Question 1

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

2. THE TITLE OF THE MAGAZINE: FONTS/COLOUR
SCHEME/LEXIS
The title of my magazine is called ‘Alternative’, which I have used as I think it is a suitable name
for a music magazine as it is an alternative way to learn about the music industry. Also I have
used it as a play on words to highlight the genre of my magazine, which is ‘indie’, however; it is
often referred to as ‘alternative’. I got my font from the website Dafont.com which is called
‘sinister black’ on the website. However, on my magazine I have changed the colour to blue to
emphasise the colour scheme and house style of my music magazine. I have chosen this
particular font as I believe it will appeal more to a niche audience as alternative music is often
targeted at a niche audience due to the fact many people don’t like/listen to this type of music.
On my double page spread page for the headline and the front cover I have used a
DaFont.com text to emphasise the modal credit of my magazine, the words ‘Liz Smith’ have
been used in the same font to keep my house style of text similar throughout the magazine.
However, both texts on each page have been used in different colours. But both colours are
part of my colour scheme, therefore, they fit into my house style very well. The text that has
been used throughout my magazine are simple yet effective fonts that complement the genre of
my music. The text on my front cover (cover lines) are all similar, however, different fonts have
been used. I was inspired by existing magazine like Q to have my text like this as I believe it is
a common code and conventions of magazines from the indie/alternative music genre. To
highlight these colours, I have used the colour scheme of white and black for the cover lines.
There is a recognizable pattern through using this as each white text has a black drop shadow
and every black text has a white drop shadow to complement each other. I have also used
these techniques to add more of a variety into the colour scheme and the look of magazine as I
have used the colour blue to highlight the masthead and the main cover line, so, if would’ve
used more blue for the text of my magazine it would start to look bland and the emphasis of the
two main texts (headline and main cover line) would be non-existent.
The fonts on my front cover vary
as i believe this stands out more to
the target audience and is a
common code and convention of
an alternative magazine.

3. DESIGN AND LAYOUT/HOUSE STYLE/GUTTENBERG
PRINCIPLE
The layout of my magazine is traditional as I have placed my main focal image in
the center of the page; this has been done so that the cover lines can frame the
picture. I have taken inspiration from the Guttenberg principal to add common codes
and conventions of existing magazines into my magazine; this can be seen straight
away as I have placed my main image in the axis of orientation and reading gravity
area and I have occupied the primary optical area with a banner, the masthead and
the a cover line. The house style of my magazine stays the same throughout the
magazine; it consists of the colours; blue, black, red, brown and white. I did this as
the colours look presentable together and they don’t clash, however, on my double
page spread the shades of certain colours have been adjusted to look a little bit
brighter than the rest of the text, I did that to make sure that certain section of text
was well highlighted to the audience. To make sure that the house style is
consistent throughout the magazine, I have made sure the text that would stay the
same in each issue of the magazine (if it was published in shops) is the same
throughout the magazine; for example, the page numbers and the name of the
magazine is printed in the far corners of each magazine page, the even page
numbers are in the colour red and the odd page numbers are in blue, but, the size
and text font stays the same. This keeps the consistency of the house style up
because they will be the same each issue, which means the target audience, will
subconsciously recognize this and could notice the magazines by these traits.
Axis of reading
gravity
The contents page is slightly
symmetrical; this makes it look
professional.

4. PHOTOGRAPHY /MISE EN SCENE/RULE OF THIRDS/PROPS
I have used a long shot (full body) image for my front cover as this
will emphasize to the audience that the main article focuses on the
model. This has been placed center to catch the readers eyes and
from my understanding of the Guttenberg principle I have noticed
that the area where the main image is placed is the main area
people look before buying a magazine as they gravitational reading
are starts at the primary optical area and ends in the terminal area.
The prop I have asked my model to use is a guitar to indicate the
genre of my music; it is an acoustic guitar as that is the instrument
mainly used in the indie music genre.

5. SPECIAL EFFECTS ANY IMAGE MANIPULATION YOU
HAVE USED ON PHOTOGRAPHY
On the front cover of my magazine I manipulated my
image in two ways. Firstly, I duplicated the layer of the
image and on one I cropped out the model of my image, I
brightened this image to make it stand out to the
audience. Then on the second layer of the image (full
picture with background) I used the burn tool on photo
shop to darken the image to give the magazine an effect
of the genre. On the double page spread page for the
headline I have cut out the model of my magazine and
added a shadow effect onto the image to make the image
look more presentable and effective to the target
audience.
I used the burn tool on
Photoshop to create a
darker tone for my
magazine; i did this on
one layer of the main
image and on the other i
changed the brightness
of the model to
highlighter her more.

6. WRITTEN ARTICLE: FORMAT/STYLE/TONE/USE OF
JOURNALISTIC TECHNIQUES IE SIMILE/HYPERBOLE
LAYOUT OF COLUMNS/USE OF KICKER/PULL QUOTES ETC
For the written article of my magazine I have used
an informal style of writing to emphasise the
casual format of the magazine, I have also used
this to emphasise to the audience that the
interview is relaxed, this is highlighted from the
questions used to interview the interviewee. The
layout of my magazine consists of 4 pages (two
double pages) this is so that the headline and a
main pull quote is emphasized to the audience
and on the next two pages my double page
spread article is placed, in columns to make sure
the article is presentable and readable for the
target audience.

7. I believe I have been successful in adding the
common codes and conventions of existing
magazines into my own magazine. However, I
could’ve designed my contents page better as I
took inspiration of a variety of magazines which
I tried to put into my work this made, in my
opinion my contents page look a little bit
cluttered.