Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

One way that my media product conforms to the conventions of music magazines is the title. The picture above shows the title of my magazine. I have chosen to use a bold font, which stretches from one edge of the page to the other. This is a convention which the majority of magazines I looked at such as Kerrang and Rock Sound do. I have also included part of the logo within the title, which is the stars surrounding the name. This challenges magazine conventions as the logo (shown below) is usually featured on the front cover. I chose not to include the logo as it would be featured elsewhere in the magazine and also because I felt it would make the front cover appear cluttered. A final way in which my title conforms to other magazines is that I have used a contrasting red and white colour scheme for it. My title does not conform as I chose to use more than one word for my title. This may have been a risky choice as it isn’t as catchy as other magazine names such as Kerrang or abbreviated names such as NME.

This look is concidered to be a popular style with young people and it also places my model into a particular style of music. The use of a small font for the interview conforms to typical music magazines as it allowed me to fit more text on the page, which allowed for a longer interview. Finally by keeping my colour scheme to a minimum of three colours, I have conformed to the conventions of real media products as they generally keep to the same three or four colours, as shown by the research pages on my blogs. One aspect which challenged the conventions of media products is by using unconventional means of creating the product. I decided to try using lipstick to create the world help and the scanned the image in. I chose to do this as it once again adds to the femininity of the page and also adds texture to the page.

The mise en scene of the double page spread conforms to the conventions of real media products. Using a black background ensured that the image of my model and the text stood out. I chose to use the pink and white to feminize the page as black can be seen as a harsh masculine colour, by using these paler more feminine colour it allows the page to fit with a more girly style which is something I was aiming for when creating this double page spread. The costume which my model is wearing conforms to other magazines as many females wear plaid shirts and denim shorts during photoshoots.

My contents page conforms to the conventions of other media products as I used one main image with smaller ones across the page. I chose to do this because it allows the page to look more professional. However I developed this by only using three images which take up the majority of the space on the page. I made this decision as it creates a more minimalistic look while taking up room on the page. Another way in which my contents page conforms to real media products is by using a minimal colour scheme which runs throughout the magazine, this is the black red and white. I chose this colour scheme as they contrast and stand out against each other. By keeping to these three colours I have created a brand image. By using page numbers next to articles this conforms to the majority of magazines as this is needed to show readers were articles are.

Another way that I conformed to the conventions was by using different people on my three pages. I did this as I magazines tend to feature multiple artists which provides readers with more content. I also chose to do this as repetitive images of the same artist would make the magazine appear quiet boring. I also chose to use my model as my main image and use her on every page. However unlike most music magazines I did not use an image of her as my main image on the contents page. I chose to do this as I felt I had stronger more prominent images of other people, so chose the strongest image for the main image.