Evaluation Question 1

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

During our research and planning stages we looked at a lot of music magazines already in the industry we also looked at work from students from previous years which were posted on the walls in our classroom the magazines which looked better or gained the highest marks where those that followed the conventions of a real magazine. This is what is needed because it will make the audience automatically want you magazine because you have followed the conventions nothing can really go wrong with it. You would need to find the perfect model for your front cover and know how they needed to be dressed and also how they needed to be presented on the cover. We also know that magazines are designed to be aesthetically pleasing, and draw you in to the most wonderful part of the pages; some magazines may challenge these conventions but this is only if they know the certain thing they have changed will appeal to there target audience.
 Some conventions rely fully on the rule of three this means the way the page is divided into a grid, the colour scheme and the fonts. The masthead fills the top box across, and the picture should fill most of the page if it’s a good image. Most magazines have more than 80 pages so this was another thing we had to consider when creating our magazines. Picking a colour scheme would rely on the genre you have chosen for example I have chosen cherry red and light blue to portray a retro indie pop feel towards the magazine.

When I decided to make my magazine I had to do a lot of research before I could even start, this was good because I didn’t want my magazine to be no good, I took all the conventions of my favourite magazines into account, this was because I know these methods work and are pleasing to the eye for an audience. NME was my main inspiration because it is a personal favourite and I am also included in my target audience.

My mast head is a conventional masthead, it is big and bright and fills the top part of the page, it includes my colour scheme and looks really effective and it is the largest text on the page. My font is big and fits in very well with my genre I have chosen which is indie; it is also straight to the point which is good because I want my magazine to be easy and fun as well as great an d portrays information well. I layers my masthead behind my photograph as I feel that you are still able to read it but it gives my magazine a 3D effect this is also following conventions of magazines already out there.

I feel that my photographs were a key part to my music magazine they were possible the hardest to produce but it was hard to get across a professional photograph without a professional photographer, so reaching this high level was hard. This meant that I would take out the background to make the photos as professional as I possibly could because I felt this could work.

I wanted to use a female model for my front cover so that this would appeal more to the female audience; I then looked at photographs of teenage artists and a lot of the photographs where similar to the ones I would like to use. Clothing for the front colour was a key aspect I achieved this by using a plain black dress top with two watches, gold and silver, a lace white bow in her hair and also a quirky red necklace saying love in her mouth on a gold chain. This followed the conventions due to how most magazines I have looked at have a quirky aspect on the front on the model or near.

Overall, my media product heavily relies on the use and development of conventions in real magazines. I haven't really challenged the conventions as I felt this would just make my magazine be no good. I have followed the conventions because I feel it will then appeal to my specific audience and be a great overall magazine.