Question 1 of my music magazine evaluation

1. Q1. In what ways does your
media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

2. What are forms and conventions?
Forms and conventions are the familiar and
predictable techniques used by the media. The
forms and the conventions are the essential
building blocks that make up something. Forms
are what you use in the process of making things.
For example a form for a film would be graphics
and sound. Conventions for a film would be a plot,
costume, setting and characters. These are just
guidelines for what usually comes up in a film,
however some people try to be different by going
completely against the conventions. An example of
this would be a silent movie.

3. My magazine cover conventions
The masthead is usually the biggest or second biggest font on the page, positioned in
the top left using an interesting and eye catching font. I didn’t go against these
conventions because I felt it was the best place for it to fit on the cover. I named my
magazine ‘Play’ because it fits in with the genre of music and put a graphic in to make it
more interesting and unique. It is also a different, bigger size font to any other text on
the page, so it stands out and gets associated with my magazine. This is also why I used
a graphic – so the masthead almost acts as a logo.
The selling line is usually in a very visual place where eyes are drawn
to it straight away, typically near the masthead. My selling line is
above my masthead, however uses a smaller font so it won’t detract
from the masthead.
Date line, price and issue number
are important parts of the cover as
it tells the audience important
information which should not be
hidden inside the magazine.
A barcode is an essential for the cover
as you need to scan it – has to be on
the cover so whoever’s buying it can
see it.
A splash is a graphic that
draws attention to the
information inside. I
included one to make the
cover over all more
interesting.
I added mini versions of the
posters you get inside the
magazine so the audience can
see who they’re of and see if it’s
artists that interests them. It is a
convention to have extra images
on the front cover because it
makes it over all more visual
rather than a bigger proportion
of writing. Another convention, usually specifically in pop magazines,
is to have a banner with extra features that are included
in the magazine. I decided to include this because it gives
a taster of what the reader can find inside the magazine.

4. The cover photo sticks to the conventions of a
normal magazine. It’s based in the middle of the
cover and is the largest image on the page – it’s
what eyes are drawn to straight away because it
balances the page out. Emily is the ‘celebrity’
whom the main story is about in the magazine,
so this is why I picked her to be my front cover
subject. I increased the saturation of the photo
so it fits in with the brightly colored theme
which represents the pop genre. I also made
sure it stands out against the background by
keeping the background white with a slight
gradient. Eye contact is kept because it feels
more personal for the audience and they’re
more likely to feel a connection. Everything is
arranged around this photo because it’s the
main focus of the page, so nothing covers the
artists face.
My cover lines are on the right side of the page, down
a margin so they look organized and fit in with the rest
of the cover. None overlap with the artists face
because it’s the main feature of the page. These are
just space fillers which inform the reader on what will
be inside the magazine.
The headline is the second biggest font
on the page. For my cover it’s the artists
name – in this case ‘Emily Hendzel’ I
have made her name stand out because
I’ve displayed her as a popular artist so if
people see her name on a magazine
they’re more likely to pick it up.
Generally there is a pull quote or sentence underneath the headline
explaining why the artist is in the magazine or what’s new with them – I’ve
used ‘pops golden girl is kissing goodbye to her solo career’ because it
displays the story in my article about her sister joining her in her career as a
singer. This is also quite cheeky as it makes the audience take the sentence
literally – they may think she’s quitting her career all together so this may
make people buy the magazine to find out the reason why.

5. My contents page conventions
The purpose of a pull quote is to
draw the attention of the reader
and make them want to read the
full article because it is usually
something intriguing that
describes what the article is
about. I used this as my pull quote
as it’s short and snappy and hints
at what the article is about.
The masthead for the contents page tells
us it’s a contents page but saying it in a
more interesting way. I put the
logo/masthead of the magazine in the top
right corner to remind the audience of the
title of the magazine. I used the same
coloring and font for this, and overall
similar colors on the contents page to the
cover to key in with the house style.
The page numbers are important
information because they tell the reader
where things are in the magazine. For this
reason they have to stand out, so I put
them in front of boxes, in bold lettering so
the number is clear.
Subheading stands
out above the brief
description and
sums it up in a short
snappy word or
phrase. I included
this convention
because it makes it
easier for the
audience to find
what they want in
the features
column.
Brief descriptions are necessary so that the
reader knows what the page is about and see if
it’s interesting. They usually summarize what
the article will be about. I used brief
descriptions because the audience can read
them and see what interests them.
A splash is a graphic that draws
attention to the information
inside and adds to the
presentation of something. I
included one on my contents
page to draw attention to the
subscription information and
make it stand out.

6. I only used one column of
writing for the contents
page to keep it tidy and to
ensure it didn’t get too
crowded. Usually
magazines keep to one or
two columns.
The main image on the contents page is of the duo that my article is about. This
gives a little more information to what the article is about and why they are in
the magazine, because only Emily was on the front cover. A big photo is usually
used for the contents page as a space filler and to even out the distribution of
text and images. It also shows what’s inside the magazine. I chose to use a big
photo rather than loads of small ones as it looks less messy and more
organized.
I used a graphic here to
separate two small
images. Small graphics like
this are a convention to
keep it organized as a
whole page.
Usually other images are included on the contents page, rather than
just one being the focus. However I went against this and decided to
include just two small images and one large one to display the main
article. These two images represent other stories and prizes in the
magazine. Apart from going against this convention I decided to
generally stick to the usual conventions of a pop magazine, tweaking
them a bit (for example having my artists name as the headline rather
than a catchphrase) but over all I decided to stick to them as this is the
way magazines are usually sold and get popular.
This is the features column from ‘Rock Sound’ magazine. I
got inspiration for my magazines features column from this
– I liked this one because the white font makes the writing
stand out against the black background. The titles
(subheadings) can be seen apart from the brief descriptions
underneath, and the page numbers are a big font which
makes the column overall more organized and makes it
easier for the audience to read or skim read to find what
they want to read.

7. Photos I
used
The photos I used were mostly taken in a photo
shoot I did, however I included one from a concert
to link to the brief description of a page about
winning tickets to go and see the artist, The
Weeknd. I also made sure the photos weren’t of
all the same people, so I have a range of different
people, outfits and posing used. I used quite a few
images making most of them a large size to fill the
page and even out the distribution between image
and text. Because my magazine is based on pop
and my audience are younger I felt this was a good
idea, as younger people don’t always like much
reading.

8. Forms
The Images I have used mostly center around the main subject –
the girl who the article is based upon joining her sister as a duo act.
Magazines have to be printed so I haven’t used any animation or
video clips as they wouldn’t be suitable and it would be possible to
display these in print.
The color scheme of my magazine is pink, blue, white and
grey. I have used the white and grey to stand out on
contrasting backgrounds (so for most of the writing so it’s
clear to read) and the pink and blue are the main visual colors
– they’re used in the logo. I have stuck to mostly bright colors
because it keys in with the genre of my magazine, pop.
I have considered different fonts and chosen a few that are clear to
read and bold. I kept my genre in mind when choosing my fonts,
because the pop genre is bold and bright so most of the fonts I
used reflected that.

9. Developing ideas
For my masthead I developed ideas from
spin magazine.
I liked how the title stands out when the
font isn’t particularly eye catching but the
font size is, and the white against the red
background is a massive contrast which
causes it to stand out.
I used this idea to create my masthead,
however I added a graphic in