In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Evaluation – Question 1

I have used my research of various existing and successful music magazines to influence my idea used in my own magazine. I have noticed certain conventions that successful magazines use such as a large overpowering mid shot image in the center of the front cover with the subject being a well-known, recognizable artist. The subject must be displaying an appropriate representation for them and their music genre by their pose, facial expression and the costumes. A magazine I researched was Billboard, which is a successful chart music magazine, in a particular issue they features the well-known pop artist Rihanna representing her as a seductive red head which corresponds with her recent music style. I have also found that most successful main images have the subject showing eye contact with the camera to connote a connection with the audience and to also catch their eye. Therefore I believe I have succeeded in using all of these methods in my main image as it uses a seductive and mysterious facial expression and pose which will intrigue the audience in what the subject has to hide and what is in store with regards to her music. I also made sure not to us any props within It is also a mid shot image to allow the audience to feel close to the artist be to also be able to see her clothing and create a more dramatic pose.

Main Image

Tune magazine cover

Billboard magazine cover

Masthead

I also used my reaserch to create a good conventional masthead as I noticed that most music magazines on the market, whatever the genre, have a basic, bold masthead at the top of the cover. This allows it to stad out to the audience and to allow the audience to instantly know the name of the magazine. I got the idea for the font style of my masthead from the magazine ‘Vibe’ as in my opinion it does the purpose of the masthead well and effectively, I also believe that this font looks stylish and professional as it is a san serif font with no flicks or swirls on the end of letters so that the reder will notice the title and be able to read it with ease. I also decided to make the masthead Capital as this would differentiate it from Vibe magazine, however I do think that with the masthead set in capitals it will be more effective and stand out more amongst the page, there is also the fact that it has been proven capitals are easier to understand and read than lowercase. I used a single space between each letter as in my opinion it makes the text easier to read. I chose the title ‘Tune’ as this word connotes music which will link to the magazine and its contents. I also believe that as it is a basic short ord that it will be catchy and memorable meaning the audience will be able to recognise the word and therefore link it to the magazine.

Tune magazine masheadVibe magazine masthead

LayoutI also used my findings on how to layout the front cover. I used conventional features such as the masthead, subheadings and main image and placed them in appropriate locations on the cover to where they would be most effective at fulfilling their purpose. For instance I used the method left side third to locate the plug containing the compotition inside the magazine, I believe this was a good place to locate this plug as it allows it to be more noticable and be read by the audience. This will also be a convention which makes my magaine origonal as this is a compotition made specificly and only for this magazine. I created my cover chosing to only use simple conventions and making sure I did not overcrowd he page as in my opinion this makes the cover look messy and unprofessional. I created the contents page similarly creating it in a fairly basic layout but making sure that there were no empty spaces on the page to connote that the audience are getting their moneys worth buying the magazine. The double page spread was inspired by Q magazine as I incorperated some of there ideas and mixed them with my own (keeping the magazine consistantly original) to create the spread. I particuallly liked the colour scheme used in some of their interview features however in my opinion they used too much black and white on the page and not enough red therefore when creating my own double page spread I features more splashes of red as I think this will make it more entertaining, bright and appeal more to my target audience.

Tune magazine double page spread

Q magazine double page spread

Written Content

The writen content in my magazine was also influenced by my research as I found by reading existing articles and magazines and using them to decide on a language style which will be appropriate and suit my target audience. As my target audience are females aged between 11-20 and in sections D-E in the audience code, this means that the majority of them will be students and could not be as educated as others. Therefore I chose to use fairly basic language with not many interlectual or highly developed words. I hav used informal language as this is more modern and will connote friendliness to the young target audience. The text on the front cover and contents page show this as I have oly used the most important text to back up the articles the text is representing. The written language within the interview on the double page spread is very informal as the interview was set as a casual chat and the artist being interviewed is also young, therefore has a modern lingo using slang and informal language.

This is a setion from the interview with ‘Kai’ within her response she demonstrates her personal language style, especially with the use of the word ‘gonna’ which is modern slang for ‘going to’. This also shows comfort as she has shown herself to be comfortable with the interviewer being herself and connoting that the interview is her genuine answers

People Used

I chose the artists I used within my magazine carefully as it is essential that the artists appeal to the magazines target audience as if not they would not be interested in the articles and will not purchase the magazine. All of the people I included within the magazine are popular music atists wihin the magazines genre (chart music), therefore they will suit the magazine and attract the target audience. The majority of the artists featured are young females as this corresponds with the target audience meaning they will be able to relate to them and be interested in what they have done/have to say. I also chose to include males, such as the well known boy band One Direction, who are young and modern, currently doing well within the music industry and are very popular with females. This is why I chose to use this particular band within the plug compotition featured on the cover. The audience would be interested in winning this compotition, therefore will enter also getting themselves involved within the magazine and their favourite artists. The age range of the artists featured are very similar as since the magazine is aimed at younger people, they will feel closer and more appealed by people of their same age range. I have however included artists worldwide as this therefore means that the magazine would attract a larger range of inderviduals in oher contries and would be more successful on the market.

Reflecting the GenreI managed to reflect the genre throughout my magazine by uing variou conventions and

features. For instance the colour schemes I used were chosen speifically to show the purpose of the page, to help the audience navigate round the page understanding it easily and to compliment the artists featured. I used the colour scheme pink, black and yellow on both the front cover and the contents page as I believe these colours work well together and connote girliness and the music genre pop, which is ivolved within the large spectrum of chart music. I used the colour scheme red, white and black. I changed this colour scheme as I believe this will make it more entertaining fr the audience but also to suit the artists personality and music style of R&B and rap, which is also involved within chart music. The certain artists I used throughout the magazine also reflect the music genre as they are all well known artists within the genre who the audience know and can relate the genre to.

ConclusionOverall throughout my magazine I have both challenged and followed certain conventions of a music magazine. I created my magazine basing it areound the target audience, their wants and needs. It is essential that what that would like to see and what would entertain them is included in my magazine as if not they would not purchae the magazine thus meaning it would not be successful. I used my knowledge I found out from my research to influence me in following the certain major conventions of a chart music magazine for instance when creating the main images and the masthead. I did however challenge some conventions such as the colour scheme. I did not follow a specific house style throughout my magazine as I believe this would make it more entertaining for the target audience as I believe it would be too bland to have a constant colour featured throughout the magazine. I also used a range of genres throughout the magazine, this is not conventional however each of the genres featured I believe still compliment the chart music genre. I also believe that this would make the magazine appeal to a wider audience with articles that appeal to different indevisuals.and give the readers a vaster variety of context which could broaden their music taste. This would also make the magazine more successful with an extension of customers than just a classical pop magazine.