1. 1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
By Elissa Appleby-Mason

2. An estimated 70% of magazines are brought on impulse and with a crowded marketplace
for music and entertainment magazines, competition is fierce. What does my cover of
HYPE do to attract attention? Perhaps the first thing to mention is that I understand and
am fully aware that my music magazine goes against quite a few of the conventional
elements featured within a typical magazine. However, with this in mind, I had planned
and achieved the initial look I was aiming for to portray and represent the Hip-Hop genre.
My work purposely goes against the typical conventions of most music magazines. This is
to enforce the 'rebellion 'theme within the Hip-Hop genre, to target the audience. It has
also been created against typical conventions to create the notion of a more 'personal'
magazine,.. rather than being the same as every other magazine on the shelf.

3. My media product Existing media product
Masthead
My music magazine follows some of the
conventional codes that are commonly
recognised in most music magazines. These
conventional aspects of my magazine include
the Masthead, which is typically positioned in
the top, left third of the page, which is a
common position on a magazine as it is crucial
for people to establish and recognise the title
and name of the magazine in which they are
buying. The masthead also remains the same
on each issue and forms part of the brand
identity.
It is in a familiar font base and placed on a red
background to make the title stand out, like the
XXL magazine on the left. The colour of red was
specifically chosen as it connotes the notion of
blood, anger and danger.
As well as the magazine title block/masthead, I
also have included a date and issue number
which is displayed within the barcode. This is
conventional for most magazines as it informs
the reader when the magazine is released and
they number of issues that have been released
prior to the current issue.
Along the process of developing my media
product I kept referring to other Hip Hop
magazines such as XXL to follow the same
conventions featured on that magazine.

4. Another conventional code my
magazine follows is the central image
on the front cover, which has a direct
mode of address as the artist is
directly looking into the camera, which
would create the effect that the artist
is looking directly towards the
audience. This is common in music
magazines as the publisher of the
magazine wants you to build an instant
connection with the reader in order to
help appeal to the audience to interest
them into buying it.
Furthermore the use of buzz words
such as 'Exclusive' which have been
Clearly highlighted, so that the words
appeal to the reader and catch their
eye and potentially influence their
decision to buy the magazine.

5. When considering elements of the Mise-en-scene which
include the costumes, make up, lighting, props etc my
magazine surely follows the typical conventions of Hip-Hop
magazines. For example, the images featured in my
magazines all use the same artists however in a range of
different styles of dress and poses.
The formality of the poses are very studio staged, rather
than paparazzi shots.
All three photographs are specifically taken to construct the
notion of intimidation and create a sense of power, as this is
the typical theme throughout the Hip-Hop genre. The
choice and style of photography within my magazine, follow
that of typical existing magazines, being close ups.
The mise-en-scene of the magazine is crucial to how my
product represents certain audience and social groups.
Mise-en-scene

6. Furthermore the layout of my double page spread was slightly less conventional in terms of the layout
and more specific to the themes and messages being conveyed throughout this specific article as I
thought this certain layout would be more appealing and would be more fitting to the theme and genre
being portrayed. However despite this, throughout the magazine I kept to the typical codes and
conventions of a music magazine as the target audience for my magazine is quite mainstream so as well
as appealing to my target audience specifically in places I wanted to produce something that would be
something conventional .

7. My contents page has all the
common themes found within
a music magazine such as
pictures with text, headings
and sub headings and so on,
this is done so the reader
gains ease of accessibility in
finding the way around the
magazine.
My magazine is very similar to
the existing product on the
left, in terms of layout and
photograph. Both mine and
the existing magazine contain
one key image that is
composed to take up the
whole page. The text is all
kept in an alignment