Saturday, 7 May 2016

Evaluation Question 1 – In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product mainly conforms to the forms and conventions of real media products.
My front cover for music magazines challenges the forms and conventions of real media products by having the main image cut onto the side of the page, which real life media products do not do. However, my front cover and the other pages use a designated colour scheme (Red, white, black and occasionally blue), which is what real media products use.
The masthead “Unplugged” can be seen as a generalised title but has a strong association with music due to the idea of the bands interviewed have ‘unplugged’ their instruments to join the journalist. With the masthead I wanted a simple design but at the same time I wanted it to stand out. To do this I chose a font, which will grab audiences attention and a black and white colouring as these colours contrast against one another creating a masthead which catches the eye of anyone looking at it, which is also what other media corporations have.
The slogan “sounds of a generation” gives the audience the idea that the music discussed inside the magazine is important to the rock scene encouraging people to buy it. 
The header and footer on my magazine were chosen to appeal to the target audience by allowing me to be more specific to my chosen genre. The header allowed me to include more bands that would appear inside my magazine while my footer would encourage people to buy the magazine as it says “The greatest rock magazine of 2015”.
The sell lines on my front cover are consitant with conventional colours by being red and blue. The artists included on my sell lines are all genre specific so it would fit with the overall feel of the magazine.
The splash is useful as the colour, font and size all create an eye catching splash to attract audiences.
The pug, which is featured on my front cover, is conventional as it offers a prize, which would be liked by my target audience.


My contents page uses forms and conventions of real media products as the features and monthly articles on the left hand side with a small caption to give more insight into the article. The review section on my contents page also uses conventions of real media products as it covers a variety of different topics like music albums, tours, etc. The review section also develops the forms and conventions as the music magazine industry is branching out to review aspects of the media like films and technology. My contents page also uses subsidiary images to help the page look more appealing to readers, which are what real media products do.  The images also show clothing, which is worn by the youth of today so they are more identifiable to these young audiences. My front cover and contents page were both influenced by Q due to the colour scheme implemented. The page numbers are also easily found on the page due to industry code. The page numbers also have the masthead next to them (similar to Q) to help keep the image of the masthead in the reader’s head.  The inclusion of social media links can help appeal to the younger readers due to them being the main age group on social media.
The artists included in the features shows the reader that the magazine does solely focuses on the rock and indie genre. The mode of address in the contents page is informal as it allows the reader feel more comfortable when reading and can encourage them to continue buying the magazine.  


When looking at my double page spread it develops the forms and conventions of real media products by having a theme that accurately represents the article in question. The double page spread uses columns to make the article itself appear more formal and professional which is a convention of real life media products. The style of writing also uses the forms and conventions of real life media products. Kerrang influenced my double page spread! with the informal attitude Kerrang! uses with their interviews. The black and white image used for the article also helps with the black and white theme going on within the design of the double-paged spread. The individual designs Kerrang! do for their double page spreads while keeping the magazines identity intact inspired me to do the same with my own double page spread. The headline of my article was A/M/B/E/R the same as the band so the reader will remember the name but had a just as interesting sub heading to ensure the reader’s interest is still peaked. The words “exclusive” were added to help give the idea the product is important and artists are willing to give exclusive interviews. Q inspired this exclusive idea as they do the same with their media products.
To ensure I stayed to the conventions of the industry I included an opening paragraph to give the reader a quick understanding of who the band were. The red and white writing on a black background helped the text stand out more and kept the reader interested in the design since it has not been done often while I was conducting my research. The style also reflects the rock/Indie feel and also would look interesting to my target audience.
The pull quote chosen helps the reader get a better understanding of the band at just a glance. By using two red lines help the pull quote stand out and entices the reader. At the start of the article I followed the industry code again by using a drop cap at the start of the first paragraph as it makes the article look more visually appealing.




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