Evaluation Question 1

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

My music magazine has incorporated the forms and conventions of real media products as a way to discover how to create a successful, professional magazine.
My research was a key aspect in the success of my magazine as refining the research and comparing the layouts enabled me to determine the best ways to incorporate the successes of each magazine to furthermore refine them into my own. This gave me an accurate idea of what to aim for in my own production process in terms of the target audience, layout, colour schemes, design and models.

One of the most important aspects of the magazine is the title as it has to stand out to capture the reader’s attention.

As you can see my title relates to the professional magazine by using similar forms and conventions of the real media product. Most fonts I researched used only a small space at the top of the magazine for their title such as ‘NME.’ However I preferred ‘KERRANG!’ as it took up more space allowing it to be larger and bolder to stand out more.
I used the same placing as my researched magazine as it takes up the full space of the top of the magazine ensuring the same effect on the reader to generate success from an already successful feature of a professional magazine.
I kept the colour white as it stood out well on the page of ‘KERRANG!’ therefore knowing my images would be similar in terms of colour and stage ambience I knew white would suit. I made it BLOCK CAPITALS as all of my research used that technique highlighting how my title does use the generic forms of conventions of real media products due to many titles being all capital letters.
However, I adjusted the style of the font as I challenged the generic forms and conventions of real media products as most titles were large, bold, straight letters. Instead I tilted mine to be at the same angle as the guitar that points up to it to ensure all features fitted successfully on the page.



Another main aspect of a magazine is the models as that is one of the main features that will attract the reader to purchasing that magazine. They need to reflect the genre of the magazine and attract the target audience throughout every aspect of the magazine. Therefore my own model needed to be carefully selected for their image. I chose to use all males due to this being done throughout my research, I targeted older men due to the rock heritage this makes my magazine target mostly older men, however, due to the wide range of rock music that attracts all genders it would still suit a female due to rock music magazines being very clearly generic.

As you can see I gathered real media products and took the forms and conventions used on them to apply them to my own magazine. The image on the right is my own magazine with my photographed model that features the same prop and angle to the camera. They both have averted their gaze and include similar background atmospheres to highlight the moving image taken of them on stage. Their facial features are the same as their mouth is open and their gaze is in the similar direction, they have the same wild hair yet my model has a beard which relates to my rock genre. This shows how I used the forms and conventions of real media products yet also developed them as I altered the age of my model to suit the older generation of rock stars that represent rock music. Their clothing is exactly the same ensuring they both had a ‘Rock’ image about them to address the genre of the magazine throughout.

 

Clothing and props are a large part of a magazine as they help define the genre and appeal to the target audience. Clothing and props need to be considered a great deal as they portray the genre therefore forms and conventions of real media products will be used rather than challenged as they have already determined the style that fits the genre you are using. 

(The position of the guitar is the same.)








I decided to use a guitar as my prop in most of my images as this was common throughout my research. I used the guitar in many images on my front page and the contents page image. The clothing was a lot more varied as most rock stars are famous for their quirky clothes and wild hair and make-up. However due to my magazine featuring older models I went for the generic, stereo-typical rock clothes that have been popular for many years such as blazers, leather jackets and chain jewellery.

I used the same forms and conventions from this ‘Regulars’ magazine as Bruce Springsteen is part of the rock genre therefore using these forms and conventions ensures my own image is fitting of my genre. I challenged the idea slightly as I used an acoustic guitar despite also shooting with an electric as I felt it suited classic rock better. I also placed the strap under the jacket to ensure the texture of the jacket wasn’t corrupted.


The mise-en-scene was very plain throughout my magazine as I wanted to focus on the images and follow the research I had produced.

- On my front page the background is simply lights as it is a moving image took on stage. This is the same forms and conventions as my research.

- My contents page has no background at all which was due to me using the forms and conventions of the real media product I researched.



- My double page spread has no background props as I followed the forms and conventions of many real media products I researched.











The layout and written content for my double page spread followed the common, basic forms and conventions of double page spreads. I used the research I found to determine the best parts of all of them to furthermore combine them and entwine a selection of forms and conventions of real media products. I kept it very similar to the real media product however developed and challenged the layout as I created one that had parts from my research yet also used things I had decided and created myself.



This was my main research I used the forms and conventions from as I created a similar piece that is under the heading. I used a large letter at the beginning of my piece and also separated the page in 3. I also created a similar layout as my image was on the same side as this one.

From this research I used the form and conventions to fit with the other features I had included from the other research. I used the quote and similar words to it. I placed lines above and underneath the quote. I also made my interview questions bolder than the answer as this one does also.


I challenged both of these forms as I made my writing justified to ensure the line lengths were all the same whereas these ones vary. I did this to appear more professional and to ensure the reader could read it clearly as a double page spread needs minimum distractions.

I used the generic forms and conventions in my double page spread in terms of:- Quotes

- differentiation between the interviewer and interviewee
- bold sub-headings for each interview question
- a believable inside view into the life of a celebrity

 - an enlarged letter at the beginning of the piece

- variations of fonts, title and colours
- a bold headline to introduce the piece
- page separators
- page numbers
- a large image to fill the whole first page.  - a piece of writing on the page of the image

Some of these forms and conventions were also used on my front page and contents page as all three included quotes, variations of fonts and colours, bold subheadings and bold titles/headlines. These all ensured the magazine was professional and similar to real media products.

I ensured my genre was clear throughout by listing and mentioning names of classic rock stars and famous rock bands on both the front page features and the page information on the contact page this ensured that each aspect surrounded the genre of my magazine.

The names of rock bands and artists I used were collected from my research of magazines and personal knowledge of the artists; this ensured all fitted the genre.

 

This is from my research it uses a large title for the band’s name, a smaller headline for an introduction into who the band are, and then a piece of italic writing for what kind of feature they have in the magazine to add interest to the reader.

 

I used this form and convention from this real media product as I used the large title for the band’s name, the smaller headline introduced them and mentioned the genre of my magazine while doing so, and the piece of italic introduces the title and contents of my double page spread.









This is from my research, to highlight the artists of my genre on the contents page I used the same form as this research by putting the names of them in red which I then also took forward on my double page spread when I introduced the name of the band and the artist I was interviewing.

The layout throughout my magazine has followed the forms and conventions of real media products while developing them to suit my own target audience and images, yet I didn’t challenge the form and conventions severely as I wanted to follow my research to extract the success of them into my own magazine.

My front cover layout has been influenced by various research as the image is shown above relating to the image of green day in the magazine KERRANG! The texts layout has been influenced by the magazine NME as shown above. The poster section and plus box was influenced by this section in the magazine KERRANG!

My contents page followed the magazine Regulars very closely as the model and layout has been created very closely to the forms and conventions of this magazines contents page.

My double page spread follows the conventions of an array of double page spreads as I developed the various ideas from them and then created my own by using different forms and conventions from each one. I challenged them slightly as I justified my text and added colour to the quote, however this was done to develop my own ideas.