2. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and
Conventions of Real Media Products?
The Cover Page
• My media cover page challenges the conventions of real media products I used an image in
which the main artist face is not showing instead she is looking away from the camera. I used
this effect to produce a mysterious vibe which anchors with the story, of a new artist venturing
out into the music scene, this intrigues the reader and would lead to the purchasing of the
product. There is a different shadowing image placed to the right of the main picture it is slightly
transparent and anchors the phrase ‘battling her demons’.
• The placing of the articles featured within the magazine are located on the left hand
side of the cover page, this follows the structuring of many real media products. I chose
to use this structuring as the readers attention is immediately drawn to the main
image, of which is placed towards the left. The column structure seen in many real
media products is used as it allow for accessible reading and gives the magazine a
professional feel. The text used is large in font and complies with the
colour scheme of purple, white and black, it does not distract from the secondary
header, which is the main article within the magazine.
• The logo is large in size and located in the left hand corner of the page, this allows for easy
recognition by the customer and will ensure the magazine is easily identifiable by its readership.
• The secondary heading is white in font and placed on a black background this gives a striking
effect and catches the readers attention.
3. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and
Conventions of Real Media Products?
Contents Page
• My contents page has a colour scheme of purple, white and black which continues from the cover
page. This supports the conventions of a real media product as stereotypically they follow a 3
colour scheme.
• The contents page is clearly labelled in the masthead at the top of the page, also featured in this
masthead is the issue number, date and the magazines website. This complies with convention
although the issue number is usually featured on the cover page of the magazine.
• The contents page features images from the articles within the magazine this gives extra
information to the reader and enables them to locate the article with ease. This complies with
convention as images are used to create intrigue and breaks up the text on the cover page.
• I developed the convention of clearly labelling the articles within my magazine from real media
products, this enables the reader to effectively navigate through the articles.
4. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and
Conventions of Real Media Products?
Double Page Spread
• My double page spread uses the forms of real media products by using an image of the main star
on the cover page of the magazine.
• Quotations from the interview of which are deemed most shocking or interesting to the reader is
show across the star, it is of larger font and develops the convention of real media products as
many magazines use this technique.
• The interview conducted is in a question and answer format and uses the convention of real
media products with the question part of the interview being in a different colour to the answers
given by the artist, it is important to note that not all music magazines use this technique but it is
an easy way to reduce the volume of text.
• The images used on the double page spread anchor the idea of the ‘high-flying riser’ whom is
new to the music industry, this adds intrigue to the article and may provoke the reader to invest in
the article.
5. How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?
• I believe my media product represents the younger generation. This is done through the:
– The use of a sleek colour scheme of purple, black and white which is considered ‘fashionable’ and would
represent the younger generation.
– The use of font types which are of a graffiti style of which represents the age of the artist the main article is
about whom of which is in the R’n’B industry.
– The articles featured within the article also reflect the younger generation of whom is interested in the current
events within the music scene such as the death of Whitney Houston.
The colour scheme is bold yet stylistic
appealing to an older audience. I have chosen to directly
challenge convention, by using a
female singer whom is not posed
or clothed in a seductive way. I
did this to show the female
gender that you don’t need to be
‘sexy’ to get attention, this
reflects the singers direction as
The inclusive of ‘on – trend’ well.
topics represents the
younger generation the
magazine aims to appeal to.
6. What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?
• ‘Q’ Magazine is distributed by Bauer Media group. I believe they would also distribute my product to the
main magazine retailers due to its original format of news stories within the music world.
• My magazine will be released monthly enabling for the collection of news stories within the music industry
to accumulate.
• It will retail at the price of £2.99 making it accessible for my target audience.
• Newsagents will also be a • This is a well known
• My magazine will be distributed by location where my magazine company and therefore
the media institute to all major will be distributed to. My stocking the magazine in
supermarket chains. This allow for my audience will live in cities their stores will give the
target audience to access the (which reflects the urban brand ‘chant’ a reliable feel
magazine. theme to my magazine) and – boosting sales.
therefore will have easy access
to newsagents.
7. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?
• I am aiming at a teenage audience of which have a interest in the inner workings of the music
industry. The raw and straight to the point articles within the magazine clearly reflect the age
group of 13-19 year olds who are too old for younger pop magazines and wish to invest in a
product, which has a professional and more adult look to it.
• From the questionnaire I gathered that the magazine had to be:
– Low cost – accessible for the younger ages whom have little/no income.
– On-trend with up to date stories and exclusives.
– A ‘Adult’ feel – to get away from the teenage pop theme magazines.
• I feel the magazine appeals more to a female readership due to the fonts, colours and articles featured. I could improve
my magazine by opening my target market to feature both genders through a change in the colour scheme, fonts used and
articles featured.
8. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From the Process of Constructing
the Product?
•I’ve been taught to use bloc • I used Photoshop to edit the images on
backgrounds to take pictures, this my magazine as well as to construct the
enables me to remove the backgrounds magazine itself.
• This software enabled me to
in Photoshop with ease. present my research around the • I’ve learnt the process of layering a
• I learnt the effects of lighting on my successful institutes in the music document, placing images and text on
pictures, having to choose the location industry, separate layers to allow for easy editing. I
of my photo shoot with a clear idea of also learnt to alter the opacity of each
• It allows me to import images layer, which I used to create the effect of
how I wanted my images to turn out. and text to allow for a full an overlooking image on my cover and
explanation of my findings and contents page.
construction.
• I learnt to use the background tool,
• From my preliminary task to my which enabled me to use a one bloc
main task I was able to fully colour background with diminishing colour
understand the conventions in – this added a professional element to my
which PowerPoint should be used. magazine.
• I used this website to access fashionable
fonts. • I learnt to effectively edit my images in
Photoshop with the removal of
• I chose fonts that were clear yet still backgrounds with the ‘magic wand’ tool. I
stylish – this relates the magazine to my also used the ‘clone’ tool to heighten the
target audience but still enables for easy colours in my image.
reading by the consumer.
9. Looking Back at your Preliminary Task, What do you Feel you Have Learnt in
the Progression From it to the Full Product?
• We can see the clear progression from my preliminary task to my main task. In my preliminary task I used
a simplistic font style as well as limited effects on the images and backgrounds of the cover and contents
page.
• I chose to use a black background as from my research I concluded that bloc colours were frequently
used. From my preliminary task I was able to deduce that this colour was to strong to use on a music
magazine and instead opted for a ‘gradient’ style background of a light shade of purple.
• The contents of my preliminary task worked well with a banner to label the page – I decided to carry on
this style to my main task.
• In my preliminary task I chose to use the logo ‘prospects’ this did not have a different colour from the
background and instead made the cover page appear to look more like a poster than a magazine. I altered
this in my main task using a black circle to separate the logo from the rest of the magazine – for easy
recognition.
• The placements of my articles on my preliminary task in the centre of the page also made the cover page
look like a poster – I changed this in my main task to show them on the left hand side of the cover page –
this complies with convention.
