1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?
By Georgina Dovaston

2. USES
•
• How does my magazine use the forms and
conventions?
What has my magazine done that real magazines do?
• Refer to the forms and conventions.

3. FRONT COVER
I have used the forms and conventions in my magazine front cover because I have
done it so the artist on the front cover is looking at the camera so it looks like they
are looking directly at you so when you go to buy it in a shop you will just see the
artist on the front cover looking at you tying t get you to buy the magazine, the mast
head is also the biggest graphic on the page so it is clear to read and it is big and
bold so you don’t have to search the front cover for the name of the magazine.
Also on both of the magazines the main artist on the front of the magazine takes up
most of the page so you can also see who the magazine is about, you will also be
able to see what sort of artist they are if you have never head of the name of the
artist you can normally see what sort of artist they are by the way they dress and the
way the look. On my magazine I have got the mast head at the top of my page
going from the left of the page to right, it is like this so when you go into a shop to
buy it all you will see is the mast head of the magazine so you know which magazine
your looking at. Also the headline of the magazine is big so you can see what the
main feature in the magazine is before you buy the magazine so you know if it is
going to be a magazine that you will like and actually want to read. The name in
the head line is also normally the artist on the front cover so you know what the artist
looks like if you haven’t heard of the name before. The sub headline is slightly smaller
underneath the main head line because when you pick the magazine you will see
which artist its about but then when you read the sub headline you will see why it is
about that artist so you know what sort of article it is going to be and what it is going
to be about, quite often the sub head line is a quote from the article that features
the artist on the front of the magazine. The cover lines on both magazines tell you a
little more of what is inside the magazine so you know what else is in the magazine
apart from the headline. Sometimes the cover lines are quotes from inside the
magazine so you know what things are said in the magazine. Most magazines have
also got a date line on the front cover which shows the website and the barcode
and the issue number.

4. FRONT COVER
Artist looking at camera
Mast head at the top left
hand side of the page
Dateline
Sub headline
Headline

5. CONTENTS PAGE
I have used the forms and conventions in my music magazine
contents page because all the articles have got a page number by
them so you know which page they are on so you don’t have to flick
through the magazine trying to find one article. My contents page
and the one I’m comparing it too have both got more than 1
picture/photograph because on most magazines they have got
more than 1 photograph to show different artists that are in the
magazine. The title is always at the top of the page either the top left
hand side, the top middle or the top right hand side so when you are
flicking through the magazine you will see at the top of the page that
it is the contents page so you don’t have to look at every page to
find the magazine you will see it straight away because it will be at
the top of the page. The colour scheme and the house style will
follow on from the front cover so the colours and the fonts will follow
on from the front cover so it matches. On a contents page it has also
got columns on it so all the writing is neat and in columns. It is also
broken down into categories so if you are looking for a certain thing
in the magazine you will be able to look under the category it would
be in to find the page that the feature/article would be on that you
are looking for. Most magazines including mine have got a bit of
writing underneath the title of the article saying what it is about and
also what it is in so you know whether you will like the article or not so
you know whether to read it or not.

6. CONTENTS PAGE
More than 1 picture
Page numbers
Categories
Title in the centre of
the page

7. ARTICLE
On my magazine and every other magazine you have got
lots of columns to put the text in to make it easier to read.
The headline on the top of the page includes the name of
artist. Most magazine articles have got a pull quote which
is part of article that is lifted out, made bigger and writing
put around it. On quite a lot of magazine articles the text is
on a white background so that it is easy to read and also
black writing on a white background goes with most
colour schemes and house styles. Nearly every magazine
has got a lead in which is a little introduction to the article
so so you know what is in the article and so you know
exactly what the article is about, it is often in a bigger font
to stand out. Most magazines have got a splash advert
which is something that is to tie you into the website. Every
magazine has got a page number usually in footer and
has the magazine name or website. Most magazines have
got an index tab which helps you to find the article when
you’re flicking through the magazine. My magazine has
got a caption which is something describes what you see
in the picture or what’s happening and is often quite
humorous. Quite a lot of magazines has got drop capital
letter which is a big letter at the start to signify where the
article starts. The text in article is normally aligned to the
left of the page.

8. ARTICLE
Columns
Headline
Lead In
Pull Quote
Index Tab
Page Numbers
Splash/Website

9. DEVELOP
• How does my magazine develop the forms and
conventions?
• Where did you get your ideas from?
• Why did decide to take my photographs the way
they are?

10. FRONT COVER
I get my ideas for my front cover from Billboard
magazine because they do the sort of genre that I
am doing for my magazine because both of the
magazines don’t have a particular genre they both
look at lots of different genres so it will be something
that most people will like and want to read and
look at. I decided to take my photographs the way
I did because it makes my artist look like a pop artist
which is what the genre for this issue of my
magazine and it makes her look jolly and happy.
She is also wearing a hat which is a bright colour
and pop music is associated with bright colours and
happy people.

11. CONTENTS PAGE
I got my ideas for my contents page from my
magazine from a contents page that I found on
Google. I liked this contents page because it was
different and I hadn't seen a contents page like it
before so I thought I would use it to help me lay y
contents page out. I decided to take my pictures
the way they are because it looks similar to the
contents page that I liked the look and that I
wanted to copy the layout of and also I liked the
way the pictures were taken.

12. ARTICLE
I decided to do my article for my magazine
the way I did because I wanted to do a
question and answer article so I used lots of
different magazines to help me layout my
article and I also used them to help know
what sort oft thing to write. I decided to take
my photographs the way I did because I like
the photographs that you get where the
photograph is just full of the artists hair with
their head in the middle with them wearing a
plain coloured top, with them wearing a
bright coloured lipstick to make it stand out
and to give the picture a bit of colour. I got
my ideas from a magazine that I found on
the internet where the whole of the one side
of the double page spread was a picture
and on the other side it was the writing and
the actual article.

13. CHALLENGE
• How does my magazine challenge the forms and
conventions?
• How has my magazine broken the conventions?
• If you haven’t broken conventions show real media
products that have.

14. FRONT COVER
The only things that I have challenged on my front cover
is that I haven’t used that many cover lines because
most magazines have got a lot of cover lines on them,
which in my opinion I don’t think I did very well because
now the reader doesn’t really know what sort of things
are going to be in the magazine so they My not buy it
because it may not be things they like and they may not
want to risk not liking the magazine. Also I have only
used 2 fonts to keep it simple but most magazines use
more than 2 fonts so my front cover and my whole
magazine may look a bit plain and boring compared to
other magazines but I wanted my magazine to be a
simple magazine and so that it wasn’t over powering
with colours or fonts. Also on the Billboard magazines
they use a lot of colour and fonts and they like to make
things stand out and I was using Billboard magazines as
a guide because my sort of magazine is a magazine
that will cover a lot of different genres which is the same
as Billboard magazines.

15. CONTENTS PAGE
In most music magazines on the contents page they
use more than one font but I only used the one font
because I wanted my magazine to be the sort of
magazine that will appeal to everyone and will be one
that most people will want to buy because it will be a
different genre every month and it will also be the
same font on every issue so there will be one thing that
will be the same on every issue because the colour
scheme will change depending on sort of genre it is
because different colours signify different genres of
music.

16. ARTICLE
My magazine challenges the forms and
conventions because my headline for my
article isn't straight it is at an angle and on
most magazines their headline is straight.
Also on most magazines they have got more
than one picture on their article but I only
have one picture like the magazine article I
am comparing it too.