Frankie-Rose Taylor discusses how her media product challenges and develops conventions of real magazines. She edited photos on the cover to make the model look good. The masthead was inspired by Kerrang magazine. Fonts and designs were chosen to create a fanzine feel. Images on the double page spread were styled with a yellow tint and blurring. The table of contents included a background image for visual interest. Overall, the goal was to challenge conventions while maintaining connections to real magazines through codes and formats.

1. Frankie-Rose Taylor

2. In what ways In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products? COVER
I have edited my photos which is conventional as I was inspired by NME to make
MASTHEAD: magazines want their models to look good my magazine off-A4, as it will
I was inspired by Kerrang to make make it stand out from other
my masthead like the stencil’s which magazines
are used to spray the band’s name
The model is giving the reader
onto their equipment. I also had the
eye-contact which entices them
models head covering the masthead.
into the magazine and makes
them feel involved. It is also a
mid shot which is conventional
I also used a similar name for my for magazine covers.
magazine. It has two syllables is MAIN COVER LINE:
catchy as it is a simple word, relating I have challenged conventions by using
to my genre. The masthead is a decorative/grunge font for my cover
accompanied by a selling line which line. I did this to try and create a fanzine
is conventional. feel to my magazine and this font is
similar to the way cut up newspapers
I liked the way Kerrang
were used in fanzines during the 70’s.
had one of their cover
lines in a box, EXPLANITORY TEXT:
accompanied by a quote Similarly to Kerrang, I have made my
and also used this to make explanatory text seem stuck on to add to
it of secondary importance the fanzine look. I decided to use a
to the main cover story. dymo style font which matched the style
of my magazine but challenged
I added a barcode to
conventions
make my magazine
look real and COVER LINES: MAIN IMAGE:
professional. Also, like I have aligned all my cover lines on the In keeping with the photographic rule of thirds, I
Kerrang and NME, I left third as it is the part of the magazine positioned the model in the right hand third, making
have included the date that will be seen perspective customers her prominent on the page. She is dressed in a
and issue number in when stacked on shelves in shops. If the stereotypically rocky way and in the same colours
the barcode buyer is interested in the cover lines, as the page. These colours are associated with
they will buy the magazine. the rock genre

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
BY LINE: DROP CAP: SLUG:
I have used a technique of It is a common convention in all It is also a common convention to use a
Kerrang and put my by line at magazines to use a drop cap for the slug so the editor knows what section of
the top of the page in a slug first letter of your article. the magazine the article is from.
I have challenged magazine
conventions by using a film strip LANGUAGE:
to show some of my other I have followed conventions of
photos. It also fits in with my music magazines of my target
artist as she talks about audience by using informal
“bringing the drama back into language and swearing. I have
music”. I also edited the challenged convention however
photographs in a stylised way by having a bias writer. Like
by adding a yellow tint and NME I used direct address
blurring the background around
the model.
PULL QUOTE:
ARTICLE TITLE: Like both NME and Kerrang, I
To add continuity to my have emphasised by pull quotes
magazine, I have used the yet embedded them in the text.
same font as the cover. As it is
a decorative font, this
contrasts with conventions of
BODY TEXT: ANCHOR:
using a plain sans serif font.
I have put my text in boxes on PAGE NUMBER: Both NME and Kerrang use
LEADING TEXT: top of an image to continue my I have followed conventions a red box for their anchor. I
I have also used the same font as mock fanzine style. I liked the by having the page number have included information
used for explanatory text on my way NME had one page taken and logo in the bottom corner about the band, similarly to
cover to add continuity and create up by the image and the other of the page. I have also Kerrang.
brand identity, however this by the text. followed convention by only
challenges conventions as it is putting it in the right hand
decorative. corner with the text.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products? TABLE OF CONTENTS
MASTHEAD:
In accordance with conventions, I have
CONTENTS:
included my masthead at the top of my
I have used conventional editorial pillars
table of contents to continue brand
that summaries all my articles. I have used
identity.
less than average magazines as I have a
large amount of stories per pillar instead.
IMAGES:
Like Kerrang I have included a collage I
have used a collage of images next to the
contents that show some of the elements.
However, I have challenged convention by I have unconventionally used a
editing my images by using brightness and background image for my table of contents
contrast to make the images more artistic. instead of a base colour as I thought it
I have tried to use different shot types and would look more interesting. It is the same
angles to make them all unique. background as my cover as I wanted to
create continuity from the cover through
the magazine. This is used in magazines
but not usually to this extent.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:
I wanted to follow the convention of having
a letter from the editor on the contents
page to provide a connection between the
magazine and the reader.

5. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My target audience was:
Young adults aged 15-25
D-B social grading
Both male and female
Interested in rock music
•Language: Colloquialisms, uncensored, informal and conversational.
•Images: Models look well dressed, make-up, in clothes of that style. Similar
age to readers, photoshopped, male and female
•Colour: Red, black and white are associated with the rock genre. Red
connotations of danger. Neutral colours.
•Content: Articles they are interested in, not to much writing, information
they want to know.
•Font: Rebellious connotations, decorative.

6. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I need a publisher that:
• Produces other music magazines but not of the same genre.
•Appeals to young people.
•Has a diverse selection of magazines
Independent Publisher: HEADBANG! Publishing
•Relates to my fanzine research and punk ethos.
•Purely focused on one magazine. Publishing
•Has complete control.

7. Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience was:
Young people aged 15-25
D-B social grading
Both male and female
Interested in rock music
•Young people are most associated with current rock music and culture.
•Upper classes are stereotyped as having a more classical taste in music.
•Rock is not as gender defined as other music (eg. Pop)
•The main thing uniting my target audience is an interest in rock music and my
magazine would appeal to any fans who are in my age range.

8. How did you attract/address your audience? COVER
•Direct eye contact with reader.
•Rule of thirds.
•Cover lines.
•Free gift.
•Exclusivity.
•Informal, conversational, direct
address.
•Decorative, grunge fonts.
•Selling line.
•Model’s fashion and editing.

9. How did you attract/address your audience? DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
•Following codes and conventions.
•More images than text.
•Colloquial, uncensored, direct
address and conversational
language.
•Colour scheme.
•Interesting information.

10. How did you attract/address your audience? TABLE OF CONTENTS
•Interesting articles.
•Short names.
•Connotations of rebellion.
•Contact between editor and reader.
•Edited images.
•Images and models used.

11. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Adobe Photoshop
•Cloning, Spot Healer and Gaussian blur to perfect skin.
Before After
Spot Healer Brush
Clone Stamp
•Lasso tool to cut around images. Type tool to add text.
(Magnetic) Lasso Tool
+ + =
Type Tool
•Brightness and Contrast makes the images interesting, clearer and stylised.
Before After

12. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Adobe Photoshop
•Hue and Saturation tints the image. Motion Blur creates the illusion of movement.
Before After
•You can make a layer a selection, then expand, feather and inverse it.

13. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I created a blog to store my work and learnt how to operate it.
•Edit blog layout.
•Post work as jpegs.
•Embed other media using HTML codes.
•Follow other peoples blogs.

14. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Microsoft Excel
I used Excel to record data and make graphs from my questionnaire.
•I created functions to calculate totals in my data.
•If you select some of your data then you can create a graph.

15. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
Slideshare allows you to embed presentations and pdf documents on my blog.
•You select and upload the file.
•Then copy and paste the HTML into a blog post.

16. What have you learnt about technologies and obesity from the process of
constructing this product?
Animoto creates videos from photographs and music you upload that can be
embed in my blog.
Issuu creates a virtual magazine from a template you create in
Microsoft Publisher.

17. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
•Magazine codes and conventions.
•About my target audience.
•More advanced Photoshop skills.
•Wider knowledge of fonts.
•Different brief allowed more creative freedom on a
subject that interested me.
•Learning to approach each project individually,
according to subject matter and target audience.
•Importance of drafting.