Question 1

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

One way that my media product fits the conventions of a real music magazine is that I have used a company name and logo up in the corner. This fits the conventions of every music magazine but I feel that it has a similarity to Q magazine. I have also used layering on the front page which fit the conventions. I decided to layer her head over the logo because I felt that it was a technical part of my work. I feel that my magazine front cover has challenged the conventions by having only a simple layout. I felt that magazines like Kerrang used a very chaotic layout style which I did not like, and I felt that my target audience would not be attracted to. There are a few methods I did to keep the layout simple- one way was that I did not use much text on the front cover, but I felt as if I had used enough to lure the customer to read on. Another way I kept the layout simple was that I kept all the text and boxes to the edge of the page to leave a clear view of my model on the front. I kept everything parallel, as I felt that canted text makes it look childish. One was my product develops the forms and conventions is that although I have used a masthead, I have then developed the masthead idea by using a picture of headphones in it. I felt that the headphone idea gave a great uniqueness about my product, allowing it to have a memorable effect.

One way my contents page fits the conventions of a typical music magazine is that I have used a feature section, This just picks out the key features of what is inside the magazine, I believe that what i have put in my feat+ure box is enough to lure a customer to buy the magazine, or at least to read on. One way my contents page challenges the conventions is that, I have used a picture which takes up the whole background. In my research i only saw one contents page that did that. I felt that it gave it a really modernised feel. Another way it challenges the conventions is that I have changes the logo into a standard letter, this wouldn't usually be done, but in this sense I have also developed my conventions by still linking it to my masthead by using the heaphone chord coming off the letter V instead of it coming off the headphones. Another way i have developed the conventions is that I have used images on my contents page. I developed it by placing it in a 'week in images' section, this allows the reader to see what has happened this week (the image that I used of Pixie Lott is one that i took at a concert).
In my double page spread there are many parts that fit the conventions of music magazines. One way is that I have used a typical column theme which features in nearly every article, I used this because it looks as if the article is a much easier to read than if i put it in one block. I have used an quote pulled out of the text. This is used in many magazine articles when they are interviewing an individual. They do this to trigger an emotion from the reader. My quote is conventionally larger than the actual article text, this allows a reader to see what is in the article before they read it all. I have also used a introduction paragraph in bold. My magazine also challenges some conventions of a typical music magase. One way is that I have put a photo of my model on only one singular page, where as the image of the individual would usually bleed over into the article page, and sometimes be behind the text. I wanted to just keep it to one page because I wanted the customers to be able to rip the page out as a poster.