EVALUATION QUESTION ONE

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

2. MASTHEAD
My masthead was a major factor to consider
when creating my magazine cover page. I
decided to call my magazine ‘Rhythm’ as
rhythm is a word associated with music and
fits the conventions of a music magazine;
many music magazine names i.e. ‘Rolling
Stones’, ‘VIBE’, etc. are titles that have a
connotation with music. My masthead is
placed in the top left corner and stretches
over to the right corner, which is typical of
codes and conventions. The masthead is big
and bold which is needed as it makes it both
eye-catching and attractive to the audience,
and encourages them to possibly buy the
magazine, making it typical of house style.
MAIN IMAGE
The photos I took across all 3 of my media project
are conventional of an R&B magazine. The main
image on my cover page has me wearing
sunglasses in a blazer, with jewellery over me.
Clothing is essential in drawing in an audience, so
I chose to go with a suit blazer as male R&B
artists commonly portray themselves as
sophisticated, such as The Weeknd and Usher.
When it came to lighting the flash from the
camera created a glare on the glasses, which I
had to edit and mask through Photoshop. The
lighting and background all in all suited my vision
for the photo overall. I did not challenge any
conventions for the photo or the mise-en-scene
for the cover page and used a blank background
for the photo-shoot.
TITLE FONT & STYLE
The title font and style definitely
develops forms and conventions of real
media products, this is based upon the
fact it is bold and eye catching. The title
of my magazine is large and clear and is
the colour blue as when researching
other R&B magazines, blue was the
most predominately used colour. This
doesn’t challenge conventions but
compliments them.
SKYLINE
My skyline is rather simplistic and
does not challenge any
conventions, I used recognisable
artists to help draw in the readers.
COVERLINES
When researching other R&B
magazine covers, the vast majority
have coverlines on only one side
of the page. I opted to put
coverlines on both sides in order
to stand out and challenge the
conventions of an R&B magazine.
SLOGAN
Slogans are used on various magazines
as a unique selling point. I positioned
mine underneath the masthead, which I
believe follows shared codes and
conventions.
MAIN COVERLINE
I wanted to make my main coverline
eye-catching and enticing to the
reader. The artists name is in yellow
and features a dollar sign for an ‘S’,
which is can idea I continued to the
other words in the coverline. This
gives a sense of continuity to the
featured story, challenging codes
and convention by standing out
with this uniqueness.
PUFF/STICKER
My puff is a generic one
‘RHIANNA TOUR SOLD OUT,’
and does not challenge
conventions. A puff is
something commonly
expected on a music
magazine cover.
COVER PAGE
ISSUE/DATE
Both the issue and date are
very conventional of a
magazine cover.
BARCODE/PRICE
My barcode is just any
generic one and certainly
meets the codes and
conventions. Similarly, the
price does not challenge
any conventions or
develop any shared
codes.

3. CONTENTS PAGE MASTHEAD
Similar to the masthead on the
cover page, I continued the
blue theme and put the
‘CONTENTS’ in white with a
blue background. It follows
conventions as blue is a colour
commonly used for R&B
magazines and through my
audience research, the most
popular colour was blue.
MISE EN SCENE OF PHOTO
For my contents page photo I took a photo
of me wearing the sunglasses with a leather
jacket and black top, wearing trainers and
sitting on a chair. I wanted to keep the suave
vibe a theme, which is why I wore the leather
jacket, to show a form of sophistication still.
However, I wore jeans and trainers also to
come across as an artist with a certain
personality. The artist is supposed to be a
rags to riches story and my artist is
embracing the riches in my magazine as can
be seen through the items of clothing i.e.
Jordan trainers, Levi’s jeans, gold jewellery,
suits, etc. The photo had to be edited by
changing the saturation and
brightness/contrast of the image, but I am
happy with the outcome. I placed my artist in
the centre as he is the main attraction of this
edition of RHYTHM magazine.
ARTIST
My artist fits the conventions as R&B
artists tend to be ones of African
origins, as the genre was originally
used by record companies to
describe recordings marketed
predominantly to urban African
Americans, at a time when "urbane,
rocking, jazz based music with a
heavy, insistent beat" was becoming
more popular. This follows that
specific convention and also the
artist having a sophisticated style is
how R&B artists like Usher for
example portray themselves,
developing that convention too. This
would satisfy the target audience as
it meets their expectations.
TITLE & FONT STYLE
I continued the sophisticated style for the
title and font, something that I noticed
other R&B magazines do in my research.
The written content of the contents page
directly addresses the reader with ‘HAPPY
NEW YEAR 2017’, making it more
personal and more likely evoke an
emotional response from the audience.
MUSIC GENRE
The jewellery and trainers help conform to the R&B/Hip-Hop genre. I used them
for that approach but to also make my artist stand out as, like the main coverline
says, he’s ‘FRESH, FLY & FLASHY. This portrays how my artist is embracing his new
found success, by physically displaying it to the readers of the magazine.
FEATURES
I displayed the features
on the contents page in
a visual way, again
continuing the blue
colour theme and
incorporating gold to
correspond with the
jewellery.
PUFF/STICKER
The puff/sticker was
made to stand out on
the page with the red
and gold colouring, in
order to contrast with
the blue, grey and
white. This uses
conventions as puffs
are used to stick out
on the page to entice
the reader with the
contents of the
magazine.

4. MISE EN SCENE OF
PHOTO
This was the only photo
across all 3 of my media
products to be shot outside
of a studio. I went away from
the sophisticated clothing i.e.
blazer, glasses etc. and
decided to use more casual
clothing, whilst still keeping a
suave essence. The photo
was edited to have a deep
haze on it in order to help the
colours stand out, such as the
red bomber jacket, the
greenery of the grass and
bush, etc. The artist is
looking directly into the
camera, addressing the
reader. I used this technique
as direct address engages the
audience personally, as if the
featured article is for them
specifically. The photo is a
long shot with the artist
positioned in the middle. This
connotes a sense of
dominance and gives my
artist a unique style, which
helps compliment the direct
address. I credited the
photographer also, a
convention on double page
spreads.
WRITTEN CONTENT
The double page spread interview is a major aspect of all magazines and for
mine, I made it a more personal insight into my artist’s life and career. It details
how my artist had a less affluent upbringing, a story many artists of a similar
genre have; rags to riches. In this way, it could be argued that it reaches
conventions. The text of the interview is displayed in two columns, which is
conventional of magazines.
TITLE & FONT
STYLE
I abandoned the blue
theme used in my cover
and contents page and
used the colour red for
the font, to correspond
with the bomber jacket.
Red is a colour that
connotes power and
strength which relates to
the photo but also
passion, which links to my
artist’s passion for music.
The font for the feature
article is the same one I
used for the covellines
and the contents on my
previous media products
but for the readers to
differentiate between my
artist and the interviewer,
I put the interviewers text
in red.
PULL QUOTES
I have followed the standard codes and conventions by using
pull quotes, something the vast majority of magazines do.
The effect of pull-quotes depend on their attractiveness,
both visual and textual.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD