Evaluation Q1

Evaluation: Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product, which is a pop music magazine uses key conventions of real media products in many ways. In order to create a realistic magazine I have adapted an almost identical layout to other pop magazines that I have looked at in my research into the pop genre. I found that a pop magazine must include a bold, bright and striking masthead in order to catch the buyers attention. The front cover must also be extremely crowded and busy, thus creating the idea that the magazine provides a lot of content which is worth the buyers money. Therefore, I chose a bright pink masthead ‘In The Mix’ to abide by the key conventions of a pop magazine. The striking pink colour connotes the main and overall theme of pop magazines, femininity and youthfulness. I have chosen to use the same font style and colour on my contents heading in order to maintain a consistent house style and ensure continuity throughout my magazine. I have also included three coverlines, puffs, a central image and also a large eye catching splash on my front cover which overlaps the central image. This is commonly seen across pop magazines.

Another way I have used forms and conventions of real media products is through the mode of address I have used. I decided to use an informal and chatty mode of address as from my research I found that this was commonly used in pop magazines and also it relates well to my target audience, which are teenage girls aged 14-16 as it connotes friendliness and freshness. Consequently, because of this I also included many abbreviations and slang terms, such as “OMG!” and “SWAG!” as young people find this relatable and easy to read. I ensured I used many exclamation points as this connotes the idea of excitement and fun. In addition to this, I also adapted a similar colour scheme to those found on pop magazines, opting for bright, almost ‘happy’ colours such as pink, white and purple. This colour scheme connotes freshness and femininity which is perfect for my target audience. The colour scheme also adds to the overall house style of my magazine. Portraying it as instantly recognizable as a pop magazine and evident as to what audience the magazine is aimed at.

Mode of Address

The majority of my fonts were sourced from a website called DaFont as they reflected my target audience perfectly. I have an overlap of fonts as I wanted to create continuity between my magazine pages.

I have used the same variations of fonts across all three pages. For example my main splash headline uses the same font as the questions on my double page spread. This creates a consistent house style throughout my magazine.

All of my fonts connote a sense of fun and femininity which relates well to my target audience of teenage girls.

Fonts

The mis-en-scene of my images follow and abide by the key conventions of real pop magazines. Upon research into ideal images for pop magazines I discovered that all the images used were extremely clean cut and professional looking images. Therefore, I replicated this with my own images. I ensured every photo had a clean, white background as not to distract from the artists and that the facial expressions were happy and exciting. Instilling the idea that this magazine was happy and fun.

All the clothing the models are wearing connotes freshness, fashion and youthfulness. All of the clothes are fairly fashionable which is to be expected from young, current artists.

The central image on my magazine is of a teenage girl, which fits within my target audience of teenagers 14-16 and so therefore is instantly relatable to my target audience. My target audience tend to also idolize female solo singers and this is a key convention commonly found on pop magazines.

Mis-en-scene & Images

From my research I found that many pop magazines use puffs in order to entice the audience into buying their magazine in the hope they can win prizes or chances to meet certain celebrities. This is a key and common feature found on pop magazines and therefore I also added a puff.

I have also included three free celebrity posters along the bottom of my magazine front cover which people can take out and put on their wall. This is also a key convention and selling point of pop magazines.

Puffs

I used many forms and conventions of real media products in order to create a magazine that was instantly recognizable as a pop magazine. However, I did not challenge any of the forms and conventions as the pop genre is extremely mainstream and therefore needs to have the common features that are found in other magazines in order to make it sell.

From research I found that all magazines include a barcode, date, website and cost on the front cover. I downloaded a barcode from the website DaFont to create a professional looking magazine and add to the overall house style.

Using/challenging forms and conventions of real media products

Throughout my contents page and double page spread I have also included key conventions of real media products. I have done this because I want my magazine to have continuity throughout and be easily recognizable as a pop magazine, similar to others on the market today. I have included key conventions of real media products on my contents page and double page spread by using a similar layout and structure I had seen in my research. For my double page spread I used a question and answer style format which is commonly used in pop magazines, ensuring the questions asked were also informal and chatty to keep the magazines continuity throughout. I also used a bleed and had the picture to text ratio at 50:50 with the right hand side page covered by one sinle image. This layout is a key convention of pop magazines and widely used.

Contents page & Double page spread