2. Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine is based off of the „Top of the Pops‟ magazine, which is quite popular
for girls between 11-16. I chose this magazine primarily for the genre of music that
would be based for the magazine. The music that is used mainly for the magazine is
pop music. This music is very popular for girls this age, as they start to find new
bands, and then they expand into different types of genre for music.
My magazine has parts to it that are exactly the same as the original. I like the way
that I have organised everything on my magazine, as it is place the way that I like. I
hope that girls between 11-16 would buy it. The way that many of the items are laid
out you would instantly think that it was aimed at girls, especially for the colours
that are placed on it. The colours are very bright, so that they can catch the readers
eye, as well as the person who is on the cover. The cover is the main part, as well as
the main stories that are inside, but a majority of people will buy the magazine for
the person on the front. The layout of the images and the text for the cover was a
little complicated, as there were many shapes that were placed everywhere, and the
colour scheme was hard to try and copy or have it similar to.
The front cover, I would say I chose because of the way that the main image is
positioned. I like the way that the arm comes up and its placed on the head. This is
what caught my eye when I chose it and so I had my model a pose similar to it.
3. The similarities that I share with conventional magazines
would be the way that I have made the colours bright and
the title bold so that it would classed as “eye catching”.
Many of the magazines have it with a new item being
shown on the front but I wanted to follow a specific design
so I chose a magazine where I could easily create it. Along
with the fact that I have different images in the text
boxes, as the one of the right shows only 3 separate
people, I decided to add a group one into the bottom one
because I wanted to show a different side to the magazine
as well as add different quotes for the audience to read.
With many conventional magazines you would normally
see the masthead on a straight line , no angle
added, but what I like about this magazine is that the
masthead is in a different angle and there are little
stars that are around it. Other main images used on a
magazine would see them holding a specific object or
they have a certain background in the background as if
the images was taken outside, but with these
ones, they are created with a green screen on a simple
white backdrop.
4. I would say that my magazine is your average teen magazine, that is
based around gossip and images of celebrities. Top of the Pops looks at
singers, actors and then other people who would be classed as
celebrities, and they have different sections of the magazine that you
can look at that will make you laugh, because you can have your own say
with what a celebrity might say. As well as that they all have a true story
on the inside as well. The true stories are all shocking, because they are
a way of telling young girls and boys to not make the same mistakes as
them. It brings in radio presenters to help them spread the word and to
give their own advice. Usually fans would send in some art or a quote, or
a picture of all of their band merchandise and the radio presenters
would comment on them in the magazine.
With the colours and the way that the
magazine is set out you can easily tell that
the magazine would most likely be based for
those that are aged 11-16. This is what I was
aiming for. I like the fact that on the front of
the magazine you can usually find a
competition going on where you can either
win a prize or you can meet a celebrity. This
is a great way for the magazine to reach out
to it audience.
I wouldn‟t say that my magazine is challenging in any
particular way, only because of the way that I have based
it out and the fact that it looks very similar to the original
magazine. There are so many similarities with the
magazines, that it is a basic copy of the other. The only
thing that is original would be the interview with the main
groups on the double page spread.
5. Masthead – With the letter having a
bold look to them and being stretched
the masthead is one of the things to
be noticed first.
Main cover line, bigger font than the rest
of the page, because this is one of the
main articles, and the bolded out to
make it important. Being put in capital
letters makes it more interesting, along
with the fact that it could have been
white writing instead of black, but the
black shows up more.
Cover lines, with little quotes to show
the emotions from the celebrity and
then the name of the band, put into a
blue box, to highlight it.
The exclamation marks show
excitement. Especially since at the
beginning of the sentence it says
OMG!
Main image - The model
looks straight at the reader.
Pulled quote straight from the
interview. Put onto a pink
background because it works well
with the bold black font.
Important information on the
inside because of the
exclamation point that has
been added.
Magazines price and the date of
publish.
Cover pictures lined up, and
bordered by a pink banner that
they all sit in. Along with the bold
black writing saying what is
included on the inside.
6. Contents page
Each of the magazine covers have the same sort
of thing happening in all of them. They have the
magazine labelled with all of the places that the
information is based on and then they have the
shopping in the corner as well as have having a
group image or a poster image in the opposite
corner to the shopping. I wanted to try and do
the same thing with the other magazine
contents, I believe I have achieved it, but I have
an issue with the “highlighting” of the
information. In the magazine it actually looks
like a highlighter was put onto the page, while
with mine it is just a box filled with yellow. The
magazine has a proper teenage look to it, as the
colours are bright, but they don‟t over power
the page.
7. Double Page Spread
I like the idea of have the interview at the bottom of the page
so that there is still plenty of room for everything else on the
page. It doesn‟t overcrowd the images, which is good because
audiences like the idea of seeing nice pictures of their
celebrities. Each of these examples are from a “Top of the
Pops” magazine. They all have a similar scene to them, where
a object it being held, also a certain background which covers
mostly everything in the picture.
I used this design
because I like the
idea of the “see no
evil, hear no evil
and speak no evil”.
It worked well with
the models from the
“Top of the Pops”
magazine so I
decided to give it a
go and it actually
worked really well.
