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

Title of the magazine

This is the masthead for my magazine, as you can see it conforms to the audience’s expectations of a pop genre magazine; it has the generic top, left-hand corner positioning. By positioning the masthead of the magazine here it allows it to be seen clearly and easily, this is crucial for a new magazine; it also allows room for the rest of the front cover conventions. The masthead dominates a large part of the front cover which allows a definite identification with the audience as they can immediately see the name of the magazine.In terms of naming the magazine, I wanted to keep it simple but also relate the name to the genre in general. I decided to name the magazine ‘juice’ as this relates to the idea of ‘gossip’ which is what any pop genre magazine would include.

Mise-en-scene of images

I am again looking at the front cover of my magazine to analyse the mise-en-scene of the images. The main image on this page is bright and sharp without a background; this makes it stand out clearly to the audience. The brightness of the image extenuates the model as generally, models look better in bright light, this also sticks to the colourful and bright atmosphere of the front cover. Stereotypically, a woman model on the front cover of any pop magazine has the purpose to be desirable; as my model is seen to be smiling and is airbrushed really helps to stick to this stereotype. My model is seen with her hand up by her shoulder which is an extremely girly pose, this emphasises the femininity of the model and makes the magazine in general more applicable to my target audience.

Costumes and props

I have chosen my double page spread to analyse the costumes and props used as the only prop I used in any of my pictures was on this page and the images on this page show the costumes much clearer as well as following the conventions of a pop magazine with a focus on the main feature of the contents page. The costume used on my model is simple yet ‘fashionable’ therefore applying to the target audience of ‘mainstreamers’. I decided to use a pink and blue tartan dress as on the front cover there is an article specifically saying how fashionable tartan is at the moment so by having my model wearing this, it supports other articles and makes the clothing look more fashionable as a whole. Also, the colours of the costume fit closely with the colour scheme and themes of the magazine making it all concise and appealing. The only prop I used in any of my photo shoots was the lipstick, as seen in the top image, this follows the stereotype of women being seductive and desirable which correlates with the genre of the magazine and appeals to the young, female target audience.

People

I have decided to use my contents page to analyse the range of people used in my magazine as it’s the only page with images of more than one person so it’s a good talking point. I believe that the people in my magazine follow the conventional type of people used in pop genre magazines in general. All of the models used are the same age and are also in the same age group as the target audience for my magazine which allows the audience to connect with them more closely. Another concept to consider when looking at this part of the magazine is the female dominance which was intended as the use of men in pop genre magazines is usually minimal unless a boy band which are usually portrayed using sex appeal to attract the young target audience. The female dominance relates closely to the target audience and having the females play a bigger role in the magazine could in turn attract more female readers. All of the models are relatively thin and airbrushed, this is typical for a pop magazine as the role of women in pop magazines is to be desirable and a ‘style icon’.

Title, Font and Style

The title, font and style of my magazine is quite ‘quirky’ and fun. It conforms to the conventions of a magazine because of the bold, capital letters that are used, this is furthered by the fact that I have used a lot of extravagant and appealing sans serif fonts. I think it is important that the magazine does this because it creates a comfortable vibe for the audience knowing that what they see is what they get. I would say that the title style followed the conventions because of the use of the bright purple colour and the quirky font this is a feature often seen as it makes the front cover look appealing and the masthead memorable to the audience. The purple is powerful on the white background and it makes it stand out more.

Written Content

The written content of my magazine is essentially conforming to the standard feature article of a pop genre magazine, it uses standard writing techniques to create text that sounds like a comfortable yet professional interview, a main technique I have used is a large pull/grab quote. Pull/grab quotes are essential as they often set the tone of the article and spark the readers interest. I decided to use a scandalous pull quote, ‘I’ve kissed Kanye’ as this would entice the audience to read the interview and find out more. The written content also follows conventions as it has been split into columns, this is a standard presentational technique that allows the audience to differentiate each question and read the article easily. To follow this up, the font size used is 12 to make it easier to read. The language used in my article appeals to the target audience as it is aimed at a younger age meaning that the language isn’t overly intelligent and fit for most age groups and intellectual groups.

Music genre and how your magazine suggests it

My music magazine conforms to the way in which the music genre is suggested, this is easily done by the use of popular pop star names at the bottom and subtle use of language such as ‘star’ and ‘gossip’. I have also used a pull quote on the front cover from a One Direction article which would entice the reader. The pop genre is also suggested by the use of bright, girly colours and costume. The use of pink, white, purple and baby blues emphasise the pop theme of the magazine and clearly exhibits to the reader the type of music the magazine supports.

Layout

To analyse the layout, I have decided to use my contents page as it follows the typical layout of a pop genre magazine. It’s hard to develop or challenge the conventions because there is already such a vast variation in styles of magazine. I think the layout of the contents page is important as it shows the reader where everything is, also it is the second page of the magazine so it has to make a good impression on the reader, it also needs to excite the reader and promote each article. I used a small image of the front cover with arrows coming off of it showing the page numbers of the main features on the front cover. I have also made the page numbers stand out by using a larger/different font and various font colours; as well as making it easy to understand, it also makes the page look appealing. By using headers for each section, it breaks up the magazine into different areas such as shopping, boys, music etc. which makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for.

Layout

I am also going to briefly analyse the layout of my double page spread as I have gone against the conventions of a typical pop genre magazine article. To begin with, instead of following the conventional layout of the text, columns, I have decided to have the questions and answers less organised to give the magazine a ‘fresh’ look which appeals to my target audience. I have decided to follow the conventional layout of the images being on one whole side of the double page spread as I think this makes the article more exciting to look at.

Contents Page

My contents page mainly conforms to the conventions of a music magazine, however, one point that I believe develops this is the title of my contents page, instead of the generic ‘contents’ title, I chose to use ‘Inside this mag…’ the use of quirky language relates to the audience and makes the magazine seem more friendly. As well as this, I have also used a few pictures on this page such as the picture of the front cover of the magazine, a separate picture of girls dressed up and an editors note with a picture of the editor this allows me to express the entertaining element of the magazine as well as making it more presentable and appealing. I have also split the contents into 4 separate topics, shopping, win, boys and the main feature this makes the page look more organised which is helpful as the contents page is used as a tool.