Activity Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The title of my magazine

The masthead of my magazine Ascension follows similar conventions of magazines both in and outside of the indie/alternative
genre. Much like other magazines such as Clash and Loud and Quiet, my magazine displays a distinctive masthead centred at the
top of the cover, making my magazine both memorable and eye-catching for the
reader. In addition, I wanted to add a deeper meaning behind the title of my
magazine. This is where I came up with the name Ascension - which simply
means the action of rising to an important position or a higher level. This felt like
the perfect name for my magazine as I wanted Ascension to contain artists and
bands that are breaking through onto the scene. The font, positioning and sizing
of my masthead was very important to me as I wanted to go for something that
would grab the readers attention yet still be aesthetically pleasing. Again by
following conventions from other notorious indie/alternative magazines, I went for
a font that I hadn't seen on a magazine before (Trajan Pro) as I wanted a font
that could be easily associated with my magazine. Furthermore, I wanted to add
a sense a quality to my magazine and I felt this font created a slick looking finish
which I was looking for.

Activity Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Graphology/page layouts
I decided to keep two font choices throughout my magazine to keep an aspect of continuity about it. I went for Trajan Pro for important pieces of text, for example
the masthead, subheadings and page names as I felt that this font capitalised nature would grab the readers attention. However, for larger pieces of text like the
article and contents, I went for a simpler font with Arial as it would make the larger pieces of text a lot easier to read for the audience. The reasoning behind only
sticking to two fonts was so that I didn't over complicate the minimalistic look that I was aiming for as I thought that this would make my magazine lose its identity as
well as its professionalism. Following conventions of other magazines, I sized my font through the level of importance it had. Therefore the masthead was the largest
piece of text in the magazine as this is the main selling point to the reader. Secondly, the titles of the next two pages held the next largest font - Content and
Something Different, Camen Green Interview as I felt these were important pieces of information that the reader would want to see. The article on my fictional artist
and contents were the next largest font, in which i used 7pt in bold for the text of the interviewer and 6pt
regular for the text of the interviewee. I thought this was an important aspect of my double page spread
as it would help to distinguish whos who for
the reader. Moreover, despite having a
contents page within the magazine, I wanted
to follow a similar convention that Fantastic
Man had used, in which these had a small
piece of text on the front page, giving a
quick insight of whats within the magazine. I
thought this was a brilliant selling point to the
magazine as it would allow the reader to instantly know whats in store for them. Underneath this text, I
then placed a smallish barcode in the centre of the page to keep a nice symmetrical look.
In regards to colours, I decided to use just two colours for my font throughout the magazine (black and white) as I believed this would help to keep the simplistic look
that I was going for. In addition, any other colour that I could have gone for would have made the text harder to read and therefore less enjoyable. What I learnt from
my first draft was that my magazine needed a hint of colour in order to make it aesthetically pleasing. I decided to go back to my original colour palette of just black,
white and olive green. I instantly fell in love with these colours as I felt they added a calm and pleasing vibe to my magazine, despite being quite dull.

Activity Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre
My first and main artist Camen Green is styled in a range of clothing which is showed in the
three different photos I got of him. For the front cover - to fit in with the style of the page Camen Green (played by Tom) wore a simple all black outfit which I thought coincided well
with the alternative genre; as well as the black fitting in with the continuity of my magazine. For
the contents page I decided to produce a double page spread which was inspired by an NME
during my research. By doing this, it enabled me to get a picture of another fictional artist Liam
Lynden). After coming up with a short background story for him, I came up with an outfit that
associated with his London background. This gave me the inspiration to use a green Adidas
a Nike cap. On the other side of the contents page, I also included a small image of Tom which
to include this as it added a more natural feeling to my magazine which I thought readers
than every photo being taken in a studio. In this photo, Tom is wearing a long sleeve Champion
by a black man bag. The combination of these two colours works well as they fit perfectly into
my magazine. Finally; going for a similar pose as the front cover, I got Tom to sit down on an

contents page I saw

Carter (portrayed by
would stereotypically be
tracksuit, finished off with
I took at a party. I decided
would appreciate, rather
white tee, accompanied
what Im looking for within
ordinary chair to create

the impression that the photo was taken at the same time as the interview. To carry on this look, I also used
casual clothing with an Undefeated hoodie to create a calm and natural atmosphere that bodes well with the
indie genre.

Camera work and framing of images

Ascension follows the conventions of many indie magazines as it contains mostly mid shots of the artists,
which allows the reader to focus on the facial expressions of the models. By following conventions used in
the likes of Clash, all of my images display the artist centred in the page as this allows the readers attention
to be solely on them. By following these conventions, I feel that it adds a professional and realistic look to my
magazine. In addition, I have also tried to go for expressionless looks for my models as I feel that this will
create a moody looking finish that can often be associated with the indie genre.

Activity Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it

My magazine follows the conventional styling of the indie/alternative genre as it has a simplistic, relaxed feel which is
generated through a pleasing colour scheme. I believe that the minimalistic nature of my magazine will be appealing to
my target audience as it doesn't throw excessive amounts of text, imagery or colours at the reader and instead creates a
chilled vibe that would add to the enjoyment for the reader.

How are the artist(s) represented

I have decided to represent my main artist (Camen Green) as a unique, masculine figure, which I feel that I have done
through the dull, branded clothing that he is wearing. This look; which can be associated with people within this genre, will
allow the reader to associate themselves with the artist which will create a pleasing feeling when looking through my
magazine.

However, with my secondary artist (Liam Carter) I have gone with a stereotypical look that blends well with his London background. By not really going with a
distinctive emotion on the artists face, it allows the audience to view the artist in a way that they choose, making the reader feel more at one with the artist and
therefore more willing to read my magazine.

Cover inspiration

The inspiration for my front cover came largely from Fantastic Man . The simplicity that is shown with
their covers was something that instantly caught my eye and inspired me to create a magazine that would
have the simplistic and refined look of a more formal magazine, yet keep the informal conventions of indie
magazines.

Contents inspiration
My contents page came from a combination of NME and Fantastic Man. To keep a sense of continuity
to my magazine, I had to use the inspiration I got from Fantastic Man and use that as the core
foundations of my work, meaning that some aspects of there contents page would show up on mine. As
seen in my first draft, initially I was planning on doing a singular page for my contents page, however after
further research I came across an NME magazine that used a double page spread. This became crucial to the development of my magazine as it meant that I could
fit four images into my magazine without having to cram them in and effecting the look that I was going for.

Activity Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Double page spread inspiration
The main inspiration for my double page spread came from Fantastic Man as I really liked the idea of having an article on one side of the spread and
an enlarged photo of the interviewee on the other side. I thought this would be the perfect fit for the style of magazine that I was going for as it meant
that the simplistic look that I wanted would still be in tact.