Evaluation:

Q1) - In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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Considering The MastheadI chose the particular font from DaFont and edited it using Photoshop. I am pleased with the masthead as it suits the style and genre of my magazine. I was going to change the colour of the mast head earlier on in the production of my magazine but I decided that black stood out on the white background so decided to stick with it.

These were my inspirations. During my research I found that these three mast heads looked the best on the cover of a magazine. All of them stand out and they are all very different. I also particularly liked the way that the artists were on top of the writing and yet it was still easy to read and still stood out on the page. I definitely used this inspiration on my own magazine masthead……

Location, Lighting and Props

I think I was slightly challenging the conventions of a music magazine because the main image is usually done in a studio. However being an indie magazine I wanted to use different settings for my photography and overall I think the shots worked well.

All of my artists use instruments and it links in to the genre and style of the music magazine. This is a particular convention because many music magazines use instruments in their photography.

The types of shots I used in general were mid shots. This is a key convention in magazines as we can see the power and emotion in the artist’s face as well as their eyes connecting with the reader. My magazine cover shot was a mid shot and she is looking directly into the camera, which worked effectively. I did use Photo shop but only to enhance the brightness of the images to make them more exciting and striking.

Costume

I researched magazine covers and looked at the types of clothing artists wore in a similar genre, but what I soon realised was that the artists are all original and unique and their style reflects their personality and music genre.

I therefore chose for my own artists to wear something to reflect their own unique personality. I chose a hippie dress and band for my main artist as it reflected her style of music and I tried to use a lot of colour in the clothing as this would look striking in front of the camera

I am happy with the clothing choices as some great shots came out of the costume choice.

People

This is the model I used in my magazine production. She was easy to work with., it was easy to get some good shots. I usecd Sophie because she has an interesting look and bright eyes, and she also photographs really well. I wanted to get the best shot of her possible as I wanted to use her for my main artist. She is conventional for my magazine genre as she is a soul/acoustic singer who is having a big break and entering the music business. She relates to my magazine as her style and voice is quite indie and so popular among my chosen audience. Her age is 17 almost 18 and so this is also my target audience.

I also took images of Kina Grannis ( a famous and well known artist already), Imaginary friend (another well known artist), my friend Lucinda and my friend Alex for my contents page too. They all have unique looks and reflect the indie genre.

Fonts and Styles

The MAIN font for my magazine was…

Prestige Elite Std

I chose to use this font for my magazine because it is clear, not fussy, bold, and also looks professional.

I created this font using Dafont and then manipulated using Photo Shop. This was the name of my main artist for my magazine. I am pleased how it turned out. I used inspiration from other artists who have their own fonts for their name such as Lily Allen and Florence.

I also created my mast head for my magazine using a chosen Dafont style. I again manipulated it using Photo Shop. I am pleased with the name and how it looks.

Copy/ Written Content

Choosing how to layout my content was difficult. For inspiration, I read through various different double page spreads and soon realised that every one had a similar written style but were formatted in different ways. I wanted to use a question and answer format as I thought that by using that technique, I could get in more of what the artist is saying and her thoughts and feelings on her success.

It reflects the audience and genre. This is because the questions are suitable for my young audience and the genre is indie/soul so I tried to use some unique questions too to match the genre.

I did use a frequent use of speech marks to emphasize the excitement in her voice and creates a bigger personality to the audience, and I also used brackets to highlight her movements such as – (giggling) etc.

How is genre reflected?

COSTUME- I dressed my artists is indie hippie clothing.

PROPS- Guitars and drums reflect the genre of music.

MUSICIANS- I used a range of artists in my magazine including solo guitarists and also references to bands.

COLOUR- I used a colour scheme of blue, black and white. These are for both genders.

Layout of Front Cover, Contents page and Double

page spread

…

FRONT COVERI think I would say that I have followed conventions of a music magazine. I believe that the colour scheme works effectively in order to stand out and I am pleased with the main image because it is a convention of music magazines so use mid shots to show the artist features and emotion, but also to connect with the audience.

The would say that there is a fair amount of text on the cover however not too much to over crowd or take away attention from the image or give away too much information on the cover alone. I wanted the cover to entice the audience to read on and I am pleased with how it looks as I think it looks reasonably professional and follows the typical conventions without copying.

I did use NME magazine for inspiration throughout the process. They used black and white an I decided that it looked effective and so wanted to use that in my colour scheme. I included a mix of my own made up artists but also famous artists too for a balance. I also discovered that on covers they had circles to put in a WIN box, so I put that on the top right and I think it looks effective. I also had many good comments about my main image, and the link of colour with her eyes and the blue text font colour.

SPOT THE MAGAZINE!

I have made a collage of music magazines and put my magazine in there to show that I have followed conventions and how it really does look like a magazine on a shelf.

CONTENTS PAGEI did follow the typical conventions of a music magazine contents page. I used NME as my inspiration by using black and white boxes for the headers, and I think this is bold and effective. I put the contents and date in the left hand corner which was evident in many contents pages I looked at, and also put the page numbers in a different colour to stand out.

On many contents pages, four or more images were visible so I decided to use four striking images of my own photography. I put all the content down the right hand side as again, this Is a convention in music magazines.

I know my contents page is very simplistic but I like it that way because it reflects the genre of indie/soul and keeps all the information to a minimum so that the words really do stand out to its audience.

I wouldn't say I have challenged conventions of a typical music magazine contents page.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREADOverall I am very pleased with my double page spread.

I have followed conventions of a music magazine double page spread because I have placed my image on the left hand side and it is a bold image which stands out on the page. I have also put in the artist text.

My choice of language was inspired by other music magazine layouts. I wanted my questions to be original and interesting so as to draw the reader in.

I also used conventions such as two pull quotes, a sub header below the title and the questions being show in a different colour. I also made a “page continued” arrow at the bottom right to show that it would continue onto the next page.

I am overall really pleased with how it looks as I have also kept to the corporate colour scheme of my magazine and made it original as well as following conventions.

Challenging Conventions?

OVERALL

I think I have followed conventions but not to an extent where it is just a copy of other magazines, because being a specific genre I wanted it to also look original and unique but also look appealing to the audience and satisfy their needs as well as behaving like a real magazine and giving them something a little bit different.