statement of intent

There are lots of examples of different conventions of magazines, there are high end fashion ones like vogue which follow a certain guideline, and then more quirky magazines like ID. Both of my magazines follow a lot of the typical conventions of magazines.

I will name my magazine 'MXRGAN' (pronounced Morgan), Im naming it this because Morgan is a family name from my Jamaican side, and I am focussing on brown skin people for my magazine. I want to focus on them because i believe that we need more ways to show everyone that young black people are not troublemakers, loud and rowdy. I will change the 'O' to an 'X' to resemble Malcolm X who was a minister, human rights activist and prominent black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the nation of islam during the 1950s and 1960s.

For my first magazine featuring Farihah, the shot will be more of a mid-shot which is less conventional for magazine covers because they usually use a close up of the model. However, it may be seen as conventional for more quirky magazines. For the second magazine featuring Sumieya, it will be more conventional for magazines like vogue because it will be a close up shot of the model. The mise-en-scene for the first magazine is going to have an outdoor background, there will be bushes and can be shot in an alley which already has a quirky vibe to it. The colour scheme is going to be browns and greens because of nature which I also can cooperate into the title. This is unconventional for magazines as they usually have plain backgrounds because they don’t want too much going on at once. However, My second magazine will follow the typical conventions of a fashion magazine with a more plain background (slightly grey) because of light and shadow. The title will be plain white which is also typical conventions for magazines.

My first magazine is really going to represent the youth in the most natural way, it will be  in a natural outdoor environment with a model who is not extremely photo shopped, she will have a natural face, natural hair and a natural body, she will not be used to set an impossibly high standard for women and will represent all of us. This is extremely unconventional for magazines because they tend to Photoshop and sexualise their models. Likewise, my second magazine will be the same, her features will not be changed, the only editing I will carry out is the contrast, light and texture and the words, not the actual physique or facial structure of the model. The first magazine will approach social issues of the shutting out and isolation of the youth, we are made to feel dependent and incapable, but I want to capture the youth in a more independent strong manner.

Both of the magazines I intend to target to youth mainly girls, but different types. The first magazine is going to be aimed at quirky girls such as the ones who would be audiences of magazines like ID. The second magazine would be targeted to more mainstream girls, such as the ones who could be audiences of vogue.

Finally, the way I would go about distributing and circulating my magazines in the real world are through talented and popular publishers and editors. For my magazines I would publish them through the company “DC Thomson”. They are a large UK based magazine publishing company. And I would sell them in bookshops like Waterstones and WHSmith and I would ask fashion and retailers to collaborate. I could ask shops like MAC, Topshop, Gucci and more to offer a free fashion magazine when they purchase a certain item.