make things stand out and attract readers.
