Evaluation Question One

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

My media product uses typical conventions and forms of existing media products. In this way it is a recognisable music magazine and will appeal to the target audience.

On the cover, my product uses a clear masthead that communicates the genre of the music it represents, it includes feature stories, and a main feature story which uses a larger font and links to the main feature image. The house style is created on the cover with the colour scheme of gold, black, grey and white, which are all colours associated with the R&B music genre. There is a plug used on my cover which is a feature present on many existing products, my plug links to the main feature story to engage the reader, a technique I learned through my research into existing music magazines. I have also included a barcode, date, issue number and price for the audience’s convenience on the cover; this is a feature that many existing magazines employ as it is a convention that is useful and convenient to the audience. A tag line introduces the reader to the style of my product and a skyline allows them to understand extra information about the product in a small space.

 

On the double page spread of my product, I continue the house style of the product through the use of the colours gold, black, grey, and white. The masthead is also continued across to create continuity for the audience, which is a convention present in existing products available. The tag line has also been continued across, although it now takes on a different colour than originally on the cover to make it stand out more on the background of this page, which I understand is unusual of a magazine but in this way my product challenges the conventions in order to make the text clearer for the reader. By using sub heading I was able to divide up my feature stories in a neat structure making it easier for my audience to search the contents. This layout created a conventional structure, which I had previously struggled with during the creation of my product. The main feature image is large and engaging, it shows how the subject stands out in the R&B music industry by the way she stands out on the page, using an outer glow and shadow affect. The plug is continued over onto this page from the cover although it is now on a black splash across the lower right hand side of the page which is conventional to include on a contents page and is eye-catching for the audience, as well as following the house-style of my product in the way that it is presented. The page numbers and titles of the stories are in the same font to create continuity and make it clearer for the reader; also the headings have little introductions to introduce the reader to the feature story immidiently, which I have learned is a convention that many existing products use.

 

My double page spread has changed drastically through the development process to follow more of the conventions used in existing music magazines. In this way it is a more recognisable double page spread that communicates the intentions to the audience in a way that is engaging and appealing.  The colour scheme is continued throughout my product and into my double page spread, creating a house style. The font I had previously used to communicate this feature story on the cover and the contents page I have also used on the double page spread to enable the reader to link the story to the cover and contents page and create a connection between the three appearances of the feature story. This is a feature used in many successful products that I have researched into as it creates continuity and the audience can engage with it. I have used an outer glow on the article to make it stand out from the background in order for the reader to be able to read it, and the drop cap is a different colour to make the start of the article clear which is a convention throughout many magazine articles. the Main image is a little unusual and perhaps challenges conventions of existing music magazines as the subject is not shown to be with any musical related objects, but she is however shown in a glitzy gold dress which is my colour scheme, and she is in a n expensive car which is associated with the money that fame brings, re-enforcing the message that she is successful and has done well within the industry. She is not using a direct mode of address and the image represents the kind of photograph a paparazzi member would take, which are the type of images commonly used within music magazines so I had chosen to go for this strategy to communicate how successful the subject had become and create verisimilitude for the audience. I have also included the name of the subject in a colour that is associated with the stage name I have created for her, again creating a link for the audience and making the story more believable and realistic. There is little gold on the page, what is gold really stands out because of this for instance the page number, the drop cap, and the quotation, all the gold links to the subject as she is in gold herself. This is a feature I found through my research into existing music magazines that works well on double page spreads to make some parts more eye-catching for the reader. I have also included a subheading before the article through my re-drafting process as this was a feature I noticed was conventional in existing products.