magazine contents

This is my final edit for my music magazine contents page, although I like a lot of the aspects of the contents page I think that I could have incorporated more articles and features. I think that the fonts that I chose to use as well as the colour schemes where bold and interesting to look at, I also thought that the photographs that I used where appropriate for the magazine and related to the grunge theme.

double page spread

This is my edited double page spread, I decided to feature a quote within my photo so that a reader would be drawn into what the article contains and reads further.

 This is my double page spread, I decided to keep the text page quite minimal so that the photograph was the main feature of the article.

contents page research

Contents Page Research

 

To give me better ideas and inspiration for how to construct my music magazine's contents page I conducted some research into the contents pages of already existing music magazines who are acceptant of the grunge rock genre.

I focused mainly on the layout of Kerrang! Magazine's contents pages because I found them visually interesting and appealing, I liked how everything was easy to understand and the way that your eye is drawn to the major aspects within the contents page such as the features and posters.

I noticed that the codes and conventions within many of the rock magazines where to stylise their covers, articles and contents pages roughly and bodly, perhaps to reflect the ideology and stereotype that the rock genre as a whole is quite rough and rock'n'roll. One of the most obvious colour schemes that where frequently used in rock magazine covers and contents pages is red, black and yellow. I decided to try and use this colour scheme in my own magazine because it is successful within other rock magazines and is bold and interesting to look at.



 

 

my magazine photos

These are the photographs that I took for my music magazine, I've displayed both the original images and post edited images that I will use on the magazine.

I cloned out the radiator in the backdrop of the photographs using photoshop because I felt that it looked unprofessional and untidy in the images. I also added darker filters to the photo's to make them more "grunge" looking, for the shoot I made sure that everything I wore related to the genre, so nothing was overly stylised and clean cut. I chose to wear dark clothes and makeup to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the music.

Grunge Photography

Grunge photography

To get a better idea of what I would need to do to prepare for my magazine cover shoot, I researched grunge photography as well as looked at the photography of grunge bands used on their promotional posters and albums.

I noticed that the photography used in grunge style shoots was nearly always over-exposed, high key lighting with a grainy filter. These different factors made the photographs appear much edgier and tougher, suggesting that the people within the photos were just that. This also reflects the ideologies held by grunge fans and musicians, they didn't sugar coat things and make things prettier, they stripped everything down to the basics, exposing their beliefs and attitudes to viewers.

Band photography



A grunge style

A grunge style

A grunge way of dressing is pretty simplistic due to the attitudes of a "grunge" individual, clothing most commenly worn by fans and musicians would consist of flea market or thrift store items and typical outdoor clothing such as parkas and, most commonly, flannel shirts.

Recently, grunge fashion has come under the view of the media and fashion again, I will use these recent examples to give me ideas for what to use for my own grunge photoshoot for my magazine cover. I researched grunge fashion and models and these are some of the images that I thought reflected the Grunge style well:



Grunge rock, where it all started

Grunge Rock

In the process of creating a Grunge Rock magazine it only figures to do research into the history and beginnings of Grunge Rock.

We all know of grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but not many know where the style of grunge bloomed from, this is where I began my research.

The most famous of the Grunge Rockers?

I strated my research online, first searching "Grunge", this is what I found:

Wikipedia: Grunge (sometimes referred to as Seattle-sound) is a subgenre of Alternative Rock that emerged during the mid 1980's in the American state of Washington.

Grunge rock is inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electic guitars and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics etc.

Many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.

I found that Grunge was very similar to Punk in the sense that both the music genres shared a raw sound, similar lyrical concerns and clothing style. The general feel of the Grunge culture is that of anarchy and youth rebellion, not stylishness or luxury suggested by other genres of music.

But this is not to say that grunge rock bands were lazy teenagers, grunge concerts were well known for being straightforward, high energy performances. They rejected the idea of high budget, complex performances of many other genres of music and stuck to a very simple, almost garage/backyard type of performance.

It is this attitude of grunge rockers that I want to show in my magazine through photography, fonts and coverlines. I believe that a grunge rock magazine will be very edgy yet not too stylised, a grunge rockers fundimental atmosphere is that they do not care for the complexities of social media and fashion. This is highly important for me to address because otherwise, I would be rejecting most beliefs of a grunge rocker, therefore not creating a grunge rock magazine.