Q1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Double Page Spread

Magazine Name Research

Myself and Maisie have done a little research into our chosen magazine name; this is so that we avoid copyright issues, as we definitely do not want to have the same name as a former/present music magazine! This would also give us enough time to create a new name. From this research, we discovered that there is a rock band called 'The Edge Band' who are based in Nepal. We have also found that there are several other magazines named 'Edge', e.g. a gaming magazine and a French skiing resort magazine, however we decided to stick with out current name, as each current magazine with the name 'Edge' are a different type of magazine, which means it will have a different target audience and focus.

Barcode Generator

To avoid copyright, I decided to search google and see if there was a way that you could produce your own barcode, so I did. This is the finished result of my chosen barcode, which will appear on my magazine front cover, in the bottom right corner, rotated 90 degrees to the left.I did this on a website called 'bardcodesinc.com' where you can design your own barcode; you can also have many different types of barcodes.

Weekly Update

After being away over Christmas, I have had a lot to catch up on. Therefore, this week I have been very busy; so far this week, I have completed all of my drafts for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. This has helped me figure out/given me an idea of how I want each page of my magazine to be laid out. Also, I have written up my interview transcript for my double page spread, which will be featuring the female duo made up of my two main models, Sian and Lucy. And I have started editing my front cover for my magazine 'Edge'; tomorrow, I will begin to take my photos for the image content throughout my magazine.

Double Page Spread Interview Transcript

Double Page Spread Draft

Contents Page Draft

Magazine Front Cover Draft

Costumes

I have decided to feature four models in my magazine, two of which are male, and two female, and have received consent to use their images, from them signing the model release forms. This is so that the genders are balanced out, meaning that there is a wider spread audience that could be achieved by using both genders as models. The outfits which my chosen models will wear, will fit a certain colour palette, being the one that is linked to the genre of rock most (red,black,white,grey etc.), and is similar colour palette of my magazine also; this helps achieve a bold statement to the audience/readers. The female models will be photographed for the front cover as a hot new girl band on the rock scene, wearing similar outfits but opposite colours, to show contrast. One of the models (Lucy Kind), will be costumed in a white Stone Roses band t-shirt, which I think could help bring in a bigger target audience, as the Stone Roses are a well-known indie-rock/rock band from the 1980s/90s with a wide fan group. I will also style this outfit with a black leather-look jacket, black ripped/distressed jeans, white Reebok trainers, and a black and gold choker. She will also have her make-up done so that it links into the rock theme, making her look quite edgy and cool, with some black winged eyeliner and dark lipstick; this helps link back to the genre of music. For inspiration, I have looked at current rock magazine covers, to see how their look is presented, from this research, this is my best finding, and the one that I plan on using as inspiration (shown below):

My other female model (Sian Platnauer), will be photographed wearing a long, black, mesh t-shirt, with a black bralette on underneath that, she will be wearing grey or black ripped jeans, with black ankle boots, a light blue leather-look jacket, and a white choker (to contrast with Lucy's). This model will have a contrast of make up from the other female model; she will have dark eyes and light lips, this will make a noticeable difference, here is an image of the outfit she will be wearing:

Each of my female models, will be photographed with props, which will obviously link to the genre of music. One of my chosen props, is a cigarette, the shot will be taken with the prop in Sian's mouth (obviously there are safety precautions with this, however we won't be lighting the cigarette); I have decided to use this prop as many rock magazines choose this as a prop as it shows an edgy side to the artist, for example, in Rolling Stone magazine, they shot Bruno Mars with a cigarette in his mouth (shown below):

Another prop that I will use in my shots, will be an electric guitar, this will help link in with the genre of music, as it is a musical instrument which is featured in all rock songs. The guitar will be positioned standing upright from the ground, and Lucy will be holding it. Also, this kind of prop is used in a lot of music magazines, to connote that they mean business, e.g. this magazine cover featuring Dave Grohl, frontman of the Foo Fighters:

The two male models, will be featured on my contents page, as other upcoming/present artists in the music industry. Their outfits will be mainly black, white, and grey, as this fits the colour palette and the rock genre. My model, Sam, will be costumed wearing black skinny jeans, with a black Palace long sleeve top. I have chosen to costume him in this particular brand, Palace, because a lot of indie kids wear this brand, which links in with the genre of music for my magazine, which could potentially help bring in a wider audience, targeting a lot of young people. He will also be wearing, white trainers, with a black jacket:

The other male artist, will be wearing something similar to this, but opposite colours to create a contrast, and not a stereotype for artists in this particular genre of music. I will be sourcing these items from either the models' or my own wardrobe, as thankfully they have been very helpful in offering their own clothes for the production; this is because I chose the models wisely as their current looks are quite cool and edgy also, meaning that we could use some of the items they own already in the shoot. This helps also as I don't have a high budget for the creation process of my magazine. However, certain items, e.g. jewellery or scarves etc, I may possibly purchase if it is necessary. Most of the female models' clothes are sourced from mainly high street stores, like Zara, Topshop, Urban Outfitters etc, therefore it will be easy to attract a young adult audience, as these clothing stores are very popular within my target audience, hopefully boosting my magazine's reputation and attraction towards it.