1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS
Chris Carey

2. My masthead design I Feel does have similarities to music
magazines of the rock genre with the use of darker colours
including primarily reds which conotate rebellion which will
appeal to the rock genre target audience.
The Masthead design also shows blocky font which conforms to
the rock genre as well as darker colours and the highlighting of
the main artists.
This masthead design conforms entirely with the genre as shown
in worldwide magazines such as NME where darker and red
colours are used around a simplistic border to highlight this.
This masthead challenges the conventions of music magazines
as shown by magazines such as MOJO who will use a primarily
darker coloured logo (Black)
This masthead design also challenges other rock genre music
magazine designs by using a bright white colour surround which
is not a colour associated with the rock genre.

3. I feel the Mise en scene of my images throughout my magazine cover, contents and double
page spread will on the whole conform with the use of image in real music magazines such
as in this example where I have used a mock artist album cover as a graphic image in my
contents page selection which can be seen in many magazines such as NME where artists
are highlighted in the middle of the page as they are meant to be the centre of attention. I
feel the mise en scene is developed as it is a different way to portray the artist in the way the
wanted to be portrayed on their album which will give them a personality which the reader
can relate to.
However my use of the mise en scene of images differs from the norm by using “album
artwork” whereas generally rock magazines will generally use a picture from a live tour or gig
to give it realism and make the news story up to date however I feel that album artwork could
still be used to feature an artists story on a contents page.

4. The costumes and props used throughout my magazine
generally conforms with real music magazines as they
will generally try and highlight the artists instruments
(E.g guitars as shown above) to give the reader more
excitement and connect them further to the music itself
(Difference to other genres).
However these costumes and props do challenge that of
a real magazine in terms of the use of these props is
usually orientated around the artist or at a live gig to give
the news story more excitement.

5. The people I used throughout my music magazine project were
males as it is generally the more dominant part of the target
audience with the rock genre and in real magazines this is generally
used as a rule to attract the right audiences (Excludes female artists
i.e Paramore) The use of younger people in rock magazines is also
a convention which real magazines use as they want to attract the
right audience to buy their magazine.
However the people used in my magazine challenges normal
conventions as there is such a small variation of people in the
magazine it concentrates on one artist (“Kasabian”) whereas in real
magazines they will offer a range of the biggest and best artists to
gain as much of the consumer range as possible attracting different
audiences. Also the people used may differ in real rock magazines
as they will be given a “unique” rugged look to conform with the
genre and each different artist will be portrayed with their own
identity which the reader can relate to.

6. The font and style of text I used on my magazine project I felt
conforms with real music magazines as it had a simple blocky
look which gives it a rugged feel as well as being highlighted by
white and red colouring which also allows it to keep to the
house style which can be seen in many other real music
magazines. Also I felt the style conformed with real magazines
because the way the text is laid out means that the artist name
i.e “YOU ME AT SIX” is highlighted and will attract the readers
attention straight after reading the article title. However The
font and style do challenge real magazines by a slightly curvy
font style which may not be used in a real magazine as well as
using a font for titles which is very similar to the masthead
design may be seen as conflicting to the house style and may
cause confusion on the layout of the magazine.

7. The written content I have used will generally conform with real
magazines as the layout is used as separate columns on double
page spreads whilst the cover for example has very little written
content to cover. My magazine will conform to real magazines
because of the language that I have used throughout to emulate
real magazines. By using relaxed language and relevant up to date
news coverage (e.g reference to Twitter) which will allow younger
target audiences to follow closely are also used in real music
magazines to keep the reader interested and allow for the editor to
speak to the reader on a level they can relate to. However I feel my
written content may challenge that of real magazines in terms of
the depth of Rock genre music content whereas my written content
was based around the interest in the artist and the gossip created
around them whereas a real music magazine may concentrate on
release dates of new music.

8. The music genre in this magazine is highlighted by the use of a dark colour
scheme of red white black throughout my magazine project as well as specific
images to stimulate the interest of the reader. The screen shot I have used
highlights the conformity of genre that I feel real music magazines will also use
something similar to so that they can get a message across or use a symbol to
signify up and coming news. The rock symbol used in my music magazine
signifies the genre and is a universal symbol used by young and old so attracts
the right target audience. Other ways genre are portrayed in my magazine are
the use of highlighting artists names which is a key convention of the rock genre
as the actual artists themselves are key.
I feel that real music magazines would have not used an image such as this one
though as the basic meaning is not enough to grab the attention of readers and
music magazines will keep the genre throughout the magazine by using dark
backgrounds with photo shot celebrities posing to put across a darker image.

9. Layout
The layout of my magazine is based on a NME magazine that I
previously researched so has many of the conventions of a real
magazine, Such as the use of a main story (YOU ME AT SIX) along
the bottom which will be one of the first things a reader may be
attracted to so is pivotal that the story is the most interesting part of
the magazine. This is shown across multiple other magazines. Also
the layout I use conforms with real magazines by using article titles
around the main image so that it is highlighted further is key as the
main image will take up 80% of the cover.
However I Feel the layout does not conform to real magazines in the
sense that the Titles of each magazine are usually a lot larger and
highlighted better so that readers are drawn to the magazine cover
whereas in my project titles are smaller and harder to see than in that
of NME for example. The layout also constricts the space that each
article has for itself therefore making the cover seem confusing and
filled which on real covers are seen less often.

10. My Contents page I feel conforms to a real music magazine
contents as I based my design around a NME magazine it
incorporates the same colour scheme as the masthead
keeping the house style whilst also using 3 main graphic
images to give previews on each featured news article. This
occurs most often in NME and is a direct way to highlight the
most important articles to the reader. However the images
used may not conform to real music magazines (As
mentioned previously) However I feel the design may not
conform to that of a real magazine because of the size of
the masthead which is usually bigger to gain brand
recognition. Also the use of the white background against
each article title does not match the darker rock genre side
of the magazine and would have been made a darker colour
in a real magazine. In real magazines they may also use
detail on most articles to give readers more information on
which article they want to read.