RESEARCHING GENRE - MUSIC

KEY COMPONENTS AND CONVENTIONS OF INDIE

• Themed style of personality in the band • Quirky and colourful styles with props and costumes • Lighting is used for different effect with bands or singers• Indie magazines have their own style that follows a simplistic but abstract style• The front covers to not often have sell lines but a medium shot to show the promotion image of the

magazine• Indie can be influenced from other genres, such as rock or electronic

LIGHTNING OF A INDIE MAGAZINE

Within a indie magazine there is a variety of different lighting used. Most indie magazines hold a high key to give of a vibrant feel as it gives off more colour that is specific to the front cover.

High key lighting gives more a colourful happy feeling.

Lighting enhances colour of cover

Low key lighting gives connotations of mystery, pulls a audience in to read it

Visually more pleasing

Low key lighting makes colours more vivid and noticeable

COLOUR

Within a indie magazine there can be a wide variety of colours depending on what theme they are going for. Sometimes the magazine can have a bright dominant colour for a background which is often backed up from other bright colours of the medium shot image. Other times the magazine can have a darker feeling to it adding mystery, but the image can also have a bright prime colour that draws your attention still to the image. The colour depends on what personality the band has, this adds more of a abstract feel to a magazine making each cover different.

Prime dominant colour that brings attention; is enhanced from dark coloursDark colours make the brighter colour seem more noticeable

Bright colour shows the bands personality of a happy melodic feel – This can help advertise the feel of a band/singer

A description on the front of the cover can influence the colour chosen

FONT

Indie font magazines are often bold with little colour, this brings a form of being abstract as it can take away from the independent style of a indie front cover bringing your attention to the title. The colour of the font is often a bright colour or dark, the font colour can work with low key and high key lighting as white contrasts black, and black contrasts black. This once again pulls the audiences attention of the reader; to add to this the boldness of the title makes it seem independent like the genre it’s self adding further detail to the cover.

A sans serif font is often used, this can make the font look more appeasing to the eyes making it look strong to the audience

Sometimes magazines use a more quirky font to apply to the indie abstract feel, this can apply intrigue or personality in a front cover

A darker colour makes the title further Stand out.

IMAGE

A magazine has to generate a feeling in a reader from it’s appearance, weather that is happiness, sadness or just fascinate the reader generating a spectrum of emotions. A indie magazine can have many different feels to it as it can seem happy or dark and ominous.

The image here gives of a light feeling being abstract, the image isn’t just of a girl smiling but a action of photography making us think more about the image

The colour instantly gives us imagery of a happier feeling than a moodier feeling with a dark colour

The gray colour can make the image look dull but expression makes it seem more vivid, contrasting the dark.

LOCATION

Most magazines have a set location of being in a studio but not in a area of activity. Some indie covers use a location in the back ground to make a image seem interesting or can make pathetic fallacy to make a emotion within a image. From what I have seen a indie magazines location if often of a low key or high key lit studio, often with a set colour to make the image stand out , or the location is often of a back ground of a area such as a wall of graphite or a dull housing area

A studio with high key lighting and a vivid colour, can make the main image stand out more

Colour can make the magazine attractive A dull area can

make a colour stand out, this makes it seem more varied than a studio so it can stand out.

PROPS AND COSTUME

The props and costumes of a indie magazine are often quirky and abstract with style as they can have varied props. The costumes often make the personality of a indie magazine as they can colourful or dull, depending on the singer or band’s style. Props are used to a indie magazine to add to a costume or set.

Girls cosmetics in indie often have a style to them, often being simple or colorfully done

Certain props can make the audience think different things, a camera can symbolize moments or a glass with medicine can symbolize a psychedelic feel.

The singers/bands personality is shown through the use of costume

Makes them seem like they have a indie rock feel

WHAT I WILL INCLUDE IN MY MAGAZINE

The main aspects of a indie magazine is it’s image, colour, lighting, costumes plus props, and font.

Within my magazine I will need to add prime colourful background that grabs the audience’s attention and defines the medium shot. The colour chosen will depend on what image is shot, if the image is of a positive expression high key lighting will be used alongside a colourful prime colour. Colour will also effect my font, from my research done I have found most title fonts are black or white, which can contrast it’s opposite to make it stand out. I will use the same idea as it can comply to any colour I choose.

The image of my magazine will be important as it will give of emotions and a sense of style to the audiences looking at it. From the research I have done I have found that the image depends on the personality of the main content., if the content is vibrant it is often gave the image of something light and non aggressive, if the content is darker the image can show harshness or ferociousness. This has gave me vital knowledge as the indie genre has a variation of images it can show. To add to this, the indie genre can also put imagery of intrigue or a psychedelic aspect to it, this pulls the audiences attention making examine the feel of the magazine.

From my research done, lighting plays a role within the indie genre. Often the indie genre has bright colours that are enhanced by high key lighting, the high key lighting compliments the colour as it makes it more visually pleasing to look at grabbing more attention from the audience. When low key lighting is used, it is to the effect of creating mystery or abstractness to make it seem interesting to look at. I will use more high key lighting to make it seem more pleasing to the eye.

WHAT I WILL INCLUDE IN MY MAGAZINE

Costume and props are a key role in the indie genre. When looking at styles and costumes of the genre I found that everything is done with a quirky colour or a sense of style to make it look like it is independent or to make it look like it’s from a fantasy world. Clothing is often something of a designer that is alongside vibrant makeup or hair, this can give different effects of to the reader as it can compel them to read it from enjoying the stylish wear or makes them enjoy the aesthetics of it. Props are used to make the audience think about imagery of the genre. From this, I will include abstract props and costumes to give of the image I want in the reader, this will help me reinforce the imagery of my magazine making it clear that it is off the indie genre.Font in my research has also helped me with my decisions. The indie genre has a lot of simplicity to it, but makes it seem detailed to the feel. The font is also very simple from my research, most magazines use a sans serif text that is in bold to make it stand out in the simplicity; in magazines the sizing of the mast heading is often large so that the audience can see it immediately. However, some magazines go with a quirky font to add personality to the magazine. From this I will use a bold text that is sans serif for my mast heading as it will draw the attention for the audience, for my general writing I will use a standard Arial black text as it can still make the text seem simple but formal.