Evaluation 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.The Title The masthead of my magazine The HITS I used two fonts to mimic the style of Smash Hits Magazine to create a retro feel to my magazine. For The I use the font Free style script which was already installed into the Photoshop software. The font relates to traditional script handwriting which reinforces the idea of the retro feel to the magazine. It is not bold however it still stands out against the page due to the eye catching colouring against the background. For the HITS I used the font Myriad Pro with a white colouring as its base and a slightly darker pink as a drop shadow to enhance, again, the idea of the retro feel to the magazine. Not only does this enhance this idea but it also makes this part of the title stand out further, emphasising the idea of the magazine; telling its audience about the hits today by popping out on the page. Because of mimicking the ideas of Smash Hits magazine my title was similar to their product and hence I knew it would work and be eye catching to audiences. My Title layer, sits behind my models head, this allows the model to be main attention however like commented on before because of the fonts and colouring use on the title it is still successfully eye-catching. I Chose to use the title The HITS as I felt it matched the genre of my magazine well, like stated previously, it emphasises the idea that the magazine is going to inform you about todays hits. I was also again inspired to use it as it is similar to the title Smash ~Hits which I used for layout cover inspiration hence I knew this title would work with the layout of the page.

The Graphology/Page Layout. The graphology of my cover is very simple due to only using two fonts; Free Style Script and Myriad Pro on my mast head and 4 cover lines in the bottom left hand corner. I used the same fonts for the main bit of my mast head HITS and the 4 cover lines, I thought this allowed the cover to connect and look all in sync rather than use random different fonts which would ruin the flow of the cover. The colour scheme of my cover is, pink, white and grey. By using these I thought it allowed my cover to stand out more as they all contrasted well together. The Grey background allowed me to avoid using a blank white background and also contributed with having that retro feel. The white text used on the 4 cover lines I believed stood out on the background with help with the pink lines enhancing them further and also adding that chart feel, my genre, as pink is linked to being a Pop colour and Pop is known to be chart music. The pink colouring used on the first part of the mast head also stood out well on the background and also linked to the genre also making a connection with the second part of the mastheads drop shadow. It is slightly lighter that the pink used on the drop shadow however I feel this works as then they do not clash with one another. The drop shadow itself makes the HITS stand out majorly as the white used as the base contrasts well with the pink well, creating an eye catching effect. The last cover lines out of the four, font was slightly smaller due to wanting all of them to align however also I thought this would work due to realistically they would not feature as much as the others.

Costumes/Props/iconography used to reflect genre

My model Erran was styled accordingly to what style I thought would best suit her, inspired by existing artists within the chart music industry; Miley Cyrus/Rita Ora. The Miley Cyrus inspiration is shown through the style of my models hair. The two top buns, however unlike Miley, my models hair is a half up, half down do to prevent her looking too edgy, which was not the look I wanted to go for.

The red lips on my Model were inspired by Rita Ora. Rita Ora is known for her bright red lip look and with her having blonde locks like my model I knew it would work well. Due to Rita being well established in the charts, I knew by using inspired makeup looks from her the right image would be portrayed on my model to represent my genre choice. Also by using the red lip it also refer back to the classic look and hence gives the retro feel again reinforcing the retro inspired look of my magazine.Although on my magazine you can barely see what my model is wearing it still reflects a pop/chart feel as due to it being silver and shiny with thin straps it represents the idea of party wear which is connected with the idea of pop due to pop artists mostly wearing party clothing.

Double Page SpreadOn my double page, my model is seen wearing a more casual outfit, with the same hair and makeup as the front. I believe this works due to it bringing a more casual chart feel to the magazine like other magazines do, for example Billboard. However it is not too casual as the top is a black crop which can be seen as fun to wear and hence going back to the idea of pop.

The titles used on my double page spread are different to each other however they are the same as the ones used on the cover. For Erran Myriad Pro was used with the same colours and drop shadow effect, I did this to create a link throughout the magazine and keep the magazine flowing, also allowing the same feel to be created by using the same background colour to contrast the colour of the titles creating the retro idea once again due to the colour bringing vintage to mind. For Q&A I use free style script, again to connect the page to the cover and also I thought it linked well with the idea of the article due to question and answers mostly being personal and created by an individual hence by using a font that mimicked handwriting it brings the idea of an individual writing it themselves. Also I believe this font connects to old styled handwriting and hence it goes back and links to the idea of a vintage/retro styled magazine.