Media Evaluation Q1

Question 1: In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real

media products

Media Evaluation

• My magazine both conforms with and challenges the usual conventions of real examples of this media product. To show these similarities and differences, I will use the following slides to show the attributes of a popular magazine front cover and then compare that to mine.

The magazine title is really big and very emphasised so it stands out, and its in the common place for a magazine name to be

This is a barcode as seen on all magazines

A quote from the main cover star, not always a common theme but is seen fairly regularly still to give some indication of what maybe in the interview

This is a puff, there is sometimes more than this on a regular magazine, they are used to show an insight of what’s on offer inside

The main cover image, doesn’t always take up the page, but is always there to show the main theme of the magazine

Real Media Product

My Media Product

This, like the real media product, is the magazine title, massively emphasised, In a stand out font, in the left hand corner, so it easily grabs attention

Similarly to the real product on the previous slide, my front cover also uses a quote from the main cover star

This is a strip along the bottom seen commonly although not all the time on real magazines, this is to add colour, and to leave more space, separate from the main image, to talk about other things in the magazine

I have included a barcode as it is something seen on every magazine, therefore conforming to conventions

I used several different fonts on the page to make it stand out

The use of one big image is obviously standard, though my use of the black and white is somewhat challenging usual conventions as it is not seen all that much on real products

Standard layout of writing on left hand side with main headline bolder and then a description in a lesser font The use of picture as

an indication of what’s on the page rather than a description

Page numbers to let the reader know where to go, bold and obvious so they can be seen even with the picture there

Large name saying what the page is

Real Media Product

The same title as my front cover and as most magazines would do, to get the name planted into the readers heads.

I used a picture to show what is on a certain page rather than have a description, like in the example on the previous slide

Very standard page numbers, like on any standard contents page, they are easy to read and clear to see, so there’ll be no confusion as to where the reader needs to go to find what they want.

As in the last slide, it shows similar conventions in the way in which the actual contents are laid out, because it has the main heading of the page in bolder, more obvious writing, and then next to it there is smaller writing that has a small more detailed description of what’s on that page

The background is to make the yellow writing stand out more, and does fit in with the colour scheme of the magazine

My Media Product

Main image to catch the readers eye, it’s a dynamic image where it looks like she is coming out of the page, this adds more interest

Block of text, usually consisting of an interview, not too long so that it doesn’t lose the interest of the reader

A big un-missable heading, which is also a quote, this is quite a common thing to see, even if you don’t see it as the main heading, you do regularly see a quote on a double page spread such as this

This is a description of what the interview is about, or a small note about the person involved and who's interviewing

This is the normal text part of the spread, found in a fairly common position, on the left hand side.

This is the main heading of the page, I put colour behind it to make it stand out more, also I use a pun which along with a quote is a common thing as a title.

This is a page number put in a standard position in the bottom left and bottom right hand corners.

This shows the writers name, this is also a very traditional and basic feature used in all articles

This is a main image, they are often used to show the person who is being interviewed, like a lot of the pictures this one is dynamic as it gives the look of the guitar coming out of the page.

As shown in the previous example, a quote is a common feature on a double page spread, though this time it isn't being used as a title, just as a snippet from the interview.

This is just a added plug type feature to stand out and make the page more exciting, its used in this case to show that this is the page that has been talked about from the front cover, onwards

Conclusion

In conclusion, my product does mainly conform to the regular conventions of a magazine, but does occasionally challenge it. A lot of the things that it conforms with are fairly basic and standard features of a magazine, for example page numbers and bar codes. When it does occasionally challenge conventions it is things for example, the style in which my background photo is used on my front cover.