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

By Rosanna Todd

Main imageI decided to use this image for my front cover because it is a medium close up so allows the reader to engage with the magazine. From my research I know that many other magazines of the indie/rock genre use medium close ups so I have applied this knowledge to my magazine to attract the target audience. The person featured on the cover relates to the type of person who would buy the magazine as they have the same style and are the same age. The pose she is in is also eye catching and stands out against the background

Colour schemeThe colour scheme for my magazine is yellow black and red. Some of the coverlines on the front cover are outlined in red even if it is yellow so this follows the colour scheme. These are the type of colours that appeal to my target audience. I know this from the research that I conducted before starting this task.

Layout I have used the rule of thirds on my front cover which means that the page is divided equally into three sections. The coverlines also frame the main image and I have ensured that my masthead is at the top of the page.

Fonts usedFor my coverlines and masthead I used “Stencil std” because it looks like the style of font that appears on this genre of magazine. For the “Charlotte Bonnell” coverline I used “Palace Script MT” to make it look as though the name as been written by the person, almost like a signature. This is a convention used in many music magazines of this genre so would therefore attract the target audience which is why I decided to style it in this way.

MastheadThe masthead is the biggest font on the page so therefore stands out and catches the reader’s attention. It is at the top of the page and although is arranged behind the main image, it is still readable. This is a convention that is used on other music magazines so I used this for my front cover.

Header

This is at the very top of the page and offers something new for the reader to engage with.

Barcode A barcode is featured on every music magazines that I have researched into so I included one on my front cover, a clear convention of a media magazine product.

Flasher Attracts the target audience as they would be interested in free gig tickets. This is a convention of a music magazine.

Issue number, price

and date This is important information for the reader to view so it is clearly laid out under the masthead. This is another convention of a music magazine and I have used it to make my magazine look more realistic.

The title “contents” is at the top of the page and the same masthead is used from the front cover to show consistency and to show that the two pages are linked and from the same magazine.

The date and issue number is featured on the contents page for the reader’s attention. This is using a convention of a real media product as many music magazine do this.

The coverlines and page numbers are in a bold font so are therefore clear for the reader to see. All music magazine contents pages have coverlines so this is using a real media convention.

I have used a range of different images of different artists on my contents page. These are also anchored with page numbers.

Link to website

The contents page links clearly to the front cover in terms of style and genre because of the colour scheme and the artists used all have the same style. The language used is also similar.

I included an editorial as other music magazines have this also.

I used columns for the text with subheadings such as “Features” and “News”

The page clearly follows the “rule of thirds” which means that the page is split into 3 clear sections. This is following a convention of real media products.

Main image is eye-catching

This page is image dominated

Pull quote- this draws the reader in to the article

The written article has a dramatic main headline- it is bright which makes it eye-catching and stands out on the page.

Picture and word credits

Same colour scheme of red yellow and black used throughout my product

All these points show that my music magazine uses

conventions of real media products

More on double page spread

• The same style of language and attitude is used throughout the article and is the same as the language used on the front cover and contents page which links all three pages together.

• The content is consistent with the chosen genre as my article features an upcoming rock/indie artist which the target audience would find interesting.

My media product challenges conventions of real media

products by…

• The three columned structure of the editorial on the contents page. It makes it look like there are four columns on the bottom row which goes against the rule of thirds.