My Music Magazine

● conforms to the stereotype of metal genre magazines, by representing itself as a strictly male product

● McMahon and Quinn’s Symbolic Code helped me decide on what colours to use for my magazine

● general feel of the magazine is quite dark and eerie because it is typical of the metal genre music magazine style

● main theme colour is red because it symbolises danger and masculinity, which is what the metal genre represents

My Magazine (SONAR) Kerrang!

How Does My Magazine Use Existing Media Products?

● outdoor photoshoot with a local band ● research on existing products determined that

my photo would have to be dirty looking, dark, and unposed

● shadows on faces make models look threatening and serious

● eye-line shot makes audience feel equal to the band

How Does My Magazine Use Existing Media Products?

● research of existing metal music magazines showed that all of them used slanted images with borders to accompany their articles

How Does My Magazine Use Existing Media Products?

● metal magazines have crowded covers● my magazine is aimed towards getting publicity

towards new, local bands - so simple cover attracts as much attention as possible to the band on the cover

How Does My Music Magazine Develop or Challenge Existing Media Products?

● metal magazines use over-exaggeration and short, simplistic sentences, lots of pictures and large fonts - assumes a young adult audience looking for style as much as content

● I found that 90% of the metal fans were either in college or university and 10% were working a full-time job

● contradicts what existing metal music magazines contain, so my magazine is more intellectual in terms of wording, and has smaller text

How Does My Music Magazine Develop or Challenge Existing Media Products?

Front Cover Comparisons

Technical Code

● camera angles on both magazines are eye-line matches - makes the reader feel equal to the band members

● both have adverts on the covers to attract a larger audience● both have smaller cut-outs of images overlapping the larger cover photo - attracts further

audience as they are advertising other things● Kerrang! has used shadows on only the vocalist - suggests that they are not as mysterious

or interesting - transferring the attention to just one member● I have tried to ensure that I made everyone involved in the magazine equal

Front Cover Comparisons

Front Cover Comparisons

Written Code

● both have large titles that are in plain, block colours, which grabs attention - without taking attention off of the band

● both use large fonts for the band names on the cover, to attract attention to them● both magazines have a certain font(s) as part of the house style and use it/them all over

the cover and throughout the magazine to secure a familiar style that the readers will like and recognise

● black and white lettering contrasts with the full, colourful backgrounds of each magazine - attracts the attention of the readers without taking too much of the attention away from the main cover photo

Front Cover Comparisons

Symbolic Code

● both magazines use red as the main colour theme - suggests danger, anger, rage, courage, etc - connotations associated with masculinity

● facial expressions and body language of models are threatening and powerful - associated with masculinity

● Comparing my cover (photo and editing) to Kerrang!’s cover, it is quite clear that my magazine is not meant to be flashy and expensive-looking, but a magazine that helps young male fans relate to the members

Contents Page Comparisons

Technical Code

● both contents pages feature images● my contents page has photos of bands blended into the background - leaves enough room

for the page to be text-filled● images on the contents page of Metal Hammer are all photoshoot images with the bands,

so they are all objective● the images on my contents page were both taken from the crowd at gigs, which makes

them subjective - gives the reader a sense of belonging and involvement

Contents Page Comparisons

Contents Page Comparisons

Written Code

● both magazines use a certain font(s) that is part of the house style● both contents pages address the audience directly, and informally, e.g - ‘Download

Preview - You’ve got your ticket, now you just need to plan your weekend.’● both magazines have an editors letter - makes magazine personal● both contents pages have the title of the magazine at the top to reinforce the house style

Contents Page Comparisons

Symbolic Code

● both use red to symbolise masculinity and keep the house style and colour scheme running

● vast majority of metal magazines use red as their colour scheme for this same reason

● Metal Hammer features a few women - only used to advertise merchandise and as ‘props’ for one of the bands, portrayed as sex objects or trophies

● only female in my mag is the editor - important role rather than object - challenges stereotype

Double Page Spread Comparisons

Double Page Spread Comparisons

Technical Code

● Metal Hammer has used a huge photo as part of their double page spread, which takes up a whole page

● my magazine is much more text-heavy - used up as much of my two pages as possible for text

● images in Metal Hammer are also all posed - suggests it is an upmarket magazine● my magazine is targeted towards getting publicity to up-and-coming bands - the subjective

images from inside the crowd fit perfectly

Double Page Spread Comparisons

Written Code● Metal Hammer’s double page, in terms of font size and the

amount written, is surprisingly different to typical magazines of the same genre, which tend to use large fonts to take up room so that not much text is needed

● the other page is filled with small font text in columns - shows Metal Hammer (like SONAR) assume they have an older, more intelligent audience than other metal music magazines, for example Big Cheese

Double Page Spread Comparisons

Symbolic Code

● use of blood spatters on a black background on both articles suggests violence, danger and anger - attracts the male target audience of metal magazines

● both magazines continue the red colour scheme over the double page spread, continuing to symbolise danger and rage to keep the male readers interested