MEDIA STUDIES EVALUATIONQUESTION 1:“In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?”Aoife Ranyell

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

MASTHEAD:Like nearly all magazines nowadays, one of the main features of my front cover is my masthead. PLAYLIST is the name of my magazine and the masthead itself is located at the very top of the page, this follows common magazine conventions I decided to place it like this because I knew that the layout would be successful and would work and appeal to the audience. The font of the masthead is thinner than what a magazine would usually choose, therefore challenging magazine conventions however I chose this font because it suited the theme and style of PLAYLIST magazine.

COVERLINES AND QUOTES:3 cover lines where used on my final font cover page, all to advertise the kind of articles that where contained in the magazine itself. Nearly all, if not most magazine feature cover lines on their front cover therefore I am following the magazine conventions. My cover lines have followed my planned colour scheme, all of them are in different colours showing how they are individual articles which advertises to the audience that there are many interesting articles in the magazine, drawing them to buy it. As well as cover lines I also used quotes on my front cover, this is a feature used widely on front covers because it shows to the audience more about a particular article, it is often used on feature articles or the over story. While quotes are not used on all magazines covers, I thought that it suited the style of PLAYLIST, the positioning of the quote was decided by researching where other magazines had placed similar features and I found that It was usually placed next to the corresponding article, doing the same I am again following magazine conventions.

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

IMAGE:On all of the magazines that I analysed during my initial research, all of them had included a large main/central image on their cover page. Therefore I featured a main image on the PLAYLIST cover page, I found that the image was usually of the main feature article included in the magazine therefore the image that I chose for my cover was in fact linked to the main feature of the magazine. The image was taken in a studio which adds to the professional appeal of the magazine itself. In the planning and pitch of my coursework I created a layout where the main image would partly overlap the masthead, this was a feature that I noticed was quite common in most magazines and by following the conventions, I know that this layout will appeal to my audience because it appeals to the audiences of the magazines that I researched.

OTHER FEATURES:3 magazine conventions that I did follow where including the date of issue, the price and a barcode on the front cover. I have placed the barcode and price in the lower right hand corner, placing them here means that they are both easy to find and easy to read. The date is placed just below the masthead, this challenges music magazine conventions as the date is usually placed by the barcode (or near about) however I placed the date underneath the masthead because this way it fills a space that would otherwise be blank, I also believe that it is easier to locate and looks more professional.

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

TITLE:“Contents” is a typical and common name and title for the contents page, some magazines that I researched chose to use their masthead/magazine name as their contents title however I chose to use “contents” as this way the readers clearly know which page they are reading. By following these contents magazine conventions I created a layout that I knew was going to be well structured and successful. The colour of the title was kept black, in keeping with the colour scheme from the cover page and cover masthead therefore creating continuity and linking all the pages together.

TEXT:The main body of text on my contents page is information linking to the articles inside the magazine, this is a typical and very common feature of a contents page. The text is clearly layered out, divided by various headings, this layout was inspired by contents such as MOJO. The text does however challenge some magazine conventions, typically the contents text is layered out in a singular box down one hand side of the page, I have decided to lay mine out in more of a square. I personally just preferred this layout and I believe that because the text is clearly divided by headings a linear layout is not needed because the reader can easily distinguish the different articles.

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

IMAGES:Various image have been used on my contents page, in total 8 images have been used. Typically In the magazine that I researched a maximum of around 4-5 images was used on each of the pages. By using 8 images on my contents this challenges the magazine conventions, some may argue that using this many images appears to make the contents page look messy, however, using this amount of images appeals to my target audience, as it gets them interested in the articles in the magazine and not just the one advertised on the cover. The images are still layered out in a modern and stylish way, continuing on with the style of PLAYLIST and the varied colour schemes on each of the individual images make them aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

OTHER FEATURES:There where only 2 other features included on the contents page, feature number 1 was the date. I felt that including a date on the contents page was a necessary feature as if the pages where ever to get separated from the cover then there would be no way of understanding which issue the page came from. The second feature was the “NO.1” side bar, this feature was inspired by a similar layout used on the BILLBOARD contents page, obviously not all magazine contents pages feature these side bars however I thought that it really suited the PLAYLIST style and theme, its not so much challenging magazine conventions but it is not a feature that is used widely and is a feature that therefore makes PLAYLIST stand out against other magazines.

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

TITILE:Initially for my double page spread I was going to follow typical magazine conventions by using a title of the subject/feature artists name. However I decided to create a nameless title, inspired by double page spreads created by BILLBOARD and top of the pops. “Back with a bang” was my chosen title, and by using a title at all I am following magazine conventions. By not including the artists name I would not say that this is challenging conventions as I have seen many magazine do the same. However I just did not believe that using the artists name was suitable for this article In particular.

TEXT/ARTICLE:For the text on my double page spread,, I decided on a main feature article (which is typical in most magazine double pages) in an interview style. I decided on a interview style article as it suited the theme of the article better, also, an interview style article appeals to my target audience more as it is becoming more involved with their loved artist and therefore helps them connect to them more. The interview itself is designed into 2 different colours, the questions are in a electric blue and the answers in a black, the vibrant contrasts of the two makes them stand out and makes the overall article easier to understand . I have also included a introductory paragraph at the start of the article which is not very common with interviews, however I included an introduction because I thought that it was necessary as I had not included the artists name in the title of the page.

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

OTHER FEATURES:Other features that I included in my double page where a pull quote, drop cap and a “world exclusive” statement. I included a pull quote because this was a feature that I had seen included in many other double pages, meaning that by including this I am following conventions of the current magazines. A drop cap is also one of these conventions that I followed, it is used on almost all of the magazine articles that I researched before creating my own which is why that I included it on my own article. The “world exclusive” statement was included because this linked in with the information on my front cover.

MAIN IMAGE:For my double page spread, I followed current magazine conventions and included a main central image of the featured artist. I decided to place the image spanning over the two A4 pages which isn’t very common but isn’t completely rare in magazines for example, this layout was used in the top of the pops double page that I analysed. I used this layout because it suited the style of my magazine the best. My chosen shot was a landscape style, long shot taken in a studio, because it was a studio shot this follows the common conventions, as nearly all of the magazines I analysed featured a studio shot as their main image.