In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Front Cover

I looked at a top selling music magazine ‘Q’ for the conventions of a front cover of a magazine. I found they used a central image of a well-known artist, in theirs they’ve used Adele, and this is to attract readers as she is a popular, recognisable artist in the music industry and someone who most people will take an interest in. The fact the artists is using direct address, posing in in quite a seductive way make draws the reader further in and makes it more personal for the reader.

I tried to keep to the traditional conventions of a front cover for instance similar to the Q magazine my main artist is largely placed in the centre of the page and this means people will notice her more because she is right in the middle. Also the mise-en-scene of my artist will draw the attention of my target audience more, such as the use of direct mode of address. This makes readers feel more involved in the magazine, also the fact she is smiling reflect her as a person and maybe even the magazine. Her smile suggests she is fun, bubbly and happy which can also represent the magazine.

I have further used mise-en-scene by choosing an image where the artists is using headphones as a prop because it shows the audience her commitment and love for music, which the readers will like because they will think she not just in it for the fame and she is a genuine person, also they link to the pop theme.

The main cover line usually links to artists being featured is very large and bold to attract people’s attention. Q has used a quote from the interview with the artists as their cover line which most magazine do and it’s been carefully selected so that it intrigues people to read the interview. They have also made the name Adele much larger than the rest of the cover line this is because it’s one of the first things the reader will notice and therefore they will be drawn to the rest of the cover line which further attracts people to reader. Q has done this because Adele is a major artist so her name is larger just to represent what a major deal she is.

My main cover line conventionally links to my artists featured on the cover like Q magazine does so people know who the large image is of. I have also added an interesting quote from the artists interview this makes readers want to read the rest of the article. I have further added a box just coming off the cover line which states exclusive interview. This also makes readers want to read the interview because its never been seen before and magazine readers/buyers often like to know about the artists being featured in the magazines. This means if its exclusive it is new information that no one has heard before, which will further make people want to read the interview.

They have added a recognisable traditional masthead at the top of the page in red and white which makes it stand out. This means people known straight away which magazine it is.

My masthead is very thick and bold, and it is located largely across the top of the page where it is predominately meant to be. It really stands out, particularly as its black and white against a light pink background, this is because it is going against the colour scheme.

The colour scheme follows this house style which the logo has and this is the red, white and black theme. These colours really bring the magazine out and so when’s it’s on the shop shelf it entices people as it’s simplistic yet stylish. Also the colours imply that it is a mixed gender magazine because the colours aren’t stereotypically bias to one gender.

My magazine follows the conventions of having three colours. These colours are pink, purple and white which gives it a house style making the it look more fun and vibrant which will entice the readers more to buy the magazine particularly as I am aiming to a young audience, so colours will really catch their attention. Also pink and purple are stereotypically girl and feminine colours so I have used these as they are my target audience so it is more likely to appeal to them.

Q have used the third hand rule They have also colour coded their contents to fit in with the house style theme of red, white and black, they have also used different sized fonts this is to differentiate the contents. The use of the red is very effective and draws the attention of the reader this is why they have only coloured the most interesting things such as well known peoples name, to entice people to read more of the magazine.

I haven’t used the third rule, instead my magazine has the advertisement of the content all around the page. I think this makes the page look more full which implies the magazine is full and bursting with interesting content. I have also link the colour of my advertised content in with my house style theme, which makes the page look more fun and exciting particularly for my target audience as they are fairly young, it will really attract them to read the content on the front cover.

Contents Page

For the conventions of a contents page I looked at the music magazine ‘Mojo.’ Similar to the front page the contents page has a masthead at the top which is very bold and large. This create brand familiarity, not that Mojo need it but for new readers it helps create and increase their brand awareness.

My magazine contains some conventions similar to the magazine I researched. For example I have included a masthead of my magazines name, in order to create the familiarity and link to the front cover and whole magazine. Also as I am a new magazine it is good to create the branding so new readers come to recognise the logo/masthead. Unlike Mojo I have added a larger heading underneath the logo/masthead. I have done this because it really does create the layout and structure for the rest of the contents page; it also simply tells the readers this is the contents page.

Subheadings help breakdown the magazine so it’s made simple for the reader to find the articles and features they want to read. These are a slightly smaller than the masthead but they are both the same font.

Also they are red which means they stand out even more on the white background and also it means it has kept in with the house style colours scheme so it ties in well with the rest of the magazine. All this gives the contents page more familiarity for the reader.

Underneath the subheadings comes text and information about what each page contains, this helps the readers if they want to find a certain page and also attracts them as they can be intrigued by the brief insight into what’s inside the magazine. With this comes page numbers next to the text, which is there for practicality to help the reader find the articles and features of the magazine. These are a gold colour which links into the colour theme that the readers will recognise.

Also I have used subheadings which are very thick and bold, so they are very noticeable on the page in order for readers to find the things easily. As well I have put the subheadings in black against a white layered background to keep in theme with the style of the logo also because there’s lots of pink on the page it’s just differentiated from everything else. I have also put some information about the articles underneath the subheadings however unlike in the Mojo magazine I have only put a catchy one line whereas they put a few sentences about the artists.This doesn’t go against the conventions of a contents page as not all magazines have done this but I believe the catchy one liners used are more likely to interest my audience as they are young teens who would probably not want to read lots of text. Also the fact they are catchy, and rhetorical question makes it more fun for the reader.

Although I have put the page numbers next to the information as that is one of the most important conventions of a contents page, as it’s how people find the articles and features. The page numbers are coloured purple which fits in with my house style as I have used the pinks and purples on my front cover. To make them stand out more I made them a bigger size then the subtitle font size so they are more obvious and noticeable to the reader.

Something I have done slightly different to the Mojo magazine is that I have layered the masthead and the information which really makes the noticeable and eye catching. Because they are pink boarders around the text and pink it mostly a girly colour so it instantly attracts the target audience. I think this type of layering really fills up the page and makes it look exciting for the reader to engage in.

Another convention of a contents page is using images. They have put an image of the main featured artist as the biggest and every image has a caption alongside it so the readers know exactly where to find that article or interview.

Another convention is that I have used images of things that will be included in the magazine similar to what Mojo have done. For instance I have used an image of my main artists feature which is the biggest out of all the other images; this is so the reader’s attention is attracted to that image first. I have also used images of upcoming artists and tickets along with these images I have added their specific page numbers next to them so that the readers know where to turn to find the article.

However unlike the Mojo magazine I have used an image of my front cover and labelled it with page numbers as to where all my features will be. Although Mojo hasn’t done this it can still be considered a convention as other magazine use it such as Top of the Pops in which I actually took inspiration from for the idea. Sometimes readers struggle to find the articles or features they saw on the front cover in the contents pages with all the writing so this is just a more fun and easy way for the to do so.

Double Page Spread

For the conventions of a double page spread I looked at Q’s interview with Lady Gaga. The first convention I found was the large image of Lady Gaga the takes up a whole page. The purpose of the image is to initially attract the reader, because the image is so big.Also it represent the artists and their personality, this is shown through thing like the mise-en-scene, the costume and the pose. For instance Lady Gaga has messy hair, no clothes on other than a necklace and she is holding her breasts. This suggests to people she is wild, outrageous and confident and so this implies the article will be the same so it makes people want to read the interview to find out more about her. Also the fact the image has been edited in black and white implies, she is quite a dark person

I haven’t used a whole page for an image of my artist like the Q magazine did with Lady Gaga. Instead I have filled about 3 quarters of a page with a picture of my artist which I have used so the readers can clearly see who the articles about. I then added like another column with polaroid type pictures which are very hip and modern because polaroid cameras are very in fashion right now particular with teens which are part of my target audience therefore it fits in very well. I decided to use the three extra little images to show the readers more about my artist personality.

In these images you can see she is laughing, smiling ad looks as though she is having lots of fun, and because the readers often look at images before reading the article it will make them want to it more as they will see she is fun loving and so be curious as to why and how. I didn’t stick to the conventional one picture on one side of the page because I wanted my magazines double page spread to be more unique and different, something that would engage my readers. Also wanted to use more images to appeal to my young teenage audience because often a younger audience is drawn it with images and visual things rather than the text itself therefore I used more images, to entice the audience to read the article.

The columns make the article more organised and straight forward for the audience to read. Q has put her name largely at the top of the page in larger font the text because it will be one the first things the reader see when they turn to the article.

Also I have used the very conventional 3 columns for my text, I think this just orders your text more neatly making it easier for the reader to follow, as well it just fills the page up nicely without the text looking too spaced out or too squashed together.

Q has put her name largely at the top of the page in larger font the text because it will be one the first things the reader see when they turn to the article. Also in case no-body has heard of Lady Gaga before then it’s just introducing the artist to the reader. They have also included a large, red L layered behind the text, which obviously stands for Lady Gaga. This really stands out in the article, and the red symbolises the house style colour scheme which is familiarity for the reader.

Unlike the Q article I have pulled a quote out from my interview, one that is quite interesting and used it as a sort of headline. I feel this is more intriguing for the audience because the quote is interesting so people will want to read the rest of the interview to find out things like tour or album dates. My double page spread has sort of drifted away from the 3 colour scheme that was used on the front cover and in the contents page. I have kept the hot pink colour but not used the purple and I haven’t used the peachy pink for my background, instead I have used a light grey. I feel the grey and pink gives a more modern and stylish feel which reflect the artists.

They have used the very conventional page numbers which most magazines have in order for the reader to know what page they are on. Also the page numbers link to the contents page where it list what’s in the magazine and the pages to find everything.

As well I have included page numbers which almost every magazine will have because partially the readers need to know what page it is as they would have looked at the contents page for the article or feature they would like to read about. Page numbers are the only way they can find what they want.

Similar to the Q magazine I have included a small version logo/masthead of the magazine in the right hand corner just to familiarise and remind people with it. I have done this because my magazine is new therefore I need to expose the readers to my magazine’s brand, so I have done this by using the logo/masthead on a lots of the magazines pages.