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

real media products?

Forms and Conventions used in my front cover

• I used a bold and clear masthead as it was a clear convention of music magazines.

• I made the main artists name stand out the most by having it in a different font to the other cover lines and having a drop shadow. This meant that it made it clear that it was the main feature of the article.

• I used direct mode of address as it makes the magazine more engaging and professional

• I placed the cover lines down the left side of the front cover as it was a very successful convention that made my magazine look more professional

• I used genre specific words, such as “gigs”, in order to attract my target audience and appeal to them more.

Forms and Conventions developed and challenged in my front cover

Forms and conventions I developed:• I decided to only have cover lines on the left side of the front cover and leaving the other side plan. This challenged the conventions of a music magazine as most magazines have cover lines on either side. I decided to develop this in order to add more focus onto my model.

• I also decided to have certain cover lines in boxes or images. I did this as it created a pun with the puff about the Stone Roses, as it would appeal to my target audience.

Forms and conventions I challenged:• I used a female model on the front cover, which challenged the forms and conventions of a music magazine. This is because most music magazines of the indie genre feature a male model or a group that feature both males and females, with very few magazine cover only having a female gender. For example the NME and Q usually have men on their front cover. I also decided against sexualising her which is normally done on magazines that feature females.

• I also used a font that did not remain on the base line, this gave it a more distorted look, which relates to the genre of my music magazine

Forms and Conventions used on my contents page

• By referring to the contents page as ‘this week’ I followed a convention used by some magazines such as the NME.

• I also set out my contents page to have a minimalistic look. I then found that this made my layout to be clearer and easier to read.

• I also used minimal colours as it followed the conventions of some magazines. It also related to the minimalistic stereotype of the indie/alternative culture

• I also placed the page numbers on the pictures as I found it to be a very useful way to layout my magazine

• I also featured a section on subscribing

Forms and Conventions developed and challenged on my contents page

Forms and conventions I developed:•Conventionally contents pages only feature male artists as their

main. I developed this convention by have a as the main image and then featuring men in the smaller images

Forms and conventions I challenged:• I also challenged the convention by having social media links

clearly shown on the contents page. I did this to increase use of the new media platforms and increase publicity for my magazine as my target audience would have a large online presence.

• I also challenged the convention of having a male dominated magazine contents page. I did this to engage more female readers.

Forms and Conventions used in my double page spread

• I followed the convention of having an image on one side of the page because I believed that this would make my magazine look aesthetically pleasing as well as professional

• I also followed a similar layout to Q and NME, to ensure that my magazine had a suitable layout

• I used a bold title as it clearly showed the focus of my article and made it look more professional.

Forms and conventions I developed:• I decided to use the masthead font in the article. I did this as a

method to enforce brand identity and create a house style.Forms and conventions I challenged:• I challenged the convention of having no pull quotes to break up

the text but keeping the text as two columns. I did this to keep the same minimalistic theme I had on my front cover and contents page. I believed that this would create a house style.

Forms and Conventions developed and challenged on my double page spread

Why is it important to use some conventions:

• In order to create a realistic and professional looking product

• To use as guidelines that can be adapt to best appeal to my target audience

• The conventions are used because they work therefore by using them I would be creating a successful product