Q1. In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

By Ellie hawkins

Comparison

Barcode and main image

Masthead

Barcode

Issue • I have also followed convention

by stating the issue number on my front cover. I decided to place this inside the barcode to make my audience focus primarily on the text and images but also as the we love pop has done this, suggesting to me that this is a good place to position it. I also know from my questionnaire that my audience do not care much for boring and ungossipy information, another reason why i placed the issue number in the dead space.

Masthead

I have followed convention by placing the masthead to the top left hand corner. As you can see this has also been done by the we love pop magazine. Naturally people read left to right, making it practical for the masthead to be positioned here on the front cover. I followed convention by making sure that the masthead was a bigger font that the rest of the text which should make the audience focus on this, hopefully remembering it to promote the magazine further. I also made the masthead in capitals as did the we love pop magazine, making it standout.

Colour scheme

Pink and purple are girly colures as is red in the we love pop magazine both having connotations of love

As you can see I have created a colour scheme of purple, pink and green for my magazine, showing that I have followed convention. The colours pink and purple have connotations of love and passion. I would hope that these colours would attract my audience due to them stereotypical being female colours. The we love pop magazine also has a colour scheme, however this contains red and blue. Although different colours have been used it still shows that I have followed convention by having a colour scheme that links in with my audience

Footer• Similar to the we love pop magazine I

have followed convention by having a footer at the bottom of my magazine, illustrating that there will be a quiz in my magazine, telling you what type of celebrity style you have the most. As my audience are teenage girls they would be interested in Gosspop but also things that link to themselves and what they are like. At this age you are starting to learn what type of person you will become when older, thus making this quiz fit in nicely with my teenage girl targeted music magazine. This is why I have chosen to follow this convention.

Developed Convention

Cover lines • I have developed convention by having

less that 7 cover lines on my front cover . I have done this as a result of the feedback reserved from my audience regarding images and text in my questionnaire. They said they would rather have little text on the front cover, making the images the main focus. Therefore this is why I did this. This was also justified by the we love pop magazine. As you can see most of the front over is predominately covered with images rather than text with it also only having 5 cover lines on its front cover not 7. This is why I developed this convention

Cover lineCover line

Main Cover line • I have also developed convention by

having my main cover lines not link with my main cover image. As I decided to focus on bands for my magazine the main cover line promotes my bands rather that the single main image model. The we love pop has done a similar thing by having almost two cover lines one also promoting a band ( one direction) . This is also justified by double page spread being connected to my main cover line of which is about a girl band, known as Mashup

Main Image • I have also developed convention by

placing my main image to the right hand side of my front cover. I did this to allow for more room for my additional images and as the we love pop did their front cover in this style which demonstrated that this did help to create more room for cover lines and image

Content Page

How did my content page follow, develop and challenge convention ?

Title• I made sure that my content page title was

the biggest text on the page and that it was clearly visible to my audience, thus placing it at the top of the page, due to the audience naturally reading left to right. When comparing this convention to the we love pop magazine it appear that they have developed convention by not stating that it is the content page. I was also further surprised to find that the top of the pops magazine also did not state it as the content page which seem to suggest that I have developed convention by having stating content in my pop music magazines content page

Main Image- developed convention?

• I have also followed convention by having a main image placed at the bottom of the magazine. However I did place this at the bottom, known as the dead space and also had additional images which could have confused the audience into thinking there wasn't a main image suggesting also that here I have developed convention. It also suggests that i have developed convention due to the we love pop magazine having a clear main image, it being placed in the centre of the page where the audience are most likely to look and see it.

Set categories and sub-heading • My magazines content page has followed

convention by having set categories depending on the type of articles contained in the magazine. I have chosen to do this as the audience would be used to this layout, making it easy for them to find their desired section. I have also done this as my audience are of a young age, whereby they might find it confusing and difficult to understand if it wasn't presented in this manner which could have potentially put off my the magazine. I can also see that the we love pop magazine has also done this , therefore this is another reason why I decided to follow convention. I also used the we love pop magazine for inspiration into where to place the categories in order to make it appear easy for the audience to read. The sub heading also cover the things in which I know my audience enjoys including make-up, fashion and gossip collected from my questionnaire, making it specific to the genre of pop.

Background and colour scheme

• I have also followed convention by having a white background so that the text is easy to read and clear. As you can see the we love pop magazine also has a white background despite it containing lots of colours in its colour scheme. As my target audience are teenage girls they are most likely to be attracted by bright and pretty colours as they have connotations of fun and youth is said to be associated with fun. Therefore this is why I have also used lots of different colours in my content page to attract the audience. In my focus group my audience said they would prefer a colourful content page than a front cover, thus this is another reason for me following convention by having a bright colour scheme like we love pop has.

Rule of thirds• I have followed convention by using

the rule of thirds. This makes it easier for the audience to read and also makes the page look professional and neat. The we love pop magazine has also followed this convention thus suggesting to me this it was the right choice to follow the rule of third layout.

Editors note• I followed convention by having an

editors note. I did this to make the audience feel closer to the people that made the magazine and thus having a passion for what they are reading. I also did this as the we love pop magazine has an editors note which talks to the reader about what the magazine will contain also suggesting that this would be a useful convention to follow by drawing the audience in by deciding the content of the magazine briefly.

Masthead• I has also follow convention by

having a recurring masthead in my double page spread. This reminds the audience what the name of the magazine is, thus meaning that they are more likely to remember it , telling their friends or others about the magazine. I had positioned this in the top right hand corner, which despite being in the dead space should prove to be useful in getting my audience to remember the name of my magazine. The we love pop magazine has also done this suggesting that this was a good thing to follow convention.

Double Page Spread

Masthead

I have followed convention by continuing my masthead throughout my double page spread in the hope that this will remind the audience of what my magazine is called and thus increasing the likelihood of them telling others about my magazine. It was very important for me to do this due to my magazine being the first issue , meaning that my audience would be unfamiliar with the name of my magazine. However the we love pop magazine has not done this. I think they have chosen to do this as a result of the magazine being well known by the audience therefore meaning that by repeating the masthead it would not be beneficial in the promotion of the we love pop magazine.

By Line I have followed convention by having a by line in my double page spread. I have done this as typically you would find a by line in a music magazine and this is why I have done this. However the we love pop magazine has not done this. This is due to them having a slightly different target audience and also as they wanted to focus on the star within the article, the audience not being interested in who it is by.

Pull Quote I have followed convention by having a pull quote in my double page spread. I have done this to draw the audience, making them interested in the article and thus more inclined to read about it. The we love pop magazine has also done this and as they have a similar audience and have a successful established music pop magazine this is why I have done this also .

Caption for your small pictures

I have developed convention by not having a caption on my small images. I did not do this as I have made it clear in my front cover and content page who the models were on my double page spread therefore I felt that it was not required of me to repeat this. I can see that the we love pop magazine has done this however these images are not professional so they want to make it clear what Is happening in the images, mine does not require this.

Main headline

I have followed convention by having a main headline. I have done this to inform my audience on what my article will be about, thus making them feel they understand where the article is going, making them more inclined to read it. The we love pop magazine has not got a main headline, opting for a pull quote . This is also a way of informing the audience about what the article will contain therefore this justifies why I have used a main headline.