Research #1 Genres to Consider for Brief

  Within a piece of media, the elements used to give a reaction, inform, or just stylistically, are usually to be categorized in groups. These are genres and can be seen practically everywhere whether it is in movies, books, or specifically for my brief, magazines. A few genres that I could consider for my magazine brief would be the genres fashion, food, and horror.

Horror

In the genre horror, popular magazines like Fangoria or Nightmare Magazine are a big phenomena in the community of people enjoying all things scary, gross, or macabre. In the 1980s horror magazines were at a renaissance and as an 80s lover myself (raised by two parents from then) it is my favorite type of magazine. Back then before the internet, there was no space to learn about different niches of pop culture and magazines or newspaper filled that hole giving new information on it and a sense of community. Horror magazines now, although less popular, still have a large fan base. Fangoria being the top horror movie magazine even though it debuted in 1979 and others like Nightmare Magazine debuted in 2012 specializing in more indie gothic horror literature.

Horror magazines use bold fonts and few bright colors, mainly dark to show the content and to maybe show what movie is on the cover. A more modern example is this issue of Fangoria from 2025, showcasing the new Predator franchise movie in the forefront and other movies as the cover lines like Guillermo del Toro's movie Frankenstein, Terrifier 3, and Black Phone 2.

It uses the font of the title of the movie "Predator Badlands" and the same color themes for the other movies featured on the cover having a connected use of color. In these types of magazines they cover behind the scenes on horror movies set design and special effects makeup, to interviews or testimony from directors and actors about the movie. They tend to cater towards fans likes and dislikes comparing to other movies or making funny jokes/anecdotes in the writing. 

Fashion

In the genre of fashion, magazines are used as advertisements and a showcase of new trends, new brands releases, famous models and personas being used to model the clothes plus much more. Fashion magazines have a large range with the subgenres of the genre fashion even in the case of magazines. What I mean by this is fashion subcultures or specific groups of people dressing or designing a certain way or a group of a type of fashion style, like luxury or high fashion, avant-garde, more niche like fashion subcultures, casual, streetwear, and much more. Vogue is probably the most well known fashion magazine besides GQ and Harper's Bazaar.

 In this issue of US Vogue from April of 1967, it showcases a closeup portrait of the UK model Twiggy. Historically, fashion magazines show modern trends for their demographic of originally woman to young girls. The main coverline would be "Fashions That Make Your Best Summer Looks" which suggests it leaning towards "summer" fashion for the average woman as well as, a showcase of more high fashion. The colors are very few, only really in the model Twiggy's outfit and her eyes popping with the only heavy amount of color. The magazine's iconic "VOGUE" masthead and coverline's are bold and monochrome dark blue and black more emphasized with the white background.

A modern example of a Fashion magazine is this issue of US Harper's Bazaar May 2024 issue featuring US model Anok Yai. It has her side profile and pose shot from the waist up. In magazines there is a more emphasis on using famous celebrities and models to showcase fashion for sales and influx of consumers interested to buy it. Anok Yai's pose is at the forefront rather than the outfit her head even covering the bold masthead "BAZAAR". This suggests she is the subject of the magazine as well as the main cover line highlighted by the only noticeable color being her name in red "The Epic Rise of Anok Yai". 

Food

In the genre of food, magazines are often used for recipes but also have showcases of restaurants, food trends, and different types of food culture. The average consumer would usually use food magazines for recipes or showcases but a large appeal of food magazines is the photography. The tasty and perfect looking dish is a mass appeal for many aesthetically especially when coming to recipes. Easy to do recipes for the average person is a large aspect for food magazines to appeal to their demographic. Showcases of restaurants and culture is a large part of food magazines as well, whether a review or a commentary on a dish it gives a lot of spotlight good or bad to a local or popular.

In this photo shows a old issue from the famous food magazine Bon Appetit from April of 1980. In the photography, which is a theme and the center of all food magazines I think, it shows a pastry dish with meat in the center. The sub heading underneath the bold masthead "Bon Appetit", it says "Greek Easter Dinner"and above the masthead "Recipes and Tips For Spring Celebrations". By this we gather the cover image is a greek dish either good for easter or traditionally served on Easter, and by the little white text in the left corner of the image, it lists that it is leg of lamb wrapped in pastry and the page number of the recipe. The demographic for this issue would be hosts for "spring celebrations" as the title suggests.

In this magazine cover, it is a modern publication from the Food Network Magazine one of the most popular food magazine companies. Food Network was originally a cable channel which then transitioned into a magazine and tv show as cable is less relevant with streaming and on demand shows. This cover shows a spread of two portions of a dish green pasta. The main cover line says, " Easy Breezy Dinners". This suggests the magazine is full of easy recipes, targeting many groups of people. The color green is seen throughout the cover connecting every piece.

End

Concluding, each magazine genre is interesting for each of their many different aspects they all carry. I have interest in each of these genres aesthetically and the substance.  I like all the possibilities I could have with my brief and I will decide with my partner our chosen genre magazine by the end of this week.

References:

https://www.crazedfanboy.com/npcr09/fanboypcr503.php , https://www.fangoria.com/about-us/  ,  https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/about/ ,   https://www.scfarrow.com/genre-tropes-and-conventions  ,   https://store.harpersbazaar.com/harpers-bazaar-magazine-sem.html ,   https://scriptclickcreate.weebly.com/magazines.html ,  https://www.vogue.com/fashion ,  https://voguegraphy.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/twiggy-throughout-the-years-in-vogue/  ,  https://www.foodnetwork.com/site/about-foodnetwork-com ,  https://www.bonappetit.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqUlUcUr3eGr-7lhaFxsS1MQ3lPxnusHw-Y4CyjRALDJIRsMMw2 ,  https://www.reddit.com/r/bon_appetit/comments/18q8zbv/1980s_magazine_at_my_grandpas/