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

Before constructing my final magazine, I researched into existing music magazines. I looked carefully at their codes and conventions in terms of the front cover, contents page and double page spread.In terms of my front cover:

For example, I followed the conventions of the ‘worn out and ripped’ text from the magazine blender. Blender is an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It targets a similar audience of 16-25 years old. The the layout format is very different to the average pop magazine that you see on the market. I chose to conform to this particular convention as it stands out in front of the background as it gives quite an edgy effect. it reduces the formality of the magazine and makes it seem more ‘informal’ and ‘casual' therefore targeting a younger age range. I also followed the conventions as my mast head is capitalized however most magazines display a single artist in front of the masthead to make them look more prominent, I did not conform to this as I felt that this took attention away from the magazine. For the fonts I kept to to the blender magazines conventions by using a rustic, edgy, rough font to make the magazine seem casual and informal therefore targeting a younger target audience. I am not conforming to the VIBE magazine fonts as their fonts are quite harsh and bold making the magazine seem quite serious. The colours of my fonts however do not conform to any particular magazine on the market as most magazine use a range of different colours, I however chose to stick with one main colour as I felt a range of colours made the magazine seem to cluttered so therefore having only a few colours emphasized the main image more. For my headline, I stuck to the conventions of

having it in the bottom left hand side of the cover, this is similar to vibe magazine as it allows room for the main image and doesn’t distract from the main image as this helps to give it the most cover space. Also it is in a better area as if it was printed there wouldn’t be any danger of the spine obstructing any of the text. However, I have not stuck to the typical convention of having the headline over the top of the main image directly in the middle of the page like we heart pop typically has.

In terms of graphology, my cover was unique and different compared to other magazines on the market. My magazine includes a masthead, secondary leads and plugs. My magazine has stuck to the rule of thirds which allows easy navigation as the text is displayed on either side of the image which occupies the middle third. I have used secondary images to preview other articles which is similar to the magazine company I did this instead of using a large amount of text I I feel like text would make the front cover cluttered.

I have stuck to cosmopolitan’s magazines conventions using a feminine, curved front for my headline. I used the font “miama nueva” to give a handwritten effect. this adds a a more casual feel but also makes the magazine seem more feminine using curved, flicking effects which create quite an elegant, delicate effect. I however am not conforming to the Q magazines stereotype as their font is harsh and bold to add a more serious tone, however my font is also similar as I have used a white to define this text as this colour contrast with the grey scale image behind it.

I have used a mid-shot which links to the sugar magazine. This allows a detailed shot of the face emphasising direct eye contact with the camera however it still allows for some background to be seen and outfit choses to be emphasized. The space around the artist can also be used by the secondary leads which then doesn’t distract from the main image.

In terms of mise-en-scene I didn’t use similar costumes like the magazine cosmopolitan. I wanted my artist to wear white as this represents purity, perfection and innocents which shows the artist in a positive light, I also didn’t want to emphasize the clothes too much which is why I didn’t dress the artist in a dramatic or patterned outfit as I really wanted the cover to be more about the headline and the artist herself rather then it all being about what she is wearing. This however was not the case for cosmopolitan as because they are a fashion. magazine all the emphasis would have been focused on the outfit the artist was wearing so therefore that is why it is so dramatic.

I have not stuck to the conventions of this contents page as I have included and editors letter to act as an introduction to my magazine. This magazine does not include one of these and may be because the main focus for this magazine was the image.

The masthead of my contents page conforms to typical conventions, it is located at the top of the page so it an be clearly seen and relates to the existing magazine as it uses a bold font with bold colours to emphasize the text in order to allow for maximum impact.

I have stuck to the typical conventions for my double page spread in the sense that I have used the main image as a focal point for my magazine with secondary images to build up the artist’s profile. This magazine also relies on multiple images to make the magazine interesting and colourful.

I was inspired by the heart background of the existing magazine background as the hearts gave a feminine feel to the magazine. I feel that for this type of genre very patterned backgrounds are extremely relevant as they make that magazine seem fun and exiting.

My double page spread is similar to this existing magazine arrangement, I have included a mid shot image and a secondary image to give more of an insight into the article and to make the main focus about the artist. I have also used text markers. This has also been done by the existing magazine to break up the text making it look like a Q&A format and the text is also displayed in columns to allow for easy navigation. I did this simply by writing the text in Photoshop in sections rate than all in one

Both magazines have used a speech masthead with large speech marks to make sure the readers know this has come directly from the artist. This is effective as it introduces the article and gives readers an insight into what it is about.