1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

BRAND IDENTITY• Having a house style is a very important convention to use in a

magazine. I have used a consistent use of a red masthead and a light brown . I have also used the same font throughout the magazine, this shows continuity. This also allows the audience to be able to recognise the magazine through its house style, rather than just the magazine name.

Front Cover• The layout of my front page

uses general codes and conventions, similar to other music magazines of the same genre. The masthead on the magazine follows typical codes and conventions, as does the cover line and where the central image is meant to be.

The masthead is very large and bold and stands out. It stands out because of the red standing out over the light brown.

I have used a puff, which boasts about some of the contents in the magazine. This also stands out as it is bright yellow .The drop shadow also makes the puff stand out even further.

I have used a visual pun ‘Tai-Sian makes a splash.’ This fits in with the picture of Tai-Sian being covered in water. This link can be attractive and attract readers.

The barcode and price are important codes of information that should be present on the cover of a magazine. The barcode makes it look like a professional cover and the price allows the reader to see how much the publication costs.

The cover line gives a list of people of who the magazine includes, so if the reader recognises any of these artists, they may be more likely to buy the magazine

Featured artist• The featured artist on my music magazine cover, also on

my DPS signifies a specific genre – pop. This is shown through her facial expressions and her clothing. The gold and white bodycon dress connotes a pop genre. My featured artist challenges the general stereotype of the way that women are presented in the media. They are usually defined by the male gaze and often sexualised or objectified. Tai-Sian is dressed in a non-revealing dress and is not trying to be sexy, she looks as if she is just laughing and having a good time.

Contents PageI have used many general conventions of magazines contents ages in my own magazine. My contents page consists of one large image, related to a main article in the magazine, which is usually done on a music magazine contents page. With other secondary images on the contents page, another convention of a magazine.

The masthead of my contents page includes the same colour scheme as the masthead on my front page. This creates a house style throughout my magazine, since the colours and font are constant.

The artists shown on my contents page relate to both the genre of my magazine and the target audience. The largest image is of a young male artist, this may attract girls if they are fans of his and other males will want to read the magazine. This reflects the ratio of female to male readers (60%:40%)The secondary images are or a young female artist and of a female duo. Attracting males and females.

The twitter symbol relates well to my target audience as they are known as ‘digital natives’ this means that technology is a large part of their lives. Therefore it is important for them to interact on social media with the readers through these sites.

The date on the contents page is very important as the issue date may encourage readers to ‘collect’ the magazine as it is a monthly issue.

This uses the rule of thirds by having the text on the left, as this is the first thing the reader will see and be engaged by the stories inside the magazine