In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Introduction • There are many ways in which my media product used,

developed and challenged conventions of the genre and magazines from the genre of Hip Hop Jazz.

• I had taken inspirations from existing magazines but as there weren't many Hip Hop Jazz magazines out there, I had to use my own knowledge about the genre itself and looking at both Hip Hop and Jazz magazines to get inspiration.

What I took from existing magazines?

• I took quite a bit from existing magazines. For example on my from cover I used the idea of the “XXL” magazine front cover and used the way that the text was set up as I put most of the text on the left hand side and I used lines to divide each feature. I also used a plus graphic on the cover to make it look more professional and I think that it gave a nice touch to the cover. Also in my magazine front cover image the artists are standing with straight faces like in the “XXL” cover. I did this so people would get an idea of what genre the magazine was but to make sure people knew it was Hip Hop Jazz, I made sure to include bright coloured patterns.

• For my contents page as you can see in the image I took the way that the features were laid out. I did this as I thought that it looked sleek this way. The way that I used it was by making the number bigger on the sides and have a big headline with more writing underneath in a smaller font so that the reader could know what the magazine was about. Also along the bottom of the contents page there is a line running across it so I decided to incorporate that as well as it made the page look more sophisticated.

• For my DPS I took from the magazine om the right. The way that I took from the magazine was by using the same type of image. I did this by taking a picture outside of a gloomy sky as I thought that it looked better to take a picture that wasn’t just in a studio. I also thought that it made the artist look more real and genuine. And like the DPS on the right I decided to take on colour from the image which was the blue in my artists coat hood and use it throughout my double page spread. It also went well with the rest of the magazine as the colours matched. I also wrote the name of the magazine on the bottom of the page like in this double page spread.

Contents pageinspiration

Front cover inspiration

Double Page Spread inspiration

What conventions I followed?• There were quite a few conventions that I followed when creating my Hip

Hop Jazz magazine as I followed the main magazine conventions. For example I made my image go in front of my masthead like most magazine front covers. I also included a barcode, issue number and price on the front cover which is convention seen on almost all music magazines no matter the genre. Also for the front cover I followed conventions that were seen in the genre for example the colours that were used on the cover were bright which is something I saw when doing research. I also used a bright coloured patterned from a cardigan that one of my artist was wearing for the masthead which is something that is done in magazines as they use the colour that stood out from the artists and used it as feature colour. I also used the colours that were on the cardigan throughout the magazine to make it look cohesive and together. Also the fort that my masthead was in a 90s font and resembled the font from Hip Hop Jazz trio “De La Soul”.

• For the contents page I made sure to use the pattern that I used in masthead again for the word “Contents” to show that they are from the same magazine. I also made sure to use the bright colours for the contents. There are triangle shaped graphics used on the contents and one was also used on the front cover and this shape is associated with the genre and the 90s. I also included an image of CDs from the genre of Hip Hop Jazz which brought more colour to the page. And the images I used are all different and the doing contents page research I saw that most of them had a few images of different things. I also included the magazine name on the contents page to show the reader it is the same magazine.

• Fro the double page spread I followed quite a few conventions. One being that my stand first is big and I also used an image that took up both pages which is something that I saw on a few other DPS. I also decided that I would change the colour of the questions so that it would stand out which was another convention I saw when looking into magazines. I also included the name of the magazine at the bottom along with the website to it and the page number which is a convention to music magazines.

What conventions I challenged?

• I Challenged quite a few conventions and one of the main reasons being that there aren't many Hip Hop Jazz magazines available on the market so that meant that I didn't really have many conventions to actually follow so I had to use my own initiative and my own ideas to create this magazine. I also had to look at both Hip Hop and Jazz magazines so that I would be able to create the perfect magazine.

• For the front cover I challenged the convention of the magazine only having one or two feature colours which is what is seen on most music magazines. The reason that I did this was so that it could look more fun and bright and cohesive with the masthead pattern. I also did it because it is associated with the genre and it makes it clear to the reader that this is a Hip Hop Jazz magazine.

• For the contents page the layout that I used the challenged the convention of normal music magazines. This is because on most contents pages there is a lot of writing of the features and they are placed differently. Also the images on the contents aren’t the usual ones that you would see on most magazine contents pages. I say this because I used images of CDs and also a concert which I think works well on the page. It also gives the reader more interest as they are creative images.

• For the DPS I didn’t really challenge many conventions as most of it is what you see from most music magazines out there.

Conclusion • To conclude from doing research I was able to gather idea

to use from other magazines which helped to make my magazine look more cohesive and like a real magazine. Also from doing research into conventions of most music magazines gave me an insight into what to include when creating my magazine to make sure that it looked authentic and real. But I also had the challenge of there not being many magazines out there for the genre that I selected of Hip hop Jazz which meant that I had to challenge some of the conventions that I found. But I made sure not to challenge too much because that would have meant that my front cover, contents page ad double page spread wouldn’t have seemed real.