EvaluationQuestion 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

Using Conventions-The Cover

This is my music magazine cover that contains may conventions of a usual magazine such as:

Mast head to be at the top of the page and the biggest text on the page.

For there to be a edition sign so that the readers know this is a special edition.

For the cover lines to be a the edges of the page and not covering the artists face.

For the Headline to include the artists name and be placed under the picture so it doesn’t cover the face of the artist. For the date and price to be away from the main image but still visible to the readers.

For there to be eye contact with the readers to create a personal connection.

For the strap line to be just under the headline and in a smaller text.

Conventions in my Magazine Cover

The Mast Head- I placed the mast head at the top of the magazine to make this the first thing the readers eyes are drawn to as they naturally start reading at the top left hand corner. Also it is the biggest piece of writing on the page so the eyes naturally look to the mast head first.

MAST HEAD

COVER LINES My Cover lines fit conventions as they tend to be at the edges of the magazine and shaped around the face of the main artist in the cover image so that not only can the target market read the extra features included in my magazine but they can read them without it interfering with looking at the cover image. Also it follows conventions as they tend to be a smaller font than the masthead or the head to not draw as much attention but still be easily visible.

Conventions of my Magazine Cover

EYE CONTACT Another convention that my magazine meets is that the cover artist has and keeps eye contact with the camera and thus the target market, also the photo reveals some aspects of the artists personality for example she’s holding a guitar and so target market can take from this that she’s a musician. I have taken this eye contact from real magazines such as this ‘Q’ cover with Florence from ‘Florence and the Machines’ as it also captures the readers attention and create a personal connection with the readers as it looks like Florence is looking directly at the target market.HEAD LINE

(Billboard Magazine Headline)

The headline on my music magazine cover conforms to conventions as like the magazine ‘Billboard’ it is located near the bottom of the page and the headline its self is bigger than the strap line which is underneath. Also as expected the headline and strap line are underneath the main focus of the cover image, so in most magazines the focus is the artists face and their eye contact with the camera and the headline is underneath this to not take away from this focus.

(‘Q’ CoverImage)

Conventions of my Magazine Cover

DATE LINE AND BARCODEThe conventions of a barcode and date line are to be out of the way and towards the edges of the magazine cover so that they don’t take focus away from other features of the magazine, also they normally include the month and year the magazine was released and the price. Mine includes these aspects and so conforms to conventions as shown here I have used a barcode but tried to make it less obvious and put the date and price above in small font, it so its still readable but not taking attention away from other aspects of the magazine cover.

COVER IMAGEThe conventions of a cover image is normally to have a mid shot or head shot of the cover artist, to have them keeping direct eye contact with the camera to create a personal connection with the reader, to show part of their personality/ character and to capture a good quality, not blurry image. My cover image conforms to these conventions as it has a good quality mid shot of Erin, with a leather jackets and guitar to show both her indie and folk character. She also keeps eye contact with the camera and thus the readers can feel like they have a personal connection with her as she is looking directly at them, quite this is vogue cover with Lana Del-Rey.

Using Conventions- The Contents One of the conventions the readers expect is to have a headline at the top of the page so that naturally this is the first thing they see.

Another convention is to have columns so this contents page has one main column that holds all the page number sand information the target market needs. For there to be

numbers connected with certain pages so that readers can go directly to desired pages.

For there to be a smaller version of the front cover so the readers can see the pages are connected.

For there to be good quality images of the artists to give the readers a sense of what is to come.

For the numbers on the images to be coincided with the numbers in the contents.

For there to be contact details of the magazine, in smaller font but still visible.

To include the date so the cover can link with the contents and so the readers immediately know what issue they’re looking at.

Using Conventions-The Contents

THE HEADLINE

Also another convention is for it to be the biggest piece of text on the page as well as including the masthead from the cover to link the magazine together. My headline also fulfils this as it includes the masthead (Soloists) from the front page and is the biggest size font on the page. I got these ideas from a student magazine I found and used the ideas of the graphics with the wide ribbons to separate and make the headline stand out from the rest of the page.

Students Music Magazine (2012)

Editors LetterMy editors letter uses conventions of music magazines as it gives a brief overview of what will be in the magazine this month or general advice to the readers or what the editor has been up to over the month to prepare for the magazine. I have used this editors letter from the ‘Net-a-porter’ fashion website magazine which gives the readers a sense of what to look forward to this month.

My contents page uses conventions through the headline as the reader expects for a contents page that the headline is at the top of the page with either a line or graphic to separate it from the rest of the page which I have done by putting the headline into a wide plum coloured ribbon across the page to define it from the rets of the page.

Using Conventions-The Contents

THE CONTENTS IMAGES

Student Magazine 2012

To use conventions in my contents page I tried to make sure I included at least two images, so that the contents page is more interesting and not too cramped with writing, as magazines are meant and expected to be very visual. So using inspiration from a student magazine in 2012 I have taken the idea to use these images to show the different artists I have features about in this months magazine.

Another convention I have used in my contents page is to use, for my main featured artist, to have a slightly bigger image so that the contents page an revolve around and draw more attention to them, so more people read the article about them.

CONTACT DETAILS

Another convention I have used in my magazine is contact details, these are normally expected to be somewhere in the magazine and I have decided to put them on the contents page as it is easily locatable, I developed this idea from one of ‘Q’ magazines contents page.

Using Conventions-The Contents

FEATURE & OTHER COLUMNS

The normal features of a contents page column is for there to be one or several different columns for different aspects of the magazine, so for features there should be one column or section and another for other aspects as shown with my ‘plus’ section.

NUMBERS

Another important aspect that links the conventions to the forms in my contents page is numbers. The readers expect the numbers to coincide with the different pages of the magazine, so they can find the page they want quickly.

Another convention to do with numbers, links also with the pictures on the contents page. So sometimes the images on the contents have numbers on them to make finding the feature or Q&A with the artists in the picture even quicker to find. So here I have shown that the numbers on both my feature columns and images are linked to make finding the artist the readers want to read about, quicker and more efficient.

Using Conventions- The ContentsSUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Readers may also expect there to be an offer with subscription information to make them more likely to subscribe to the magazine, I got influence from the rock magazine ‘Rock Sound’.

Using Conventions- My Article

The readers expect to see the headline to be big and bold, so they stand out as the most prominent part of the page.

Another convention of magazine articles is for them to be landscape and a double page spread, with a gutter in the centre of the page.

Another convention of my article is for there to be more than one column on a feature article, as there is meant to be a fair amount of information about the musician or the article topic, so therefore more column space is needed.

There is also expected to be a lead in, to be an introduction to the article and its expected to be above or next the article so that the target market can read it easily to get a taste of what the article will be about.

There is expected to be a cover image that either covers half or more of the page, it could be suggested that this article is slightly unconventional as the image covers the whole double page spread and the article is written over this.

It can also be expected to have page numbers and by lines to give extra information and let the readers find the page easily as it connects with the contents page.

Using Conventions- The Article

MAIN ARTICLE IMAGE

The main conventions that this article image covers show is the artists personality, so here I have shown Erin’s love of music but with a rustic, folk style by using an older wooden piano and including the flowers to emphasize the back to nature theme.

Another convention of this image is to cover about ½ to the full page and so I have decided to cover the full double page spread with my article image, so the readers feel as if they are in the photo with the artist and thus at the interview too. I mostly took influence from this article by NME, they covered ¾ of the page with the image so slightly unconventional, but I didn't’t think this would fully work with my image and article type.

NME- Alt-J Article

Using Conventions- The Article

HEADLINE A convention of the article headline is to be the biggest piece of text at the top of the page and stand out to the readers as the first thing they see. I feel like my article headline has conformed to these conventions as my headline is extremely bold and stands out on the overall article. Another convention of my article headline is including the artists name. Some readers expect to see the name somewhere in the article and I felt the need to include this in the headline like this NME Kurt Cobain article as I feel like it gets the readers involved with the artist and article strait away.

PULL QUOTE

Another article convention is for there to be pull quote included in the headline at the top of the page in some way like this ‘Kerrang’ magazine article which includes it actually in the main headline and although I knew I wanted to include a pull quote I wanted it to be less brash, so I put it just underneath the main headline.

Using Conventions- The Article

MAIN BODY TEXT

A convention for the main body text is to be in columns which my article is and to take up around half of the double page spread which again my text does.

Another convention of my magazine article is for there to be a pull quote to be blown up and put in a break in the main body text to break up the article and to entice the readers to start reading the article as they want to know what happened before the quote and how the quote even came about, why did the artist say this. It creates a sense of urgency for the reader to find out more about the event that caused the artists to say this quote in an interview.

PULL QUOTE

Using Conventions- The Article

LEAD INAnother convention of a magazine article is the lead in which is expected to be before the article to ensure that the readers have some background knowledge about the artist they are reading about.

I have developed ideas from the NME article about Alt-J as they too had a lead in to conform to conventions and they put it on the main image to leave room for the article and slightly stray away from conventions, which I did also.

DATE AND PAGE NUMBER

Another convention is for the page number and date to be at the bottom or the top of the page so that readers can easily flick through and find the article they want and I have placed mine at the top but developed ideas from this NME article.

I have developed ideas by placing the date next to the page number for ease and to de-clutter the page.

Unconventional Aspects

I think this article may be seen as slightly unconventional as the main body text covers majority of the photo, however I feel that this worked quite well and although some of the photo may be lost in the gutter its not a crucial part such as the artists face.

Also the fact that my artists hasn’t remained holding eye contact in the contents page and article may be seen as again unconventional but I feel it creates a down to earth, slightly indie personality for my artist.

Other than these aspects I don’t really feel that my magazine is very unconventional as it seems to keep to the normal conventions.