a level media studies coursework evaluation.

1. Music magazine evaluation question 1 Abby Dunne
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP
AND CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS

2. FRONT COVER
MY PRODUCT REAL PRODUCT
The forms&
conventions:
- Masthead
- -banner
- Central image
- Brief summary of
article
- Featured articles
- Rule of thirds
- Eye contact
- Barcode
- Publisher
- Text relating to
central image
- Studio shoot
- Representation of
- Artist in central
Image.

3. MASTHEAD
Real mastheads My masthead
I have created a masthead for my product as
all magazines have a masthead. It makes a
magazine recognisable, with a masthead on the
front cover it is easy to tell the difference
between different magazines. This is picture
of an already existing masthead for Kerrang
magazine, and this is a picture of the
masthead I have designed for my media
product. The real masthead is for a magazine
with a younger target audience than my
product. The already existing masthead is bold
and exciting as it is to suit a young audience,
for my masthead I decided to go the opposite
way and use suttle colours as it is for an older
target audience.

4. BANNER
I have used a banner in the design of my
front cover as my case study magazine also
uses a banner on their front cover. A banner
is used to give a short overview of the
magazine, for example in my banner I
summarised the content of the magazine.
Where as in the banner of Q which is my
case study magazine it summaries the
magazine as a whole and highlights it’s
popularity. I used a banner in my front cover
as I felt that it would grab the attention of
my target audience as it includes the content
of my magazine, which is about music. The
content in the magazine I have created is
aimed to suit my target audience in the way
that they want to read educated articles about
music, in particular acoustic music, which is
the genre my magazine is based on.

5. CENTRAL IMAGE
The central image is an important part of a
front cover, in these two pictures I comparing the
central image that I photographed and the
central image on the front cover of ‘Billboard
magazine’. While I was photographing my
central image I concentrated on getting the
conventions to match those of already existing,
real central images on the front covers of real
magazines. I have done this by using a
background to my photograph that looks like a
‘studio image’, a studio image is taken
professionally in a studio and is the style that
most real magazines use for their central image.
I have included the rule of thirds within my
central image, evenly splitting the page into 3
ways lining important information within this
to assure the audience reads it. For my central
image I concentrated mostly on my models eyes,
it is in every magazine front cover that the
model has direct eye contact with the audience.
As I was developing the conventions of other
media product’s central images I made sure that
my model’s eyes are clearly captured within the
image, creating a sense of eye contact.

6. FEATURED ARTICLES
I have stated the featured articles on the
front of my magazine as I recognise that
all music magazines also do this. From
researching into real media products I
understand that the main featured
articles are printed on the front cover of
the magazines so that the audience are
able to see the content inside the
magazine, and therefore the target
audience are able to be attracted to the
magazine. I have made note of the
layout that my case study magazine, as
shown in the image I have used on this
slide. From studying the layout of my
case study magazine I have based my
design around this form, I have stated
the featured articles in a list, I have also
used a small line to separate each article.
By doing this I have understood the
layout of real media products, and used
tis within my own designs.

7. BARCODE
I have included a barcode within my
front cover as I can see the importance of
the fact that the magazine is a product
that will be sold, in order for it to be
sold it must have a barcode. All music
magazines have a barcode and as I
created a music magazine I included a
barcode. I put the barcode at the bottom
of the page in the corner as that is where
barcodes usually are on real media
products. Another reason for the placing
of the barcode is that if it’s in the
bottom corner it does not effect any of
the content, especially covering the central
image.

8. HIGHLIGHTING IMPORTANCE
Having a central image based on a
main article shows the importance of
the article, but I also added the name
of the person in the image in big, bold
text. This highlights the importance
of this article within the other content
of the magazine, it makes the
audience aware straight away what
the article is about. From these images
I am showing that I have used this
form from real media products, and
that music magazines also highlight
the importance of the main article in
the same way as I used for my own
design.